What Would Aliens say?

What if aliens came to this world, our world… What if they were a certain type of alien; not the type that are depicted in comic books or on the big screen---martians, etc., and they probably wouldn’t be green. Let’s say they are a civilization from another planet and they are looking for other life forms. Imagine if they were able to observe our civilization…our societies…and they took notes…and reported back to their home planet.

Let’s say that these “aliens” represented a planet that lived according to a much different standard than ours. They weren’t necessarily the most technologically advanced, but they were highly advanced sociologically and emotionally, and psychologically--most notably, they were strikingly altruistic.

What might they say about us…?

My thought is that these more evolved aliens would pull up their ladder quickly soon after landing and head back home. They would take a whiff of what we are all about, what we are obsessed with, what are our values, and they would consider us a hostile and primitive life form. How could they not? They could access our history books…and see that just in the last 75 years we have killed over 75 million of our world population. We killed them! Some because they were Jews, some because they were Vietnamese or viewed as the wrong religion, etc…Some because they didn’t follow closely enough the word of man named, Mohammed, spoken 1500 years ago in a desert. They would see how we enslaved an entire race of people in the United States…we did it for hundreds of years….it took us that long to catch on to the inhumanity of it. Those aliens would see how men have subordinated women, violating their bodies and minds for millennia---because they can., and they still are….they call men who stick up for other men in this regard, a “good ol’ boys network”.

We don’t have the advantage of seeing what another civilization from another planet would say about our own---we don't get that gift of perspective. WE only know what is right in front of us….most of us look at what (is) and we say….I’m ok. I’m living by the standards…but, what if our standards would look ghastly and tragic to another civilization? What if we are judging ourselves by horrible standards….the answer is….WE ARE. How is the water?

There is a story about two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish who says “Good morning boys, how is the water”?

And the two young fish swim on for a bit and then eventually the one fish looks over to the other and says “what the hell is water?”

We just don’t see or perceive what we don’t perceive or see. It's that simple. We don’t even know the template or platform we live in with any perspective to any other. We just live in our jeans…we live in the "water" we know…..we don’t think outside of those confines….we know the societal standards we are born into…and 99.9% of us don’t get out of the “water” to question it. The ones who do are called “radicals”, or “crazy”, or "misfits". That’s the label you get if you question the status quo. You know who they are---they are often imprisoned, beaten and bloodied, reviled, ridiculed, and sometimes assassinated.

Imagine someone walking by a dignified and well respected slave owner in his community a few hundred years ago and saying "Good Morning sir, how is the inhumanity and cruelty and madness going?" The slave owner would look surprised……and, like the two young fish, say, “What the hell is water”?

Or, how about the billionaire Hedge fund manager who has never given a thought to sacrificing for those who are living in squalor in society who pulls his 200,000 sports car up to a stop sign. What if you pulled up next to him and asked him, “How is the greed and selfishness going?. The billionaire might look back and say “What the hell is water?” He is so entrenched in the standard of his society that he can’t see it.

Or, how about the men who have been controlling and subjugating women for their whole lives…if you asked them, if you approached Harvey Weinstein, or Bill Cosby, or any one of millions and millions of men and said, "Good morning, how is the criminal behavior and objectification of women going?, those men would say, “What the hell is water”?

We don’t even see it…we don’t even care….we just swim in it…day after day….we don’t even know what anything else looks like…..If we were living in a culture where we had regular, random human sacrifices we might just say, when asked about them, "What the hell is water”. It is so normal to us….

We just don’t step away from the mass thinking, from the "water", to ask enough relevant questions….we follow our urges, we follow society’s standards. We just jump on the conveyor belt….the rat race, the human race.

What might these aliens take note of….?

Well, they would certainly see a civilization where there is a huge disparity between how different humans live…even people living in the same city. They would see a mansion and a Range Rover and then they would see a dark, small, apartment near a gas station and an old Dodge with faded paint and very worn upholstery. They would see people begging on the streets with worn clothes and an unshaved face and then they would see those who had obscene and outrageous levels of wealth…spending monies on extravagant luxuries and excesses….while others lived in poverty…(9% of Americans live in poverty, 23% of children 18 and under live in poverty). They would see a society that is anchored in the motto: "Every man for himself".

It wouldn’t take them long to see that we are destroying our ozone and that we have been careless stewards of our environment. Further investigation would inform them that Congressional support for big corporate profits at the expense of clean fuel would play a big role in exacerbating the serious global problem. He would notice that our own United States had withdrawn from any efforts to address the warming of our planet that will be catastrophic if not fatal.

They would notice that these very wealthy people were virtually unconcerned (completely) with the situations of those with only basic, subsistence lifestyles; they would not even notice them…they might even blow smoke in their faces. After all, if we cared as a society we could clearly solve this incredible disparity and incredible suffering--we just don’t give a brick.

They would certainly see a culture that was obsessed with sex…almost every popular TV show, movie, much of social commentary, and many marketing strategies would be laced with sexual reference and innuendo. Men would risk everything to have sex as much as they can….it was a constant undertone in the societal conversation…kind of like a hum that you can hear all the time…representing the consciousness of men throughout the day…..(and night). The aliens might notice that sex completely controls and dominates our culture..it causes tremendous pain for many, many women and it leaves more victims than victors…Men are actually rendered childish by their obsession with sex….they will grovel for sex…put their entire reputations on the line for sex….shatter their family to have sex.

These aliens might take note of how greedy we all are in our society…how all of us, to a man, operate on the notion, “I’ve got mine”. If we become wealthy then we figure our work is done….we can just decide what kinds of toys we want and how many of them to get. We don’t see any burden to help anyone else. Our society does not reward or even acknowledge compassion. If you are a man trying to impress a woman you will not get far touting your compassion. You have a much better chance at getting attention (and getting sex) if you have rock solid abs.

They would see how certain types of people (lighter skinned people) treat darker skinned people more poorly as a rule..and that men are much more dominant and aggressive and in control than women….women are treated as lesser people…

They would also notice that certain people who looked a certain way were deemed more desirable and popular than other people, just by the way they looked….

What if these aliens (by choice) cannot be content with extravagance while others are suffering…not just the suffering of family members, but the suffering of strangers. Actually, what if these aliens don’t really embrace the word “stranger” and, what if these aliens define “family” much differently than we do here on earth?

There is a saying that “you are only as happy as your most unhappy child”. What if it came naturally to feel responsible for others. Sounds crazy, right? It doesn't sound very earthly.

Would we look incredibly uncivilized and incredibly greedy and selfish and needy and petty and superficial and like low level organisms relative to this Alien culture? The idea that we would be watching porn all day that depicts other people having sex would seem amazingly juvenile and depraved to these aliens. It would look pathetic and the aliens might conclude that our minds are under the control of some impulse that we cannot seem to manage. They would actually pity us…the way we would pity a dog that is trying to have sex with a pillow or the leg of a table…

Surely those aliens would shake their heads….and maybe, sigh.

They wouldn’t know whether to help us or to blow us up…..

Wouldn’t this be a huge indictment on our civilization…on our societal standards, our priorities and our total lack of compassion for anyone other than ourselves, and, on our water?….

They would look at how our government lies constantly and how they will do anything or say anything if the right group gives them money…they would see how virtually all governments are corrupt and how our own government is run by one of the most vile and disgusting and corrupt people that many of us have ever seen. He is our leader! He represents us as Americans.

To these aliens, integrity and honor are everything….if you don’t have integrity you have nothing in the alien society. Greed is considered a mental illness on this alien planet.

The one constant in our civilization throughout time is that we kill each other; we try and exterminate each other; we are corrupt and we take things from each other and we rape each other and we try and get as much power and wealth as we can at the expense of others.

When will we ask (and answer) the question, "What the hell is water?"