How ETs remind us of what it is to be human
Plus, predictions about Israel's political unrest
vol. 5 AOS 12
Greetings,
By now, I reckon you’re aware that aliens are among us. Or at least, that’s what we’re being told. I am one of those who does not need to be convinced of this, and for a number of reasons.
First among them is because I do what I always exhort my readership to do: rely on your own powers of observation. I have seen so-called “unidentified aerial phenomena” often enough and for long enough now, that I just accept it. They appear day and night. Not every day and night, but often enough that I figure these sightings are just in the category of one of those things I don’t understand now, but in time, I probably will.
Regardless, is there anything I can actually do about what I have seen, what I might see again? Probably not.
But that doesn’t stop me from thinking about the implications of aliens among us.
Did other intelligent beings use superior technology to “trick” humans into acting against our best interests, but definitely in the best interests of said “other” beings? You know, program us to think empire and slavery were good ideas?
Are they the reason we suffer from perpetual cognitive dissonance as we destroy the earth, becoming the only species that acts in a manner that ensures its own destruction while manufacturing and then accepting reasons to continue doing so?
In my observation, when the bat shit wing of the people who are in charge of so much (too much!) in this country says anything that a) accuses anyone else not in their camp of doing something truly weird or awful; or b) confers specialness on them and them alone, I know that the exact opposite is true.
Or if not true, then it’s a big fat clue as to the place to look for whatever it is they are trying to pull focus away from.
And so maybe that there is so much Congressional interest in aliens now is because, as columnist Ross Douthat pointed out in the New York Times recently:
“…there is clearly now a faction within the national security complex that wants Americans to think there might be alien spacecraft, to give these stories credence rather than dismissal.
“Maybe it’s because there really is something Out There and we’re being prepared for the big reveal. Or maybe the dose of Pentagon funding that Harry Reid engineered for studying the paranormal back in 2007 allowed a cluster of U.F.O. enthusiasts to infiltrate the defense establishment. Or maybe there’s always a Deep State network of occult-knowledge believers — think of the Cold War experiments in psychic research — and they’ve just become more media-savvy lately.
“Or maybe it’s a cynical effort to use unexplained phenomena as an excuse to goose military funding. Or maybe it’s a psy-op to discredit critics of the national security state — to make, say, Tucker Carlson look bad by persuading him to believe in aliens and then doing a debunking.”
Or maybe there really just are aliens among us, or the progeny of aliens, who are specifically attempting to fuck shit up and it’s getting harder for them to hide.
I know I have seen UFOs. Have I also been seeing extra terrestrials without being aware of it? Plenty of Congresspersons give me pause to wonder about their human status when I look at them and their freaky beastial faces, traits, and gaits.
Still, as pointed out in this entertaining but journalistically thorough video,
it’s hard to imagine that if really large alien craft are here, per testimony given during this week’s Congressional inquiry into claims that there is a cover-up of just how much some of us here on earth know about extra-terrestrials, wouldn’t they be hard to hide?
Am I really speculating all this? Yes. If any of this means anything, it’s that it’s only going to get weirder.
Also, I don’t accept that we are the sole, random winners of the lottery when it comes to habitable planets. Get over yourselves, people.
What makes us human?
I have written about UFOs and other beings before. Pondering their existence ultimately brings me back to earth. It makes me ask, what is it that makes a human a human?
I just re-read what I wrote about this last Fall and still think my insight holds merit. Namely, that what makes us human isn’t our capacity to reason, or even our capacity to build things. It’s that we are kind.
Here’s a portion of what I wrote (I hope you will take a moment to read the original; it’s pretty short, actually):
That we persist in using something so powerful as free will to hurt ourselves and one another as we do, must provide endless fascination for whomever it is that not only I, but top-level officials and scientists in this nation and all over the globe, are increasingly aware seem to be observing us.
What I hope these unknown visitors also observe is our unfailing instinctual — that is to say, our undeniable — capacity to care for one another.
It’s that we are actually very good beings that I think makes us a curiousity and a target to whatever else is out there.
As I was reminded by Greg Olear, perhaps the Substackosphere’s most well-read newsletter publisher, plenty of excellent science fiction writers have posited similar thoughts, so I am not alone in my reverie on what might make ETs want to understand humans.
Here’s his meditation on Ursula K. LeGuin’s The Left Hand of Darkness, which emphasizes our human kindness (according to Greg; I haven’t read it):
“Because despite all the evidence to the contrary, I believe in the essential goodness of humanity. I believe in our collective intellect. I believe that when we work together, we can solve any problem. I believe in the triumph of the better angels of our nature. I believe that love will win the day.”
Also this week…
July 28
Have a good week. Be kind to aliens. And to each other.
Peace,
Whitney
I don't think we need to blame aliens for all the wickedness in the world. If we are capable of kindness, which we are, we are certainly capable of wickedness. They are two sides of the same coin. The difference, I think, is that kind caring people dont seek power for themselves. They want an equal peaceful world. That takes power away from those who seek to dominate and control. I do believe that if theres life on earth then there must also be life on other planets. But I think governments suddenly opening the possibility of alien life when they have worked so hard to deny it is just a diversion from something, probably horrendous, that they themselves are planning. Deflect attention, divide and control through fear and hatred, seems to be the new way of getting government business done these days, rather than democratic process.