Would we make good hosts?

Below is an excerpt from an interview with George Adamski, the famous Polish born American Ufologist who supposedly had intimate contact with extraterrestrials. This interview was taped and documented in the year 1955.

"Q. Are they all friendly?
A. Yes, very friendly, more so than any people on earth. People on earth pretend to be friendly but they are not really friendly to each other as these people are, even the so-called strangers.

Q. If their ships crash on earth or if they are shot as has been reported, do they have any way of protecting themselves?
A. No they do not, although they could. Although it is possible that they could harness this magnetic ray and shoot it out towards us and stop us in our tracks. But this is something they won't do. They claim that they have no right, I asked them about that, and they said they have no right to take revenge for a lack of understanding or ignorance.


Judging by the above excerpt, some more statements made in the interview and the aliens' supposedly benevolent demeanor, I couldn't help but wonder if the very reason for their enigmatic behavior is our own savagery. For now, just forget about the severe human rights violations in Nigeria or Iran, or even a tyrant of a mother-in-law persuading a young woman to kill herself in the name of dowry in your immediate neighborhood for that matter. Let's just look inside ourselves. What would you do, if a drunken bearded man you walk past, makes a remark on your buttocks? How would you react, if your teacher failed you in an exam because he overlooked a small portion of the paper? How would you feel, if your boss promoted an apparently less talented colleague instead of you? In general, how would a normal person react even if he's wronged in the slightest manner? Of course, we've all arrived at a conclusion that it's human nature to feel sadness when we're wronged. Yet, human history has had several of these inhumanly selfless role-models like Jesus Christ or Gandhi who supposedly showed the other cheek when wronged. How is that possible? Weren't they human too?

I feel, there's something logically amiss. Perhaps, there's something fundamentally wrong in most of the things in life that we've accepted to be true. Now that I thought some more about it, I wonder this. Wasn't that drunken man's remark on your buttocks merely a compliment? The teacher on the other hand, gave you a chance to improvise your knowledge while all others got to forget about whatever they had studied and learned. As for the boss, that promotion could have probably meant lesser responsibilities and fewer means to learn.

Is this the way our extraterrestrial visitors think? If so, I definitely believe its this collective attitude that has allowed them to progress so far as to build inexpensive warp drives and travel the stars.

Now that the point is established, let us consider a scenario wherein you are a government appointed scientist who's out over a remote uncharted island, scanning the horizons from an airplane. You spot a tiny band of tribes looking at your craft in awe, worshiping it and dancing in funny patterns. You know that civilization has never been in this part of the world, and that these tribes have little morals that match your upbringing, let alone they believe it's okay to indiscriminately kill and devour another human being from a different tribe. Yet, even if you did land in the middle of their village, they would worship you. They would most certainly be harmless to a technologically and culturally superior being and you know that for a fact. Yet, would you land right between them? Would you still extend your hand to them in friendship? Despite your strong belief in human rights and equality, would you let a random one of those tribesmen sit in your plane?

Okay, now switch this primitive tribe for a little bit more civilized locality; say, a village in a remote part of India where the people have heard about cars and televisions, yet, is rife with petty street violence, domestic violence and flawed political ethics. Would you still pick one of these random villagers and let them sit in your plane, or work for you as a secretary or at least a Janitor? I highly doubt it. I believe, the relationship between humanity and ETs is merely a scaled up version of this scenario, so no.

We will never make good hosts. At least, not just yet. Inducting humans in their societies, or even being allowed into their homes would desecrate their society. Sorry for this extremely morbid post, but unless we make changes within ourselves, we have no right to expect the world to change around us. Sure, there's always going to be a difference between us and them before we make first contact. Sure, that difference is going to remain unless our ET visitors extend their arms and reach out to us (which solely puts the responsibility called first contact on them). But the good news is, it is possible to encourage them. The best way to do so, is to change ourselves bit by bit.