So after watching something on the History Channel about a month ago about Area 51 (this is what you do when you’re sick of movies and have to sit there for 6 hours a day), I started to really wonder why this whole thing is completely secretive. What the real motivations are behind it all.
A few popped to mind. First would be the panic that would be caused by the entire ordeal. People would immediately freak out over the thought of aliens among us, and the conspiracy theorists would run rampant with “Who is an alien” commentary. But that could ultimately be supressed by the government assuring the people that it is no big deal, we have nothing to fear, etc. That in itself could be taken care of.
Then there was the threat of World War from other countries, say China for example, looking to get their hands on alien technology, but ultimately, this isn’t much to fear either. These are some of the most top secret facilities in the world, and it’s hard to imagine a world superpower going after this technology not knowing what it is, what the capabilities are, or what you can do with it. It’s hard to start WWIII on just a hunch, even if it is about this. So that is something that I doubt we would really have to worry about.
The biggest problem would be resulting in a massive world panic. I’m talking BILLIONS of people immediately thrown into hysteria. And it won’t be the fear of the aliens that does is. It’s the fear that they could be wrong about everything that they have believed in their entire lives.
Have you ever known someone who years after being a religious person who all of a sudden wakes up one day and says “What if there really is no God”? It’s not usually a pretty sight to watch someone come to terms with the fact that everything they’ve supported their entire lives may be complete hogwash.
Many will attest that religion and morality go hand in hand. The thought, simple enough, that “if you live a horrid life, you will go to hell” just might be eradicated if there is no eternal punishment for those who commit evil deeds. As such, the typical orthodox perspective on it is that without religion, we would be a bunch of sinning sods who will do as we please without care for the consequences. Now, I personally feel that as a society we have evolved to the point where we can act on our own moral convictions without 10 commandments and a list of sins to guide us into what is right and what is wrong. I think we can figure it out.The government, however, I’m sure has some reservations. The US government was founded on many Christian ethical practices.
As a people, we have been slow to adapt to new things. In the 1530s, we still believed that the Sun revolved around the Earth until Copernicus said otherwise. Yet today, 20% of Americans still believe that. Yet still, as a society we are on the fence about Evolution, regardless of the age bracket, gender, or race of those we ask about it.
Now, the existance of Aliens would mean that any and everything could be thrown into the hat as far as religion goes. Did they create us? How many more of them are there? Are there infinate worlds and universes? What does this mean for the story of Genesis? The questions go on and on, but the bottom line is this: The existance of a being from another planet opens the door to question our very existance and destroy the fabric of many of the world’s religions. Once you question the very core of someone’e belief system, the whole system starts to crumble. How would the Pope, the Dhali LLama, and other religious leaders react to the presence of these beings? The whole thing would unravel as there would be too many questions and nowhere near enough answers, leading to panic worldwide.
Panic means that people do stupid things spur of the moment. Religious panic, menas there will be really stupid things supr of the moment. Don’t think so? Think of the last time you saw someone on the news doing something immensely stupid for a religious cause.
A worldwide panic of people coming to terms with the fact that their religion might have been nothing all along.
Or wose yet, you bet on the complete wrong horse and the Raelians were right!
Can you even fathom this? The world war following it all would be inevitable. Fundamentalist governments would be put in an interesting place, from Northern Ireland, to Tehran, to Washington DC and Mexico DF, anyone that has ever run for office touting their religious background or running on a faith based platform would have an interesting time coming up with a way to figure things out. Assuming we don’t decend into anarchy in the meantime. Because the first thing I mentioned of aliens freaking out among us will come only after the religion argument fades into play.
The sequence of events looks like this
- Public knows about aliens
- Disbelief
- Governments prove aliens
- More disbelief
- Real life examples of aliens
- People start questioning things
- Start to accept it as a possibility
- Start to question faith
- Start to panic
- Conflict begins, confusion ensues
- People do some really stupid things, like war, random violent acts, etc.
- Civilization as we know it crumbles
There we go: the 12 steps to destroying society, in all of it’s glory. Balance the people’s right to know with the fact that there are billions of people who can’t handle the truth and tell me what we should do about it.
I’m not making an speculation on the existance of ETs, flying saucers, etc. But if there is, I can understand why we will never know about it until the invasion. Which I highly doubt we will be able to adequately prepare for anyways, so I’m not too worried about it.
