The U.S. government has been releasing UFO files. Okay, they now call them UAPs - “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena”. Seriously? I'll stick with UFOs.
I don't know if there are aliens out there sending those objects. It's an interesting idea.
The release comes weeks after Artemis 2 flew around the moon, and, in fact, flew further into space than any crewed mission before.
Which got me to wondering: Besides the humans on earth watching, could some of those possible aliens been watching? And if so, what were they thinking?
I was reminded of a classic science fiction movie: The Day the Earth Stood Still. The 1951 one, not the terrible 2008 remake. Klaatu, the alien, arrives with a gift, but it gets destroyed because of a trigger-happy human. Klaatu later notes that his people have been watching us with growing concern. We were too warlike and violent, we had nuclear weapons, and we were beginning to move out into space. We were viewed as a potential threat, and the implication is that if we continue our warlike ways and we do move into out space they might have to take action against us for the sake of interplanetary peace.
Now they may have been monitoring us by sending down UFOs. Maybe they were also monitoring our radio and television signals. Which is one of the plot devices for another science fiction movie, a comedy: Galaxy Quest. In that 1999 movie, a favorite of mine, the aliens had been watching television signals from earth, believing what they depict is true. They particularly like a science fiction show, Galaxy Quest (a parody of Star Trek) and not only built a working version of the ship in the show but modeled their culture on the culture depicted in the show. They also felt pity for Gilligan and his fellow castaways. Faced with attack, they come to earth to recruit help from the crew depicted on the show, bringing the actors up to their ship. Naturally, the actors, using their characters to help guide them, save the day.
A third movie could be taken as a warning, but also a sign of hope: Enemy Mine.
The 1985 movie has humans going into space and encountering an alien race, the Dracs, and promptly going to war with them. A human fighter pilot, Willis, and a Drac fighter pilot, Jariba (Jerry), crash on a planet, and gradually overcome their mistrust and hostility. They become friends. Jerry teaches Willis his family line - in the Drac culture that is important, and in doing so he is bestowing an honor on Willis. Then Jerry becomes become terminally ill, but not before revealing he is carrying a child. He asks Willis to promise that he will take the child back to the Drac home world and recite for him his Drac family line. Jerry dies, and Willis delivers the Drac child, Zammis. Willis raises Zammis, who calls him "Uncle". Then evil humans arrive to mine on the planet using Drac slave labor, brutally mistreating the Dracs. Zammis is captured by them, and Willis is shot and left for dead by the evil humans. Instead, he is rescued by other members of the space force, and when he recovers, he seeks out Zammis to rescue him. He does so, and takes him back to the Drac world, reciting the family line, and is honored by having his name added to it.
That movie showed the dark side of humanity - the warlike ways, the prejudice, and the cruelty of those who enslave the Dracs. But it also shows that human and Dracs can live together as friends.
So, if there are any aliens out there watching us, I'm hoping that they will see what is good in the human race, and that we can find ways to live peacefully and as friends.
Maybe we can bond over concern for those poor folks marooned on Gilligan's island.
Pax et bonum
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