How Will We Handle First Contact?

ok, heres the only example that we have

When white people arrived in the America's and met the natives, the natives seen them as about as alien as you can get...different clothes, weird tech, different look.

White people were revered as angels, Gods, etc...they were brought in and welcomed fully...the killing started much later on.

spanish conquerers also landed on different shores and same deal, but they came as a conquering force and the natives they met and killed/enslaved withered and died away quickly.

So...history shows already that positive first contact = very good...negative first contact = panic, hysteria, and death.

Now, consider japanese country bumpkins during ww2...they were told that if Americans were to get ahold of them, they would rape and kill them immediately...so if the lines were broken, it is better to do the suicide thing than deal with being tortured to death by the invasion force...
American soldiers tell stories of going down canals after breaking through the lines and seeing people jumping off cliffs because of how they were programmed to believe.
We are programmed at this point to have a open mind for the day that the odd fellows appear on our shores...so, I would tend to believe at this point that there will be not alot of panic.

Dont forget religion. They have peoples attention. In our own history whenever a more advanced society comes into contact with a lesser one it plays well for the more advanced ones. "THEM" and horribly for the lesser ones. "US"

Catholic church: Faith in God, alien life OK

Should silvered ships ever break through the clouds and announce the arrival of our benevolent space brothers, then it appears the Vatican's chief astronomer will be there to greet them with open arms.

Jesuit Father Jose Funes, director of the Vatican's astronomical observatory, said in an interview published Tuesday that believing in alien life doesn't contradict faith in God.

"Just as we consider earthly life as 'a brother' and 'sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother?' It would still be part of creation,"

Muslim preacher commands followers to convert aliens to Islam

'We are obliged as Muslims to make the whole galaxy subservient to almighty Allah.

'Allah has created all living beings to obey him and worship him.'

Originally posted by SLAYER69
Muslim preacher commands followers to convert aliens to Islam

'We are obliged as Muslims to make the whole galaxy subservient to almighty Allah.

'Allah has created all living beings to obey him and worship him.'

heh, oh what a sick little world we live on. I do hope the aliens have a sense of humor at the very least.

reply to post by DoomsdayRex

While you do have a point, it is claimed that people will panic regardless of the intentions of the aliens. And that is the question I am asking. Whatever the intentions of the aliens may be, can humanity handle the idea of not being alone?

asking the question in that perspective....i think everyone will react differently. personal beliefs and religion will play a big part in the different reactions.

the problem here is posing that question in that context is not reality based because of the actual implications of what would happen with a first contact scenario.

you cannot leave out their agenda or operandi from the question and expect a real answer. in other words a rigged question will get rigged answers.

We will be having catholics say its the Antichrist and they will be freaking out. The goverments will rethink religion for us and decide we don't need it or want it.

I am catholic but I am skeptical I believe in an antichrist but not real sure about god.

If thier is a God like the one in the bible I am not sure I wanna meet him he not send me to hell or kill me for not obey his every command.

The invisible man sounds like he needs therapy.

GODS are more than likely aliens and they are the GODS,
thats why god said he was a jealous god and won't share.

More than 1 alien pretend to be this god guy and another got jealous. Or he's playing good cop/bad cop with us.

in the end the alien will probaly be just like the bible and the leader will die and a new peace on earth will start with very few left the survivors of everything thats coming.

We have an alien protectors of the earth they will save the human race and earth from the bad aliens.

A new peace on earth will start and we will basically start over becuase much of the earth will be in ruins for hundreds of years to come but we will survive.

[edit on 14-10-2009 by slipknotrules2009]

reply to post by zaiger


That's good. star for making me laugh...

If there is mass hysteria caused by such an event it will have been manipulated by the MSM and those who would risk a loss of power (religions etc.).

If they want panic and mayhem to surround an alien contact event, then they will whip people up into a frenzy. There's little you and I can do to change that.
If the Becks, Hannitys and O'Reillys of the world are told to get everyone foaming at the mouth, then everyone will be foaming at the mouth.

The public reaction to first contact largely depends on the manner in which it is initiated and the type of contact it is.

One person summed it up here a while back in a thread title. I forget the exact title, but it was something like "Great, Aliens make contact...but I still have to go to work tomorrow" lol.

There will always be a few crazies out there that do something utterly foolish, but the majority will not be overly bothered by the proposition.

The only true worry would be the economy. I'm sure the idiots on the world's stock markets would begin irrational "first contact" speculation that would severely (but temporarily) cause some turmoil.

There would be more issues in countries that are less developed or deeply devoted and controlled by their irrational belief in their particular "invisible man", so I would expect many second world and third world countries to have a little more social disruption than we would see in England, USA, Australia, etc.

I would think that an advanced civilization that "makes first contact for a living" would be able to take measure of a planet's inhabitants and determine if there would be significant (i.e. not necessarily as temporary as I imagine) problems that would cause them to wait a little longer before making contact.

All my opinions are based on the fact that first contact is initiated by the "outsides" and has nothing to do with the foolish "government has been covering this up for years" religion (which any intelligent person should find absolutey absurd)

Originally posted by SaturnFX
When white people arrived in the America's...white people were revered as angels, Gods, etc...they were brought in and welcomed fully...the killing started much later on.

That is more myth than reality. It was revisionist history thought of decades after conquests to justify said conquests. The indigenous peoples of the Americans were no more superstitious or any less sophisticated than the Europeans. They recognized the Europeans for what they were, other people.

This may be an applicable parable for First Contact, though. Most people in the industrialized world have already accepted we may not be alone (though admittedly, accepting a possibility and being confronted with a reality are two vastly different things) and I think most people will accept these hypothetical aliens for what they are.

Originally posted by Badgered1
If there is mass hysteria caused by such an event it will have been manipulated by the MSM and those who would risk a loss of power (religions etc.).

Why would religions lose power?

reply to post by DoomsdayRex


If Mr. Alien were to say, "Oh, by the way. Read your Bible/Torah/Koran/etc. and whilst the central message of brotherly love and unity is all very admirable, there's a LOT wrong with the stories...here's what actually happened and how it all works...and here's some completely undeniable proof..." are organizations like the Vatican going to shut up shop and leave a note saying, "Sorry. We got it all wrong. Good luck. We're sure going to miss the collections of a Sunday. Sorry about all the fire and brimstone stuff we told you, and all those guilt trips."? etc.

I get a lot of channeled messages from psychics who channels aliens;
and the aliens are very peaceful benevolent beings;
they're really enlightened;
they never tell you to do anything; but just give you advice, so you could make your own decisions;
they want you to be self-empowered, self reliant, a leader of yourself, compassionate,
they don't believe in giving your own power away to a model of victimization or to a government or to a god or anything that is external from yourself;
they truly believe that we are all one, on a subatomic level we are all connected, so they strongly believe in "do unto others as you would do to yourself"

they are very psychic and telepathic, i think they might also be able to see forward and backward in time, or they could see past, present and future all at the same time;
they are probably reading this right now...

they tell you to meditate a lot....

they believe in truth and do not like the new world order or tptb

I personally think (im not sure) that they see humans as kindergartners or preschoolers who hasn't really grown up and become fully developed as an adult

I guess its like viewing everything in the universe the same way as you would view your own body;
when your stomach is causing you pain, you don't go and annihilate it;
you send it help immediately so it will get better and function properly for the betterment of the entire body

[edit on 14-10-2009 by DjSharperimage]

With all the conditioning from tv shows-video games I think mankind will deal with the situation pretty well. Now if speaking of hostils that may be a completely different story, it would be a fight to the end I feel.

reply to post by Badgered1


I don't see what an alien has to say about religion will make it any more valid than the parish priest or even the local street preacher. When it comes to religion, people pretty much have their mind made up about what they believe. They aren't going to lose their faith because some Johnny Come Lately alien tells them they're wrong.

I also saw a google video ( Michael Tsarion) describe the same thing, about Earthlings are 'locked" or bound to the Earth and mentioning that there is a real stargate and that's the reason we can't leave the milky way.

[edit on 14-10-2009 by ButterCookie]

[edit on 14-10-2009 by ButterCookie]

There is one word for it: Disaster...
it just depends whether it will be big or small.
While it may not be disaster for major human population assuming that ET's are friendly. It would probably cause a lot of stir and questions within them, when they see all suffering, thrid world countries. Not to mention that seeing those third world countries would be somehow political disaster for all leading nations and the whole humankind.
When Et's would start to critisize Earth society imagine what would be human reaction to that! In so many aspects we are not ready that the question about first contact isn't even fun.
Simply put it would be tragic day to humankind, even if they wouldn't invade us they would cause so much damage to earths development. It's not even funny.

reply to post by DoomsdayRex

Thoughts?

Yes. I'm thinking more in terms that "contact" has already happened. The aliens have shown themselves to us according to all this circumstantial evidence.

But human beings are more interested in their cat and the final score on the superbowl. So aliens remain a legend surrounded by question marks.

That is how I think we have handled first contact.

[edit on 13-5-2010 by StudentofDust]

Like many things....it all depends....

Depends on what you may ask?

Depends on their perceived agenda.....

But is this the case? Would humanity be unable to handle the idea we are not alone in the universe?

If motherships started popping up over major capitals, then yes, I'd wager you would see the whole degradation of society bit claimed by many, as the people panic.

If a more calm, serene announcement, showing of proof, etc. then there may not be a panic, but certainly growing unease. The biggest worry would likely be in the markets....with the threat of new technologies making everyone a bit gunshy on purchasing/growing just about anything...and probably lead to a major market crash....

You'd see pockets of crazies doing mass suicides, etc., but these would be minor in scale. Still, they'd make the news though. The real result would depend on the alien involvement (and yes, even their appearance) with us. If they look like some tentacled nightmare, then naturally, folks are going to be uneasy no matter what the aliens say they are here for.

Even if they say they are peaceful, many of us will wonder what they really want....what is the REAL agenda? (after all, if they show up, most will assume the past 50+ yrs of UFO accounts are now fact vs. theory, and we'll wonder why they were skulking about for so long in secret)....and, it'd be a valid concern....

reply to post by Gazrok

Good post. Definetly love your Rembrant painting variation. I have seen it in Amsterdam as I was there in 2007 if I remember correctly. I wonder thou was it a copy or real one.

Anyway there was that movie District 9, if I remember correctly. Pretty much sums everything up if you are willing to forget some parts of it.
That is why I claim that neither way we are ready for official contact.