1. Log in. Ten new notifications! I am complete!
2. ~HOME PAGE~
3. Notification: Iskra Dzundeva liked so and so’s link on so and so’s wall.
-Alien-O M G, now that must mean that Iskra likes so and so!
Fatal consequence: Gossip Girls (males included) thrive. A like on someone’s post is worth a thousand words, of course.
Drama ensues. The Facebook alter egos come alive. We, the real people, become aliens.
In fact, making a decision to push that like button on someone’s profile can mean nothing, but to some of the most prominent Facebook socialites it means absolutely everything. It is a pity that societal communication has come down to such exchange. Pushing a button instead of expressing an opinion? How amoeba-like. It is a pity that I partake in it.
However, it didn’t always used to be so. How has Facebook changed my life? What was my social life like before Facebook, 3 years ago, when I was a wee bit freshman, inarticulate in the eloquence of the virtual world? Actually, I was one of the strongest opponents of the cyber face. Scratch that, I was THE enemy of the virtual world and networking. Wasting countless hours on MySpace, forgetting reality’s face, no way, I was so above that. Mock the hypocrite I have become; so I succumbed. Now, I am just one the many faces in the world’s largest encyclopedia of information: Facebook.
Why did I make a decision to join? Oh, surely, that’s simple: I was smitten by the allure of retaining contact with my long distance friends.
Alien- Wait a minute, by that you mean checking your Facebook ten times a day just to get “in touch” with people?
Obviously, the Facebook addiction stems from something else, a concept far more complex. Why do we have the urge to follow people’s lives and acquire intimate information that in no way we should have access to?
Alien-Geez, why would you care about my profile? What a stalker. Oh, what has HE been up to?
The answer is simple. It is not what we demand, but it is what the market supplies that hooks us. In other words, Facebook users have access to whatever their friends post on their profile pages. Thus, if you decide to have a public argument with your best friend on Facebook, guess what: your private life has been penetrated. In less than five minutes this dispute will appear on everyone’s home page, and the whole world will know about that dude cheating on your best friend. Oops; so much for privacy.
Let’s face it: it’s not like most of you don’t know this. All Facebook users in fact, are very aware of the information they post on their profiles. After all, this is the face that we would like the world to identify us by, isn’t it? This is the face that is supposed to be a reflection of the real self; a metonymic representation of the people behind the screen. In reality, through our desperate attempts to identify ourselves as the unique individuals that we are, the Facebook profile has become its own persona, our alter ego, cooler than our real selves. This alter ego defines itself through the lame self taken pictures and the never ending list of our wide interests, because we are incapable of making a choice and being selective. Of course, let’s not neglect the most important segment, the more friends the better, because we are just THAT popular. Who cares if we don’t even have a clue about who half of them really are? Reach out and grab them, they are the closest that we will ever get to reality, they are part of our virtual world.
Let’s turn the tables: something must be wrong with the real world for us to flee to our alter ego and create a new world with several clicks of the mouse. What exactly is wrong?
Analyzing the different socio-economic factors of our decade, I’ve come to the conclusion that the general global devastation has led to people’s self imposed alienation from society. People choose to stay at home because they do not have the means to go outside; in today’s material culture, having fun means spending tremendous amounts of money, and of course, the more you spend the better. So what do those who cannot afford such expensive entertainment do? They, in fact, stay at home clicking away on the internet, bonding in the virtual way. Sad yet true, materialism has driven the world into two extremes of alienation: one in which individuals turn to the excessive material pleasures to fill their emotional holes and the other in which individuals turn to the virtual to escape reality. Siddhartha’s words have been forgotten; could it be that we prefer reading the Face-Book over real books?
Alien-Wait, like, those old things that ppl used to read bak in da Neanderthal age? Y read those when I can just go on Spark notes. LMAO, YOUR SO ridic.(Yes, the objects with dusty covers sitting alone on your bookshelves, the lonely remnants of the distant past).
Similarly to Siddhartha’s struggle with materialism, nowadays, the extreme trend of the material escapist modes has created a shift in the way that individuals communicate amongst themselves. Today’s youth does not use the internet to facilitate their communication with people; rather they abuse it to meet new people. The tragedy lies in the practice of getting to know people more profoundly through MSN, Facebook chat, or other internet sites, rather than through good old human contact. Call me old fashioned, but whatever happened to dates, frequent social gatherings during the day, and spontaneous meetings with people to have a chat,” on a coffee”*?
The more time we spend clicking away, the less time we spend with real people, which leads to our self inflicted alienation from society. Let’s face it: the more friends we have on Facebook solely distances us from our real friends. We need to reevaluate our priorities and focus on quality over quantity, because after all the most valuable things are the scarcest of them all. Let’s reach out for the people who exist outside of the virtual world; those who do not necessarily have a Facebook alter ego as the passport substitute of the 21st century.
Alien logs off Facebook and proceeds to call her friend up for coffee so they can talk in person. Like real people. Alien masks fall. Humanity is reborn. Just like in that Coca Cola commercial.
*”On a Coffee” refers to the newly built sculpture by GTC on the Kej in Skopje. It is a literal translation of the archaic Macedonian tradition of meeting up for coffee, “na kafe”.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Outsiders
Almost every day, as the school bus approached his bus stop, my father would peer out the window to plan his escape route. For when he stepped off the bus, he knew he would have to run. He didn’t have to run because he wanted to get home in time to watch his favorite cartoon, or because he would late. He would have to run because he knew the group of Moroccan boys would be waiting, rocks ready in their hands, to throw at him. And as he ran away, kicking up a cloud of dust behind him, the group of boys sneered “Shinwa.” Chinese.
My father and I share a common experience: we learned from a young age what it meant to be a foreigner, what it meant to not belong. My father was not Chinese. But because of the way he looked, and because of the foreign language that he spoke, he was labeled as an outsider. He simply didn’t belong. And that was reason enough for the young boys to throw rocks at him, and reason enough for him to run home every day after school.
With time, situations have changed. True, the majority of people may not throw rocks at foreigners today, but that does not mean that “outsiders” are not being discriminated in different ways. To understand how the treatment of foreigners has evolved, let us look at the history of the term “foreigner.”
There may not be a specific time or place from which the term originiated; however, it can be traced. The Romans, for example, called anyone non-Roman “barbaric.” Justifying their discrimination with religion, the Romans exploited the Eastern European Slavs as slaves. Interestingly, over time, the term “Slav” evolved to mean “foreigner.”
In 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay, opening Japan to the Western World. The Japanese, defenseless and with out any other choice but to open up its ports, called Perry and his sailors “Barbarians of the West.” Over 150 years later, the term has changed, yet the meaning remains the same.The Japanese term 外人, (gaijin) to translate literally, means “outside person,” further differentiaing between those who belong, and those who don’t.
We can also explore the history of exploitation of foreigners and use of the term “alien” in America. America exploited African slaves as cheap labor on Southern plantations before the country even gained independence from Great Britain. In the late 1700‘s, worried that America would soon be at war with France, Congress passed the Alien Act of 1798. Aimed towards “aliens,” or foreigners, the act authroized the President to “deport aliens dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States.” Related acts, such as the Alien Enemies Act, further presents evidence of prejudice centered towards foreigners who supposedly posed a threat national security.
Sound farmiliar? Are things really that different today?
Foreiners are still be exploited. Take, for example, the “foreigners price.” Do we not almost instinctively raise prices on food, rent, and tuition for outsiders, because we assume they can afford it? Don’t inhabitants of well-to-do countries exploit foreign immigrants by providing low wages and harsh working conditions to this day?
Racial prejudice has always played a role in the treatment and perception of foreigners as well. From slavery in the U.S., to derrogatory remarks, racial prejudice has always been linked to the treatment of outsiders. As controversial as the issue is, we continue to pull people out of security lines at airports simply because of the way they look. The Alien Act may not be in effect today, but that doesn’t mean other acts aren’t discriminatig against minorities. Take for example, the Patriot Act. In our post-9/11 society, we immediately associate “different” as suspicious, and the act allows the U.S. government to detain any “suspicious” individuals. Do their acts, or their appearance lead us to discriminate? We are still exploiting and discriminating against foreigners to this day.
I didn’t have to run home every day to avoid being thrown rocks at; instead, my experience led to feelings of frustration at other peoples’ cultural ignorance, and possibilty that things would never really change. History teaches us that conditions will change, but the prejudice towards foreigners will remain. While we may think that in the 21st Century we are open-minded, we continue to exploit foreigners, distribute the term “outsider,” and are thus, just as close-minded as ever before.
My father and I share a common experience: we learned from a young age what it meant to be a foreigner, what it meant to not belong. My father was not Chinese. But because of the way he looked, and because of the foreign language that he spoke, he was labeled as an outsider. He simply didn’t belong. And that was reason enough for the young boys to throw rocks at him, and reason enough for him to run home every day after school.
With time, situations have changed. True, the majority of people may not throw rocks at foreigners today, but that does not mean that “outsiders” are not being discriminated in different ways. To understand how the treatment of foreigners has evolved, let us look at the history of the term “foreigner.”
There may not be a specific time or place from which the term originiated; however, it can be traced. The Romans, for example, called anyone non-Roman “barbaric.” Justifying their discrimination with religion, the Romans exploited the Eastern European Slavs as slaves. Interestingly, over time, the term “Slav” evolved to mean “foreigner.”
In 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay, opening Japan to the Western World. The Japanese, defenseless and with out any other choice but to open up its ports, called Perry and his sailors “Barbarians of the West.” Over 150 years later, the term has changed, yet the meaning remains the same.The Japanese term 外人, (gaijin) to translate literally, means “outside person,” further differentiaing between those who belong, and those who don’t.
We can also explore the history of exploitation of foreigners and use of the term “alien” in America. America exploited African slaves as cheap labor on Southern plantations before the country even gained independence from Great Britain. In the late 1700‘s, worried that America would soon be at war with France, Congress passed the Alien Act of 1798. Aimed towards “aliens,” or foreigners, the act authroized the President to “deport aliens dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States.” Related acts, such as the Alien Enemies Act, further presents evidence of prejudice centered towards foreigners who supposedly posed a threat national security.
Sound farmiliar? Are things really that different today?
Foreiners are still be exploited. Take, for example, the “foreigners price.” Do we not almost instinctively raise prices on food, rent, and tuition for outsiders, because we assume they can afford it? Don’t inhabitants of well-to-do countries exploit foreign immigrants by providing low wages and harsh working conditions to this day?
Racial prejudice has always played a role in the treatment and perception of foreigners as well. From slavery in the U.S., to derrogatory remarks, racial prejudice has always been linked to the treatment of outsiders. As controversial as the issue is, we continue to pull people out of security lines at airports simply because of the way they look. The Alien Act may not be in effect today, but that doesn’t mean other acts aren’t discriminatig against minorities. Take for example, the Patriot Act. In our post-9/11 society, we immediately associate “different” as suspicious, and the act allows the U.S. government to detain any “suspicious” individuals. Do their acts, or their appearance lead us to discriminate? We are still exploiting and discriminating against foreigners to this day.
I didn’t have to run home every day to avoid being thrown rocks at; instead, my experience led to feelings of frustration at other peoples’ cultural ignorance, and possibilty that things would never really change. History teaches us that conditions will change, but the prejudice towards foreigners will remain. While we may think that in the 21st Century we are open-minded, we continue to exploit foreigners, distribute the term “outsider,” and are thus, just as close-minded as ever before.
The Human Alien
The planet Earth is just one piece of sand on the beach we call the Universe. Hence, it is really hard to think that we are the only inhabitants of this immense structure. This explains the many searches for life on our neighboring planets, the alien image in pop cultures and all of the dubious alien-abductions and UFO’s. That is why until we don’t encounter those green, round-headed creatures, we try to find, or rather create aliens among ourselves.
Sadly, it is human nature to feel superior to others – to alienate. Therefore, just by being a foreigner, having a different religion, different color of skin, or simply by belonging to a different clique, a person can be alienated. However, in my article I would like to concentrate on the people of different sexual orientation: homosexuals and society’s outcasts: prisoners.
Lately, a person’s sexual orientation has become an important part of the person’s identity; namely, society puts too much stress on it. People get tagged – they become straight or gay, a distinction that is simply too vague. Yet, the alien among these two is the homosexual. Why? Simply because they are ‘different’ (whatever that might signify) and because they do not follow nature’s canon. And instead of accepting that difference, society chooses to alienate them. An example of this is the death penalty for homosexuals that existed during the French Revolution and the horrible treatment that they received in the concentration camps during World War 2. Why? Just because they were homosexuals.
On the other hand, the prisoners are psychologically and physically alienated – they are put into prisons and segregated from society. This is an example on how society punishes people for their wrongdoings – puts them between four concrete walls, in a world guided by routine. Also, the only communications that they have with the outside world are letters and the few visits that they have the right to. And after their ‘stay’ in the prison they are expected to reintegrate into society; however, that is not an easy task for they have been turned into E.T. and they will act like the alien. At least for the first few months.
Thus, in order to satisfy the people’s hunger to be someone different, someone alien, society has created aliens among us. Everyone has felt like an alien at least at one point in their lives, you know that feeling when you are in a room full of people, and yet you feel completely alone? Not a very comfortable feeling, eh?
Sadly, it is human nature to feel superior to others – to alienate. Therefore, just by being a foreigner, having a different religion, different color of skin, or simply by belonging to a different clique, a person can be alienated. However, in my article I would like to concentrate on the people of different sexual orientation: homosexuals and society’s outcasts: prisoners.
Lately, a person’s sexual orientation has become an important part of the person’s identity; namely, society puts too much stress on it. People get tagged – they become straight or gay, a distinction that is simply too vague. Yet, the alien among these two is the homosexual. Why? Simply because they are ‘different’ (whatever that might signify) and because they do not follow nature’s canon. And instead of accepting that difference, society chooses to alienate them. An example of this is the death penalty for homosexuals that existed during the French Revolution and the horrible treatment that they received in the concentration camps during World War 2. Why? Just because they were homosexuals.
On the other hand, the prisoners are psychologically and physically alienated – they are put into prisons and segregated from society. This is an example on how society punishes people for their wrongdoings – puts them between four concrete walls, in a world guided by routine. Also, the only communications that they have with the outside world are letters and the few visits that they have the right to. And after their ‘stay’ in the prison they are expected to reintegrate into society; however, that is not an easy task for they have been turned into E.T. and they will act like the alien. At least for the first few months.
Thus, in order to satisfy the people’s hunger to be someone different, someone alien, society has created aliens among us. Everyone has felt like an alien at least at one point in their lives, you know that feeling when you are in a room full of people, and yet you feel completely alone? Not a very comfortable feeling, eh?
Alienation in Society
The issue of alienation has become a rapidly growing problem in our modern everyday society. Directly or indirectly, we are all targeted by this term which certainly has lived up to its infamous reputation. Alienation is used as a broad term to describe situations in which people have been affected in various ways with negative outcomes. These outcomes occur as the result of ill-treatment within a society.
Targets of alienation are distributed along a wider range; therefore to narrow this broad range of targets down to children is a crucial task. This is so because to understand the minds of children is a sensitive effort due to their vulnerability to the influence or corruption of the outside world. That is, the world of adults, the world in which their innocence and youth do not belong. To complete this task successfully we must first investigate the unique elements of the mind which are then linked to destructive emotions, as well as the significance and impact of human relationships.
Let us begin with the home. Due to the madness of the 21st century the values of the home are continually degrading in such a way that the necessary contributions each family member owes are being overlooked. It is up to the parents to create and provide the children with a safe environment in which to live. A safe environment is one in which the parents do what they can to protect their children from harm. They give value to the home, and raise their children in a trusty environment. In an ideal home, children feel free to express and discuss important things with their parents thus creating an unconditional bond which cannot be broken. However, in some unfortunate cases, the bonds that link the members of a family can be broken.
Divorce has become a norm in the western world but its consequences must not be overlooked by society. Parental alienation arises from the wish to divorce. The Parental Alienation Syndrome (P.A.S.) refers to the efforts of one parent to spoil the child’s perception of the other parent. In other words, P.A.S. refers to the efforts to turn a child against the other parent. These efforts would obviously have long-term effects on the child who must suffer from the selfishness of such a parent. Do you find yourself asking what kinds values a selfish parent might have? Parents constantly have to give something of themselves in order to make their children’s lives as good as possible. In this case a parent that has given too much might in the end lose or forget the values of his or her own life. In such cases, we cannot blame parents for making a decision which would benefit their own lives. However, those parents, whose lives’ intentions are to benefit themselves only, are indeed selfish. Children are pushed aside feeling unwanted and unloved. Money, jealousy, fear and revenge are all factors which contribute to self-centered decision making.
Children tend to have complex internal emotions which can often lead to guilt. Maybe they were the reason why their parents divorced? It is mere exposure that sparks curiosity in children’s minds and leads to painful emotions. Negotiations between the parents and children must be made in order for a healthy transition to take place. We must never underestimate the effects of divorce on children because divorce is often a reason why children develop social problems. If parents make their children feel unwanted, then these children would naturally reach the conclusion that they are not wanted by anyone, resulting in societal difficulties.
Yet how can this possibly be a healthy transition? The alienating parent intentionally risks the health of the relationship of the child and the other parent. Such domestic problems lead the child to experience such emotions as fear, anger, or increasing insecurity which have an effect on the roles children play in society and most importantly in large social institutions such as school. In school, their insecure states of mind could become the targets of bullying.
Domestic problems may or may not cause children to become insecure. In such cases when this does occur, insecurity could lead children to have certain behavioral problems through which they easily become outcasts in society. Domestic problems could lead to behavior problems such as increased anger, violence, or in some cases emotional detachment, depression, self conscience or isolation.
It is known that people in society today either consciously or unconsciously steer away from the company of people who are not very open towards others. Children with bad approaches to society become emotionally isolated from the rest because they do not feel anybody else understands them. We have to understand that divorce causes children to undergo a drastic change in their lives. When people in general undergo such changes, they focus only on the pain that the change brings to their lives. Focusing on the pain, children fear that it could get worse which is what causes them to draw back from society. Emotions can cause us to act in irrational ways; this is why emotional isolation can prevent the freedom of expression in children suffering from alienation due to divorce.
Personally, I have a friend who has suffered from the emotional pain resulting from her parents’ divorce. Although we have never been as close as we might’ve been, I assume she indulged herself in her interests as a way to escape this problem when we were little. When I moved back, others told me she was strange and unsocial, yet when we talked, she was about one of the nicest people I stumbled upon. The view a society has of a person has a lot to do with how they are treated. In small societies, domestic problems are so often talked about that they no longer remain domestic. The mere knowledge that someone has a specific problem naturally causes people to treat that person differently. So how can children fit in societies in which they already know what is spoken of them? I hold the belief that children can find ways to heal, but it is tragic that they should be put in such positions in the first place as a result of ignorance.
Targets of alienation are distributed along a wider range; therefore to narrow this broad range of targets down to children is a crucial task. This is so because to understand the minds of children is a sensitive effort due to their vulnerability to the influence or corruption of the outside world. That is, the world of adults, the world in which their innocence and youth do not belong. To complete this task successfully we must first investigate the unique elements of the mind which are then linked to destructive emotions, as well as the significance and impact of human relationships.
Let us begin with the home. Due to the madness of the 21st century the values of the home are continually degrading in such a way that the necessary contributions each family member owes are being overlooked. It is up to the parents to create and provide the children with a safe environment in which to live. A safe environment is one in which the parents do what they can to protect their children from harm. They give value to the home, and raise their children in a trusty environment. In an ideal home, children feel free to express and discuss important things with their parents thus creating an unconditional bond which cannot be broken. However, in some unfortunate cases, the bonds that link the members of a family can be broken.
Divorce has become a norm in the western world but its consequences must not be overlooked by society. Parental alienation arises from the wish to divorce. The Parental Alienation Syndrome (P.A.S.) refers to the efforts of one parent to spoil the child’s perception of the other parent. In other words, P.A.S. refers to the efforts to turn a child against the other parent. These efforts would obviously have long-term effects on the child who must suffer from the selfishness of such a parent. Do you find yourself asking what kinds values a selfish parent might have? Parents constantly have to give something of themselves in order to make their children’s lives as good as possible. In this case a parent that has given too much might in the end lose or forget the values of his or her own life. In such cases, we cannot blame parents for making a decision which would benefit their own lives. However, those parents, whose lives’ intentions are to benefit themselves only, are indeed selfish. Children are pushed aside feeling unwanted and unloved. Money, jealousy, fear and revenge are all factors which contribute to self-centered decision making.
Children tend to have complex internal emotions which can often lead to guilt. Maybe they were the reason why their parents divorced? It is mere exposure that sparks curiosity in children’s minds and leads to painful emotions. Negotiations between the parents and children must be made in order for a healthy transition to take place. We must never underestimate the effects of divorce on children because divorce is often a reason why children develop social problems. If parents make their children feel unwanted, then these children would naturally reach the conclusion that they are not wanted by anyone, resulting in societal difficulties.
Yet how can this possibly be a healthy transition? The alienating parent intentionally risks the health of the relationship of the child and the other parent. Such domestic problems lead the child to experience such emotions as fear, anger, or increasing insecurity which have an effect on the roles children play in society and most importantly in large social institutions such as school. In school, their insecure states of mind could become the targets of bullying.
Domestic problems may or may not cause children to become insecure. In such cases when this does occur, insecurity could lead children to have certain behavioral problems through which they easily become outcasts in society. Domestic problems could lead to behavior problems such as increased anger, violence, or in some cases emotional detachment, depression, self conscience or isolation.
It is known that people in society today either consciously or unconsciously steer away from the company of people who are not very open towards others. Children with bad approaches to society become emotionally isolated from the rest because they do not feel anybody else understands them. We have to understand that divorce causes children to undergo a drastic change in their lives. When people in general undergo such changes, they focus only on the pain that the change brings to their lives. Focusing on the pain, children fear that it could get worse which is what causes them to draw back from society. Emotions can cause us to act in irrational ways; this is why emotional isolation can prevent the freedom of expression in children suffering from alienation due to divorce.
Personally, I have a friend who has suffered from the emotional pain resulting from her parents’ divorce. Although we have never been as close as we might’ve been, I assume she indulged herself in her interests as a way to escape this problem when we were little. When I moved back, others told me she was strange and unsocial, yet when we talked, she was about one of the nicest people I stumbled upon. The view a society has of a person has a lot to do with how they are treated. In small societies, domestic problems are so often talked about that they no longer remain domestic. The mere knowledge that someone has a specific problem naturally causes people to treat that person differently. So how can children fit in societies in which they already know what is spoken of them? I hold the belief that children can find ways to heal, but it is tragic that they should be put in such positions in the first place as a result of ignorance.
Fused Feelings
A personal shock
“…It was a great shock for the girl when she came to the United States for the first time. She was one in the crowd of foreigners on the airport. The girl thought she is lost. Completely alone, wondering what will happen. Then, she got there, at the college where she was going to attend a summer program. The first week was a real shock. She felt alone. There was no one to whom she could talk. Slowly, everything started changing. The girl found friends. She started adapting to the new environment and accepting things. She did not feel like foreigner any longer. She was one of the many walking on Brooklyn Bridge, one of the many who were reading in Columbia’s Low Library, one of the many who were living in Manhattan’s borough. At the end of the program, she was happy. The girl managed to find her place in NYC. It was the place where she discovered herself for the first time. It was the city that helped her discover what she wanted to do in life…”
Mixed feelings of a foreigner.
How do foreigners feel in another country? It really depends, but what usually happens to most internationals is a cultural shock.
As the world grows, as increasing number of people travel, work or study abroad, more attention is given on the type of silent sickness that most of the time damages the inexperienced traveler. What basically happens is the loss of emotional equilibrium that a person suffers when he/she moves from a familiar environment where the person learned to function easily and successfully. This basically describes the shock a foreigner feel. The individual in the new environment might feel miserable and often consider that there is something wrong. Not all, to be sure, suffer significant emotional disorientation. However, many do, especially the ones who have never before been away from home.
The transition to an alien culture often has an impact. For example an American is visiting certain Eastern European country. The American can find himself depressed by some living conditions in most of the rural areas.
When a person takes up residence in a foreign country there is a period of excitement when everything seems new and challenging. However, after a while, that person may fill like victim. The victim says to himself, "These people don't seem to know or care what I'm going through. Therefore they must be selfish, insensitive people. Therefore I don't like them." In that way the individual receives negative feedback and the self-esteem gets lower and lower.
Often communication is difficult for a foreigner in another country when is in the company of bunch of people who belong to that country. Experts in communication emphasize the fact that language and voice are by no means the only form of communication; they can be supported by number of facial expressions that are misinterpreted.
Almost always, fortunately, symptoms of culture shock subside with the passage of time. The first sign of recovery may well be the reappearance of the victim's sense of humor; she/he begins to smile or even laugh at some of the things that irritated him/her so much at first. As familiarity with local language and customs increases, his/her self-confidence and self-esteem begin to return. In fact, there is a slow progress.
Foreigners should:
• Be aware that a culture shock exists, that will have an effect, but it doesn’t last forever.
• Try to remember that the problem is in them.
• Accept the idea that is painful, but they should not give up easily. At the it is just a wonderful experience.
“…It was a great shock for the girl when she came to the United States for the first time. She was one in the crowd of foreigners on the airport. The girl thought she is lost. Completely alone, wondering what will happen. Then, she got there, at the college where she was going to attend a summer program. The first week was a real shock. She felt alone. There was no one to whom she could talk. Slowly, everything started changing. The girl found friends. She started adapting to the new environment and accepting things. She did not feel like foreigner any longer. She was one of the many walking on Brooklyn Bridge, one of the many who were reading in Columbia’s Low Library, one of the many who were living in Manhattan’s borough. At the end of the program, she was happy. The girl managed to find her place in NYC. It was the place where she discovered herself for the first time. It was the city that helped her discover what she wanted to do in life…”
Mixed feelings of a foreigner.
How do foreigners feel in another country? It really depends, but what usually happens to most internationals is a cultural shock.
As the world grows, as increasing number of people travel, work or study abroad, more attention is given on the type of silent sickness that most of the time damages the inexperienced traveler. What basically happens is the loss of emotional equilibrium that a person suffers when he/she moves from a familiar environment where the person learned to function easily and successfully. This basically describes the shock a foreigner feel. The individual in the new environment might feel miserable and often consider that there is something wrong. Not all, to be sure, suffer significant emotional disorientation. However, many do, especially the ones who have never before been away from home.
The transition to an alien culture often has an impact. For example an American is visiting certain Eastern European country. The American can find himself depressed by some living conditions in most of the rural areas.
When a person takes up residence in a foreign country there is a period of excitement when everything seems new and challenging. However, after a while, that person may fill like victim. The victim says to himself, "These people don't seem to know or care what I'm going through. Therefore they must be selfish, insensitive people. Therefore I don't like them." In that way the individual receives negative feedback and the self-esteem gets lower and lower.
Often communication is difficult for a foreigner in another country when is in the company of bunch of people who belong to that country. Experts in communication emphasize the fact that language and voice are by no means the only form of communication; they can be supported by number of facial expressions that are misinterpreted.
Almost always, fortunately, symptoms of culture shock subside with the passage of time. The first sign of recovery may well be the reappearance of the victim's sense of humor; she/he begins to smile or even laugh at some of the things that irritated him/her so much at first. As familiarity with local language and customs increases, his/her self-confidence and self-esteem begin to return. In fact, there is a slow progress.
Foreigners should:
• Be aware that a culture shock exists, that will have an effect, but it doesn’t last forever.
• Try to remember that the problem is in them.
• Accept the idea that is painful, but they should not give up easily. At the it is just a wonderful experience.
An Encounter
Septimus looked serene; his eyes were watery, and his heart slippery. His troubled mind did not seem all too cooperative with his unblemished inner self, and he just sat there, evoking a feeling of both awe and pity in the passer-bys, with his halo of floating despair and bits and pieces of clumsy silence above his head. He felt as if he had been yelling for hours, yet knew that he had not uttered a word for the past couple of days. Or maybe he had yelled, but the sound frequency of his voice was unrecognizable to his fellow humans. Was he even human? Certainly, the halo didn’t make him an angel; the halo doesn’t make the angel, Septimus thought. Besides, angels have golden halos, and his was sort of dirty blonde, murky, and it had an unsavory texture and an inappropriate weight- it was heavy, it was one heavy halo to own. Incidentally, it was also an invisible halo, because no one except he could see it; thus, it only had Septimus to victimize. He looked up. Oh, how the clouds stumbled in and assembled stupidly in the sky. Great, obese clouds. Dark and plump. Bumping into each other. Apologizing. Moving on and finding room.
“What is that above your head?”
Septimus turned. He was used to strangers talking to him, but never had someone taken notice of his notorious halo.
“Above my head?”
The woman looked confused. She looked around inquiringly, moving her eyes at a pace Septimus found hard to follow. She was wearing a long pajama, had huge eyes, enormous eye bags, not much of a hairstyle, but she was beautiful. And beautifully confused. She looked as if she had just miscalculated something very important; a miscalculation that could bring about the end of the world.
“The grass,” she whispered “it’s green.”
Septimus considered the possibility of her being an escapee from the asylum Dr.Bradshaw wanted him sent to.
“Is this Antarctica?”
“Regent’s Park.”
“Washington?”
“London.”
“London!?” she screamed. “How did I end up in London? Why are you intruding upon my hallucination?”
“Hallucination?”
“I was supposed to be sent to Antarctica. My travel agent, he promised.”
The woman seemed deeply disturbed by the fact that she had not, after all, landed on Antarctica. Septimus had never met such a woman before, and, although a little intimidated, decided to comfort her.
“Don’t worry Miss. London is an exciting place. I am sure you will have more fun here than you would on Antarctica,” Septimus continued, doubting his own words. “What’s so special about Antarctica anyway?”
“Everything is white there,” the woman said, “and there are no people, only snow. And Eskimos. And I can build an entire city just the way I want it to be. And,” she continued fervently, shaking from excitement, “I can have a baby there. I will be all by myself. Wonderfully alone.”
Septimus’s eyes widened; his halo felt heavy.
“May I come, too?”
“Ahem. You will have to arrange that with my travel agent. But I am quite sure you may join me,” she smiled her vague smile.
Septimus smiled as well. Two people in Regent’s Park, a man sitting down and a woman standing next to him, kept smiling at each other, finding each other, groping for recognition. There was something familiar about the man, she thought, and felt how he noticed there was something familiar about her as well.
“I will now sit beside you,” the woman said, very matter-of-factly. Such an awkward woman. Such a lonely heart.
“Harper Pitt.”
“Septimus Warren Smith.”
A handshake. Silence.
“I have emotional problems,” Harper broke the silence, which was not in the least awkward. “Actually, my husband thinks I have emotional problems. I don’t think I have any problems.”
“My wife thinks I am not sane,” Septimus joined her. “She takes me to this doctor, and he keeps telling her to send me away.”
“Why don’t you leave your wife?”
“Why don’t you leave your husband?”
“My husband is a homosexual.”
“My wife is Italian.”
Silence.
“I want one of those things over my head. It’d make me look special, so heavenly. Like a martyr.”
“Martyrs suffer on behalf of their causes,” Septimus said thoughtfully.
“What’s your cause?” she asked.
“Preserving,” answered Septimus. “What’s yours?”
“Searching,” she answered, smiling again. There was something so splendid about the way in which the woman formulated her responses, but at the same time another feeling would not let you admire it.
“What do you say that we continue our quests on Antarctica?” Harper stood up, “I think you might have a better chance at preserving there, don’t you think?”
“And you would have a broader searching area,” he added. “Besides, it’s easier to find something if everything else is white, isn’t it?”
“Agreed.”
Two people, holding hands, walked through Regent’s park in London, and headed south. They were two people who, although they had never met before, recognized each other and decided to embark on a journey. As the sun set and the light left London, two lone owners of two lonely hearts walked south, their haloes illuminating their path, making their way to Antarctica.
“What is that above your head?”
Septimus turned. He was used to strangers talking to him, but never had someone taken notice of his notorious halo.
“Above my head?”
The woman looked confused. She looked around inquiringly, moving her eyes at a pace Septimus found hard to follow. She was wearing a long pajama, had huge eyes, enormous eye bags, not much of a hairstyle, but she was beautiful. And beautifully confused. She looked as if she had just miscalculated something very important; a miscalculation that could bring about the end of the world.
“The grass,” she whispered “it’s green.”
Septimus considered the possibility of her being an escapee from the asylum Dr.Bradshaw wanted him sent to.
“Is this Antarctica?”
“Regent’s Park.”
“Washington?”
“London.”
“London!?” she screamed. “How did I end up in London? Why are you intruding upon my hallucination?”
“Hallucination?”
“I was supposed to be sent to Antarctica. My travel agent, he promised.”
The woman seemed deeply disturbed by the fact that she had not, after all, landed on Antarctica. Septimus had never met such a woman before, and, although a little intimidated, decided to comfort her.
“Don’t worry Miss. London is an exciting place. I am sure you will have more fun here than you would on Antarctica,” Septimus continued, doubting his own words. “What’s so special about Antarctica anyway?”
“Everything is white there,” the woman said, “and there are no people, only snow. And Eskimos. And I can build an entire city just the way I want it to be. And,” she continued fervently, shaking from excitement, “I can have a baby there. I will be all by myself. Wonderfully alone.”
Septimus’s eyes widened; his halo felt heavy.
“May I come, too?”
“Ahem. You will have to arrange that with my travel agent. But I am quite sure you may join me,” she smiled her vague smile.
Septimus smiled as well. Two people in Regent’s Park, a man sitting down and a woman standing next to him, kept smiling at each other, finding each other, groping for recognition. There was something familiar about the man, she thought, and felt how he noticed there was something familiar about her as well.
“I will now sit beside you,” the woman said, very matter-of-factly. Such an awkward woman. Such a lonely heart.
“Harper Pitt.”
“Septimus Warren Smith.”
A handshake. Silence.
“I have emotional problems,” Harper broke the silence, which was not in the least awkward. “Actually, my husband thinks I have emotional problems. I don’t think I have any problems.”
“My wife thinks I am not sane,” Septimus joined her. “She takes me to this doctor, and he keeps telling her to send me away.”
“Why don’t you leave your wife?”
“Why don’t you leave your husband?”
“My husband is a homosexual.”
“My wife is Italian.”
Silence.
“I want one of those things over my head. It’d make me look special, so heavenly. Like a martyr.”
“Martyrs suffer on behalf of their causes,” Septimus said thoughtfully.
“What’s your cause?” she asked.
“Preserving,” answered Septimus. “What’s yours?”
“Searching,” she answered, smiling again. There was something so splendid about the way in which the woman formulated her responses, but at the same time another feeling would not let you admire it.
“What do you say that we continue our quests on Antarctica?” Harper stood up, “I think you might have a better chance at preserving there, don’t you think?”
“And you would have a broader searching area,” he added. “Besides, it’s easier to find something if everything else is white, isn’t it?”
“Agreed.”
Two people, holding hands, walked through Regent’s park in London, and headed south. They were two people who, although they had never met before, recognized each other and decided to embark on a journey. As the sun set and the light left London, two lone owners of two lonely hearts walked south, their haloes illuminating their path, making their way to Antarctica.
Alienation required?
Alien. ALIENATION – a broad term which has gained several different meanings in different contexts. Over the years, the term alienation has been utilized to describe various situations from our existence. The term has gained its place in the writings of several well-known philosophers, of which most famous Karl Marx, who spoke of workers being alienated from their work and the products under capitalism. In modern law, alienation came to signify the transfer of ownership of property rights. However, ALIENATION is mostly associated with a demoralized state of the soul due to isolation, or difficulties in relating to the society. It is widely recognized as the state of estrangement or separation from one’s environment, or self. Consequently, it has gained its negative connotation instilled in the head of every high school student familiar with the plethora of literary works that contain some form of social or self- alienation as an underlying theme.
However, the other side of the coin reveals an important aspect of alienation that has been overlooked. It is the impartiality that comes with estrangement. Devoid of emotion and bias, to which no human is resilient, one could cool-headedly pass the right judgment and eliminate the tendency to be swayed and driven astray by one’s mood, circumstances, or relationships with others. An emotional distance is required to reflect on a situation in an objective way. Detachment often gives a clearer view on a situation and thus, better understanding.
In many ways this is similar to being an audience of a play: one critically observes the situation, yet, tries not to identify with the actors and to pass right judgment on their actions. However, even when a part of an audience, humans tend to bond emotionally to some characters; thus, even in the theatre, the need for estrangement has been recognized by some of the playwrights. The 20th century German playwright Bertolt Brecht used the term ‘Verfremdungseffekt’, with is often translated as the ‘alienation’ or the ‘distancing effect’ in English to explain this need for isolation. He believed that some devices must be instituted in the play that would, as he says, "prevent the audience from losing itself passively and completely in the character created by the actor, which consequently leads the audience to be a consciously critical observer." Hence, various techniques, such as addressing the audience, have been employed to disrupt the stage illusion and allow the audience to be an “analytical spectator” of the play.
Many of the everyday conflicts require from us the role of an analytical spectator that Brecht wished for the audience of his plays. The objective assessment of situations has a key importance in our lives. Yet, distancing is much more difficult in the real life, because the human tendency of emotional attachment is added to the equation. And with the addition of human nature, the equation rarely results in impartiality, which is needed not only in everyday activities, but more importantly, as an important aspect of some professions.
Health care professionals, for example, are widely considered as the ‘caregivers’, the ones that need to deeply and genuinely care for their patients. I disagree with this assumption, as these professionals need only be benevolent and act in a caring manner, but not to get emotionally attached to their patients. In this case, care becomes the vice of health care professionals as it impedes their reasoning and decision-making skills at work. A distance between the patients and the health care professionals need to be kept for objectivity in health care is of essential importance.
Another important field, in which this ‘self imposed distancing’ and ‘alienation’ would prove to be of great use, is our own journalistic one. In the time, when information is reaching the homes of thousands peoples in less than a minute, the threat of mass disinformation and manipulation is immense. A responsible journalist would not let his/her feeling interfere with the way in which he/she reports a story; on the contrary, an individual like that, aware of the responsibilities that his/her job brings, should be able to build the required distance from the subject and be able to approach it objectively. Same applies to judges and other arbiters.
But perhaps the most important type of required alienation is the time of self-estrangement that one should experience in order to assess one’s own actions clearly. It the fast – paced world we live in, most of us rarely have time to be contemplative about their lives. It is highly important to be able to critically evaluate not only situations and other people’s actions, but also one self’s – something that only few are able to do.
The same distancing from the topic of study and its accepted definition that I strive to promote is what led me to write this article in the ‘Alien Issue’ of our newspaper. Despite the negative connotations that ALIENATION has acquired, I sought to present you our desperate need for estrangement in some social situations: a need that should be recognized as an inevitable aspect of human life.
However, the other side of the coin reveals an important aspect of alienation that has been overlooked. It is the impartiality that comes with estrangement. Devoid of emotion and bias, to which no human is resilient, one could cool-headedly pass the right judgment and eliminate the tendency to be swayed and driven astray by one’s mood, circumstances, or relationships with others. An emotional distance is required to reflect on a situation in an objective way. Detachment often gives a clearer view on a situation and thus, better understanding.
In many ways this is similar to being an audience of a play: one critically observes the situation, yet, tries not to identify with the actors and to pass right judgment on their actions. However, even when a part of an audience, humans tend to bond emotionally to some characters; thus, even in the theatre, the need for estrangement has been recognized by some of the playwrights. The 20th century German playwright Bertolt Brecht used the term ‘Verfremdungseffekt’, with is often translated as the ‘alienation’ or the ‘distancing effect’ in English to explain this need for isolation. He believed that some devices must be instituted in the play that would, as he says, "prevent the audience from losing itself passively and completely in the character created by the actor, which consequently leads the audience to be a consciously critical observer." Hence, various techniques, such as addressing the audience, have been employed to disrupt the stage illusion and allow the audience to be an “analytical spectator” of the play.
Many of the everyday conflicts require from us the role of an analytical spectator that Brecht wished for the audience of his plays. The objective assessment of situations has a key importance in our lives. Yet, distancing is much more difficult in the real life, because the human tendency of emotional attachment is added to the equation. And with the addition of human nature, the equation rarely results in impartiality, which is needed not only in everyday activities, but more importantly, as an important aspect of some professions.
Health care professionals, for example, are widely considered as the ‘caregivers’, the ones that need to deeply and genuinely care for their patients. I disagree with this assumption, as these professionals need only be benevolent and act in a caring manner, but not to get emotionally attached to their patients. In this case, care becomes the vice of health care professionals as it impedes their reasoning and decision-making skills at work. A distance between the patients and the health care professionals need to be kept for objectivity in health care is of essential importance.
Another important field, in which this ‘self imposed distancing’ and ‘alienation’ would prove to be of great use, is our own journalistic one. In the time, when information is reaching the homes of thousands peoples in less than a minute, the threat of mass disinformation and manipulation is immense. A responsible journalist would not let his/her feeling interfere with the way in which he/she reports a story; on the contrary, an individual like that, aware of the responsibilities that his/her job brings, should be able to build the required distance from the subject and be able to approach it objectively. Same applies to judges and other arbiters.
But perhaps the most important type of required alienation is the time of self-estrangement that one should experience in order to assess one’s own actions clearly. It the fast – paced world we live in, most of us rarely have time to be contemplative about their lives. It is highly important to be able to critically evaluate not only situations and other people’s actions, but also one self’s – something that only few are able to do.
The same distancing from the topic of study and its accepted definition that I strive to promote is what led me to write this article in the ‘Alien Issue’ of our newspaper. Despite the negative connotations that ALIENATION has acquired, I sought to present you our desperate need for estrangement in some social situations: a need that should be recognized as an inevitable aspect of human life.
Aliens exist? Or not?
It’s one of the greatest mysteries. It has proofs for and against. It has been a controversial topic since ancient times. Aliens. Extraterrestrial life. The others. Do they exist somewhere out there in the universe? Or is it all a conspiracy theory of the governments?
Can we ever prove any of the theories or just speculate and choose to live an unknown and maybe safer life?
But first of all, what is considered under the term alien? Unlike most of the other articles in this issue, where the terms “alien” and “alienated” concern a human being, who has somehow been separated, distinguished and lost touch with reality, here alien means someone from another planet, a non-human being , an extraterrestrial form of life. It can be of any size and shape, as long as it shows signs of life, recognized as breathing, moving, feeding. Different, extraterrestrial forms of life have been noticed throughout history. Many myths and legends from various parts of the world confirm the visits of aliens to Earth. The oldest proof dates from 12000 BC and it was found on the Sino-Tibetan border by Chinese scientists. It is known by the name Dropa Stones and this alien proof is composed of hundreds of stone disks, all nine-inches in diameter. It is supposed they were used as primitive form of phonograph, because later it was discovered it contained a spiral groove as well. On the spiral groove, thousands of hieroglyphs were inscribed that told the story of the arrival of creatures from another planet. In early forms of Hindi, Mayan and Chinese texts, there are the descriptions of visits of “weird, non-human creatures” that these cultures considered their deities. They prayed to them, built monumental objects (sometimes it assumed that these creatures helped them built the objects, because all of them are built under suspicious circumstances and in an incredibly short period of time). That’s the case with the Egyptian pyramids. Many people believe they were built by aliens. Why is that so? Due to the fact that the pyramids were built in 20 years, with 2.3 million stones that weighted from 2 to 15 tones and were brought from Aswan and Luxor (which are 1000 km far from Giza, Cairo). Is this possible? Many people think it’s not a human work and another fact that further supports this observation is the Mayan pyramids, which are very similar to the Egyptian ones although they are far away from each other.
But what about recent evidence of alien visits? The most famous stories include the Roswell case, the Area 51 mystery and the Varginha case. Most popular and believable is the Roswell case which occurred on July 4th, 1947. A small, brightly glowing object was observed to crash near Roswell, New Mexico and in the next few days strange things were happening around that region, which is believed that were later covered by the US government. Unusual objects were monitored on the radars; the citizens saw weird flashes on the sky and then the explorers found THEM. Five non-human bodies lying on the site of the crash, next to the metal leftovers of the object they arrived with. They were short, 3.5 feet tall, had slit mouth, and large oval eyes. One of them was found to be alive and it was taken to the ambulance together with the other bodies. However, after that there is no trace of the mysterious creatures found in the Roswell fields. Stories have been changed, newspapers published censored versions, witnesses mysteriously disappeared… All in attempt to cover up whatever happened on July 4th, 1947. But why? Why would people want to hide the existence of beings from another planet? Maybe they didn’t want to create panic, maybe they were smarter than people and then the whole anthropocentric representation we have would be ruined, maybe they didn’t want to ruin the natural balance on Earth and create conflicts and wars. Or maybe this didn’t happen at all? Perhaps it was only a water balloon, and not a flying saucer, but what about the many witnesses and the photos of the creatures? However, this is not the only case. So far, 50 million people reported they have seen UFOs and 15 million of them said they have registered close contact with aliens. Can all these people lie or misjudge the situation? That’s highly unlikely.
We live on Earth, a planet part of the Milky Way galaxy. And even if there isn’t proof of life in our galaxy, the Hubble Space Telescope estimates there are 125 billion galaxies, out of which 3 billion are observable. And it would be very ignorant and self centered if we as people think that in that vast number of galaxies with even greater number of planets, there are no other forms of life. The potential “aliens” might not exist in the form of something similar as humans; they might only be tiny, micro molecular organisms, as it was the case with the discovery of such on Mars in 1996. On August 6, the scientist from NASA confirmed the existence of fossil life on Mars. It was labeled "Allen Hills 84001" or "ALH 84001" and the presence of a complex organic compound was found within it, which points out to a biological origin. However, this doesn’t prove anything because it is not the “tiny, oval eyed, slited mouth, green or gray aliens” that we all expect to see, but it is a progress in the discoveries connected to extraterrestrial forms.
But what about the other side of the story? Which is the evidence against alien existence? Some people claim they do not exist at all, other say their technology is far too advanced or far too different than what we use and therefore we can not realize communication, others say that scientist do not know where to look for them and that they might not be able to detect them, because of their existence on a higher scale. The skeptics or the ones that are afraid to acknowledge their existence say that they would have just showed up by now or would have been discovered by the scientists.
Whatever the true reason is, it is up to you to decide whether you are going to believe in aliens and extra terrestrial existence. By the time we truly discover which of these theories and speculations is correct, we can continue watching sci-fi movies and read fantasy books and articles that attempt to expose the truth and keep wondering what we should believe in, in this world of uncertainty and myriad of information and speculations.
Can we ever prove any of the theories or just speculate and choose to live an unknown and maybe safer life?
But first of all, what is considered under the term alien? Unlike most of the other articles in this issue, where the terms “alien” and “alienated” concern a human being, who has somehow been separated, distinguished and lost touch with reality, here alien means someone from another planet, a non-human being , an extraterrestrial form of life. It can be of any size and shape, as long as it shows signs of life, recognized as breathing, moving, feeding. Different, extraterrestrial forms of life have been noticed throughout history. Many myths and legends from various parts of the world confirm the visits of aliens to Earth. The oldest proof dates from 12000 BC and it was found on the Sino-Tibetan border by Chinese scientists. It is known by the name Dropa Stones and this alien proof is composed of hundreds of stone disks, all nine-inches in diameter. It is supposed they were used as primitive form of phonograph, because later it was discovered it contained a spiral groove as well. On the spiral groove, thousands of hieroglyphs were inscribed that told the story of the arrival of creatures from another planet. In early forms of Hindi, Mayan and Chinese texts, there are the descriptions of visits of “weird, non-human creatures” that these cultures considered their deities. They prayed to them, built monumental objects (sometimes it assumed that these creatures helped them built the objects, because all of them are built under suspicious circumstances and in an incredibly short period of time). That’s the case with the Egyptian pyramids. Many people believe they were built by aliens. Why is that so? Due to the fact that the pyramids were built in 20 years, with 2.3 million stones that weighted from 2 to 15 tones and were brought from Aswan and Luxor (which are 1000 km far from Giza, Cairo). Is this possible? Many people think it’s not a human work and another fact that further supports this observation is the Mayan pyramids, which are very similar to the Egyptian ones although they are far away from each other.
But what about recent evidence of alien visits? The most famous stories include the Roswell case, the Area 51 mystery and the Varginha case. Most popular and believable is the Roswell case which occurred on July 4th, 1947. A small, brightly glowing object was observed to crash near Roswell, New Mexico and in the next few days strange things were happening around that region, which is believed that were later covered by the US government. Unusual objects were monitored on the radars; the citizens saw weird flashes on the sky and then the explorers found THEM. Five non-human bodies lying on the site of the crash, next to the metal leftovers of the object they arrived with. They were short, 3.5 feet tall, had slit mouth, and large oval eyes. One of them was found to be alive and it was taken to the ambulance together with the other bodies. However, after that there is no trace of the mysterious creatures found in the Roswell fields. Stories have been changed, newspapers published censored versions, witnesses mysteriously disappeared… All in attempt to cover up whatever happened on July 4th, 1947. But why? Why would people want to hide the existence of beings from another planet? Maybe they didn’t want to create panic, maybe they were smarter than people and then the whole anthropocentric representation we have would be ruined, maybe they didn’t want to ruin the natural balance on Earth and create conflicts and wars. Or maybe this didn’t happen at all? Perhaps it was only a water balloon, and not a flying saucer, but what about the many witnesses and the photos of the creatures? However, this is not the only case. So far, 50 million people reported they have seen UFOs and 15 million of them said they have registered close contact with aliens. Can all these people lie or misjudge the situation? That’s highly unlikely.
We live on Earth, a planet part of the Milky Way galaxy. And even if there isn’t proof of life in our galaxy, the Hubble Space Telescope estimates there are 125 billion galaxies, out of which 3 billion are observable. And it would be very ignorant and self centered if we as people think that in that vast number of galaxies with even greater number of planets, there are no other forms of life. The potential “aliens” might not exist in the form of something similar as humans; they might only be tiny, micro molecular organisms, as it was the case with the discovery of such on Mars in 1996. On August 6, the scientist from NASA confirmed the existence of fossil life on Mars. It was labeled "Allen Hills 84001" or "ALH 84001" and the presence of a complex organic compound was found within it, which points out to a biological origin. However, this doesn’t prove anything because it is not the “tiny, oval eyed, slited mouth, green or gray aliens” that we all expect to see, but it is a progress in the discoveries connected to extraterrestrial forms.
But what about the other side of the story? Which is the evidence against alien existence? Some people claim they do not exist at all, other say their technology is far too advanced or far too different than what we use and therefore we can not realize communication, others say that scientist do not know where to look for them and that they might not be able to detect them, because of their existence on a higher scale. The skeptics or the ones that are afraid to acknowledge their existence say that they would have just showed up by now or would have been discovered by the scientists.
Whatever the true reason is, it is up to you to decide whether you are going to believe in aliens and extra terrestrial existence. By the time we truly discover which of these theories and speculations is correct, we can continue watching sci-fi movies and read fantasy books and articles that attempt to expose the truth and keep wondering what we should believe in, in this world of uncertainty and myriad of information and speculations.
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