So…I was watching V last night on the Action Channel, for the first time since i was six(god it’s a silly mini-series!), and I was stuck by how little there was in way of government reaction. Everyone, even the officials, just seemed to accept the aliens were there “for peaceful reasons” and let them gradually take over. I honestly couldn’t see something like that happening in reality.
Assuming that aliens do land tomorrow (which I guess also assumes that a. aliens exist b. that they’d visit earth. My apologies to those who have trouble suspending disbelief.) In our little scenario, all we have to go on is the aliens’ word that they need our help and won’t harm us. How would earth’s leaders react to it? Since I’m in the US, I think in terms of how the reactions of Democrats and Republicans might differ, but people from other countries are more than welcome to discuss how their governments would react as well if they were a prime landing site.
Would Republicans want to destroy them before they attacked? Would Democrats want to take away their weapons, then grant them visas and public housing? Or would the two parties feel the same way about it, agreeing on something for once?
It depends on the nature of the aliens. But both sides would try to create a dynamic of “these folks are fearful of the aliens, and would as soon blow them up as enslave them. But my group is open-minded and wishes to live in love and harmony with our intergalactic brothers”.
It would be funny to see each side trying to outdo each other in being open ot the aliens.
All the while agreeing behind closed doors to do everything they can to get that technology into the hands of Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Notrhrop Grumman and… er, I mean getting them into the hands of top academic researchers from the NSF, for peaceful purposes, of course…
That after both sides send their pants to the cleaners.
Meanwhile, elsewhere… IMO,
…mainstream leaders of the European Union would be attempting exactly the same things (for the benefit of Aerospatiale and BAe), while LePen and Haider would be saying “see? I told you! Aliens will keep coming and it only gets worse!”
In Russia, Putin would seek if there’s any way he can get economic aid from the aliens, and maybe some technology, to rebuild his industrial base. The Communists will claim that if they were still in power there would be a mighty Soviet space program to properly meet the aliens. The troops assigned to do the honor guard at the landing site will wonder if the aliens have any interesting booze aboard their ships.
Lybia, Syria, Iraq, Iran and their associates would show up with stacks of documents pretending to prove that the very first thing the aliens need to do is phaser Israel off the map. The OAU, the non-US/Canadian members of the OAS, the rest of the Arab League and the Nonaligned Nations Conference will show up with a claim that the aliens must fortwith rescue the entire world from starvation and disease and share all their technology, but exclusively with 3rd World governments, at no cost and with no conditions or expected consideration.
Back at the ranch (USA), Jerry Falwell will demand that the government not deal with the aliens until they recognize Jesus as the Lord. Pat Robertson will say that alien contact is proof of the end times. Jack VanImpe will identify the main EU-aliens negotiator as the antichrist. Jack Chick will publish serveral volumes of new tracts in which a young alien is converted. Collections will pour in. The US Catolic Bishops’ Conference will announce they’ve named a committee to “work on a statement” that will come out in a few months. Numerous posters at message boards all over the internet will gloat that this does or does not disprove God.
And so on…
The thing with the “V” scenario is, that if a vast armada of alien vessels capable of interstellar travel showed up in Earth Orbit… well, having the entire US Pacific Fleet and its Marine Force show up off the beaches of Tuvalu would not even approach the disparity. Capitulation would come swiftly in many places not necessarily because of assumptions about the benevolence of the aliens but from fear of what happens if you don’t go along.
I have a feeling that the answer to the question is ‘badly’. I wonder how some of the more egotistical players in politics might react to such an event, being shifted from large size fish in what seemed to be a huge pond (earth) to having your status in the entire universe instantly squished down. Somehow I don’t think many will react well.
Anyway, now that there are a few responses: I’m a Republican. I’m fully confident that the leaders of my party would immediately take the offensive. Doesn’t matter if the aliens look as harmless as bunnies, they’d immediately start talking about ways to blast them back to their own planet.
Charton Heston would probably spearhead a “concerned citizens collation” and vocally demand that we get rid of them, and call people to arms to get rid of them if no one official moves fast enough. There would be public outcry from more liberal fractions, calling him a blood thirst lunatic, but really, that isn’t new. We know he’s a bit touched.
And honestly, if thousands of aliens showed up en masse, would thinking that they were there for peaceful purposes really make sense? There’s a big difference between sending a few ambassadors, and sending a fleet. It’s hard to believe that they “come in peace” if they’re sending enough bodies to people several cities.
Super-religious folks will mistake the crafts for the rapture, and then huddle in their homes in a deep depression when they are not immediately taken to the lord. Others will call them morons. That’s not new, either.
Furthermore, if the aliens aren’t immediately attacked, or don’t pull a “war of the worlds” maneuver on us, there will be a lot more arguing amongst normal folks. Liberals will call conservatives war mongers, and conservatives will shoot back something along the lines of " you don’t value human like [re:abortion] but you’re willing to go the distance to help preserve the lives of potentially threatening aliens." This will lead to issue-based commercials from both sides that will be even stranger than the pro-choice ones that aired now.
A few people, extremists with no clear ties to either party, will claim that it is only just and right that the aliens attack earth, even if the aliens make no move to do so. Others will bother the aliens and demand to be taken with the aliens when they return to their home planet. Someone will write a tell-all book about going into one of the ships and being told that Bush and Gore are aliens from warring planets who are trying to drive the country apart, and that it was minions from their respective planets who caused the whole FL election mess.
