The book Alienation: The Cultural Climate of Our
Time by Gerald Sykes [George Braziller, NY, 1964] presents ruminations, in
Two Volumes, on how man becomes alienated from himself.
And this is exemplified by Ufology’s extraterrestrial (ET)
believers.
The great polymath Erich Fromm covers, in a chapter entitled
The Sane Society, what alienation means, in various vicissitudes of
life, which resonate with the “belief” of UFO buffs who think UFOs came to Earth
from outer space and are controlled (“manned”) by extraterrestrial beings.
You know my position on ET visitation by intelligent beings
[sic]:
If one looks at the night sky, and views the Milky Way, our
galaxy, supplementing that observation with views of the Universe that NASA and
astronomers have provided over the years, common sense tells us that Earth is a
remote backwater planet in an obscure location in the cosmos, a planet that
would not be on the travel agenda of an advanced species of living creatures
that have the ability to traverse space.
(Even advanced beings using “worm holes,” as some UFO ET
believers contend, would have far better places to visit, if the Universe is as
diverse and strange has cosmologists find it to be.)
What has happened is that UFO ET believers have lost their
senses, as the book, noted above, and Dr. Fromm’s chapter elucidates.
Fromm says the form of alienation affecting modern man has
been with humankind for a long while and was present in form as idolatry early
on.
“Man spends his energy, his artistic capacities on building
an idol, and then he worships this idol, which is nothing but the result of his
own human effort. His life forces have flown into a ‘thing,’ and this thing,
having become an idol, is not experienced as a result of his own productive
effort, but a something apart from himself, over and against him, which he
worships and to which he submits.” [op.cit., Page 68]
“ … man does not experience himself as the active bearer
of his own powers and richness, but as an impoverished ‘thing’ dependent on
powers outside himself, unto whom he has projected his living
substance.” [ibid, Page 69, italics are Fromm’s, bold print is mine]
“Alienation as we find it in modern society is almost total
…” [ibid, Page 70]
“We are surrounded by things of whose nature and origin we
know nothing.” [ibid Page 76]
“I believe also that the boredom and monotony of life which
is engendered by the alienated way of living is an additional factor.” [ibid,
Page 87]
Yes, my experience with UFO aficionados is that they are
bored and desirous of fame (or fortune) and need of attention, in some sphere
of life and have settled on the UFO phenomenon as the vehicle for their passage
from boredom and a meaningless existence.
UFOs offer an easy route to fame, even a fame that is
limited to a bizarre fringe of like-interested persons, the topic not requiring
much in the way of intellectual or academic acumen.
So, to sum up: You ET believers are living on the brink of a
psychological malady and are submersed in a form of self-instigated”
alienation.
You are almost nuts is what I’m saying.
An advanced species of intelligence and curiosity would not
engage in the ongoing and past surveillance of Earth in the numbers indicated
by UFO reports/sightings.
The Earth does not warrant such interest. It just doesn’t.
RR
A book that brings together all the information about the Roswell incident: documents, testimony, evidence, hypothesis, et cetera.
