Beam Me Up, Scotty

So as I was watching an old Star Trek the other night for I can’t even fathom how many times, it occurred to me there must be a reason. There are certainly no surprises there.

Shatner is pompous, conceited and overacts without any competition, then or now. And we loved him for every minute.

Spock is as usual calm, logical and an earful.

All the characters are so familiar, Bones, Uhura, Scotty, Sulu, plus the anonymous crewman who won’t live through the episode.

Why does the Star Trek franchise, especially originals like The Trouble with Tribbles or The City on the Edge of Tomorrow continue to fascinate and hold the attention of fans?

Simple answer; beats me.

More complicated answer, better than watching the news.

Or is it that we are amazed that what we once thought of as science fiction is now our new reality?

Is our escape into the past just a way to avoid the anguish of today’s world?

Or is it more? Is it the fact we are surprised at how fantasy has now become real, and how frightening that prospect may be?

Is there really such a genre as science fiction any longer?

It should be obvious to all who watched in awe as the Enterprise soared through space that science fiction is no longer fiction.

So If that is true, how frightening is a future filled with Dystopian and Star Wars battles?

If we are incapable of getting along with one another on Earth, how will we unite enough to overcome enemies from outer space?

Sure, many doubt there is life anywhere but here, and to those egocentric humans I ask the question; seriously are you so special that in all eternity and endless space earth is the only planet to have life?

Okay, now that we’ve dealt with the egos let’s get real?

Is the fact we are so at war with each other a deterrent to success against otherworldly enemies?

And is the fact that mankind, despite Darwin’s’ theories on evolution, actually devolving?

There is certainly a strong case to be made for that point of view. Hello, Congress, People!

Yet if and when the day comes when the millions of earthlings who have been ridiculed and mocked for their belief that we are not alone are proven right; does man have the ability to join forces to battle such formidable foes?

Are we capable of putting aside our ideologies and pettiness for even a moment to agree on how to combat such horrific threats?

Who would lead? Who would make decisions?  Who would fight? Whom would deliver daily Le Cirque meals to the hypocritical despots at the United Nations?

These are questions that would have to be answered, and I’m just thinking we may have a problem, Houston.

Science fiction which once told tales of man landing on the moon, 1967 check; reaching Mars 1976, check; robots, check, AI, check, time travel, working on it right now in Switzerland, check, check, check.

We did it all despite the fact when Jules Verne, HG Wells and Ray Bradbury were spinning tales of futuristic adventures, readers shook their heads in disbelief and called it all fantasy.

Sadly, I’m afraid I must point out the obvious here. Yes, indeed mankind has achieved a mastery over technology once only dreamed about.

Yet man himself has forged a path backward through time to become once again a primitive and warrior creature incapable of reason or a sense of ethics.

The “cave-man-take” mentality where everything was fair for the grabbing has returned to earth. Now, far too many see death and destruction as a means to an end.

Oh boy, would old Machiavelli be happy about how man has digressed into his old primal self once more.

So what is to be the ultimate conclusion here?

How can a life form with a caveman mentality handle the weight and gravitas of a high-tech existence?

Guess we can’t. Then what in the end will it take to force humans to jump start evolution once more?

To leave behind iniquity and its constant defense as a justified means to commit evil? To accept their better angels instead of their most primitive barbaric selves? To use what they have invented for good?

Can it be done? Sadly, probably not without something so horrific and mind shattering that man will be forced to face his inner demons and drive them out. Then and only then will earth ever see peace. Can our children and grandchildren ever have hope for a better future. Will we once again begin the trek toward progress and the light.

So, if you think science fiction still exists, I invite you to look around and see how little science is now fiction, but sadly how much mankind has lost in the process?

I pray there is still hope we can Live Long and Prosper! Kirk Out!

UFO They Told Us So!

UFO They Told Us So!

I would not spend one further moment on the subject of UFOs if I didn’t seriously feel that the UFO phenomenon is real and that efforts to investigate and understand it, and eventually to solve it, could have a profound effect‑perhaps even be the springboard to mankind’s outlook on the universe.

J. Allen Hynek, UFO investigator Project Bluebook.

I have no fireplace. This seems truly unimportant since so many homeowners I know have opted to cover or hide theirs. This is something I’ve always had trouble understanding.

As I sit here writing I have on what I call my faux fireplace which is actually a video of a roaring fire on my television screen. I wonder that I’m so satisfied with believing I have a fireplace and willing to settle for a pretend one.

Okay, so it’s not ideal but it gives me the illusion. And speaking of illusion and perhaps delusion…

Watching the Congressional hearings on UFOs the other day I had numerous mixed emotions, delusion being one I might mention.

I believe my reactions began with What a shock, the government has been lying to us, for a change. It quickly moved on to, I’ve always had a feeling the millions who’d seen UFOs weren’t crazy, especially since they weren’t all from California. I might have had more suspicions had more of them been from the you-should-excuse-the-expression, golden state.

Then came the wow, there really was a Roswell and area 51 and somehow my emotions ended with, wait a minute why are they telling us this now? What are they up to?

I apologize but I haven’t trusted a thing the government says since Watergate. But I digress.

I remember in 1961 Betty and Barney Hill of New Hampshire had claimed to have been abducted by aliens. They blacked out while driving home from their honeymoon and woke up in their car somewhere farther down the road. After being plagued by nightmares they went under hypnosis and corroborated one another’s stories.

It is understandable that in an era when airplanes were still a new commodity that most were skeptical flying saucers were visiting earth, but the incident is still a popular search item to this day.

Now of course these new revelations lend far more credibility to the Hill’s story, but it also initiates many more questions.

I have often wondered with all the sightings documented across the world how many sighters chose to keep their personal experience secret.

After all who could blame someone for not wanting to be called crazy when they may have risked a prestigious job or place in the community?

So what will happen now? Will many who have been afraid to tell, now recant their own close encounter?

One must wonder why the government chose to keep the truth from us. Still, it’s obvious that human beings are not able to deal with their brethren on earth let alone aliens from worlds light years away.

On Halloween October 30, 1938 Orson Welles War of the Worlds was broadcast on radio depicting the H.G. Wells story of an alien invasion.

Since Welles portrayed it as a newscast many listeners were convinced what they were hearing was real and some became terrified and hysterical. Of course, was before Rod Serling and ET.

Odd that fast forward 85 years later and when Congress is briefed about the USA hiding alien ships and their little green men, who are probably robots, the world barely took notice.

This can only mean one of two things; either no one believed these experts because no one trusts anything anyone in government says anymore or perhaps the world simply yawned and said, “What else is new? Pass the Reese’s Pieces, please.”

I’m not quite certain which is scarier, the fact that Washington has zero credibility or that humans are so jaded even testimony that verifies alien visitors is ho hummed.

By the way, I’m not recanting my own what-the-hell-is-that encounter moment here out of fear no one will ever read my blog again; and my children will rush me into a nursing home.

Assuming aliens are here I must ask why? If they have been watching us all these years, shouldn’t they be high tailing it out of Dodge?

Honestly anyone who has observed human behavior in the last few years has to be convinced there is something off here in the gray cell department.

So why would the Greys want to be here on earth with a bunch of crazies?

Is it as someone has laughingly opined, they are here to make sure we can’t get off this planet and do damage somewhere else?

Let’s face it, humans are a scary bunch.

I can’t even count the ways I shake my head constantly at the insanity I witness from what now passes as civilized members of the species. Believing in little grey or green or whatever color men is the least of our worries on Planet Earth.

I am certain that the creatures are far advanced than us by virtue of the fact they have traveled light years to get here. And although those who deny the existence of life on other planets are incredibly egocentric thinking that out of billions of stars we were somehow chosen to be “The One,” facing our own vulnerability is indeed frightening. Yet one wonders if the Greys have ever watched The Avengers movies and that has helped keep them at bay. A few of the people at the theatre for End Game didn’t look so human to me.

If it’s all true than we’ve had company for many years who’ve chosen to remain on the down low.

I can however happily report this visitation confirmation does answer many questions with which I’ve wrestled.

Like the success of the Kardashians, where were they actually born?

Kanye West, so that’s what it is.

Gavin Newsom’s hair.

Madonna’s new face. Or is it really her…?

Prince Harry wanting to interview the Pope about fatherhood. Aha, now it all makes sense.

Donald Trump’s approval numbers and Joe Biden’s actual visits to another planet in the middle of his sentences.

I’m beginning to see more clearly now so I suppose it’s true that as Shakespeare writes in Julius Caesar “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our starsbut in ourselves, that we are underlings.” 

Or actually perhaps from somewhere among the stars.

Hey, what the hell is that spaceship doing on Rodeo Drive? Maybe they’re actually mystery shoppers. Wait, you can’t park there!