A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
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communism. The connection between <strong>the</strong> communist menace and aliens had played out <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
1950’s and 1960’s not <strong>in</strong> narratives <strong>of</strong> “actual” contact with UFO’s but <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> narratives <strong>of</strong><br />
science fiction. If anyth<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> ostensibly real narratives <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> alien, specifically <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> tales<br />
<strong>of</strong> space bro<strong>the</strong>rs, socialism still operated as a primary utopian modality. The case <strong>of</strong> Betty and<br />
Barney Hill and <strong>the</strong> emergent narrative <strong>of</strong> alien abduction seemed to catch <strong>the</strong> nexus <strong>of</strong> alienhuman<br />
communication up to some <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> more slippery misgiv<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> cold war. William<br />
Dudley Pelley had certa<strong>in</strong>ly engaged with a broader sense <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> dangers <strong>of</strong> Bolshevism, but his<br />
alien <strong>in</strong>terlocutors operated <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> space bro<strong>the</strong>r mode, <strong>of</strong>fer<strong>in</strong>g a source <strong>of</strong> clarity and advice<br />
ra<strong>the</strong>r than menace. It was not until <strong>the</strong> advent <strong>of</strong> abduction that <strong>the</strong> communication between<br />
human and O<strong>the</strong>r took on <strong>the</strong> creep<strong>in</strong>g hues so aptly represented by <strong>the</strong> tales <strong>of</strong> alien paranoia<br />
that flourished <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> science fiction c<strong>in</strong>ema <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> cold war.<br />
This belated alignment occurred at roughly <strong>the</strong> same time as <strong>the</strong> very misgiv<strong>in</strong>gs (<strong>the</strong><br />
dangers <strong>of</strong> gross materialism, depersonalization and conformity) attached to communism came to<br />
be applied to <strong>American</strong> culture. The Beats, <strong>the</strong> efforts <strong>of</strong> critical sociology, e.g. Whyte’s<br />
Organization Man, and <strong>the</strong> beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> psychedelic gospel as taught by Leary et al. all<br />
spoke to an emergent sense that <strong>the</strong> wholly rational vision <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> world was <strong>in</strong> some fundamental<br />
sense foreshortened and sterile—perhaps even <strong>in</strong>imical to <strong>the</strong> prized <strong>in</strong>dividualism so long held<br />
as <strong>the</strong> anti<strong>the</strong>sis <strong>of</strong> and antidote to communism. The beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>of</strong> alien abduction embody that<br />
basic sense <strong>of</strong> discouragement <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> context <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> displaced utopian imag<strong>in</strong>ary. Ufology,<br />
however, would cont<strong>in</strong>ue to attempt engagement with <strong>the</strong> O<strong>the</strong>r on <strong>the</strong> terms set by positivism—<br />
operat<strong>in</strong>g with full faith <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> promise <strong>of</strong>fered by <strong>the</strong> latter. Tales <strong>of</strong> abduction were only<br />
reluctantly engaged by ma<strong>in</strong>stream ufologists. They seemed more <strong>in</strong> l<strong>in</strong>e with <strong>the</strong> stories told by<br />
space bro<strong>the</strong>r contactees than with anyth<strong>in</strong>g empirically verifiable. Abduction lay outside <strong>the</strong><br />
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