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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seems to have suggested that humans simultaneously knew a lot about <strong>the</strong>mselves and operated<br />
with fundamental gaps <strong>in</strong> that understand<strong>in</strong>g. As already noted, <strong>the</strong> story <strong>of</strong> long term<br />
surveillance by aliens renders humanity itself as <strong>the</strong> object <strong>of</strong> empirical <strong>in</strong>quiry. In <strong>the</strong> case <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> space bro<strong>the</strong>rs <strong>the</strong> outcome <strong>of</strong> such surveillance was concern over humanity’s potentially<br />
destructive ways and <strong>the</strong> <strong>of</strong>fer to show humanity <strong>the</strong> way to earthly paradise. But <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> case <strong>of</strong><br />
abduction, what is highlighted is <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>herent violence <strong>of</strong> empiricism and <strong>the</strong> suggestion that<br />
even with many years (if not centuries or millennia) <strong>of</strong> studied observation that aliens still really<br />
don’t know humans. The suggested critique, <strong>of</strong> course, is that empiricism <strong>of</strong>fers only <strong>the</strong> illusion<br />
<strong>of</strong> knowledge. Framed by <strong>the</strong> implicit critique <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> displaced utopian imag<strong>in</strong>ary, perhaps it<br />
would be more to <strong>the</strong> po<strong>in</strong>t to say that empiricism <strong>of</strong>fers knowledge without wisdom.<br />
MESMER RETURNS<br />
It was only through hypnotic regression that <strong>the</strong> Hill’s ga<strong>in</strong>ed direct access to <strong>the</strong>ir abduction<br />
experience. The emergence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> hypno<strong>the</strong>rapist as a central figure was ano<strong>the</strong>r po<strong>in</strong>t <strong>of</strong><br />
departure that marked <strong>the</strong> shift from contact to abduction as primary alien contact narrative,<br />
br<strong>in</strong>g<strong>in</strong>g us full circle to <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>mes <strong>of</strong> mesmerism that open this dissertation. The configuration<br />
<strong>of</strong> abductee, <strong>the</strong>rapist and alien recalled an earlier triangle, one central to <strong>the</strong> open<strong>in</strong>g chapter <strong>of</strong><br />
this dissertation. In <strong>the</strong> discourse <strong>of</strong> alien abduction, all three components, alien, abductee and<br />
hypno<strong>the</strong>rapist are necessary <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> production <strong>of</strong> mean<strong>in</strong>g. The three function toge<strong>the</strong>r as a sort<br />
<strong>of</strong> mach<strong>in</strong>e or assemblage. The alien constitutes a field <strong>of</strong> O<strong>the</strong>rness that <strong>the</strong> abductee,<br />
enfigur<strong>in</strong>g quotidian reality, passes through. The hypno<strong>the</strong>rapist functions as <strong>the</strong> catalyst for <strong>the</strong><br />
release <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> energies or mean<strong>in</strong>g accrued via <strong>the</strong> abductees passage through <strong>the</strong> field <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
O<strong>the</strong>r. Through <strong>the</strong> hypno<strong>the</strong>rapist’s <strong>in</strong>tervention, <strong>the</strong> abductee’s nocturnal experience <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
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