- Sep 22, 2013
- 4,956
- 250
- 85
Does capitalism remind you of a dreamscape or a nightmare?
This pro-capitalism anthropology-vignette was inspired by Alien: Covenant and Dollar$, and since it's political in tone/theme, I didn't feel comfy posting it in the Writing section of USMB (it's my last post anyway), but I welcome any comments and hope you like it!
Cheers (signing off),
====
"On the campus of Brandeis University, great intrigue was brewing when NASA units arrived to recruit students who'd be interested in going on a moon mission to investigate the transmission of an alien intelligent signal. A feminism-theory student named Daniels decided to sign up for the mission, since she wanted a progressive voice on the crew of what was called Mission Contact [MT]. Daniels was a good student at Brandeis and was excited to be trained for this species-symbolic mission to the moon. What would be the symbolism for TrumpUSA?"
"Of course, Daniels had received some 'metaphysical training' in her freshman/sophomore years at Brandeis when she was studying the applications of The Rape of Lucrece and The Betrayal of Christ to modern feminist theory. Perhaps Daniels could use such studies to appreciate the species-symbolism for MT (Mission Contact) to the moon when human space explorers made contact with an alien intelligence and possibly discovered an entirely new view on gender relations. Daniels hypothesizes that the aliens they'd make contact with would not want to express the same sorts of gender-betrayals men and women expressed on Earth (e.g., Clarence Thomas v Anita Hill). Was Daniels right?"
"When Daniels boarded the shuttle (Armageddon) headed to the moon, she met the other crew members which included scientists, artists, and of course army personnel. The crew was friendly if a bit anxious about what human contact with an alien intelligence would be like, now that a signal of communication was finally received from a different species. NASA reported that the intelligent signal emanating from the moon seemed to be an invitation, but one NASA scientist suggested that the message sounded more like a 'dare' than an 'invitation' (but the crew of MT was unperturbed, and Daniels toasted everyone and told the crew she was thrilled her studies in feminism-theory at Brandeis might come in handy when they made contact."
"The space-vessel Armageddon was mammoth and impressive, and perhaps it should have been, and U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted, 'We want to send the message to these aliens that humans want to make contact in the most grand and expressive way possible (so they know are intentions are commercial/peaceful)!'. Daniels wondered if MT was some kind of child-like vanity but kept faith that humanity would learn something from these 'aliens.' As Armageddon prepared to land on the moon (with a separating/docked mini-shuttle called Osiris), almost the entire crew boarded Osiris, and the army personnel were armed with newly-designed laser-guns!"
"The crew of MT discovered an underground labyrinth on the moon when they wandered around after deboarding Osiris. The underground labyrinth was organic and mossy and grey-green in color, but there was a skylight which enabled the light of the sun to come through just enough to make the labyrinth look, seem, and even 'feel' like an organic underground 'lair.' As the crew of the MT wandered around the labyrinth, Daniels wondered if the aliens who had sent the intelligent signal to Earth/NASA intentionally lured them to this 'lair' to show/present them something. That's when Daniels got the eerie feeling this entire exercise was some kind of death-trap."
DANIELS: What the hell are you?
XENO: My name is Xeno, and I'm a reptilian being.
DANIELS: You speak English...
XENO: I speak 1000 languages (from around the universe).
DANIELS: So there are numerous other intelligent civilizations?
XENO: Of course...
DANIELS: Why'd you send that signal to Earth/NASA?
XENO: We wanted a human species diplomat...such as yourself!
DANIELS: Why me?
XENO: I've imprisoned your other crew-members to speak privately.
DANIELS: What do you want to talk to me about (privately)?
XENO: I understand you're a feminism student at Brandeis?
DANIELS: How the hell'd you know that?
XENO: I'm a psychic (a telepath)!
DANIELS: Why don't you just read my mind to see what humans think?
XENO: I don't perceive macro-sociological consciousness.
DANIELS: Oh, so you want to know from me what humans think about gender.
XENO: Precisely...
DANIELS: Men and women are equally sinful, especially in terms of eco-pollution.
XENO: So men and women share the blame for global warming on Earth!
DANIELS: Not exactly; no one wants to take the blame for something like global warming.
XENO: So you're a species interested in 'thinking' but not 'doing.'
DANIELS: Maybe that's correct...so what? Are you going to eat me or something?
XENO: I want to know..are wealthy men more respected than wealthy women?
DANIELS: Yes, rich women are considered 'stranger' than rich men...
XENO: Thank you Daniels; you and your crew may return to Osiris in peace.
"As Xeno the alien released the imprisoned crew-members of MT, Daniels and the others reboarded Osiris to get back onto Armageddon and get the hell back to Earth. Apparently, Xeno and his species-cohorts wanted simply to draw in human species diplomats to understand what gender views were in regards to bounty, prosperity, and hence capitalism. Daniels was the official reporter when Armageddon landed back on Earth and CNN journalists wanted to know what Xeno the alien wanted to know about humanity. Daniels told CNN that after the crew of MT scurried back onto Osiris after being released by the very eerie-looking Xeno, they all concluded that Xeno wanted only to understand why wealthy men in America were more 'normal' than wealthy women."
"When Daniels returned to the Brandeis campus, now a hero-celebrity of NASA and on the cover of TIME magazine, she told her professors and peers/friends that engaging with Xeno (the alien) made her realize that all sentient beings are curious about each other in some way, and perhaps that was because all thinking beings are fascinated by the concepts of differentiation and similarity. Daniels decided to draw a child-like stick-figure doodle of a TrumpUSA Christmastime consumerism avatar named 'Evil Elf' for CNN and told reporters that the avatar/character symbolized humanity's peculiar view of ornamenting consumerism for men and women when it came to the 'sharing of style'."
HANKS: Daniels is a real hero.
CRUISE: Much less tragic than the Challenger woman!
HANKS: Are we producing this new movie about her?
CRUISE: Why not? I've made sci-fi before --- Minority Report.
HANKS: I've made a moon-mission film --- Apollo 13.
CRUISE: What're we calling this movie?
HANKS: Xeno: Contact Emergency.
CRUISE: I think Anne Hathaway (Alice in Wonderland) should play Daniels.
HANKS: Agreed.
CRUISE: What did Xeno (the alien) mean with his gender inquiry?
HANKS: Well, it is true that rich men are more 'normal' than rich women.
CRUISE: Perhaps Earth-capitalism is oriented towards...power-schisms!
HANKS: True; Daniels' views on feminism (from Brandeis studies) are helpful.
CRUISE: Sure; her 'Evil Elf' drawing complements her report about Xeno's inquiries!
HANKS: Maybe we humans are too 'ambitious' about finding alien intelligences...
CRUISE: Well, alien-contact stories are like conspiracy-theories --- governance thrills.
HANKS: Sure; well, let's make this moon-mission film and maybe Xeno will like it!
CRUISE: Isn't that what consumerism is all about --- social contracts?
====
This pro-capitalism anthropology-vignette was inspired by Alien: Covenant and Dollar$, and since it's political in tone/theme, I didn't feel comfy posting it in the Writing section of USMB (it's my last post anyway), but I welcome any comments and hope you like it!
Cheers (signing off),
====
"On the campus of Brandeis University, great intrigue was brewing when NASA units arrived to recruit students who'd be interested in going on a moon mission to investigate the transmission of an alien intelligent signal. A feminism-theory student named Daniels decided to sign up for the mission, since she wanted a progressive voice on the crew of what was called Mission Contact [MT]. Daniels was a good student at Brandeis and was excited to be trained for this species-symbolic mission to the moon. What would be the symbolism for TrumpUSA?"
"Of course, Daniels had received some 'metaphysical training' in her freshman/sophomore years at Brandeis when she was studying the applications of The Rape of Lucrece and The Betrayal of Christ to modern feminist theory. Perhaps Daniels could use such studies to appreciate the species-symbolism for MT (Mission Contact) to the moon when human space explorers made contact with an alien intelligence and possibly discovered an entirely new view on gender relations. Daniels hypothesizes that the aliens they'd make contact with would not want to express the same sorts of gender-betrayals men and women expressed on Earth (e.g., Clarence Thomas v Anita Hill). Was Daniels right?"
"When Daniels boarded the shuttle (Armageddon) headed to the moon, she met the other crew members which included scientists, artists, and of course army personnel. The crew was friendly if a bit anxious about what human contact with an alien intelligence would be like, now that a signal of communication was finally received from a different species. NASA reported that the intelligent signal emanating from the moon seemed to be an invitation, but one NASA scientist suggested that the message sounded more like a 'dare' than an 'invitation' (but the crew of MT was unperturbed, and Daniels toasted everyone and told the crew she was thrilled her studies in feminism-theory at Brandeis might come in handy when they made contact."
"The space-vessel Armageddon was mammoth and impressive, and perhaps it should have been, and U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted, 'We want to send the message to these aliens that humans want to make contact in the most grand and expressive way possible (so they know are intentions are commercial/peaceful)!'. Daniels wondered if MT was some kind of child-like vanity but kept faith that humanity would learn something from these 'aliens.' As Armageddon prepared to land on the moon (with a separating/docked mini-shuttle called Osiris), almost the entire crew boarded Osiris, and the army personnel were armed with newly-designed laser-guns!"
"The crew of MT discovered an underground labyrinth on the moon when they wandered around after deboarding Osiris. The underground labyrinth was organic and mossy and grey-green in color, but there was a skylight which enabled the light of the sun to come through just enough to make the labyrinth look, seem, and even 'feel' like an organic underground 'lair.' As the crew of the MT wandered around the labyrinth, Daniels wondered if the aliens who had sent the intelligent signal to Earth/NASA intentionally lured them to this 'lair' to show/present them something. That's when Daniels got the eerie feeling this entire exercise was some kind of death-trap."
DANIELS: What the hell are you?
XENO: My name is Xeno, and I'm a reptilian being.
DANIELS: You speak English...
XENO: I speak 1000 languages (from around the universe).
DANIELS: So there are numerous other intelligent civilizations?
XENO: Of course...
DANIELS: Why'd you send that signal to Earth/NASA?
XENO: We wanted a human species diplomat...such as yourself!
DANIELS: Why me?
XENO: I've imprisoned your other crew-members to speak privately.
DANIELS: What do you want to talk to me about (privately)?
XENO: I understand you're a feminism student at Brandeis?
DANIELS: How the hell'd you know that?
XENO: I'm a psychic (a telepath)!
DANIELS: Why don't you just read my mind to see what humans think?
XENO: I don't perceive macro-sociological consciousness.
DANIELS: Oh, so you want to know from me what humans think about gender.
XENO: Precisely...
DANIELS: Men and women are equally sinful, especially in terms of eco-pollution.
XENO: So men and women share the blame for global warming on Earth!
DANIELS: Not exactly; no one wants to take the blame for something like global warming.
XENO: So you're a species interested in 'thinking' but not 'doing.'
DANIELS: Maybe that's correct...so what? Are you going to eat me or something?
XENO: I want to know..are wealthy men more respected than wealthy women?
DANIELS: Yes, rich women are considered 'stranger' than rich men...
XENO: Thank you Daniels; you and your crew may return to Osiris in peace.
"As Xeno the alien released the imprisoned crew-members of MT, Daniels and the others reboarded Osiris to get back onto Armageddon and get the hell back to Earth. Apparently, Xeno and his species-cohorts wanted simply to draw in human species diplomats to understand what gender views were in regards to bounty, prosperity, and hence capitalism. Daniels was the official reporter when Armageddon landed back on Earth and CNN journalists wanted to know what Xeno the alien wanted to know about humanity. Daniels told CNN that after the crew of MT scurried back onto Osiris after being released by the very eerie-looking Xeno, they all concluded that Xeno wanted only to understand why wealthy men in America were more 'normal' than wealthy women."
"When Daniels returned to the Brandeis campus, now a hero-celebrity of NASA and on the cover of TIME magazine, she told her professors and peers/friends that engaging with Xeno (the alien) made her realize that all sentient beings are curious about each other in some way, and perhaps that was because all thinking beings are fascinated by the concepts of differentiation and similarity. Daniels decided to draw a child-like stick-figure doodle of a TrumpUSA Christmastime consumerism avatar named 'Evil Elf' for CNN and told reporters that the avatar/character symbolized humanity's peculiar view of ornamenting consumerism for men and women when it came to the 'sharing of style'."
HANKS: Daniels is a real hero.
CRUISE: Much less tragic than the Challenger woman!
HANKS: Are we producing this new movie about her?
CRUISE: Why not? I've made sci-fi before --- Minority Report.
HANKS: I've made a moon-mission film --- Apollo 13.
CRUISE: What're we calling this movie?
HANKS: Xeno: Contact Emergency.
CRUISE: I think Anne Hathaway (Alice in Wonderland) should play Daniels.
HANKS: Agreed.
CRUISE: What did Xeno (the alien) mean with his gender inquiry?
HANKS: Well, it is true that rich men are more 'normal' than rich women.
CRUISE: Perhaps Earth-capitalism is oriented towards...power-schisms!
HANKS: True; Daniels' views on feminism (from Brandeis studies) are helpful.
CRUISE: Sure; her 'Evil Elf' drawing complements her report about Xeno's inquiries!
HANKS: Maybe we humans are too 'ambitious' about finding alien intelligences...
CRUISE: Well, alien-contact stories are like conspiracy-theories --- governance thrills.
HANKS: Sure; well, let's make this moon-mission film and maybe Xeno will like it!
CRUISE: Isn't that what consumerism is all about --- social contracts?
====
