In the 70s and 80s, there was a sense that aliens were making more contacts with humans (on that, I've been fascinated by some TV programmes on UFO experiences of Indians in North America), and, in general, preparing the world for a widespread landing - certainly that was a key part of Stuart Holroyd’s
magnificent book "Briefing
for the Landing on Planet Earth". There were even a few films along that line - ET, and Close Encounters, for instance.
Now, although there have been significant sightings in subsequent decades, there has not been a mass landing of the order suggested. Why?
Well, I've been thinking that there has been some push back by reactionary forces / "the opposition" (as they are termed by the Nine in My Holroyd's book) / the nonBPM. Films about aliens/extraterrestrials now seem to be horror film rubbish - from around the time of the "greed is god" rubbish of the 80s, so ... perhaps this was part of the general push back which, if nothing else, can arise from people's reluctance to change - or get out of a rut (and, as I write that, I am aware that people may genuinely need a rest to deal with exhaustion, and also time to assimilate / internalise changes).
I've been thinking about that sort of reaction in terms of the blatant racism being shown by some AFL fans here in Australia (links in last Saturday's post). There has been reasonable education on the issue, but some small minds are refusing to change and in the process, dragging Australia back several decades.
In a more subtle sense, our new female Defence Minister has made a point of saying that she wants to be judged on her merit, not her gender - which misses many of the problems of that aspect of sexism, and other aspects, such as the ubiquity of sexism affecting perceptions as to what is success, etc (see here, here).
I think the world has missed many major opportunities - to avoid World War Part One and everything that followed in consequence, for instance. Another is to capitalise on the social revolutions of the 60s and 70s. Part of the failure to do that includes the backsliding on things like constructive attitudes towards aliens, rather than fear-mongering. In Briefing for ... a comment is relayed that the Nine want at least 70% of the world's population prepared. Well, I suspect the percentage that were prepared sufficiently to not panic was going up in the 70s, probably holding steady-ish in the 80s, and went into full retreat with the conservative, economic rationalist nightmare of the 90s - a period which probably led into the problems of this millennia.
That's not to say things have all been bad, or all good during these periods - the 80s/90s saw the end of the Cold War, for instance, which was a major bit of good news (I still feel warm thinking about the days when the Berlin Wall came down; I'd been involved in a group working intensely on that and other BPLF goals at the time, and it was marvellous to see the work we AND OTHERS had done come to fruition ... I might listen to the Scorpions "Winds of Change" again, in fact :) ), whereas the 60s and 70s saw drug problems, the Vietnam War (called the American War by the Vietnamese) and there were various political controversies. These days there are also good things happening - better protection against discrimination, increased awareness (for those not fighting it) and education, and so on. I just wish the landings had been able to happen :)
Incidentally, a part of my assessment of the state of society includes the people I work with: in the 80s and 90s I had the misfortune of having to deal with people who were psychopaths: now, such people tend to be - in the vernacular - stupid, and/or reactionary. Still, change is inevitable, and with enough well-directed, intelligent, genuine, well nuanced work, the wheel will shift back towards decency.
Anyway, time to listen to that song, and then go to bed :)
Love, light, hugs and blessings
Tags: ET/UFO/UAP, backsliding, change, discrimination, society,
