Alien movies make the usual error!

The other day, I was thinking about how nearly every alien movie I’ve seen involves the aliens coming to Earth and utterly destroying everything ever or making us all into mindless slaves forever until some clever humans figure out how to kill them or make them go away.

I hate this plot with a firey burning passion. If and when aliens come to Earth, they’re far more likely to do something completely alien to us because they’re aliens! Either that, or they’ll pity us or make peace with us or something. So I got to thinking, wtf? Why is Alien Rampage such a common plot device?

Then it hit me – it’s because of the usual error!

No, seriously! Throughout history, when Mother Culture Humans would find a less advanced civilization, they would utterly destroy it or make it submit to them. Native Americans could tell you all about that. So could the Druids, the Aztecs, the Mayans, Australian aborigines… and the list, sadly, goes on and on.

It’s such a common behavior, in fact, that many people think it’s “human nature”. (It’s not, but that’s a different post.) Since it’s that common, we make the usual error and assume other species would act the same as we do. And then that makes us afraid, because that means we are the less advanced civilization sitting pretty, ripe for the conquering. And thus, a horrible, overused plot device is born.

I think the other part of this pathetic plot is our egotism, which makes people think that only a vastly advanced alien race could be our downfall, but I’m sure you can figure out what I think of that.

Anyway, let’s hope those aliens won’t be so… human. What I really hope is that those who think it’s human nature to be pointlessly cruel or senselessly violent will eventually die off and the rest of us can greet the alien visitors with peaceful apologies for our past behavior and otherwise open arms.

Hah. Barring that, maybe we can at least befriend the aliens and they’ll share awesome technology with us before they make us all their slaves. (;

Related posts:
• The Usual Error book review roundup, part 2
• The Usual Error audiobook!
• We made the usual error!
• The Usual Error meets Seth Godin
• Revolutionary Tuesday: An evil genius zots the dude with three memes

Have you read our book, The Usual Error? It teaches you how to solve communication issues with compassion and understanding, how to get rid of needless conflict from your life, how to make your relationships smoother, and how to generally be happier. Also, the illustrations are super cool. (: You can buy it on Amazon or read it for free online.