Matthew McConaughey will be the first to go...

I watched part of War of the Worlds on HBO last night. And by the way, why does it seem like Tom Cruise is always running in his movies? Doesn’t it seem like he runs a lot? I was thinking about that as I watched him running away from the alien tripod ship thingies… it was like, “this scene seems so familiar… oh yeah, I saw the same one in Mission Impossible… minus the alien tripod ship thingies…” Anyway, the premise of War of the Worlds, of course, is that alien life forms have arrived on earth and are attempting to destroy mankind. And in human eyes, this makes them evil and malevolent and, well, just downright mean. (Really – what’d we ever do to THEM?)

But I was watching an interesting show on the National Geographic channel a few weeks ago, about the possibility of life on other planets. They talked about how we have sent out broadcasts of words and phrases and sentences into space, in all sorts of different languages, in some kind of effort to “communicate” with alien life forms. The only problem is, our hypothetical alien friends may not have the slightest idea what we’re saying. To them, we might sound like a barking dog, or a singing bird – sure, they make noise, but what do they mean?

And language isn’t the only barrier. Even between species on earth, different gestures can mean different things. A smile between humans is a sign of friendliness, but bare your teeth to a wolf, and he might think you’re looking for a fight. And even amongst humans, there’s a wide range of greetings and salutations and farewells. Some people shake hands, some people hug or kiss, some people bow, some people nod. So if these hypothetical aliens were to show up, how on earth (or how in the universe) would anyone know what sort of “greeting” to give them? For all we know, we’d be ASKING to be annihilated…

If some alien creatures have perfected the art of intergalactic travel, they’d certainly be light-years (haha) ahead of us in regards to technology. Perhaps in regards to everything. The show used the example of an anthill near a highway construction site. If the construction workers noticed the anthill, would they go to the trouble of moving it or working around it? Of course not – they’d simply pave right over it. Not because of any ill-will toward the ants. Not because they’re evil, malevolent construction workers. But because it was “just an anthill.” So, the National Geographic scientists wondered, what if WE are nothing but an “anthill” to an intergalactic traveling construction crew? It’s not that they actually hate us or anything – we’re just in the way. Earth just happens to be a great stopping point along the Intergalactic Freeway, and the aliens need a decent rest area. And maybe a McDonald’s… definitely a Starbucks… (do aliens drink coffee??)

So this realization completely changes my viewing of War of the Worlds. Those aliens weren’t so bad. Just because they chased after all the people with their alien tripod ship thingies, and vaporized some of them with their death rays, and made a few of them into tasty snacks, doesn’t mean they were actually evil. They just didn’t understand all the stuff we’d been trying to say to them. They thought we were completely inferior life forms that wouldn’t really mind being exterminated. Just like those ants on my bedroom windowsill…