IDENTITY!

Since I don’t usually consider the happenings of aliens and I am not a science fiction follower, this question caught me off guard. However, I know that PTJ is never one to be completely and utterly random even though it may seem so. This question is all about constructivism I believe…. and it’s a fascinating question!

First and foremost, what is an alien? We have no idea! We all identify an alien in our minds without having a clue what these could be…some of us may come up with an oddly shaped green figure with antennas who speaks in a robotic tone while others may imagine an alien to be grayish-brown creature with bugged out eyes and a long neck bicycling through the air into outer space. The only identity that an alien has is what humans create in our minds since we don’t know if any aliens actually exist or what they would look like if they do.

Another way this question pertains to constructivism is it gives us roles as humans versus the role of aliens. We create our own identity to oppose that of fictional creatures. Because we are humans, they are aliens. Therefore because we are humans, we should respond to aliens as “others” that could either be threatening or non-threatening to our security. Just as constructivists believe, self-other relationships are key to how we deal with situations.

The question is funny at first but when you start to think about it, it becomes very challenging. What in the world would actually happen?!?! It’s difficult to think about because it messes with our idea of identity as people. Why would aliens freak us out if we didn’t have them identified as the “others” in our constructivist self-identified minds? Because that is what would happen… everyone would freak out, that is if we were still alive. We have no written out plan of what to do or branch of government or department that deals with aliens, at least not that I know of. According to Alex Wendt, there would be many determining factors that would go into the U.S. response to aliens. First of all, would this be considered a passive arrival of aliens or a threatening attack? That depends on “social acts” like signaling, interpreting, and responding from both parties, which in this case are humans versus aliens. The first “social act” will pretty much predict how the rest of the freak out response will go down. Interactions to follow will create something Wendt calls “reciprocal typifications” in which the ideas that humans and aliens have about each other will reward and discourage both parties from certain ideas. Wendt argues that everything humans would do in an alien invasion is based on our identities and interests that are always in process and will be affected by different signals.

I tend to agree, but I like my terminology better: we would freak out. It would most likely consist of a rush for military forces and any person with a weapon of sorts would prepare for invasion. The government would first ensure the safety of the nation before attempting to communicate with the aliens. I like to think that the aliens would be pleasant, so the government would then continue to have peaceful interactions with these foreign creatures with whom we have a lot to learn from. However, this is much too idealistic of me (surprise surprise). It would probably be a bloodbath with super-technological weapons firing back and forth…eventually the world would come to an end. There I said it, happy?


Overall, I think the most interesting part of this week's blog is not the answer that we formulate but the way that people respond to idea of the question as individuals (oh how I love psychology and sociology!!!). The identity crisis that people would experience even in contemplating what would happen in an alien landing goes to prove that constructivism has a good point! Who are they? And then who are we?