Making you think

[taotrooper]

I was watching this documentary and it made me flip out a bit, seeing into perspective. Most of you don't know, but I had a silly phobia of alien abduction when I was a kid.

[ETA2: I sounded stupid, so I bahleeted the point of the post.]

[ETA3: I could find the stupid thing again by hitting the back button. Here it is, but don't take it seriously.]

Here's the story.

Imagine this individual. They have a rather average life for their kind, and do the obvious routine every day -except for some times of the year, I guess, like most of us. They're healthy and normal, probably even happy.

One day, a strange creature, tall and thin and wearing a weird suit, approaches them in daylight. The monster takes them by the back, and drags them to his ship. Then, he grabs the guy (or girl?) by the feet and pushes them up.

Now that the guy is in the alien ship, probably scared to death and wondering if they'll get killed. The monster and his colleages take their tools. They measure our friend and take samples with needles, practically by force (maybe they were nice and tried to comfort the guy, but it's hard when you look so menacing and speak in a weird tongue they don't understand).

Then they attach an ugly-looking machine, not exactly small, on the guy's back. The monsters just wanted to make experiments and then track the poor guy for some months. Then the creatures release them slowly, and our friend can get the fuck away from them. They're safe and unharmed, kinda. However, the trauma and the stupid device on its back will never leave them. They're now a freak.

Guys, this isn't a story about extraterrestrials. I'm talking about a sea turtle. Really, the tracker was HUGE and had a fucking antenna, and the shell looked like a tank now.

This kinda makes the UFO tabloid stories more real, seeing by this point of view. Yeah, I have a high school diplomma on Science, and I liked biology a lot. But now I'm kind of shaken and don't know what to think anymore. Can wild animals be traumatised by these kind of experiences? Even if they had sedated the turtle in the middle of the process, which probably happened, the guy must've had a fright anyway.

ETA: So that's why I liked The Killers' "Bones" video that much. It was directed by Tim Burton OMG! Of course, man. Skeletons.

Comments

[kirarakim.livejournal.com]

Most of you don't know, but I had a silly phobia of alien abduction when I was a kid.

Me too! It was all because of this one sightings episode. I am not sure if you know that show. But it supposedly told factual stories about the supernatural. When I was kid I thought if the TV said it was true it was.

[bouncy-erbear.livejournal.com]

Wow, yeah I NEVER thought about it like that before...just...wow.

I'll have to watch this video now. The Killers are awesome!

[katharos-8.livejournal.com]

Have you had the chance to see the film Happy Feet? The one with the dancing penguins? Cute dancing penguins and one of the most stressful films I've ever seen - I came out feeling exhausted. Mostly because of the 'aliens.'

[laurus-nobilis.livejournal.com]

Can wild animals be traumatised by these kind of experiences?
Depends of the animal. I don't know much about sea turtles, but I *think* they're aware enough of their surroundings to realise that something out of place is going on. It'll probably upset them while it happens, but I'm pretty sure that "traumatised" is not the right word. That's personification. Yes, anyone who's ever had a pet knows that animals have intelligence and that they can be afraid/nervous/etc - but will they remember, and will it affect their life later? We only know that about some (very few) of them. Most species have much simpler minds than humans and that means they'll be as good as ever in almost no time.

And I do know that animals who are tracked in this way or others go on to live perfectly normal lives in the wild. They *are* safe. They *are* unharmed. And this things are done to know them better and help them, not to get random trivia. There are ethics and regulations about how far you can interfere. Modern scientists always, always try to upset animals and their environment the least possible - that's why it took so long to take photos of giant squids, for example, because scientists *didn't want to upset* the ones they find. Most of scientists that work with animals do treat them with respect, because when you work with them you realise they're not objects or toys.

There are grey areas, yes. (Should we use rats to study disease? What's more unethical, trying medicines on animals or give them to humans without tests? There are no definitive answers.) But things like tracking... it's not "hey, let's go torture a turtle to see where it goes". It's an almost non-upsetting experience that might help save a whole species.

[starsdust.livejournal.com]

I had a silly phobia of alien abduction when I was a kid.


Silly? A mí también me pasaba... de hecho no le tenía miedo a nada, ni a la oscuridad ni a los bichos ni a las alturas, nada. Pero cuando hablaban de extraterrestres se me ponía la piel de gallina XD Y lo mismo le pasaba a otra amiga mía (me enteré hace poco hablando con ella)

[mon-starling.livejournal.com]

Son una de esas fans amargadas que adoró Hot Fuss y cantaba Somebody Told Me todo el dia... pero detesto el segundo disco de The Killers casi tanto como al detestable bigote de su cantante (pobre Brandon, piensa que si se afea va a ganar en credibilidad rockstar).

En fin... issues with the band aside... admito que el video esta simpatico, aun si el Sr. Burton se tomo lo de los "bones" un poco literalmente. :P