Are Humans The Real Horror Movie Aliens?

Recently I was asked by a university academic to find ways of getting people to relate to climate change and understand our part in it ...it's led to some unsettling thoughts to say the least...

I’ve often wondered what the appeal of alien horror movies is - escapism? The belief that the invaders are too awful to be true, and the global catastrophes they cause could never really happen? 

Let’s look at those movie-fantasy catastrophes...

Aliens strip our planet’s resources for their own benefit until the Earth is a barren toxic wasteland in which humans can no longer survive

Aliens destroy all other species in the process without a backward glance

Aliens subjugate humans as slaves in horrific conditions and work them to death

Aliens breed humans for body parts and experimentation

Aliens farm humans in appalling conditions as food

Alien leaders are hideous omnipotent yet strangely charismatic figures who impose their will on the planet without mandate and using any nefarious means

Nasty.

But strangely familiar...

Oh oh....

Anyone else recognise a disturbing correlation between these appalling aliens and actual human behaviour?

Substitute humans for aliens, and animals for humans, in the above list and the horrifying realisation is that we humans are those hideous nightmare creatures. Look at us objectively and we are the dreaded alien plague on this planet. We are the scourge that must be stopped. We are our own worst nightmare. And we only have a tiny amount of time to save the world.

Luckily in our very own horror movie there are some who are hero material. Greta Thunberg is our plucky and visionary young heroine; Sir David Attenborough the quiet and authoritative voice of reason; Extinction Rebellion the charismatic renegades; countless conservation groups the valiant resistance fighting a losing battle. 

As in the movies none of these resistors can win the fight alone. This will have to be the biggest comeback in the history of the world. To win we must forget any differences we have and get behind a joint agenda. Unless we can bring everyone on this planet together in understanding and actually caring about what we are doing to ourselves and everything else that lives here we will not stop mass extinction, climate crisis, wars over resources and collapse of our planet’s ability to support life as we know it.

As in the movies I believe that the good guys can win. The twist in this one is that we have to turn ourselves from villain to hero to do it. The ending is not yet written, but the awful reality is this is not a movie.