Danger, World Politics, danger! (Flail arms accordingly)

"What do you think the US government (and world governments) would do if aliens came and landed on the White House lawn?"

Being a child of the 90s, my knowledge of aliens (and I'm going to define aliens as extraterrestrials, not my relatives across the border) is comprised of videos popped into the VCR, then Netflix, then TiVo. That said, we're taking a cinematic approach to "when aliens attack/land."

Going through decades of film, here are pretty much the collective options garnered from Hollywood:
1) We can attempt to kill them immediately. (…No film would actually kill the aliens immediately, because that means a 10 minute movie. Still, it is an option.)
2) We can (attempt to) kill them after they harm us (even if possibly we caused them to attack), and some options of how to kill them INCLUDE: playing Slim Whitman songs (Mars Attacks!), or Ronny Desmond songs (Attack of the Killer Tomatoes), freezing them (The Blob), electrocuting them (The Thing from Another Planet), pouring water on them (Signs), shooting them (Men in Black), using a computer virus to infiltrate their mainframe, then blowing them up (Independence Day), letting Mother Nature take its course (The War of the Worlds), using high pitched frequencies (Earth vs. The Flying Saucers) and blowing them up (Invaders from Mars, Predator [although Predator blows himself up…], Killer Klowns from Outer Space).
3) We can attempt to kill them even though they did nothing wrong, and in fact were trying to help us (The Day the Earth Stood Still).
4) We can form some sort of relationship with them, including setting up an ambassador program with them (Close Encounters of the Third Kind) or creating an agency that allows them to live on Earth (Men in Black), or just let them chill after we persecute them and then they save the world (Transformers).
5) We basically just let them hang around a bit (maybe try to capture them, fail/they escape), then they leave (Cocoon, It Came from Outer Space, E.T., The Abyss, The Rocky Horror Picture Show [although…they kill their leader then rocket-house back home]).
6) We can do nothing. They’re already here. You’re next. (a la Invasion of the Body Snatchers)

Alright, maybe blockbusters and B-movie films aren’t the best way to go about figuring out what to do in the event that aliens just happen to land on the White House lawn. However, movies are great at providing what if scenarios, and what if is exactly the question we’ve been poised with.

So what would we do? WWUSD? Immediately, get the President, First Lady, VP, cabinet members all to their safe locations, while simultaneously securing the area, and begin evacuating civilians from the area (although probably not telling them why…unless they see the spaceship and are like, “Yo, it’s a UFO.”). This could be considered a realist measure, placing security first, however, it is doubtful staunch liberals would be “hey, they’s cool, no worries, we’s all chill, party on the lawn!”

After that…not sure. It depends on whether or not the aliens immediately decide to kill us (which is War of the Worlds style, in which case, we revert to Independence Day status), if they do nothing (probably roll it out like The Day the Earth Stood Still) and just wait till they do something. I doubt the US would attempt to make the first encounter, since it could be safely assumed that the aliens have more advanced technology, and while perhaps not necessarily true, more advanced weaponry. However, if after an extended period of time (1-2 days sounds about right), we would probably attempt to make the least antagonist contact possible. No idea what that is, but we’d do it. If they do attempt to contact us, then we’d…probably have some convoy prepared to meet them. I’m relatively sure the government does have a list of people who’d be in a convoy to meet extraterrestrials, probably including a polyglot, a top “extraterrestrial” scientist, a top space technician, an expert mathematician, a doctor, a psychologist, and some of the top trained soldiers, yet not blatantly dressed as such (once again, non-antagonistic).

As for the world governments' responses...that is a bit harder to say. Places like Russia, China, and other countries that practice more realism than liberalism would go on the defensive, and could easily move into the offensive if they feel their security is endangered, which they always do. Other, more liberal countries, like Sweden or Iceland, would undoubtedly stay quiet, since pacifism is usually their route. Other countries that are more "mixed" in theories....I don't know, probably something along the lines of the US, I suppose. On the defensive, but willing to be open to what happens. Unless the aliens are BAMFs, in which case, that is an excellent excuse to blow various nations/factions up. Because, as in Invasion of the Body Snatchers how do we know that they're even human anymore?

Listen, we're thinking in what if scenarios here, and this is something unprecedented. Much like the economic crisis right now...coincidence? Nope. This is a conspiracy theorist post, and I don't believe in coincidences. (I want to believe.)

In both situations, we don't know what to do, and even similar experiences in the past can only help us so much. Luckily, aliens landing remains in the hypothetical realm; terrifyingly, the economic crisis doesn't, but we're facing the same hesitancy. As Klaatu says, "I am fearful when I see people substituting fear for reason. "

...If we're all fearful though, how do we know what is reason, and what is fear parading around as such? Who knows our best interests then, when no one is sure of our interests now? ....Frightening.



And yes, I have seen every single film I mentioned.