A letter from ET

Dear Nixie,

A colleague recently made extra celestial contact with you and as this advice column now receives mail from interplanetary life forms we have some further questions regarding the ways of earthlings. For our improved operational capacities and preservation might you not answer some questions around a number of rather perplexing human behaviours especially with reference to communication modalities and health?

Many of our alien life forms have made undercover secret missions to planet earth. Evidence suggests stupidity, however, we are a peaceful race, willing to understand the complexities of human behaviour if explained in full. Please help us understand you. In order of least concerning to most here are our questions:

1)    The bathroom selfie - a new level of vanity
2)  Tweeting with little reference to bird life
3) High heels
4)  Bathing suits such as

Even though this - 

5)  Lighting carsonagenic plant forms and sticking in mouth and setting fire to it
6)   Letting corporate power off the leash with the biggest 200 corporations now ruling your world.
7) Encouraging negative consumptions while population growth increases and the planet can’t keep up
8)    Erosion of soil from poor farming and forestry practices while allowing some of the richest business women and men on earth, with vested interests in these areas, to buy into the media and movie industries or distribution channels for communication and present biased views and inappropriate product placement.  
9)  Having movie stars promote good causes while being effectively owned by media moguls or business people who demonstrate poor records in the area of human rights and the Environment, on a local and global scale, creating a “fighting a losing battle” resistance mode.
10)  The Fostering of inequality with dire consequences for the social and environmental well- being of your country

Thank you for your time. And if you wouldn’t mind sending us some enlightenment we would be most appreciative.

Yours Truly

Mr ET.

Ps please do give my love to darling Miss Barrymore. I’ve missed her so very much all these years.

Dear ET,

Oh my, what a great pleasure it is to have you back in contact with planet Earth. Oh you wooed us then and now returning with all the humility and sweet concern of yesteryear. I suppose we never listened to your message in some ways and did in others. I can understand why you wanted to phone home so much. Those Pepsi cans on the table weren’t really your scene hey but I see you remembered to remember those you loved on planet earth and at home.

Ah, where to start….The bathroom selfie, is given, a strange undertaking and probably more alarming than number 1 on the list, than you might think (in my own humble opinion). They want us to be Narcissists, especially the young folk.  We are then trained to consume more, think less and feel less. They want us to fall flat in the thrill of the chase. The chase for, more and more that might fulfil the requirements of a bathroom selfie and not much else. It’s about the immediate pleasure of “looking good” and the longer term dopamine injection of “the chase” where the chase is nothing more than trying to remain trapped in the vanity of a youthful perspective.  The chase is a common phenomenon replicated in drug use and ill relationship hunters who jepordise love for a new chase.  Number one feeds right into every one of your concerns strangely enough. In other words no need to follow our lead there.

Smoking is a little to right field but a by- product of unhappiness and related in its own way to the top heavy capitalist worlds of “Developed” countries. The chase is short lived often and sadness is the residue we are left with as a growing world of depressed people cry themselves to sleep at night.

Guardians exist but even guardians who write about guarding people’s hearts and the environment may work for those who have no interest in doing this. From the Guardian some important words were written about the ways people foster inequality;

“Aside from fostering resentment between rich and poor people, there is mounting evidence that it causes environmental degradation. The greater the income difference between groups, or countries, the greater the waste, the meat and water consumption, and the biodiversity loss. People in the most unequal societies are more stressed and anxious, and under greater pressure to consume more. Hyper-consumption by the few reduces the satisfaction of the many with what they have, by showing it up as inferior. It may also undermine the collective action required to protect nature.”

In other words we do NOT want the rich to get richer. It is not a choice we have to make of we want to save the world and make people overall feel good.

I hope that helps you understand ET. There’s plenty of good people though, mopping up some of the mess, engaged in meaningful life pursuits (though it’s not always apparent via social media but sometimes is) and doing their best to find hope. I’ll get back to you with some of those stories whenever I can.

May your glowing finger stay bright.

All my love,

Nixie xx