I've been slowly working towards this thread, with the very concerns you voiced in your first post Pen. An alien invasion would definitely unite us. But what could we do? Would even the exotic, high tech weapons my country has developed be effective against them? I doubt it.

But I definitely worry about this being used as a scare. Ever since Reagan used it as a point to reach out to Gorbachev in a speech, I have watched its slow manipulation towards a different meaning. First by pop culture, followed by rumors about a left wing plan to use it to get the people to submit.

Tim