Aliens

I rarely read the newspaper. Despite having an app on my phone where with a tiny bit of patience for the lack of accuracy fro a touchscreen and many taps on the right places, I can read newspapers from all around the world. But my nan buys one every day and occasionally I get very bored and it's just sitting there and I read it (thankfully every time this similar boredom approaches and the nearest readable thing is her copy of the 50 Shades series, I manage to remind myself that I do not want to read that).
So anyway, a while back I found an article about aliens. Apparently, if we ever find them, we will do so in this century. Personally, I do not care about aliens. No more than about humans anyway. Let the live there lives, we'll live ours. Both are interesting and strange and I have no idea what they're actually like but my wish for peace and respect of privacy overrides my curiosity on both species. But, of course, there are people in this world who aren't like that. People who must know everything. And don't always follow a moral approach to getting that. People who must claim dominance and power over everything. People who can't accept that we humans are not on this Earth to conquer everything in this universe.

So, of course, the inevitable question of what we will do when we find them arose. I only remember 3 of the possibilities that the writer suggested because these were the 3 that made me want to eliminate the human population for its greed and selfishness. (This was a temporary wish and then I remembered all the very nice people I know, and so everyone is safe from me for a while).

1. Eat them. I've seen War of the Worlds - more than one adaptation. Although I have never read the book. I'm not a fan of science fiction so I have no other examples but this will do. When they ate us, it was terrible. The fictional story sent America into a panic. Why is it then ok for us to consider eating them? It's unfair and we have no right. They were not put in this universe for us to use to our own benefits. Besides, there would be many lifeforms on this planet because one can't survive without the rest. So we would be messing up the food chain, ruining biodiversity and effectively destroying another planet.

Haven't enough animals suffered like this?

2. Put them in a zoo. They are not an endangered species. So there is no reason for putting them in a zoo except for humanities amusement. Again, that is not there purpose. We have no right. It would be cruel to put them in a cage on a foreign planet that they would have to readjust to because of the foreign conditions and then let people to pay you to gawp at them.This would also damage the ecosystem by lowering numbers. I saw the advert/trailer for a film with Tom Felton that was about how Planet of the Apes happened or something where they made this monkey think like a human and then put him in a zoo. He got mad and monkeys ended up taking over the world. Do we really want that to happen?

I didn't want anything too gorey

3. Teach them democracy. I have 2 reasons to be infuriated with this one. What makes people thinkthey aren't already democratic? Or maybe they have some other system that's better? What makes people think they need democracy. They could be loners like tigers. They could live in packs like wolves. Chances are, thereis some sort of system. Unless a whole planet can be a dictatorship, I think our influence isn't needed. There will be vairous countries and species on this planet, just like on Earth and they will all have their own ways of doing things. Our interference isn't necessary. I also think our interferance is bad because we are not a positive influence. Maybe when our own society is perfect can we attempt to shape others. But at the moment we suffer from far too many problems. Here are a few, in no particular order excpet the order I thought of them, in case it's not obvious enough: Prejudice, anorexia, obesity, STIs, teenage pregnancy, rape, drug addiction, depression, homeless people, murder, torture, war, poverty, greed, betrayel, high divorce rates, terrorism. The list goes on and on. I think the aliens are better off without our influence.

If we do discover aliens, ever, I think we should just leave them be. What do you think?