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239 The other side of unifying ourselves may be hostility toward outsiders. People define their identity as much by what they are not as by what they are. Nationalism on Earth often began by defining an “us” and a “them,” by demonizing a religious “other,” even portraying them as subhuman.* In our own history, group cohesion often has been reinforced by skepticism toward strangers, and by a readiness to develop fear of them. Researchers have found—to their displeasure—that negative emotional responses to members of a different race are independent of conscious thought. Others find that actual contact sometimes makes people more prejudiced.*° The more decipherable information we receive from an extraterrestrial society, the more we should expect a xenophobic reaction against alien cultural influences. There could be resistance to the human imitation of extraterrestrials, a nativist movement and Counter-Reformation combined. Some groups might demonize the aliens, attacking their ideas as immoral or evil; the symbols and artifacts of the other civilization might become targets. In the remote contact scenario, the most vulnerable targets would be the messengers—those who interpret and distribute information from extra- terrestrial intelligence. Some extremists might try to end contact by inter- fering with the signal or by attacking the detecting observatory. Direct contact with extraterrestrials, of the kind most often foreseen in science fiction films and television dramas, would intensify such reactions. Physically encountering aliens could provoke a new racism. If the extra- terrestrials were convinced of their superiority, the targets of that racism might be us. A recurrent theme in descriptions of contact is that we will be judged by superior extraterrestrials, who may find that we are not worthy. In the 1951 film “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” the humanoid alien Klaatu comes to the Earth to warn us about the consequences of our behavior. “If you threaten to extend your violence,” he declares, “this earth of yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder. Your choice is simple: join us and live in peace or pursue your present course and face obliteration.”*” Wald described a visit by extraterrestrials as being like Judgment Day. “That would be the point at which Mankind would be called to account. How well have we taken care of the solar system and life within it?”** Many people have seen disastrous events caused by nature or other humans as punishment for sinners. When medieval Russian cities were Judgment Day Xenophobia Judgment Day