Alien abductions are a widely experienced phenomenon that is mostly heard in the United States. Alien abductions describe being secretly kidnapped by alien or rather non-human creatures and being subjected to physical and psychological experimentation. These abductions are noticed to only happen in the United States as all claims come from the white people. Most people think the idea of alien abduction is unreasonable as they believe that aliens cannot differentiate between race and citizenship. To get a better understanding of the aliens' abduction to only the Americans, Lucas Tromly wrote a journal that proves that Aliens abduction only happens in White Americans and not to the Asian Americans or any other race. Tromly was inspired to write this journal and establish his argument as he saw a similar pattern in most of the abduction claims.
For one to understand what it means to be an American, it is believed that one has to go through a similar and mutual experience. Tromly argues that uniformity is recognized among the abductee community reaffirming the American citizenry (Tromly 2017). Alien abductions do not happen in every nation as no other ethnicity is found to be the victim other than the Americans, thus producing an American narrative. This claim is believed to be true, as most claims seem to originate from the American community. Tromly (2017) gives a reason for this and says that white Americans are seen to be the true Americans compared to the Asian Americans. They hold a higher status value to the aliens, and therefore they are more likely to be abducted (Tromly 2017). Asian Americans are seen to be of lesser value as their language, culture and features do not line up with the white Americans. Tromly, therefore, mentions a theory that best explains this, which states that abductees revert to a long-standing American genre and then use the captivity narrative as a template to their experience. This helps us understand why there are only American alien abductees.
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To demonstrate this, one widely heard abduction claim is of The Hull Case, a couple who gave out their experience of the Alien abductions. As Helen and Henry were giving out their experience, they portrayed a contrast in their memory of the abduction process (Tromly 2017). Helen recalls seeing large blue lightings from a UFO, an alien space ship, and on the contrary, Henry could not recall such a thing. According to Henry, he claims that he saw the blue lighting and thought it was from a police car; therefore, racial profiling by police blurred alien abduction. The racial tension can explain the differences in their memory they have been experiencing in their marriages. It was found out that Henry has been experiencing racial discrimination throughout his life (Tromly 2017). The racial discrimination that Henry was experiencing was as a result of the reality of racism in the United States.
However, after some time of forcing each other to recollect and accept their respective narratives, Henry recovered his memory and recalled his experience in an alien space ship. The regular therapy they were attending for one year also triggered it (Tromly 2017). In this case, the differences that were experienced by Henry shows discrimination in the cultural context and the social inequalities that the non-Americans go through which subjects them to an intense amount of suffering.
In conclusion, many would agree with Tromly’s arguments. The captivity narrative theory discussed by Tromly and The Hull Case is pieces of evidence that prove and explains what it means to be an American citizen. In order to have an understanding of what it means to be an American citizen, one has to be inclusive and belong in a particular ethnic group.
Reference
Tromly L. (2017). Race, citizenship, and the politics of alien abduction; or, why aliens do not abduct Asian Americans. The Journal of Popular Culture, 50 (2), 276-292.
