In this strange new world, Dean notes that our neighbors are aliens. Better to forget the neighbors, go inside, and enjoy cyber-citizenship on the World Wide Web. The symbolism of alien abduction is very different than the old one of colonization dominating much of the nineteenth century. Dean adds that colonization moreover brings with it the possibility of struggle, of emancipation and independence. Abduction, however, recognizes the futility of resistance even as it points to other possible freedoms.
Colonization implies an on-going process with systematic limitations.
Yet abduction involves the sense that things are happening behind our backs. Copyright 1998 John Fraim. John Fraim is President of GreatHouse Company a research, consulting and publishing firm centered around the symbolism of popular culture. His articles have been published in a number of leading publications. His book Spirit Catcher won the 1997 Small Press Award for best biography.