Are we going to talk about the UFOs yet?

I know, I know. 2020 was intense. 2021 started pretty crazy too. In all of the COVID-19 hubbub, some issues took a backburner. 

But come on, guys. 

Unidentified Flying Objects. 

Or as the Navy calls them now, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.  UAPs are now the preferred term.

In September 2019, an internet joke grew wild (as so many of them do) about Area 51. One point five million people RSVPed to a public Facebook event to storm Area 51. “They can’t stop all of us!” cried the internet.

The Air Force warned against it. The FBI said they were monitoring the event. The Federal Aviation Administration closed local airspace, the local town anticipated being swarmed with millennials, and…nothing happened. A lot of noise for nothing dramatic. No aliens were found hiding in the underbelly of Nevada. One person was arrested for trespassing, and a few others received citations for public urination. Area 51 was safe from the millennial nerds. 

Then nearly a year ago, videos from 2004 and 2015 were released. Navy pilots, among others, had seen something bizarre. Something flying, something unidentified. In one video, the UAP rotated unnaturally in the air against the strong wind. In another, the Tic-Tac-shaped UAP zipped around the sky, accelerating faster than humans can survive, without any air disturbances. The pilots didn’t know what they were seeing. “What is that thing, man!” one pilot could be heard saying as the UAP moved across the sky. 

The world shrugged. Coronavirus was the biggest invasion threat. We could deal with UFOs later.

Nevermind that this technology could literally change our futures forever. Nevermind that contact with something else could completely change our culture. Nevermind that extraterrestrials could bring us war. 

Wait. We should care about this now.

In August, the Navy created an “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Task Force” to investigate further. The Navy clearly considers this something to be looking into. After all, this technology is far different than anything they’ve ever encountered before. They feel the need to be ready.

Does the rest of the world?

Of course not. We weren’t ready for this virus, and we’re certainly not ready for space aliens or time travelers or whatever these UAPs are affiliated with.

In December, former President Donald Trump signed the Coronavirus bill into law. A little hidden part of that bill included the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2021. That means everyone – the FBI, the CIA, the military – had 180 days to tell the government what they knew about UAPs.

The world shrugged again. This time, admittedly, makes sense—most Americans need to be able to eat and pay rent. Unless these aliens are coming up with grocery money or vaporizing our landlords, they still are low priority.

About four weeks ago, the CIA released all of its information to Black Vault, a document archive for paranormal activity. That means normal people like us have access to over 2,700 pages of documentation involving UFOs. Other than myself, I don’t know anyone who has taken a peek. 

In a complete flip from the Area 51 situation, where there was a lot of noise and nothing new actually uncovered, this time there has been little noise and huge news uncovered. Why aren’t more people excited? Why aren’t more people concerned? We now have access to previously classified documents that concern possible space aliens and instead, we’re arguing about wearing a piece of cloth on our face? Rudy Giuliani’s leaky hair dye got more press coverage than this. 

We have thousands of pages of documentation and several verified videos that are confirmed to be real. What is it going to take before people get concerned? Are the aliens going to have to knock on each of our doors and introduce themselves before we take notice?

This pandemic has worn everyone down; we have forgotten what had captured our imaginations previously. The COVID-19 response has been so traumatizing, we can’t focus on some big questions. Who hasn’t watched the night sky and wondered if we were alone? And now, when we have decades worth of documentation towards some of those answers, we shrug. 

Instead of shrugging, we need to start caring.