On April 27, 2020, the Pentagon released three videos of UFOs taken by the Navy. These videos were taken on two separate occasions, one in 2004 and the other two in 2015. All three include some pretty abnormal content of what certainly appear to be unidentified flying objects (remember, the term UFO does not inherently imply aliens. It just means the subject is unidentified and airborne).

Navy pilots can be heard communicating with each other in wonder as they watch the UFOs fly through the air: [radio transmission] “Whoa, got it – woo-hoo!” “Roger-” “What the [expletive] is that?” “Did you box a moving target?” “No, I took an auto track.” “Oh, OK.” “Oh my gosh, dude. Wow.” “What is that, man?” “There’s a whole screen of them. My gosh.” “They’re all going against the wind. The wind’s 120 knots from west.” “Dude.” “That’s not – is it?” “[inaudible]” “Look at that thing.”

Retired US Navy pilot David Fravor told CNN that the UFO he witnessed in 2004 moved in ways he, a naval aviator, could not explain. “As I got close to it,” he said, “it rapidly accelerated to the south, and disappeared in less than two seconds. This was extremely abrupt, like a ping pong ball, bouncing off a wall. It would hit and go the other way.” Luis Elizondo, the former head of the classified program, also told CNN that, “These aircraft – we’ll call them aircraft – are displaying characteristics that are not currently within the US inventory nor in any foreign inventory that we are aware of.” He said that he resigned in 2017 to protest the secrecy of the program and the opposition to fund further research. “There is very compelling evidence that we may not be alone,” he concluded.

The UFOs have been described otherwise as, “hurtling through the sky”, “rotating against the wind”, and “defying the law of physics.” However, astrophysicists are saying that there are many possible explanations for the UFOs which do not include aliens, such as “atmospheric effects, reflections, or bugs in the code of imaging and display system of fighter jets.”

The videos are real, certified by the U.S. government. But what is taking place within those videos is another story, and a heavy topic of debate in the science and conspiracy theory communities. However, when it comes to the general public, people seem less intrigued than one may expect. Skyline junior Adam Busse says, “I think there’s maybe a 20% chance of the existence of aliens. Other people seem convinced. But, no, these new videos don’t really sway my opinion one way or another.” Issaquah sophomore Stephanie Cash, a firm believer in extraterrestrial life, says, “Those videos don’t really have an impact on my opinion, because I don’t think those are really aliens.” Both said that they recall hearing of the videos, but do not know much about them. As for myself, I glimpsed one meme on my Instagram page (which happened to be musing over the fact that no one was talking about it) and never heard about it again.

So why are people so disinterested? Weren’t people just storming a highly classified United States Air Force facility by the name of Area 51 in September because they suspected that information surrounding aliens were being withheld from them? Yet, now that the government has officially released videos of UFOs, the best the internet can do is one lousy meme.

There are a few possible explanations for this unforeseen lack of interest.

First, these videos were leaked to the public between 2017 and 2018 without government authorization. So, many have already witnessed these videos, and the excitement has already unfolded (although I cannot say I remember hearing about it). Still, the fact that the United States government is now verifying the accuracy of these videos does seem cause for some national discussion.

Second, as Busse speculated, “If there weren’t so much stuff happening, people would be talking about it more.” The “stuff” he is referring to includes the pandemic, which has rightfully taken over the media. Seeing as it has uprooted the comfortable every day, it seems to be all people can talk and think about, so much so, that it seems even government-regulated UFO sightings does little to catch people’s attention.

Busse adds, “If more was happening in the videos, maybe people would be more inclined to talk about it. We haven’t actually come into contact with them. If we had, this would be the topic to talk about.” I have watched the videos, and to me, the most exciting factor was that the UFOs looked remarkably similar to the classic stereotype of what alien spaceships are supposed to look like. However, it should be noted that I have a very, very limited understanding of aerodynamics and physics in general. I do not expect to notice the extraordinary, “physics-defying” nature of the UFOs, which so many air force officials, scientists, and believers have marveled at. And indeed, if aliens did exist, would not they defy much of what we have come to understand as basic science?

So, what about the people who are talking about the footage? What do they have to say?

Alexander Wendt, “one of the most influential political scientists alive,” sat down with Vox News to discuss his take on the matter. He speculated about the possible purpose of these “aliens’” appearances. “They could just be intergalactic tourists,” he said. “Maybe they’re looking for certain minerals. It could just be scientific curiosity. It could be that they’re extracting our DNA. I mean, who knows? I have no idea. All I know is that if they are here, they seem to be peaceful.” When asked about the lack of interest and funding in the science community surrounding extra-terrestrial life, Wendt said, “. . .Human beings are curious creatures and normally scientists will rush out to study whatever we find fascinating or puzzling. But in this case, scientists won’t touch it with a 10-foot pole. And that’s the taboo . . . So even though the Navy is now saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got UFOs on film, here they are,’ the scientists are still not going to study them. So there seems to be something blocking the scientific community from engaging this phenomenon, even though anything else even remotely this interesting would generate limitless research dollars . . . I’ve received a lot of emails from individual scientists in response to my TEDx talk. And all of them said the same thing, which is, ‘Thank you, we wish we could study this, but we can’t because our lives depend on getting grants from the government and other research institutes, and if anybody gets worried that we’re interested in UFOs, boom, they won’t get a cent and their careers will be in the tank.’”

President Trump showed some interest in the UFO footage calling it “a hell of a video.” He said he just wondered if they were real. But, until the government makes an active effort to research the possible existence of aliens (if they are not already, as they claim), it seems the only thing we can do in regards to these videos is speculate.