Last week, a former U.S. intelligence officer testified before Congress that aliens are real. Turns out, we don’t really care.
In Wednesday’s House Oversight subcommittee on National Security, the Border and Foreign Affairs — largely discussing unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) — three former military officials gave some confounding testimonies about, among other things, unidentified aircrafts that used logic-defying technology and claimed the government is hiding information about UFOs from the public.
AP News reported that one speaker, retired Air Force Major David Grusch, “was asked in 2019 by the head of a government task force on UAPs to identify all highly classified programs relating to the task force’s mission. At the time, Grusch was detailed to the National Reconnaissance Office, the agency that operates U.S. spy satellites.” During last week’s hearing, the former major-turned-whistleblower spoke of “nonhuman biologics” — matter retrieved from found UAP crafts’ pilots — saying, “That was the assessment of people with direct knowledge on the [UAP] program I talked to, that are currently still on the program.”
Grusch told the panel his testimony was based on four years of work on the task force and interviews with 40 witnesses: “individuals with a longstanding track record of legitimacy and service to this country — many of whom also shared compelling evidence in the form of photography, official documentation, and classified oral testimony.”
Grusch also claimed he’s faced retaliation and “administrative terrorism” for speaking out and, as NPR reported, said “he had been denied access to some government UFO programs but that he knows the ‘exact locations’ of UAPs in U.S. possession.” The Pentagon has dismissed Grusch’s allegations of a cover-up. The full hearing is viewable on YouTube.
But back to the whole “we don’t care” thing. Sure, it’d be nice to know if aliens exist. What are the implications for humanity? Could someone please tell us what the hell is going on? But right now, after the most uncomfortable few years in recent history — a pandemic, a collapsing economy, the hottest global and oceanic temperatures on record, a list of horrors and struggles and traumas that goes on and on — we simply don’t have the bandwidth to give much energy to the idea of flying saucers or little green men. The world is burning. Unless the aliens are coming to save us, meh.
If the U.S. government has supposedly known about the existence of “non-humans” since the 1930s or so — and has run “a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse engineering program” underneath our noses — what’s the big deal? Some are asking, “Why now?” Could this hearing have been a distraction from something else? The possibility of the presence of non-humans with insanely advanced technological capabilities has repeatedly been referred to as a “bipartisan national security concern.” But could this be a scare tactic? A bread crumb meant to plant seeds for another lockdown? Conspiracy theories abound. Between those and governmental obfuscations, who could know up from down? For funsies, you can venture over to TikTok or scan the reels on Facebook or Instagram, where the whole thing has become a big joke. “Earth is awful. Please take me with you, aliens!” appears to be the consensus.
Humans have pondered the potential of extraterrestrial beings for centuries. Even before science began to unfold the nature of the universe — its planets and nebulas, black holes and cosmic dust — simply stargazing would make one wonder. There must be life in the vastness of it all. The truth is out there, to be sure. But even if that meant aliens were real, and even if that info was handed to us with neon flashing lights and red flags and bullhorns, we’d probably still go about our days, same as always, punching the clock and paying the bills — because that’s what’s got to be done. Unless spaceships land in our front yards, we’re sorry, we just don’t have time to think about that. It’s unfortunate, really.
I find some measure of peace in the unknown. Maybe something discovered within it will help unravel our own existential mysteries. Maybe life isn’t just about punching a clock and following society’s rules, without pausing to think deeply about the meaning of it all, until we die. Do you want to believe?