The idea of contacting extraterrestrial civilizations has been fascinating and inspiring numerous people since its conception for understandable reasons. The notion of being alone in the universe is a very unsettling thought that creates a sense of despair and loneliness. However, the existing accounts of contact with sentient alien life forms do not appear to hold any criticism. Therefore, I quite agree with the statement that UFOs as one of the main types of claims associated with alien encounters are quite difficult to take seriously (Espírito Santo & Vergara, 2020). In addition, the very notion of a UFO appears to be blurred since it does not specifically imply an extraterrestrial object. Instead, it suggests that the object in question has not been identified, which means that it can be virtually anything with flying capacity.
UFOs as the phenomena that have been strongly associated with fabricated stories, currently seem to be viewed mostly as a joke, which has largely informed the discourse around them in social media. As a result, the vast majority of sources reporting on UFOs and the related instances typically use the specified material not as newsworthy information but as a narrative that can support the said newspapers’ agendas (Edis, 2020). Consequently, any story about a UFO is likely to be perceived as manipulative and doubtful. Furthermore, the subject matter appears to be lumped with other controversial issues under the umbrella of pseudoscience, which has marked it as the idea that only gullible people lacking intelligence would believe (Edis, 2020). As a result, the interest toward UFOs and the idea of an alien encounter appears to have subsided significantly, leaving only a handful of enthusiasts being invested and heavily interested in this idea.
References
Edis, T. (2020). A revolt against expertise: Pseudoscience, right-wing populism, and post-truth politics. Disputatio, 9(13), 1-29.
Espírito Santo, D., & Vergara, A. (2020). The possible and the impossible: Reflections on evidence in Chilean ufology.Antípoda. Revista de Antropología y Arqueología, 41, 125-146.