Published 18:01 IST, April 28th 2020
'What if the Asteroid is the UFO? Will Aliens help fight Covid?' Netizens have questions
An asteroid will fly past Earth on April 29. The Pentagon has released visuals of UFOs. The Coronavirus is already here. Here's what netizens make of 2020
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To say that 2020 has come with its own share of unexpected developments would be perhaps the biggest such understatement of all time.
As we speak, over two million people across the world are battling the Coronavirus infection, with about a million others (931,836 as per Worldometer) having recovered from the disease, and about 7 billion trying their level best to not fall victim. 212,337 people haven't been as fortunate, succumbing to Covid-19.
The outbreak had its origins in China in 2019, but it was only at the turn of the year that it bared its true fangs. If and when humanity overcomes it, it will likely go down as an epochal event, right up there with World War 2, having vast ramifications for life as we know it. It is perhaps with a keen knowledge of this that people online - and there are droves of them there in these times of Coronavirus lockdown - are taking word of further impending potential cataclysm in their stride.
The world has ended many times in 2020 already
Earth has given the 'end-of-world' soothsayers as much fodder as it can in the first four months of 2020. At first, Australia was burning, with over a billion animals and countless plants entailing one of the most unique and vibrant ecosystems in the world being destroyed in the great bushfire.
At around the same time, US President Donald Trump - surely one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse - threatened to light the world up with World War 3, as a war of words and election-year grandstanding with old enemy Iran reached a head with the killing of a top Iranian general. A belligerent Iran responded with the downing of a civilian plane killing over 200, and assorted missile strikes on US military outposts in the region. Trump went to bed in response, and after half the world waited with bated breath for him to wake up on the right side, did something that was least expected of him, defusing tensions almost never to be heard from again...yet.
It was about then that the Coronavirus came about, now counting both Iran and US among its biggest casualties.
Asteroid? UFOs? 2020 has prepared us (in irony if nothing else)
It is for these reasons (and one or two others if you live in these parts of the world) that when Netizens found out that the Pentagon had released some quite extraordinary footage of three encounters with 'unidentified aerial phenomena', and NASA was counting down to a close fly-past by an asteroid, that they almost opened up their arms in a show of 'welcome, leave your slippers by the pool, grab a drink and dive right in'
Here are 2 (+1) Tweets that adequately describe the two space-based phenomena, following which are a set of reactions that sum up humanity's level of 'you can't take away from me what I no longer have to give.'
Asteroid 1998 OR2 - 1.5 km in diameter - 16 Lunar lengths away at closest approach - arriving on April 29
Asteroid 1998 OR2 will safely pass by Earth at a distance of 3.9 million miles/6.2 million km on April 29. Astronomers studying the #asteroid with radar are also keeping a safe distance—from each other! Just another day for #planetarydefense https://t.co/32BSc0TkPM
— NASA Asteroid Watch (@AsteroidWatch) April 20, 2020
Pentagon's declassified UAPs - (less alarmist for UFO or Unidentified Flying Object)
"Look at that thing!"
— ABC News (@ABC) April 28, 2020
Pentagon declassifies three previously leaked top secret U.S. Navy videos of "unexplained aerial phenomena"—and that some believe could show UFOs. https://t.co/4eiYxC13u2 pic.twitter.com/Y47xZ97odO
And here's the Internet being quite clear that the Mayans made a typo and that 2012 was actually 2020:
Jan 2020:
— 𝕮𝖆𝖗𝖑𝖔𝖘 🇲🇽💥 (@FutbolFax) April 28, 2020
- WW3 Tease
- Australia Burns
Feb 2020:
- RIP Kobe
- Volcanoes Erupt
March 2020:
- COVID-19 Pandemic
- Economies Crash
April 2020:
- 3 UFO’s Are Spotted
- #AliensExist
May 2020: pic.twitter.com/7w8JBjtZ02
Some are gung-ho, though in divergent ways:
THEY’RE LATE DAMMIT
— Skip Mendler (@smendler) April 27, 2020
Had enough of UFO 👽 sightings
— Last Of The Real One🍥 (@Shaydin01) April 28, 2020
Yoh Bring it on #UFO #ufo2020 pic.twitter.com/9ZsysC9J9Z
This one thinks he placed his wager wrong, but will settle for a moral win:
My bet was on Meteorite but I guess this is tangentially similar in that it comes from space.
— Fred Johns (@freddjohns) April 28, 2020
This one's maybe worse than Coronavirus:
We're doomed pic.twitter.com/FsnX9dqiDG
— j4ckl3 (@j4ckl3) April 24, 2020
'What if the Asteroid is actually also the UFO? '
— Swoletariat (@RealSwoletariat) April 27, 2020
Same idea:
They getting us ready for July 4th pic.twitter.com/0lZnwHnQ1x
— theman_themyth_thelegend (@flasportsfan76) April 27, 2020
'Can Coronavirus fight the aliens for us?' Or vice-versa:
Just what we need aliens during a pandemic!! pic.twitter.com/AabRK8kXYJ
— Joanne❄️ #DontTouchYourFace #Biden2020 (@1pip2win) April 27, 2020
And then there's the knowledge that we are already our own worst enemies:
At this point, Aliens taking control of the world doesn’t seem that bad. They probably read Trumps tweets
— Caroline.Jea (@CarolineJP11) April 27, 2020
They may steer clear. Seeing his tweets should make them doubt whether intelligent life exists on the planet.
— TenaciousEye (@TenaciousEye) April 27, 2020
18:01 IST, April 28th 2020