Barack Obama hasn’t seen aliens, but the truth is out there

In the 1996 black comedy film Mars Attacks!, the aliens take advantage of humanity’s naïveté. The Martian “ambassador” announces that he has come in peace and a cheering hippie releases a dove into the air, only for it to be vaporised by a Martian laser. The invasion follows. When the US President makes a stirring plea for peace, the Martian leader is seemingly moved, before killing him. The tactics of these bulbous-headed humanoids can be read as a warning of what was in store for Earth in reality — no, not an alien invasion, but an infestation of internet trolls and ragebaiters. If the Martians attack in 2026, they may find a more cynical world, and decide to approach with an offer not of peace but of “rare Mars” elements.

However, the fascination for extraterrestrial life remains as strong as ever. When former US President Barack Obama was asked on a podcast this weekend whether aliens were real, he replied, “They’re real but I haven’t seen them.” He also said aliens weren’t being kept in Area 51 — the classified facility at the centre of many UFO enthusiasts’ theories. It sent the internet into a tizzy for a few hours, until Obama clarified that he was only speaking in terms of statistical probabilities.

Conspiracy theorists have never let a minor detail like lack of evidence stop them, and they’re not about to start now. And Area 51 aside, the idea that life must be out there somewhere in this vast universe is fairly mainstream. The big question is, if the aliens don’t come in peace, how can they be stopped? Music did the trick in Mars Attacks! and lack of immunity to earthly diseases proved fatal for the Martians in The War of the Worlds. Hopefully, they won’t be able to survive the pollution in Delhi.