How The Internet’s Panic Over This ‘UFO’ In Los Angeles Highlights Our Desire For The Surreal

The Los Angeles skies lit up on Saturday night, which was not unlike an expected weekend evening for the rest of our semi-fair nation. However, Los Angeles does everything to an extreme, so the city’s residents also lost their ever-loving minds over this supposed “UFO” madness. What LA fails to note is that Hollywood scenarios only exist inside of Los Angeles and the films that are produced within the city’s limits. Everything else? Fly over country, baby.

Crazy sights occur over every U.S. city on any given evening. In most scenarios, these moments don’t result in YouTube videos full of dudes apologizing for poor audio quality. Most of the time, these vids occur over wind farms and corn fields in the middle of nowhere. Some poor sap with an iPhone records footage for posterity, and perhaps the vid goes semi-viral, which leaves him with a future (depressing) claim to fame.

Los Angeles behaves differently. The videos taken in this city on this Saturday night went viral. Then Twitter developed a swift hashtag, which spread like UFO exhaust over Area 51. Sadly for LA (or perhaps not), Saturday evening’s UFO arrived with a valid explanation. First, this happened:

https://twitter.com/intimateshows/status/663201403465302016

https://twitter.com/sayNEDELJKOVIC/status/663198605583368192

https://twitter.com/curlsvocals/status/663203652857946112

https://twitter.com/Jenna_Marbles/status/663194808253464576

Unfortunately for Los Angeles residents, this UFO arrived with a plausible explanation. As it turns out, the U.S.. Navy conducted an unannounced experiment of a missile test flight in the vicinity. At the same time, the Navy was part of “a frequent, recurring basis to ensure the continued reliability of the system.” Oddly enough, the military decided Saturday night was the perfect moment to test the social media waters. Hot damn, did Twitter ever respond to this one:

https://twitter.com/AndrewHusband/status/663202750646329344

https://twitter.com/macjamesward/status/663180786649042944

https://twitter.com/fivefifths/status/663196959323365376

https://twitter.com/savedbyniemi/status/663203581009469441

https://twitter.com/savedbyniemi/status/663203739684110337

This person speaks for the entirety of the world (outside of Los Angeles):

https://twitter.com/violends/status/663203374670569472

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