I’m angrier than a mouse without morsels over this next story because I’m tired of hearing about it. I speak specifically of Area 51, a highly classified military installation deep in the Nevada desert. This base came to mind while I was watching this episode of The Infographics Show.
First things first: I grew up in Las Vegas and on one occasion found myself with my stepfather near the base. We went as far as we could, observing a sign that warned that lethal force was authorized should we trespass any further. To my left and on a hill, a military vehicle stood idling and the two men inside were obviously deciding whether to confront us or if they’d leave us be.
We went as far as we could without encroaching on the base, and that is why they chose to leave us alone, I think. I grew up in Las Vegas in the late 1980’s, and back then, a local investigative television reporter named George Knapp made it his mission to report on and expose Area 51. As he has for the longest time (35 years, according to an email response to me), he works for local CBS affiliate KLAS-DT.
KLAS has, on its website, made a lot of Knapp’s reporting available for all to see. His journalism has netted him numerous awards and he is well known in Las Vegas for his fearless reporting on Area 51, officially known as Groom Lake.
Area 51 is best known for allegedly hiding UFOs and aliens. Of course this is impossible as neither exist, but for the purposes of this article, I’ll play along. Area 51 is, so people say, home to classified military projects such as stealth aircraft.
Numerous people claiming to have worked at Area 51 have come forward with tall tales about how they know certain things. One of those people is Bob Lazar, who is well known for his allegations and stories. One story that lacks credibility in my opinion is that he supposedly reverse-engineered alien spacecraft. Problem is, Earth is the only planet with life on it, so there can’t be aliens, although there are idiots who either believe aliens exist or who are trying to troll morons who eat up the aliens theory.
But, let’s move on.
Lazar is full of conspiracy theories and is also full of something brown that comes out of one’s butt every day. He claims to be well-educated, but proof of that is elusive. I don’t find him to be credible at all, but then again, any person who comes forward with fictional tales of conspiracies is, in my mind, is likewise not credible.
Area 51 is so secretive that even employees can’t drive there. Every day, employees take a private and classified airplane trip on planes known as JANET Airlines. They have their own classified terminal and they are shrouded in secrecy. The planes are, for the most part, unmarked.
JANET Airlines is also known as Just Another Non-Existent Terminal, or, depending on whom you believe, “Joint Air Network for Employee Transportation. The truth that they don’t want you to know is that they use special codes to designate its destinations.
This is probably because people can easily tune in on the air traffic control frequencies and they can’t have people knowing the truth. This is why so many people work on exposing it all. If they were more forthcoming, people likely wouldn’t care as much as many do now.
I take what I read about Area 51 with a huge grain of salt, because they obviously are making up tall tales. Alien technology doesn’t exist there because, again, aliens simply don’t exist. So why does the installation even exist? That remains classified and even though our tax dollars support it, we’re not allowed to know what really goes on there.
If anything, the whole Area 51 story is good for entertainment value. It’s my opinion that anyone who has come forward with the alleged truth about the base is either mentally ill or making things up. You’d have to be mentally ill to buy into the notion of aliens and UFO’s.
The Infographics Show‘s five-hour long compilation of Area 51 videos is entertaining. But I do not believe it’s truthful. For a show that purports to tell the truth about things, it sure is pathetic for buying into the rumors about Area 51.
And yes, I’m aware of the irony here. For someone who doesn’t want to give any credibility to the whole Area 51 story, I sure am helping by publishing this article. Irony is pretty ironic, right?
While growing up in Sin City, I heard all manner of tales about the base. I didn’t believe it then and I don’t believe it now. It was good for a laugh, but nothing more.
My question is: who really cares? Some might answer that I do, simply by writing this article. But after watching the video, I was angered that reputable shows and sites stoop to the lowest common denominator: believing the lies.
I reached out to Knapp via email to get his thoughts on his longtime reporting on the matter, but he respectfully declined, saying that he’s made “a concerted effort to move past the Area 51 story…this is especially true now that I am nearing the end of the road.”
I’m assuming that by “the end of the road, ” he meant retirement and not a health issue. But I will give him this: he was extremely polite. At least I tried to go hard.