Area 51

Mason Ascetta discusses Area 51 in his podcast. He covers its origins, secrecy, and tourist interest. In 2019, a Facebook group planned to storm Area 51, but it was mostly hype and resulted in arrests for trespassing. The government will always keep the secrecy around the base. Some fun facts include the difficulty of capturing photos and Barack Obama being the first president to publicly mention Area 51. Conspiracy theories exist, but there is little evidence to support or deny them. Mason concludes by hoping that listeners have learned something and thanking them for their time. Hello, my name is Mason Ascetta. I'm currently in my second year at Northwest Florida State College and I chose to pick the topic Area 51 to cover in this podcast. There are multiple key points that I will be covering when talking about Area 51. My first key point that I will start with is how Area 51 came to be and where Area 51 stands today. The birth date of the Area 51 conspiracy theory started in 1955 when the U.S. Air Force and CIA purchased the site. In the beginning, the site was primarily used for flight testing of special aircraft. From the very beginning, there was an intense secrecy behind Area 51 and high security, which led to the conspiracy theories being ever so strong. June 25, 2013, the CIA publicly acknowledged the base's existence. That was due to an act in 2005 being filed called the Freedom of Information Act. The act was filed to find out about the base's history and purpose. Area 51 is located in the southern portion of Nevada, 83 miles north-northwest of Las Vegas. The secrecy around the base still stands today and that is why it is a popular tourist destination for people to find out what exactly is going on inside the base. The next topic that I will be covering ties into tourists visiting Area 51. In 2019, there was a Facebook group that had over 1.1 million Facebook users that all agreed to storm Area 51. The title of the group was Storm Area 51, They Cannot Stop All of Us. The post in the group of the 1.1 million raiders of Area 51 declared, and I quote, We will all meet up at Area 51 Alien Center tourist attraction and coordinate our entry. If we all Naruto run, we can move faster than their bullets. Let's see them aliens. At first, this group started out as almost like something that was satire or just pure comedy. With the group being so large at that time, it was enough to spook the Air Force and they released a statement. And I quote again, any attempt to illegally access military installations or military training areas is dangerous. That right there sends the message that the government was not joking around with this situation and that serious action would be taken if laws were broken. It was all just a bunch of hype and hoorah on the internet. Nothing came of this event except individuals being arrested for trespassing due to the strict laws of the government. The secrecy around Area 51 will stay the same until end of time because the government will never allow anyone inside that building that isn't a government official. So conspiracy theories will continue to spread about Area 51 and it will all just lead to this mystique around the area. Now I would like to talk about some fun facts about Area 51. Did you know during the daytime, heat distortion reflected off the desert floor hides Area 51 from binocular view? And it makes you think that when they were in the process of building Area 51, you definitely know they took that into account. Capturing photos of Area 51 in its entirety is extremely hard. And a Russian satellite took photos of Area 51 and made them public in 2000. It's very reasonable to say that the American government was not too fancy of the Russian government doing that to them. The next fun fact will kind of surprise you. Barack Obama was the first US president to refer to Area 51 in public. And yes, I know that Area 51 was confirmed by the government in 2013, but it makes you think how many secrets is the government actually hiding from us. When you think about it, this is a breeding ground for conspiracy theories. There are real people in today's world that have claimed to be abducted and subsequently returned by aliens while in the vicinity of Area 51. And yes, that sounds absolutely crazy, but there is no evidence to support it and there is no evidence to deny it. So it will just remain a conspiracy theory. Area 51 has always intrigued me and I picked this topic because I wanted to learn more about Area 51. But there is little to no information, of course. The government has kept a lid on the facility and we know basic details, but in depth, we know nothing. We know its founding principles, what they do now like testing, but in depth of like experiments and what they're advancing and working towards, there's not a single clue as to what they're doing. And I kind of like to approach with the mindset, what I don't know can't hurt me and I feel like if I knew what was going on in that facility, I wouldn't know what to think. And that's for better or worse. As I conclude and wrap up this podcast, the one thing I hope is that you learned something because I learned something and I hope that you all enjoyed it thoroughly. I thank you so much for giving me your time and I hope you have a happy and blessed day.