Area 51 is an Air base that is used for classified government projects that many associate with Aliens and conspiracy theories. The association comes from the government rarely releasing new information about activity there. 

The most recent information that the CIA has released is from the 1955 U2 spy plane. The document was released in 1998, but since the information isn’t new, it doesn’t help slow down the rumors. Because of this, on Friday there were protest at the base gates. 

The base has been associated with extraterrestrial life since 1947, starting with a tin weather balloon crashing and  rumors spread by supposed employee at Area 51. This weather balloon was assumed to be a UFO as the Air Force came to collect it. This person stated that the Air Force found a UFO and that there was an alien inside of the crashed spaceship. The Air Force at the time would just explain it as airdrop practice and wouldn’t say much more or change their information, making the people believe they were covering something up. 

As time went on, the rumors spread and to some it sounded more like truth then fiction. This is a big universe — there can’t just be us, right?

One by one, people started to believe that the base hid UFOs and other mythical, or fictional objects and so on 2013, the government final officially acknowledged that Area 51 existed. They were forced to legally state the purpose and release some information to prove this. They gave out information about how the U2 was made there, and explain the early sightings of UFOs there where just U2 long wings reflecting the sun. But this didn’t stop the want for answers.

Conspiracy theories could be avoided by having the government be more transparent about the research of airdrops and the airplane testing, at the base without having to give too much information.

 What could help is to let people into the base and open it up — to a certain degree — to media and public, instead of allowing continual speculation. This could lessen the amount of rumors and what people believe and help with the people’s trust in the government. Government of the people means the people should know what they are doing even if it should be kept from other countries. Government is there for the people not the other way around. If we the people want an answer to a question and the government is holding that answer, they should give to us. The people of the United States of America deserve an answer to what happens at Area 51 and proof of that answer, not some politician’s words. Secrets should only deemed necessary to keep from the public when it is something that doesn’t affect the country whole.