Page 49 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - September 2021

Why Are Area 51 Conspiracies Popular 49

Why Are Area 51

Conspiracy Theories So
Popular? Here's What

Psychologists Say

By Jeffrey Kluger

Here’s hoping there are aliens at Area 51. For
one thing: they probably have cool spaceships.
For another, the extraterrestrials are said to have
arrived in 1947, so if they were going to eat us,
they likely would have done so by now. Finally,
answer this question: What’s more interesting, a
world with aliens or a world without them?

Area 51 has been much in the news lately, ever
since the June 27 launch of the Facebook page
named “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of
Us.” The crowdsourced semi-satirical raid on
the secretive Air Force base is scheduled for
Sept. 20 at 3:00 a.m. So far, 1.9 million people
that they are part of a uniquely well-informed likely did just the opposite.
have said they’re going, and another 1.4 million
minority.
have clicked that they’re interested, attracted by
Also setting Roswell apart is that nearly all other
the page’s decidedly straightforward appeal:
“Our basic model of people is that there’s a thin conspiracy theories require some inciting
“Let’s see them aliens.”
crust of rationality over a molten core of crazy,” incident: there were no truthers until 9/11; there
says Joseph Parent, a professor of political were no birthers until President Obama rose to
Whether or not there are aliens to see, of course,
science at Notre Dame University and the co- fame; it took actual moon landings before
is at the heart of a globally famous 72-year-old
author, with Joseph Uscinski, associate people started whispering that they were all
conspiracy theory. Believers argue that the crash
professor of political science at the University of made up. But tales of aliens have long been with
of what the government insists was a weather
Miami, of American Conspiracy Theories. us.
balloon near Roswell, New Mexico was actually
Stories of secret conspiracies, Parent says, are
the advance guard of an alien presence whose
“emotional poultices,” cooling the crazy partly “These theories have been ingrained in popular
arrival has been covered up behind the gates of
by providing a powerful sense of group culture for decades,” says Uscinski. “They are in
a nearby Air Force base ever since. The Roswell
affiliation. movies, TV shows, numerous books. Even
rumors, of course, were their own form of an
major mainstream newspapers have been
advance guard of conspiracy nonsense over the
One of the high-water marks for conspiracies, running articles lately suggesting the
past few generations that includes the 9/11
Parent and Uscinski argue, was in the post- government is covering up alien visitations.”
truthers, the Obama-era birthers, the second
World War II era, with nuclear weapons and the
gunman in the Kennedy assassination, and much
mortal divide between East and West creating a Then too there is an element of wish fulfillment.
more rubbish.
constant feeling of menace. Anything that One of the leading reasons we send spacecraft
brushed up against weaponry, the military or throughout the solar system and search for
But the Area 51 tales seem to have a special
secrecy was a particularly fertile area for Earth-like worlds circling other stars is the hope
stickiness, appealing even to some skeptics and
conspiracies — and Area 51 rumors do all three. that we will find signs of life, or at least places
rationalists who insist that the simplest answer
What’s more, when it comes to Area 51, there where life could take hold. It’s an awfully lonely
to any mystery is likely the correct one — and
was always more than a little truth to the universe if we’re the only place where the lights
it’s a whole lot less simple to keep so explosive
suspicions. Even if it isn’t home to anything are on, and there’s comfort to be had from the
a secret for seven decades than it would be for
remotely alien, it’s still a highly secretive idea that the aliens will save us the trouble of
that secret to slip. So what is it that gives the
military base and testing site. looking for them and simply show up here
Area 51 tales their enduring appeal?
instead. “It’s so much a part of the popular
“In one sense it is a conspiracy, because it’s a imagination,” says Ludden.
In some ways, Area 51 rumors have a lot in
secret area,” says David Ludden, professor of
common with every other conspiracy theory
psychology at Georgia Gwinnett College. “The Imagination, alas, might indeed be all that it is
throughout history. According to a 2017 paper in
government actually is doing something it — science fiction packaged up as truth for a
Current Issues in Psychological Science by
doesn’t want us to know about.” species looking for company. Even if the Sept.
psychologist Karen Douglas of England’s
20 event happens, even if the crowds are
University of Kent and her colleagues, nearly all
The military did not do anything to put the somehow able to breach the Air Force gates, no
conspiracy theories satisfy three basic needs:
suspicions to bed after the Area 51 event started one is actually likely to see them aliens. It’s a
they provide understanding and certainty, they
to go viral. “[Area 51] is an open training range hard truth—and kind of a sad one, too. []
create a sense of control and security, and they
for the U.S. Air Force, and we would discourage
improve a believer’s self-image.
anyone from trying to come into the area,” Air
Force spokeswoman Laura McAndrews told the
All of those three needs tumble together neatly.
Washington Post in a July 12 story. “The U.S.
As a rule, humans can’t abide nagging
Air Force always stands ready to protect
uncertainty, so any answer to a mystery — even
America and its assets.”
an outrageous one — is better than none at all.
With that comes a greater sense of knowledge
That don’t-mess-with-us warning probably will
and safety. And since that knowledge is not
discourage at least some people from showing
held— or at least believed — by most people,
up on Sept. 20. But if McAndrews hoped to do
there is a feeling among those who do believe
anything at all to quiet the E.T. rumors, she