The warning signs on the road leading into Groom Lake, aka Area 51. "Photography of this area is ... [+]
It all started as a joke.
Matty Roberts, a student from Bakersfield, California, spontaneously created a Facebook group titled: “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us.” The amusing concept proved far more popular than he anticipated - as of now, 2.1 million people have declared their intentions to attend, while a further 1.5 million are “interested.” That’s 3.6 million in total.
Obviously, that massive number is part of the joke. Many of my own Facebook friends are “going,” and most don’t even live in America. Ticking a box for a laugh is far from a commitment, but there will be some folks, somewhere, who view this event as legitimate.
On the internet, what begins in earnest ends in irony, and what begins in irony ends in earnest. This is the meme cycle, and it could lead to a real problem.
Let’s say 1% of those “attendees” actually attend - that’s 35,000 people. But that’s a massive overestimate, no doubt. So, let’s say that 0.1% of attendees will take this meme seriously, and attend. That’s 3500 people, many of which won’t see this as a joke, but a genuine opportunity.
In fact, two people have already been arrested for trespassing near the Area 51 base, telling police they "wanted to look at the facility." Two UFO-enthusiast music festivals, “Alienstock” and “Storm Area 51 Basecamp,” have both been granted permits by Lincoln County (location of Area 51).
In preparation, the county has pre-signed an emergency declaration, with attendance estimates ranging between 5,000 and 50,000. While both are music festivals, the latter is explicitly connected to the Facebook page, and will no doubt inspire some curious, intoxicated truth-seekers looking to make the meme a reality.
Area 51, the Mecca of modern alien mythology, has been thought to contain otherworldly secrets for several decades; a cavalry of conspiracy theorists, perhaps led by Alex Jones, charging into the compound and uncovering genuine military secrets, is both hilarious and surreal enough to actually happen in 2019.
This was the year in which the New York Times published an article detailing reports of UFOs off the East Coast, containing interviews with five Navy pilots who witnessed, and in some cases recorded, mysterious flying objects that appeared to “reach 30,000 feet and hypersonic speeds.”
Belief in the existence of aliens is not uncommon; more than half of American adults believe in aliens, a similar number who believe in the existence of God. That belief has flourished over the years, the mythology becoming ever more complex, usually intertwined with Area 51.
The Area 51 connection is largely due to Bob Lazar, who recently appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience; Lazar is famous for claiming to have worked on secret alien technology at a base close to Area 51 (for some reason, the government allows him to just go around telling everyone).
Lazar’s appearance on the podcast is hilariously unconvincing, the man recounting generic sci-fi tropes, and even plagued with a ”migraine” that stopped him from providing details about his totally-not-made-up experience. Lazar is a great example of how far a decent imagination and a straight face can take you.
But a gargantuan amount of people listen to that podcast, and some took Lazar seriously, including Rogan himself.
The “Storm Area 51” meme will no doubt attract several pranksters and genuine UFO-enthusiasts, many of whom might even attempt to storm the base and livestream whatever ends up happening there. And regardless of how disappointing the ordeal is, the internet will be churning out Area 51 memes, and paying a great deal of attention to this inherently ridiculous event.
So, what’s the “major problem” mentioned in my clickbaity headline? Well, the date of the “Storm Area 51” event happens to be September 20th - the exact same date as the Global Climate Strike organized by Greta Thunberg (feel free to get involved if you haven’t already).
It’s our big opportunity to make climate change, the apocalyptic event on the horizon that civilization is completely ignoring, the center of attention. There’s going to be mass-disruption and protests aplenty, an organized attempt to direct public anger toward the incoming cataclysm, and perhaps, to finally take some action.
Annoyingly, the “Storm Area 51” meme is genuinely amusing, and utterly bizarre; it’s absolutely going to soak up a valuable chunk of the spotlight. Would have been nice if the joke had been dated for another day, but it’s too late now.
But the way in which the “Storm Area 51” meme has snowballed, from a mere joke into a potential protest against government secrecy, is strangely encouraging; it shows how social media can organize the masses on a whim, providing enough people find the concept funny, or interesting.
Unless Lazar is correct and the government really is hiding some kind of otherworldly technology that can provide us with infinite renewable energy, the meme might end up being a massive misdirection.
By all means, have fun with Area 51, but don't forget about the Global Climate Strike. Slacktivism is better than nothing, and activism is even better.
Clearly, Greta Thunberg needs to book a spot on the Joe Rogan Experience.
