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Area 51

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I seem to get much of my "news" from Jon Stewart these days.  I first heard about this book on The Daily Show, and I've since read a number of favorable reviews.  Annie Jacobsen debunks the UFO conspiracy theories that surround Area 51, saying it is just part and parcel of the covert history of this mysterious military base.  Of course UFO enthusiasts are none too happy to have their conspiracies debunked, but once again fact is stranger than fiction, as Annie probes into the sordid Cold War history between the US and the Soviet Union,

Back to that little gray alien allegedly seen at Area 51: Ms. Jacobsen has a theory about the base’s alleged U.F.O. connections. It goes back to the radio broadcast of “The War of the Worlds” in 1938 and the panic it engendered. Making a series of implications that are her book’s most controversial aspect, she connects this hysteria to the 1947 alleged flying saucer crash in Roswell, N.M., a story cherished by conspiracy theorists and not easily refuted. 

Fear is a wonderful tool for keeping the masses in line. Worked for both the US and the USSR.
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