RIP Area 51

Last night I unwound with the Hellboy II movie. It wasn't too bad of a movie as far as the genre goes. As typical in these movies, the fight scenes are way too long and become boring. But other than that, I'd recommend it for someone looking to turn the brain off.

In the Hellboy movie series, Hellboy and other paranormal creatures are managed by a super-secret government agency. One of the rooms in their secret lair near Manhattan features a prominent "51;" an obvious homage to Area 51 of UFO fame. Many movies and stories over the last several decades are centered on a super-secret and super-competent government organization.

Now, in 2009, we know that this is all a myth. There are no competent government organizations let alone super-competent ones. The CIA completely blew the intelligence on Russia during the cold war and after 7 years still can't find Bin Laden. The evidence for invading Iraq was fabricated. FEMA completely screwed the pooch on Katrina. Despite being handed the information about Bernie Madoff's scheme, the SEC took years to end his activities. The Department of Home Security can't make any charges against the 9/11 "terrorists" they've been holding in Guantanamo stick. I suppose it's not surprising that everything I just listed happened during Republican administrations.

We know now that if there was a UFO landing in New Mexico in the 50's, no government organization would be able to keep it secret for so long. Somebody would have leaked evidence. The same holds true for faking the moon landing. Sure successfully landing on the moon is incredibly difficult, but doing so is actually easier than producing a fake landing that can pass extensive scrutiny. And that is especially true with 1968 and 1969 technology.

I never believed in Santa Claus or any of the stories parents tell their children, so I had never had the disappointment when learning the truth. I never believed in UFO landings either, but I am disappointed that something so simple as investigating a potential Ponzi scheme is beyond the ability and interest of our government.

I expect in the future we'll see fewer and fewer stories around competent governmental agencies. That idea will just slip from our consciousness. Will somebody watching "Enemy of the State" in 10 or 20 years notice the difference in attitudes? I occasionally like to watch movies from the 70's because of the lack of cynicism. Maybe someone in 20 years will like watching movies like "Independence Day" because there was a certain optimism.