We are living in an episode of The Twilight Zone... [View all]

[PCIntern]

One particular episode: It’s a Good Life

I am going to post the entire plot summary from wiki here for those who are not familiar with the episode:

Six-year-old Anthony Fremont has godlike mental powers, including mind-reading. He has isolated his town of Peaksville, Ohio, from the rest of the universe. The people must grow their own food, and supplies of common household items, such as bar soap, have been dwindling. He has blocked television signals and caused cars not to work. He creates grotesque creatures, such as three-headed gophers, which he then kills. Everybody is under his rule, even his parents.

The people live in fear of Anthony, constantly telling him how everything he does is "good", since he banishes anyone thinking unhappy thoughts forever to a place that he calls "the cornfield." Having never experienced any form of discipline, he does not understand that his actions are harmful. He is confused when his father tells him that the neighbors are reluctant to let their children play with him after he sent several of his playmates to the cornfield.

One night each week, Anthony gives the townsfolk one hour of television, which he creates and projects onto the family TV set. The adults gather around in the Fremonts' living room, squirming uncomfortably as Anthony shows them a vision of battling dinosaurs with ample gore. Unable to voice their real feelings, they tell Anthony that it was far better than what used to be on TV.

Afterwards, the adults celebrate their friend Dan Hollis's birthday. He gets two presents from his wife: a bottle of brandy (one of only five bottles of liquor left in the village) and a Perry Como record. Dan is eager to listen to the record, but he's reminded by everyone that Anthony does not like singing. Getting drunk from the brandy, he starts complaining about the miserable state of the town, not being able to listen to the record, and no one singing "Happy Birthday" to him. Dan snaps and confronts the child, calling him a monster and a murderer. While Anthony's anger grows, Dan yells for someone to attack Anthony from behind and end his reign of terror. Aunt Amy (who isn't able to sing anymore because of Anthony) tentatively reaches for a fireplace poker, but no one has the courage to act. Anthony transforms Dan into a jack-in-the-box, causing his wife to break down. The adults are horrified at what Anthony has done, and his father asks him to wish Dan into the cornfield, which Anthony does.

Anthony then causes snow to begin falling outside. The snow will kill off at least half the crops and the town will face starvation. Anthony's father starts to rebuke Anthony about this, but his wife and the other adults look on with worried smiles on their faces. The intimidated father then smiles and tells Anthony "...But it's good that you're making it snow, Anthony, it's real good. And tomorrow... tomorrow's gonna be a real good day!"

*******************************

We have a terrifying situation in which a childlike individual who has never been disciplined, or reprimanded has the potential to take the reins of a nation, which, by its sheer magnitude and military power controls the destiny of mankind. Nearly everyone within the ruling sphere of influence is scared to death of this individual, and is terrified of being turned into the equivalent of the Jack-in-the-Box. In addition to the obvious, there are most certainly forces at work of which we are entirely unaware, which include but are not limited to the influences of despotic rulers of other countries, enormous financial remuneration, and the trading of our most precious resource, that being our national security, for without the near-certainty of our safety on a daily basis, we are thrown into an abyss of worry, fear, and constant near-panic.

Up until recently, one of the great advantages of being an American, was that when one went to sleep at night, one was certain to awaken into the same country in which one had experienced the day before. This is no longer true: we have a situation which on an hourly basis is very fluid, and the underpinnings of our democracy, of our leadership, and of common sense and decency have been eroded by the metaphorical termites of fascism. There are no longer any predictors of success or even stability, which are accepted as the norm. Anything may happen at any given moment, no statement is considered to outrageous for tolerance, and any lie may be conjured up out of the blue, and taken as fact by a large percentage of the population.

One of the axioms of existence, taught in basic logic, and/or mathematics classes, is that if one accepts a false statement, then any supposition may follow as “truth”. We have been deluged by a fire hose of lies and scenarios, such that any proposition presented is acceptable, assuming that one is willing to acknowledge the legitimacy of the false statement which preceded it. For example, if one is willing to believe that two election workers brought hundreds of thousands of votes into a tallying location on thumb drives, then one may conclude that President Biden is not legitimately the President.

Logically and mathematically one would be correct in one’s thought process if this is the case. One may promulgate a vast array of similar lies, and there will be no doubt in one’s mind that the whole process is corrupt. This was utilized with great success by Hitler and Mussolini and history isn’t just rhyming, but it looks like it may be repeating itself.

In fiction, the good guys finally win: books by Tom Clancy or Robert Ludlum for the most part demonstrate that patriotic morality and the American experiment will continue with some requirements for evolving and more specific oversight, but that is fiction and quite frankly I am less optimistic today than I was 10 years ago that America will be able to continue as it was conceived.

I will leave you with a story, as usual. I was acquainted with a very powerful individual professionally, and this individual was treated with kid gloves by literally everyone in my area. People were scared to death of this man, and all he had to do was pick up a phone and make an angry call and mountains would move and people would literally shake with fear. When he finally died hundreds and hundreds of people showed up for his funeral, including dozens of politicians, and I remember sitting there listening to the eulogies with everybody’s singing the dead man’s praises i’m thinking to myself that the vast number of people were here just to make sure that he was really dead, and that they could breathe again.

This is what is going to happen eventually on a national basis, but the question is, will we survive as the nation we know to that point, or will be wished into the cornfield?