By Mary O’KEEFE

Recently I spoke with people who have a variety of political views and what I noticed, with some of them, was fear about what is happening in the U.S. and in the world in general. 

On the one side there are those afraid of the direction in which the Republicans and this Administration are taking the country. They shared that our country may not be able to recover from the decisions that have and are being made, and they fear our U.S. Constitution will not survive. On the other side, there is fear that past administrations and Democrats have been leading the country away from democracy and moving the U.S. toward socialism and/or communism (two different theories, by the way).  

The fears are real [to these people], regardless of the facts. I must also say there are many who do not fear either of these extreme outcomes. Many of those people talk about the history of the U.S. and almost always say, “We have been here before.” And I tend to believe them because I have faith in our country; our Constitution has survived many of these trials and tribulations over its 250 years.

That does not stop the fear I hear in the voices of others, however; and although these people may be on the opposite spectrum of politicsfrom my own, I do see one commonality – the love for the U.S. For the most part, the people on both sides are, at their core, patriots. They love being Americans and they are scared this republic is coming to an end and want to do what they can to protect it. 

We have seen over and over how some who feel that extreme fear justifies turning to violence, as if it is their right. But we honestlyhave been here before and once again the Twilight Zone can be used as an almost historical documentary of what we once felt and are feeling again – and how manipulation of our love for “our way of life” has been used before to fuel the fires of fear and mistrust. 

“The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street” is a Twilight Zone classic. It was first released in 1960 and remade in 2003, but the original is so important because many of those who were connected to that episode either experienced McCarthyism personally or lived through the hearings conducted by the House Un-American Activities Committee. 

In the 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy led the U.S. Senate Committee on Government Operations and the influential Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. From its beginning through 1954 when the Senate voted to censure McCarthy, over 300 people were blacklisted for being “communist sympathizers.” They were blacklisted because McCarthy said they were members of the Communist Party; some were part of the party (however, that is and was allowed under the U.S. First Amendment) or they did not turn people into the committee and/or refused to testify. The committee was abolished in 1975, according to annebergclassroom.org. 

McCarthy utilized the “Red Scare” that spread throughout the U.S., specifically targeting the film industry. 

“McCarthy relentlessly continued his anti-communist campaign into 1953 when he gained a new platform as chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. He quickly put his imprint on that subcommittee, shifting its focus from investigating fraud and waste in the executive branch to hunting for Communists. He conducted scores of hearings, calling hundreds of witnesses in both public and closed sessions,”according to U.S. Senate.gov.

Artists, workers and everyday Americans were all targets. McCarthy was able to raise the fear in so many people that he was able to turn neighbor against neighbor, and even family against family. 

And this was the background that played in Rod Serling’s mind as he wrote “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street.”

Although I had seen this episode numerous times I watched it again and was amazed by how relevant it is today. For those who have not seen it, where in the world have you been? Watch it. For those who haven’t seen it in a while here is a brief reminder – spoiler alert: I am writing about the ending. 

The episode opens with the audience seeing a “typical” 1950s-ish neighborhood where residents wave to each other and kids’ laughter can be heard. 

And then at “precisely 6:43 p.m. on Maple Street” a possible meteor flies overhead. At least that was the assumption of neighbors and, although curious of this unknown meteor, there was no real panic. Then the power went off and that got people worried. And the phones stopped working and a car that worked before wouldn’t start, which added to concerns. 

With little fanfare, neighbor Pete Van Horn said he would walk over to the next neighborhood to see if those residents lost power as well. 

Steve Brand (portrayed by actor Claude Akins), whose car didn’t start, and  Charlie Farnsworth (Jack Weston) decided to walk to the police station to find out what was going on. 

That is when young Tommy, a preteen, started the whole paranoia scenario by  warning Steve and Charlie not to leave the neighborhood because “they” didn’t want them to. 

When asked who “they” were, Tommy pointed to the sky where the possible meteor had flown over – to “outer space.”

 At first the neighbors pushed this suggestion aside; after all, Tommy was just a boy – a boy who read a sci-fi book. However, Tommy was convincing – even though what he was saying contained no evidence whatsoever … but it had just enough plausibility to give people pause. 

When Les Goodman’s (Barry Atwater) vehicle starts on its own, despite his trying it earlier, Tommy’s story seems more believable. 

It didn’t take long for neighbors to begin to accuse Les of being “one of them” … from outer space. This was even more certain to some neighbors because, according to Tommy (who had become an expert on what was happening), the aliens sent spiesto Earth in human form to live among regular people. 

“It was that way in the story. Nobody could leave. Nobody except …,” Tommy said, “except for the people they sent down ahead of them. They looked just like humans.”

Now some neighbors, including Steve, attempted to be reasonable. It was pointed out they were all listening to a kid who had read a science fiction story, but to Charlie it was all beginning to make sense. 

Neighbors began to turn on Les because he was “strange.” He would be seen in his yard in the early morning hours looking at the stars. But Les had insomnia; however, that was an explanation some of the neighbors did not want to hear because, for some reason, Les being an alien from outer space was more believable than his having restless nights. 

The episode continued with rumors and accusations flying. Lights would come on in one person’s home which, of course, made them the enemy, and then lights came on in another home and the neighbors would focus on that enemy. Soon no one knew who to trust. The man who became the most quick to anger – Charlie – was accused, as was Tommy. As the neighbors continued to blame each other, working not with facts and a history of understanding but with fear … the sound was heard of footsteps. 

Though Steve continued to ask for his neighbors to act with reason, the rest of his neighbors saw “monsters.” Charlie grabbed a rifle and shot the man who was moving toward them. It was discovered to be their neighbor Peter Van Horn who had gone to the other neighborhood to see if they had power. 

Peter was dead at the hands of his neighbor Charlie and for a very brief moment there was collective remorse; however, that did not last long because these neighbors had tasted violence and blood and there was no way back. And so the camera pulls back from the neighborhood as neighbors grab guns and weapons, and the fight continues. 

And then we discover those who started this mayhem are indeed aliens from outer space; however, today they could just as easily be from foreign countries who start the chaos via the Internet … it is all the same. 

“Throw them into darkness for a few hours and then sit back and watch the pattern,” said one of the aliens. He added that this misinformation/misdirection works every time. “They [humans] pick the most dangerous enemy they can find – and it’s themselves.”

Serling saw the destruction McCarthyism caused in the U.S. He saw how, with just a few words to McCarthy’s committee, the freedom of U.S. citizens could be taken away. 

This is how Serling ended the episode:

“The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy. And a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own – for the children, and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to the Twilight Zone.”

I am not saying that we should not be fearful of our political atmosphere but I hope we have learned that ignorance is the breeding ground for fear and the best way to combat ignorance is with knowledge. Please do not depend on one algorithm to make any decision. Get out of your comfort zone, look and read other opinions and vote with a level head and a fearless heart. 

There is a Heat Advisory for the area through 8 p.m. tonight but as of press time on Wednesday there was a 10% to 20% chance the National Weather Service would extend that advisory into Friday and maybe into the weekend.

Temperatures of the low to mid 90s are expected through to next week. There is no rain or significant winds in the forecast, according to NOAA.