The Monsters Are on Maple Street...

This video here is a remake of a classic episode of the original Twilight Zone from the 1960's. In the original episode from 1960, it was aliens experimenting on Humans to see how quickly they could incite them to panic. This time, it's the government, wanting to see how quickly some community would go apeshit after a power failure. This episode may be more than a decade old now but, things haven't changed that much. People are still just as afraid of terrorists as ever. It's a wonder that the idea of nuking the Middle East hasn't become a major political movement yet...

I know it's Human Nature to be afraid when something unexpected happens and to distrust strangers but, sometimes, it goes too far. It also scares the Hell out of me at just how quickly people will panic and start acting like an angry mob. I've been the folk devil behind a great many moral panics over the years. It's not fun to be treated like Frankenstein's Monster when all you really want is for everyone to leave you alone. Funny how society will often publicly state a love for diversity but, never actually embrace people who are different... At least I never had an angry mob come after me with torches and pitchforks...

We are supposed to be better than this in an enlightened and civil society. And yet, as this episode from a (sadly) failed attempt to bring back The Twilight Zone demonstrates, we aren't really that civilized at all. If there is any lesson we should learn from this, it's that you should never be quick to judge or panic. You should also never be too quick to act, unless someone really is making a clear and immediate threat against you. Of course, unless someone has a gun pointed at you, that clear and immediate threat may not really exist.

Sure, there are monsters in the world. Lots of them. However, what many fail to realize is that the monster you're most likely to encounter is your own ignorance, paranoia and ungrounded fears of the unknown. You are the worst monster that you will ever face. Not terrorists, religious fanatic assholes, communists, fascists or politicians. And it is up to you to guard against the real monster and not panic. Otherwise you give those terrorists, religious fanatic assholes, communists, fascists and politicians exactly what they want: chaos, the breakdown of civilization and the ability to take civil rights/political power away from you. Panicking in an emergency helps no one but those with impure motives.

The moment you give into fear and panic, that's when the monsters you were so afraid of suddenly appear and take over. They are always with us, just waiting for their time to 'shine', for lack of better term. And that is why eternal vigilance is the price we must continually pay for our liberty. History is already filled with so many examples of people panicking and giving power to the very monsters they were afraid of in the first place. We don't need to do that again.

- Lord Publius