Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Tools

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 the thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all 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.


--Rod Serling
The Twilight Zone
The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street
Season 1, Episode 22
Original airdate: March 4, 1960

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Especially pointed today, in light of the execution of two low level figures in the tainted milk scandal in China. Scapegoats. Who knows what that fallout will be.

LeahBear said...

You know, I have not thought about the Twilight Zone in ages and ages, but I ran across it while surfing channels the other day and watched a bunch of episodes in a row, and now you're blogging about it! It must be some sort of Twilight Zone-y sign!

Anonymous said...

Rod Serling and the Twilight Zone were ahead of their time...or maybe timeless in their message. Very pensive thoughts for today.

ree said...

Especially important as we think about everything we have to be thankful for.

Jay said...

How true that is. Especially so in England as we are quietly taken over by Europe without a whimper. We have just signed away a whole lot more of our sovereign rights without a referendum, in the name of democracy. No weapons of conquest, just politics. Perhaps not exactly what you were talking about, but .. *Sigh*

And then there is Political Correctness. Now there is a tool of conquest if ever I saw one. When will we wake up to the power of thoughts and attitudes to shape our society?