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 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.
"The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" first aired in 1960, following the red scare of the 1950s, and has been considered one of the shows staple episodes ever since (via). Over the years and through the generations, this episode has stood the test of time because Maple Street represents every street, town, and people group. Because not matter the color or the age, our hearts are still the same.
It's depiction of a seemingly perfect neighborhood breaking apart after a simple moment of confusion, of how quickly the simple thoughts, attitudes, and prejudices reveal themselves, of how neighbors can turn on neighbors - even gunning them down in the streets - is a reality that stretches beyond our rough neighborhoods, our "other side of the tracks" neighborhoods, and our Muslim or immigrant neighborhoods, because Maple Street is all of our neighborhoods - even Andy Griffith's.
"The twist revealed at the end," TIME magazine writes, "leaves little hope for other towns" because, as the narrator states at the end of the episode, "Prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all it own - for the children and for the children yet unborn."
One to the other. One to the other. One to the other.
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