“Obsolete Man”, in the Twilight Zone

Written by John (the other John).

I recently saw an episode of the Twilight Zone called “Obsolete Man” that was broadcast in 1961, which completely foretold the viewers of how the future will be. Unfortunately, that future is today. Rod Serling opened this episode by saying as follows:

“You walk into this room at your own risk, because it leads to the future, not a future that will be but one that might be. This is not a new world, it is simply an extension of what began in the old one. It has patterned itself after every dictator who has ever planted the ripping imprint of a boot on the pages of history since the beginning of time. It has refinements, technological advances, and a more sophisticated approach to the destruction of human freedom. But like every one of the super-states that preceded it, it has one iron rule: logic is an enemy and truth is a menace…. “

In this episode, there was a man in a totalitarian State who was put on trial for reading books and for believing in God (both books and God were outlawed). The man was found to be “obsolete”, and thus sentenced to death by the Chancellor. The man requested to choose his method of execution and to be broadcast on TV from his apartment. The man also requested that the Chancellor come to his apartment. Then later at his apartment, some dialogue between the two that was epic:

Man: You never learn, do you? History teaches you nothing.

Chancellor: On the contrary, history teaches us a great deal. We had predecessors who had the beginnings of the right idea, but their error was not of excesses, but simply not going far enough. Too many undesirables were left around, and undesirables eventually formed a core of resistance.

At which time the man told him that the method of execution would be by bomb; but the man also told the Chancellor that he locked the door and that the Chancellor was unable to leave the apartment. The man then grabbed his long-hidden Bible and began reading verses expressing his trust in God. The man was calm while the Chancellor was in panic. At the last minute, the Chancellor begged the man to let him out “in the name of God”. Because the Chancellor acknowledged the existence of God, the man allowed the Chancellor to leave the apartment. The bomb then exploded and the man died. Later, because the Chancellor had acknowledged God, the State then deemed him as being “obsolete”, so he was killed.

Rod Serling then made his closing statement:

“The chancellor, the late chancellor, was only partly correct. He was obsolete. But so is the State, the entity he worshiped. Any state, any entity, any ideology which fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of Man...that state is obsolete.
A case to be filed under ‘M’ for ‘Mankind’ - in The Twilight Zone.”

This episode from 60 years ago prophetically stated that what wokeness is doing today is nothing new, but rather it is a continuation of what prior dictatorships have done in the past (but with more advanced technology); which is that their beliefs/actions are:

• logic is an enemy, and
• truth is a menace, and it
• fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, and the rights of Man

Such tyranny and mind-control that applied the above three elements existed from the ancient world, to the Middle Ages, to modern era (with racial tyranny [committed by Democrat slavery/KKK; National Socialism; and wokeness] and with ideological tyranny [Socialism; wokeness]). But with today’s technological advances, our human rights are threatened more than ever before.

Which leads to what may be our destiny, that we Conservatives have already been labeled as being “obsolete” by the Left in words, but now that they will control two branches of our government, then we will soon become “obsolete” in practice.