Saturday, February 25, 2006
On Thursday We Leave for Earth
I just finished watching the old Twilight Zone extended episode of On Thursday We Leave for Earth. I remember seeing a rerun of it when I was a teenager and being rather impressed by the story it told. In watching it now I realize that it's a perfect symbolic story of the psyche of a collectivist autocrat and his – often well-meaning – delusions. I will say no more about the stories plot other than to recommend the piece for its masterful insight into human character and the need by some for obsessive control over the actions and lives of those deemed too simple to direct their own fate.
Remember, if we wish to follow our own paths and form our own associations unguided by our intellectual betters' superior judgment, it can only be because we are "selfish and greedy, " or have had the wool pulled over our eyes by conspiratorial capitalist villains (that only the budding autocrat-magician can see through).
This Twilight Zone episode is excellent entertainment – in real life the same dynamic is not so entertaining. Too many have had their lives and souls stolen from them in the name of communal goodness and obedience to the schemes of psychotic utopians.