A Walk Down Maple Street

I don't watch Keith Olbermann, but I might have to start. What he said on his show last night was freakin' brilliant. And the parallel between what's going on now and the Twilight Zone episode The Monsters are due on Maple Street is one that a lot of people have drawn. Not to mention, I love Rod Serling. Who else could write: "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."

Let's not forget the aliens in that episode. They hadn't really done anything to the folks who lived on the street. All the aliens did was shut off their electricity. The neighbors themselves did the rest. Please keep this in mind the next time some network trots out another Bin Laden tape. He wants you to act scared. So does our president, for political purposes. They profit from your fear. Fear is not a luxury we can afford.