Yes It’s True: I fear ‘The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street’

Call me a nervous Nellie if you wish, but I am fearful that Vladimir Putin and his Russian henchmen and henchwomen are winning a high tech cyber war against the U.S.

I believe Russian hackers who were accused of interfering with our 2016 election have been active in a broader campaign of dividing Americans against themselves, with the most important issue as racism. I believe shadowy Russian bots are being used to manipulate data and images to fan the flames of racial hatred, xenophobia and homophobia.

A divided America very simply, as Abraham Lincoln suggested more than 150 years ago, cannot stand on the world stage, thereby permitting Russia and perhaps China to emerge as the world leaders.

Some astute observers, such as Chris Hedges and Kevin Phillips, have been suggesting that the age of empire for the United States is in its last stages. Former Republican strategist Phillips, in his 2006 book “American Theocracy,” predicted we would go down soon because of three huge factors — increasing, and now massive debt, a military spread too far away and the religious right with its refusal to recognize reality. Phillips used historical precedents of empires that eventually crumbled: Greece, Rome, the Ottoman Empire, France, the Netherlands and Great Britain.

Some may add refusal to do anything about global warming, but that will have more far reaching consequences than for just the U.S.

With all of this in mind, I urge all citizens to view the classic “Twilight Zone” episode written by the great Rod Serling, “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street.” Rather than mere science fiction, it was first aired in March 1960 and I was more than pleased to see it included in a junior high language arts textbook when I was substitute teaching.

Wikipedia and the textbook both noted that Serling was using extraterrestrial invaders as a substitute for the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. Indeed, Serling often wrote morality plays opposing racism and warning about the dangers of unchecked fear in the nuclear age.

Serling’s fears just may be playing out in the real world more than 50 years afterward. I made the mistake of watching the Netflix documentary, “The Great Hack,” which outlined some of the clandestine activities of Cambridge Analytica in England and the Russian cyber spooks based in St. Petersburg.

As great as “The Twilight Zone” series was to watch as a youngster, I am nothing short of petrified by the prospects of its material actually coming true.

The following is the Wikipedia explanation of the plot of the show and the famous commentary at the end by Serling, as he always provided for every episode:

Maple Street is full of children playing and adults talking when a shadow passes over, accompanied by a roar, a flash of light, along with falling stars. Everyone notices, but they originally assume that it is a meteor, and quickly resume their activities. The residents soon discover that their power went off, affecting stoves, lawn mowers, cars and phones. They gather in the street to discuss the situation. Pete Van Horn, hammer slung in his bib overalls, volunteers to walk over to Floral Street, the next street over, to see if it is affected as well. His neighbors, Steve Brand and Charlie Farnsworth, decide to go into town, but Tommy, a local boy, urges them not to leave the street. Tommy has read a story of an alien invasion causing similar issues, and says that the monsters do not want anyone to leave the street. Furthermore, in the story, the aliens are living as a family that appears to be human, who are actually scouts. The power outage is meant to isolate the neighborhood. The adults are incredulous, assuring him that the cause is natural, such as sunspots. Charlie wonders if Pete Van Horne was successful in making it to Floral Street.

Another resident, Les Goodman, tries unsuccessfully to start his car. He begins to walk back to the other residents when the car starts by itself. The bizarre behavior of his car makes the neighbors suspect that Les may be an alien, as suggested by Tommy’s story. Charlie says Les had always been an oddball, and suggests they go over and investigate, while Steve asks them to be calm and not allow mob rule to take over. One woman brings up his late nights spent standing in the garden looking up at the sky, as if waiting, or looking for something. Les, defending himself as a resident of Maple Street for 5 years, claims to suffer from insomnia, admonishes his neighbors that they should take caution and to not allow panic or act rashly. Steve tries to defuse the situation and prevent it from becoming a witch-hunt.

As darkness descends, Charlie begins keeping watch over Les Goodman’s house. Steve suggests Charlie go home and go to bed. Another neighbor, Don, mentions that Steve has built a ham radio, which Charlie then claims no one has ever seen. Steve and the other neighbors continue to argue, using each person’s idiosyncrasies as evidence that they are an alien. Steve warns that such behavior, looking for a scapegoat, is the surest way for the entire neighborhood to “eat each other alive”.

A shadowy figure carrying a hammer is seen walking toward them. Tommy exclaims that it is the monster. Don obtains a shotgun, claiming it may be necessary for protection, which Steve quickly confiscates, claiming no one is shooting anybody. As the figure gets closer, Charlie panics, grabs the shotgun, and shoots the figure, thinking it to be an alien. When the crowd reaches the fallen figure, they realize it is Pete van Horn, returning from his scouting mission on Floral Street, and he is now dead. As Charlie struggles to defend his hasty action, the lights in Charlie’s house come on. The neighbors voice suspicions that Pete had discovered evidence that Charlie is an alien, and Charlie shot Pete to prevent him from exposing him, and even Steve is too angered by Pete’s death to defend Charlie. Charlie makes a run for his house while the other residents chase him, throwing stones, one of which hits Charlie in the head, creating a bleeding gash. Terrified, Charlie attempts to deflect suspicion onto Tommy. While Tommy’s mother is quick to defend him, several neighbors agree, as Tommy was the only one who knew about the aliens’ plans. Steve continues to try to defuse the situation, but no one listens.

Lights begin flashing on and off in houses throughout the neighborhood; lawn mower and car engines start and stop for no apparent reason. The mob becomes hysterical, hurling accusations, smashing windows and taking up weapons as the situation devolves into an all-out riot.

The scene cuts to a nearby hilltop, where it is revealed the shadow that flew overhead is, indeed, an alien spaceship. Its crew are watching the riot on Maple Street while using a device to manipulate the neighborhood’s power. They comment on how simply fiddling with consistency leads people to descend into paranoia and panic, and that this is a pattern that can be exploited. They also discuss their intention to use this strategy to conquer Earth, one neighborhood at a time.

Closing narration by Rod Serling