'It’s A Good Life… Until They Kill You'

American Thinker ^ | 17 Jun, 2021 | Paul O’Brien

[MtnClimber]

It’s a sad truth that we live in an age that is Beyond Satire (that’s “BS” for short).

Americans of a certain age will recall a Twilight Zone episode called “It’s A Good Life.” In it, six-year-old Anthony Fremont (Billy Mumy) turns 40-something birthday celebrant Dan Holis (Don Keefer) into a jack-in-the-box and “wishes” him into the cornfield. Little Anthony was a monster -- a mind-reading, music-hating brat with supernatural powers. He used his special gift on anyone who dared to think thoughts he didn’t like.

All Dan wanted to do was listen to his Perry Como album, a birthday gift from his wife. Anthony vetoed that idea, of course, so Dan downed a little too much brandy, his other gift, before giving the boy a piece of his mind. As anyone over 60 -- and most over 50 -- probably know, Anthony pointed at Dan, calling him “a bad man, a very bad man” before condemning him to that eternal spring (boing!) in the field.

The episode, from the show’s third season in 1961, ranks among Twilight Zone’s best. Based on a short story by Jerome Bixby, critics and fans appear to agree that the message of Rod Serling’s teleplay was, essentially this: “Take heed, parents. Control your kids before they control all of us.”

But despite a couple of remakes and assorted rip-offs, Serling’s instruction didn’t seem to take. Each day brings us headlines of fired teachers and coaches in primary and secondary schools who’ve said something that today’s little Anthony Fremonts find upsetting. In the universities, it’s the student as often as the professor who gets sent to the metaphorical cornfield for breaking that most abhorrent modern code of conduct that we have all been lured into calling “wokeness.” (More on that later.)

[MtnClimber]

The inmates do seem to be running the asylum these days.

[MtnClimber]

So, here’s a modest proposal (and it ain’t satire): we stop playing by their rules and debating in their tongue. “Wokeness” is a hollow a philosophy and a linguistic crime. Ditto “cancel culture.” A movement based on rendering its opposition “nonpersons” is a hideous cult, not a culture. Parents, forbid your children from going along to get along. Remind them that boys are “he” and girls are “she” and that together they are “they.” Remind them “they” represent an actual culture, i.e., Western Civilization, and that if said civilization is to have a future, it must be protected and defended.

[cockroach_magoo]

Unfortunately in this case the inmates are ruining the asylym.

[\/\/ayne]

In the episode they had one chance to kill the boy and they chickened out.

[Mouton]

My forefathers came to US because they did not like the culture, society, where they lived. How they got to where they were was immaterial to their situation. They came to a different culture, adapted to it, and our family has not left. So my advice to these society heretics is if you don’t like here leave. I see no chains on you. If you don’t go STFU.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Several Twilight Zone guest stars, including Bill Mumy, remarked that their episode made them iconic for decades.

Telly Savalas, even after his hit show Kojak, was still getting questions about ‘Talking Tina’ (ep: Living Doll) by people who got nightmares from that episode.

William Shatner, “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”, one of the most parodied episodes.

[Getready]

Twilight zone....gotta be the most thoughtful and engaging television show ever done....the issues were universal...not contemporary or trendy. Technology only exposed the human fears and confusion. A wonderful show. One of my favorites...Long Live Jameson.