The Obsolete

 

Talk about prescience. Sixty years ago, this episode of The Twilight Zone aired. Most of you will recognize ol’ Burgess Meredith and the irony of this clip.

We are farther down this road than most realize. The slow burn of totalitarianism is now breaking out into multiple conflagrations. The Bill of Rights is burning before our eyes. And we continue to sleep at the wheel. Poor Burgess.

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Published in Education
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  1. Blondie Thatcher
    Blondie
    @Blondie

    This is my favorite episode. 

    • #1
  2. Mark Alexander Inactive
    Mark Alexander
    @MarkAlexander

    More:

    • #2
  3. JoelB Member
    JoelB
    @JoelB

    I have been reading Lewis’ The Abolition of Man, which I did not purchase, but borrowed from my local library. I wonder if the writers of this episode had been reading it too. Totalitarianism is the result of leaving the way.

    • #3
  4. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Every time I see this cut, it chills me. And now, more than ever.

    • #4
  5. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    Add this: The Outer Band Individuated Teletracer. 

     

    • #5
  6. Victor Tango Kilo Member
    Victor Tango Kilo
    @VtheK

    We just sort of ignored every warning didn’t we? 

    • #6
  7. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    Victor Tango Kilo (View Comment):

    We just sort of ignored every warning didn’t we?

    I’m old enough to remember when Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits were said by critics to be too “preachy”.

    • #7
  8. DaveSchmidt Coolidge
    DaveSchmidt
    @DaveSchmidt

    JoelB (View Comment):

    I have been reading Lewis’ The Abolition of Man, which I did not purchase, but borrowed from my local library. I wonder if the writers of this episode had been reading it too. Totalitarianism is the result of leaving the way.

    It may soon be culled from the shelf to make room for more “relevant” books.

    • #8
  9. Clavius Thatcher
    Clavius
    @Clavius

    Wow, that is great!  Scary, too.

    • #9
  10. DrewInWisconsin, Oik Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oik
    @DrewInWisconsin

    JoelB (View Comment):

    I have been reading Lewis’ The Abolition of Man, which I did not purchase, but borrowed from my local library. I wonder if the writers of this episode had been reading it too. Totalitarianism is the result of leaving the way.

    Still amazing to me that in the “most prescient novel” contest between 1984, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451, it’s That Hideous Strength sneaking up from behind and closing in on the win.

    • #10
  11. Clavius Thatcher
    Clavius
    @Clavius

    DrewInWisconsin, Oik (View Comment):

    JoelB (View Comment):

    I have been reading Lewis’ The Abolition of Man, which I did not purchase, but borrowed from my local library. I wonder if the writers of this episode had been reading it too. Totalitarianism is the result of leaving the way.

    Still amazing to me that in the “most prescient novel” contest between 1984, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451, it’s That Hideous Strength sneaking up from behind and closing in on the win.

    You left out Atlas Shrugged.

    • #11
  12. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    DrewInWisconsin, Oik (View Comment):

    JoelB (View Comment):

    I have been reading Lewis’ The Abolition of Man, which I did not purchase, but borrowed from my local library. I wonder if the writers of this episode had been reading it too. Totalitarianism is the result of leaving the way.

    Still amazing to me that in the “most prescient novel” contest between 1984, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451, it’s That Hideous Strength sneaking up from behind and closing in on the win.

    Have you ever read The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster? 

    • #12
  13. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    I hadnt seen this episode before – but it sounds like the George Bernard Shaw fan club. There are a lot of great episodes of the Twilight Zone – its really one of the most thoughtful TV shows ever produced.  I’ve most only seen the color episodes of the show.

    Here is George Bernard Shaw, Speaking for himself:

    Support for Nazi Germany:

    Personal cruelty:

    Not to go off on a bit of a tangent here, but why is George Bernard Shaw not been cancelled? Like Oliver Wendell Holmes, He has the 1 quote that the left loves. (taxation is the price trash) – but if anyone were to actually read is opinions, I think most leftists would be horrified by the man.

     

    • #13
  14. Clavius Thatcher
    Clavius
    @Clavius

    OccupantCDN (View Comment):
    I think most leftists would be horrified by the man.

    Why?  The Nazis were leftists.  He was supporting their cause.

    • #14
  15. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter
    @Seawriter

    Anyone notice the cigarette smoke circling up from the bottom of the scene at the beginning of the clip – and then him waving around a cigarette?

    • #15
  16. Clavius Thatcher
    Clavius
    @Clavius

    Seawriter (View Comment):

    Anyone notice the cigarette smoke circling up from the bottom of the scene at the beginning of the clip – and then him waving around a cigarette?

    Yes, if I remember correctly, he always smoked during his introductions.  Heck, everyone smoked at that time.

    • #16
  17. DonG (CAGW is a Scam) Coolidge
    DonG (CAGW is a Scam)
    @DonG

    Victor Tango Kilo (View Comment):

    We just sort of ignored every warning didn’t we?

    More than that we have gleefully embraced the surveillance state.   Most people revel in their ignorance and incuriosity.   Many of those old shows/books can be summarized as “feelings don’t care about your facts”.

    • #17
  18. Eeyore Member
    Eeyore
    @Eeyore

    When I clicked on this earlier, I received a notice “This is not a public post. Only the author can see this post.”

    I think “Hmm, The Obsolete, then this notice … Nah, this is just way too meta for me.”

    • #18
  19. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    Django (View Comment):
    Have you ever read The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster? 

    It’s remarkable, isn’t it?

    • #19
  20. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    Django (View Comment):
    Have you ever read The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster?

    It’s remarkable, isn’t it?

    Airships. What seemed like a forerunner of video calls and the internet The idea that humans could become so dependent on machines.  That people would want to avoid human contact. All this from before WWI.

    Maybe I should go back and re-read We. 

    • #20
  21. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    I could almost smell the smoke from Rod Serling’s cigarette.

    • #21
  22. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    I’m not sure I go along with the OP’s interpretation – or maybe it’s just that I can see how the Left would embrace this. They are the ones fighting for libraries, you know. It’s the Right that wants to ban books. Yes, yes, the Right says they’re just mad about a few books that have gay content, but that’s just the start. If you argue that parents are particularly and specifically angry about sexually explicit sex manuals made available for 7th graders, well, you know the drill: it doesn’t happen, it should happen, and it’s happening, and it’s great. Point is,  the Right hates freedom of expression and art and all that, and wants everyone to read patriot-pablum put out by publishing houses funded by dark money. 

    So they’d love this clip.

    My main quarrel, though, has to do with the idea that the state today is rendering “obsolete” someone whose job has no productive function. The essence of the Progressive enterprise is manufacturing meaningless jobs for ideological allies who perform no useful function, extract value, and produce nothing. Their ideal world is everyone working for the state, or a college, beavering away at demolishing isms and systems through conferences and unreadable articles. 

    I love Serling, but he did work in broad strokes. Fine; the medium had its demands. In a true totalitarian state, though,  librarians are quite useful. Libraries are useful. It’s a means of rewriting the past and securing the future. What’s more, a totalitarian state would not concede to the demands of Burgess’ character (Mr Wordsworth, of course. C’mon, Rod) to control the means of his execution, or draw Fritz Weaver into his plot. It’s all a cartoon of a fascist society, which is why Serling was applauded by the left. But as I said, the medium had its demands, broad strokes and all that. 

     

    • #22
  23. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    James Lileks (View Comment):
    (Mr Wordsworth, of course. C’mon, Rod)

    Right up there with Mr Atoz, eh?

    • #23
  24. Hartmann von Aue Member
    Hartmann von Aue
    @HartmannvonAue

    DrewInWisconsin, Oik (View Comment):

    JoelB (View Comment):

    I have been reading Lewis’ The Abolition of Man, which I did not purchase, but borrowed from my local library. I wonder if the writers of this episode had been reading it too. Totalitarianism is the result of leaving the way.

    Still amazing to me that in the “most prescient novel” contest between 1984, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451, it’s That Hideous Strength sneaking up from behind and closing in on the win.

    No kidding. We just re-read it recently and it reads like it could have been written last week. His insight into the evil behind modern academia was uncannily correct. I saw it in action at IU and U of I. 

    • #24
  25. Saint Augustine Member
    Saint Augustine
    @SaintAugustine

    Hartmann von Aue (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oik (View Comment):

    JoelB (View Comment):

    I have been reading Lewis’ The Abolition of Man, which I did not purchase, but borrowed from my local library. I wonder if the writers of this episode had been reading it too. Totalitarianism is the result of leaving the way.

    Still amazing to me that in the “most prescient novel” contest between 1984, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451, it’s That Hideous Strength sneaking up from behind and closing in on the win.

    No kidding. We just re-read it recently and it reads like it could have been written last week. His insight into the evil behind modern academia was uncannily correct. I saw it in action at IU and U of I.

    You mean the attitudes of the academically minded, like wanting to get into the Inner Ring? Or the demonic forces? Or something else? Or several things?

    And may I ask which Us those are?  I’m thinking U of Indiana for the second one.

    • #25
  26. Al Sparks Coolidge
    Al Sparks
    @AlSparks

    There’s a lot to talk about in that clip.  First, the mainstream media at that time (the Twilight Zone ran from 1959 to 1964) defended our way of life, and didn’t denigrate it.

    Burgess Merideth is playing a librarian.  How they have changed.  Today’s librarians are soaked in wokism.  And, while there are still books (the video mentions there are no more books) libraries are functionally obsolete in this internet era.  The reason libraries have become so woke is because — since they have always depended on subsidies from either the rich, like Andrew Carnegie, or governments — is because they are trying to justify their existence.  They know who their masters are.

    As for Burgess Meredith’s speech on the individual, the value of the individual, it’s amazing that amongst the intellectual class, that’s now a minority opinion.  Or if it’s not, few are speaking out.

    • #26
  27. OccupantCDN Coolidge
    OccupantCDN
    @OccupantCDN

    Top 10 Twilight Zone Episodes:

    Makes me want to buy the entire series on blue ray, so they can’t be deleted.

    • #27
  28. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    I’m not sure I go along with the OP’s interpretation – or maybe it’s just that I can see how the Left would embrace this. They are the ones fighting for libraries, you know. It’s the Right that wants to ban books. Yes, yes, the Right says they’re just mad about a few books that have gay content, but that’s just the start. If you argue that parents are particularly and specifically angry about sexually explicit sex manuals made available for 7th graders, well, you know the drill: it doesn’t happen, it should happen, and it’s happening, and it’s great. Point is, the Right hates freedom of expression and art and all that, and wants everyone to read patriot-pablum put out by publishing houses funded by dark money.

    So they’d love this clip.

    My main quarrel, though, has to do with the idea that the state today is rendering “obsolete” someone whose job has no productive function. The essence of the Progressive enterprise is manufacturing meaningless jobs for ideological allies who perform no useful function, extract value, and produce nothing. Their ideal world is everyone working for the state, or a college, beavering away at demolishing isms and systems through conferences and unreadable articles.

    I love Serling, but he did work in broad strokes. Fine; the medium had its demands. In a true totalitarian state, though, librarians are quite useful. Libraries are useful. It’s a means of rewriting the past and securing the future. What’s more, a totalitarian state would not concede to the demands of Burgess’ character (Mr Wordsworth, of course. C’mon, Rod) to control the means of his execution, or draw Fritz Weaver into his plot. It’s all a cartoon of a fascist society, which is why Serling was applauded by the left. But as I said, the medium had its demands, broad strokes and all that.

     

    Star Trek had broad strokes too. So did the Arthurian legends and Harrison Bergeron. I can work with broad strokes. One of the main advantages of fiction is that you don’t have to sweat the details and are allowed to focus on the bigger things. Tell Rob Long that when he makes fun of science fiction. Have him discuss how Harrison Bergeron isn’t worth reading. I dare you!

    • #28
  29. David Carroll Thatcher
    David Carroll
    @DavidCarroll

    James Lileks (View Comment):
    I love Serling, but he did work in broad strokes. Fine; the medium had its demands. In a true totalitarian state, though,  librarians are quite useful. Libraries are useful. It’s a means of rewriting the past and securing the future. What’s more, a totalitarian state would not concede to the demands of Burgess’ character (Mr Wordsworth, of course. C’mon, Rod) to control the means of his execution, or draw Fritz Weaver into his plot. It’s all a cartoon of a fascist society, which is why Serling was applauded by the left. But as I said, the medium had its demands, broad strokes and all that. 

    Yes, in 1984, Winston Smith’s job was to rewrite history. Very important work in progressive ideology.

    • #29
  30. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    DaveSchmidt (View Comment):

    JoelB (View Comment):

    I have been reading Lewis’ The Abolition of Man, which I did not purchase, but borrowed from my local library. I wonder if the writers of this episode had been reading it too. Totalitarianism is the result of leaving the way.

    It may soon be culled from the shelf to make room for more “relevant” books.

    That’s why my sister and I are big on real books instead of ebooks, especially the old ones.  

    • #30
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