The prophetic words of Rod Serling

"You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance..."

Rod Serling's dire warnings are more relevant than ever. The mass media and social media systems are being manipulated by nefarious powers. Sinister forces are at work. It seems mass delusion has taken hold. Our society is staring into the abyss now. Like a Twilight Zone episode.


From "The Obsolete Man", 1961:

"You walk into this room at your own risk, because it leads to the future. Not a future that will be, but one that might be.
This is not a new world, it is simply an extension of what began in the old one. It has patterned itself after every dictator who has ever planted the ripping imprint of a boot on the pages of history since the beginning of time.

It has refinements, technological advances, and a more sophisticated approach to the destruction of human freedom. But like every one of the super states that preceded it, it has one iron rule: Logic is an enemy and truth is a menace. The chancellor, the late chancellor, was only partly correct. He was obsolete. But so is the state, the entity he worshipped. Any state, any entity, and ideology that fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of man...that state is obsolete."



From "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street", 1960:

"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 of its own, for the children, and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined... to the Twilight Zone."




Serling on censorship, 1959:


“The writer’s role is to be a menacer of the public’s conscience,” Serling later said. “He must have a position, a point of view. He must see the arts as a vehicle of social criticism and he must focus the issues of his time.”
The censorship arguments compelled Serling to develope his original Twilight Zone series.

a reply to: ColeYounger

Marvellous thread!

Would also like to add Rod's closing statement from 'The Shelter'.

No moral, no message, no prophetic tract, just a simple statement of fact: for civilization to survive, the human race has to remain civilized.

a reply to: ColeYounger

: Logic is an enemy and truth is a menace.

Yes did a policeman kill a 16 year old black girl or save the life of one maybe two black girls?
He came when called he was there because someone asked for his help. he did what he thought in a seconds time to debate what he had to do. Logic.

a reply to: karl 12

'The Shelter'...another great episode. Thanks for the reminder.

And yet here we are on a social media platform discussing programming from a mass media venue, discussing how mass media is a manipulating force by sinister entities. a touch of irony....

I work in film/tv media and my suggestion is to turn the sh!t off if you don't like it. Are we being manipulated now or just exercising personal responsibility by making a conscience decision which media we prefer to indulge in.

Bottom line is profit and market shares, simply a method to advertise and sell people crap they don't need.

Capitalism at it's most surreal....

Should there be governmental entity telling us what to watch or let the consumer decide?

a reply to: olaru12

And yet here we are on a social media platform discussing programming from a mass media venue

The fact that Serling used the medium to make his point is awesome. TV guerilla warfare.

“To know your Enemy, you must become your Enemy.” – Sun Tzu

originally posted by: ColeYounger
a reply to: olaru12

And yet here we are on a social media platform discussing programming from a mass media venue

The fact that Serling used the medium to make his point is awesome. TV guerilla warfare.

“To know your Enemy, you must become your Enemy.” – Sun Tzu

What exactly do you think has changed since the "Twilight Zone" and R. Sterling days?

imo...there is more guerilla warfare on media like Alex Jones, Qanon, Clive Lewis, reddit, 4chan, Stormfront, AM radio, ATS, etc. some even fostering open revolution.

imo...there is more opportunity to express one's self in media than ever before; infact less censorship than in the 60s;
perhaps that's what is the reason for more anger, angst, and hatred in contemporary culture.

With digital, everyone with a cell phone is a producer of what ever they want to express. I think it's a positive aspect of technology...show us your world, your culture, your problems and triumphs!!

Rod Serling and his narration and the writing on that show are timeless and each one has some sort of lesson to teach. And in my opinion, they are taught without prejudice, only truth, even the live Christmas broadcast with Art Carney that makes you wonder, what if.....if a man down on his luck, living off of handouts can be so generous with a gift, imagine what everyone could do with the same.

"It has refinements, technological advances, and a more sophisticated approach to the destruction of human freedom. But like every one of the super states that preceded it, it has one iron rule: Logic is an enemy and truth is a menace."

Indeed Mr. Serling, indeed. A man from my youth I truly miss.

similar to the Twilight Zone was The Outer Limits

episode 'The Architects of Fear'; a group of scientists fake an alien invasion to unite humanity.

"Scarecrows and magic and other fatal fears do not bring people closer together. There is no magic substitute for soft caring and hard work, for self-respect and mutual love. If we can learn this from the mistake these frightened men made, then their mistake will not have been merely grotesque; it will have been at least a lesson - a lesson, at last, to be learned."

The BEST episode is where the machines take over from the people....and fire the CEO.
FAR more prophetic.

Let the consumer decide, make it all available all view points all versions of events all possible information and the viewer will decide from the information presented what to believe. But what we have is big tech and even government entities only allowing for certain parts of events to be disclosed while completely omitting others. Viewers cannot form informed opinions if they are only presented with fragments of reality.

The truth is this supposed “choice” in media is getting smaller and more select.


Don’t you see? You answered it all your self. The media is just “turning it off” as you say. They don’t like what is being said and they are turning it off.
a reply to: olaru12

originally posted by: Athetos



Don’t you see? You answered it all your self. The media is just “turning it off” as you say. They don’t like what is being said and they are turning it off.
a reply to: olaru12

Social media has T&C just like on ATS. Start your own, if a geek like Zuckerberg can do it, so should you. I'll subscribe!!

You make the rules when you own the platform.

a reply to: olaru12

What exactly do you think has changed since the "Twilight Zone" and R. Sterling days?

Actually, not a lot has changed. The technology is not, for the most part, raising awareness or intelligence. With the social media platforms (specifically, Facebook and Twitter), people can spread their paranoia at high speed. The platforms also showcase people's narcissism and other delusional behaviors.

With digital, everyone with a cell phone is a producer of what ever they want to express. I think it's a positive aspect of technology...show us your world, your culture, your problems and triumphs!!

That's a valid point. There is a limitless amount of content out there, and you can find great stuff. (I do all the time)
The reason I discuss the dystopia themes of those Twilight Zone episodes was the censorship issues. The control issues. Big tech is evil. I keep hearing people say Facebook and Twitter are on the way out, and the lines of communication will be free and open, but as I type this there is around 200 million Twitter useres, and something like 2.8 billion Facebook users.