Independence Day

I love these holidays! I let all the crazy people go off to the beaches and I stay at home watching Twilight Zone on SciFi! I love TZ.
When I was a kid, TZ was on Friday nights. My mom would come home from Bingo and be upset with my dad ...... "she's going to have nightmares!" I think my dad knew that there was nothing in TZ to be afraid of, indeed TZ episodes should be shown to people as a form of brainwashing. TZ teaches us to be happy with what we have, it teaches us that we are flawed and that we must always try to do our best.
The TZ episodes from the 60's (actual start 1959) often dealt with the end of the world. The earth moving out of it's orbit, nuclear war, aliens from outer space. It was the time of insecurity, cuban missiles and the shows reflected that.
Wanting more was also a common theme, the couple with the genie learned that what they already had was good enough. Burgess Meredith as the bank teller always looking for time to read was such a perfect example of being careful about wishing for more. After a nuclear blast he has all the time in the world to read but accidently breaks his glasses without which he cannot read.
The power of belief and faith in the mind were evident in the episode where a father in a wagon train with a sick child crosses over time to retrieve antibiotics that will serve to save his child. Or the episode with the WWI British flyer who in fear loses his way and ends up lost in present time. He learns that the guy he was flying with was not killed but rather saved by him. He flies back to his own time with new found courage.
And bullies beware! Astornauts find a civilization of tiny people, one of them lets it go to his head. He kills his cohorts and makes the small people worship him, though in fear. Then he is discovered by an even larger civilization who accidently crush him.
So why would anyone believe that TZ was bad for you. I have to believe that if Rod Serling could see the crap that is on TV today he would cry. All that today's TV teaches is that the more obnoxious you are then the more likely it is you will end up on TV.
Happy Independence Day!