28 Comments

This makes me want to binge the Twilight Series. I can’t believe how much I didnt absorb as a child - or idk, maybe i did unconsciously take it in. Either case, while a fan of the show, it seems ive seriously undervalued Sterling’s brilliance.

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Man, we are so much on the same track in so many ways, despite me being a rural white man who probably has not much in common with you, except our humanity I guess. Thanks!

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Wow. What a great end of the year post. Thank you SER.

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This is the Twilight Zone episode I watched as a kid and have never forgotten. It introduced my adolescent mind to the concept of the creation of “The Other.” This particular Other is based on physical appearance, but the idea is a one-size-fits-all construct: It can be used to demonize any deviation from the perceived ‘norm,’ from the 1.1% transgenders, to whichever permutation of religion you choose to vilify, to the despised political enemy on the other side.

The human urge to delineate differences amongst ourselves is exploited by the “hungry ghosts” who are taking control of our country and creating a Hell Realm for us all. And we can’t conquer these narrow-throated, big-bellied, insatiable demons; regardless of how much compassion we may feel called upon to sling their way, they would have to do it from within themselves. In the end, all any of us can do is recognize the hungry ghosts within ourselves and offer ourselves compassion.

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Another excellent piece of writing by SER!

I would contend that only the ignorant followers actually believe any of the crap spewed about immigrants, or gays or trans people. The people in power don't actually believe any of it. The actual point is that they need to create an out group against whom they can demonize. It could just as easily be people with red hair, or people who are taller than the norm. They must have someone to rail against and whom to blame all the perceived ills of society upon.

If there is an us group and a them group, then they have a group to attack and to muster support and especially fear, against. Sadly, humans are tribal, and there are many, many more unthinking followers than there are empathetic leaders.

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shared to Facebook. Thank you Stephen https://www.facebook.com/share/nRfbaHmaQUvBUM8E/

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You know, it is absolutely dispiriting to see lessons we even learned in the 1960s from pop culture discarded. So many people, allergic to learning as long as their bigotries are catered to.

SER with yet another incisive analysis of media that even in the “Good ol' days” gave us important lessons.

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I think we were introduced to the idea of learning those lessons, but they aren’t really learned if we have not followed through with reparations on the magnitude of the centuries of offenses.

The size of that massive lesson may be what keeps putting it off.

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I just wonder whether we really learned those lessons, or we just convinced ourselves that we did.

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Arguably Serling had to hide his message to get it on the air at all, so it's possible a lot of viewers didn't get it. I know I managed to miss it when I watched this episode when I was about 12 years old, but now I just feel embarrassed I missed it way back then.

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𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒂 𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒑 — 𝒔𝒂𝒚, 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 1.1 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 “𝒐𝒖𝒕” 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒑 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒓 𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒂 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒚𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒚.

This is what some people never seem to understand. They may be included in the "in" group at first, but then find themselves part of the "out" group. Some trump voters are discovering that right now, and he hasn't even been inaugurated yet. If those folks could just let go of the endless culture war issues, they might just start to realize that the repubs have lied to them, and that Dems have good things to offer them and the nation. Yeah, I am probably too optimistic.

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1.1% of trans people then their partners (some cis, some trans), then their children, parents, siblings, friends…that 1.1% permeates out.

I absolutely do NOT understand the hatred against trans people. I don’t understand Rowlings’ obsession with trans people.

Thanks, Stephen, for another astute analysis. I was a kid when I saw this episode and didn’t understand why they’d want her to be ugly.

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That's what I think the trans-rights campaign has to do to win. It's not enough to hope for people to be sympathetic to a group they don't identify with--people have trouble with empathy. But if you make the case that the anti-trans campaign is really broader than that--that it goes to "do you fit their ideal for gender conformity" or even "are you just what they think is 'weird' or 'different'"--suddenly a lot more people can relate. You might not be trans, or know anyone who is trans, but you might be that girl who wore boy's clothes a lot, or you might have a son who is not gay but has more "girly" interests and you bristled when you saw other kids teasing him. Suddenly, the anti-trans bullying hits differently, and you take it more personally.

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Like in the horrible era post-original Taney court, we have to wait for the American electorate to upgrade.

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Yep--it's a slow, frustrating process because we are fighting against universal human frailties.

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Hm. “We are fighting against universal human frailties.” I like that.

Which will win out? Our unique human frailties which weaken us, or the unique human empathy which strengthens us?

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that episode scared the carp out of me as a child - it was so shadowy and creepy -

they send her to a place where "she can be with those of her own kind"

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One thing I have noticed is the uneven response to freedom of speech and censorship.

Whenever republicans complain that they are being silenced or their free speech has been violated the response from the left side of the aisle is always a mocking, “stupid conservatives, the first amendment only applies to government! The government can’t make laws banning free speech but private businesses can do whatever they want.”

Now contrast that to the response we get from our side of the aisle when Republicans literally use the full weight of their government office to ban books, ban wokeness from our schools and CRT, and outright antagonize school officials for being woke. Our response boils down to, “well they won so they get to make the rules. That’s just how it works.” 🤷‍♂️ Or “it’s part of the culture war or IOKIYAR .”

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My point is I would like to see more pushback on these right wing efforts to censor the left.

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Amen!

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‘I will defend religious liberty. I will restore free speech and I will defend the right to keep and bear arms.’

Religious liberty, says the thrice-married serial adulterer and sexual assaulter. Free speech says the person playing second fiddle to Elon Musk, artificial champion of free speech that spent $44 billion to suppress it. Keep and bear arms for the people who have record numbers of them as innocent children and adult civilians continue to be slaughtered by them in record numbers each year. (And also who were offended by Michelle Obama’s ‘bare arms.’)

Also, a little levity… The premise of ‘The Munsters’ was that their ‘beautiful’ blond niece Marilyn (by conventional American standards) was considered ‘ugly’ by the family.

Also, also… F the anti-trans… and stay out of our gay business as well. And women’s business. Like blue states, we all contribute far more to society than what we get back in benefits.

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No religious liberty for Muslims, of course. Don't you dare try to build a mosque in the wrong part of town! And if you're Jewish or Christian but your religion is more liberal, well none of that, either. And don't ask these defenders of "religion" to define anything about their religion, they know nothing about it except they think it sends secular liberals into fainting spells every time they say "Jesus".

It's all about hate, hate is all that animates these small, disgusting creeps.

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Serling belonged to the Unitarian church at the time it was merging with the Universalist church. The now-UU denomination draws meaning from all faith traditions, science, and other sources of wisdom and awe.

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Interesting--I thought Serling was Jewish. I know some Unitarians, it's a very liberal church. The Episcopal church we go to is also pretty liberal--very alien to the frothy shit that welded itself to the Right.

But thanks to absolute shit media coverage (and unfortunately a lot of liberals who play along and lump all "Christians" into the same framing that the Right has been using) one would easily forget the millions of liberal practicing Christians out there.

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True, all about the hate, and the "right" kind of Christianity, which is focused on hate of the "out" groups, and has nothing to do with Jesus.

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These people don't know shit about Christ, they selectively pick parts of the Bible out of context, and they use Christianity as a shield for charges of bigotry. Because to them it sounds better to say "you're not respecting my religion!" than it does to say "gay people make me feel icky, so I have to force them back into the closet".

They deserve to be roundly called out, not just for being gross disgusting hateful bigoted trash, but also for being blasphemous. Of course, the fact that they don't has a lot to do with the Left's complete lack of media.

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And thusly, the Left creates its own “Other.”

Also, there’s no “complete lack of media” for the Left. They can choose or create their own megaphones, just like the Right. It’s the message in the medium that counts.

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Had to laugh out loud about how after the "reveal" we see that the patient has makeup and hari styled. They must have worked that in while trying to change her face into a pig snout!

"See, doctor, I figured while we couldn't get the snout-thing to stick, we might as well do her eyelashes and give her a mod hairdo while we are at it...."

The forces of hate have won this recent round, the cowardly are already hoping to sidle up to them, we saw this play out in the 1970s when they tried banning gay teachers ("they'll obviously molest the students!") and even in 1996 when Clinton cravenly signed the Defense of Marriage Act (the idea of scumbags like him and Gingrich, neither of whom did much to defend their own marriages, would deny the rights of gay people to marry, is nauseating). It'll take some time for the backlash to sweep over this ugly, hateful era.

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