Help! I'm Stepping Into The Twilight Zone
This was first published in September 2009. Just a note April 21, 2017: Trump would fit very easily into this story, with Tweets and unsubstantiated claims.
The title refers to the opening line of a former hit song by "Golden Earring," a Dutch rock group. But this isn't about music, rock or otherwise. It is about the old television series Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone," and an episode from 1962 called "Four O'clock." This episode starred Theodor Bikel as a kooky, self righteous, hate-filled spewer of nonsense, who anointed himself to punish and identify all the "evil people" by shrinking them to the size of the average kid's doll. This was to take place at "Four O'clock."
This demented man lived with his parrot in a dingy, small apartment where he kept a file on each person's supposed transgressions, no matter how trivial. He spent his days thinking about the latest conspiracy invented within his twisted mind, or sending anonymous letters and making anonymous calls to employers, for example, divulging the content of an employee's file, such as, "Your Mr. Jones is a communist sympathizer," and demanding that the person be fired. Of course, he never told the employer HOW he knew any of the information he provided, answering only, "Never mind how I know!" Of course the employers hung up on him, but at four o'clock he was going to set things right, all by himself.
It's a shame this episode wasn't filmed in 1965, as this secret avenger could have accused anyone who even dared to say a good thing about the newly created Medicare system as being a Commie, or at the very least, a socialist (Ah, come to think of it, maybe he did exist, just in the form of some other people). Or what if the show were filmed now? Hmm, WOW... lots of targets for him, including me, I'm proud to say! Ahh, but is it being filmed now with all of the nasty, distorted, divisive disinformation being thrown out there, sometimes anonymously via emails, for instance, and sometimes in person, as at town hall meetings? The 1962 character lives on in these people today, only it isn't just a television show anymore. This is real!
If you've never seen the above mentioned episode of the Twilight Zone and don't want to know the ending, stop reading now! I don't feel right leaving readers hanging there, without knowing the ending.
As the clock struck four and his parrot squawked, this hate-filled man peered from his window and proclaimed to his parrot that all the evil people were now shrinking. But in an instant, the man found himself looking up at his parrot, having shrunk to the size of a Barbie Doll, or I guess, a Ken Doll.
The other day (this was in 2009), I believe it was in New Jersey, there was a town hall meeting. I don't recall if the congressional person was a Democrat or a Republican, but there was a lady in a wheel chair who told of her crippling illness and how she needs help for her condition. In the midst of hoots and shouts at her, she tried to continue. One man, kind of a big burly guy, who obviously was far from underfed, told one of the reporters something like, "Listen to this...even a handicapped person has more rights than I have!" Hmm...I wonder if that guy stopped his clock at 3:59?
Word History:
Rice-This word came to English during the 1200s (one source says during the 1230s). Some linguists feel "rice" ultimately traces back to an oriental origin, but that sources are lacking to confirm that. In Indo European, it does seem to go back to Sanskrit "vrihi/vrihi-s," (first "i" with long sound) which meant/means "rice." Sanskrit, a relative of English much further down the family tree, still exists, although on a limited basis, mainly religious, especially in India, but its history takes it back many, many centuries ago in that southern part of Asia. Presumably, Old Persian got their word for rice, "brizi," from Sanskrit. Old Persian was the ancestor of Persian, one of the main languages of Persia, now called Iran. Persian is also an Indo European language related to English, but again, much further down the family tree, but more closely related to Sanskrit and to Hindi, one of the main languages of India. It seems that Greek picked up the word from one of these old languages as "oryza" (no, not Ore-Ida!), and it then was picked up by Latin as "oriza." Old French, a Latin-based language, continued with "ris," and presumably that is how English got the word, but Greek brought the word to Europe, and for example, German has "Reis," Polish has "ryz," Welsh has "reis," Lithuanian has "rysai," Italian has "riso," and Spanish has "arroz" (as compared to the old Latin form "oriza;" so, much closer).
The title refers to the opening line of a former hit song by "Golden Earring," a Dutch rock group. But this isn't about music, rock or otherwise. It is about the old television series Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone," and an episode from 1962 called "Four O'clock." This episode starred Theodor Bikel as a kooky, self righteous, hate-filled spewer of nonsense, who anointed himself to punish and identify all the "evil people" by shrinking them to the size of the average kid's doll. This was to take place at "Four O'clock."
This demented man lived with his parrot in a dingy, small apartment where he kept a file on each person's supposed transgressions, no matter how trivial. He spent his days thinking about the latest conspiracy invented within his twisted mind, or sending anonymous letters and making anonymous calls to employers, for example, divulging the content of an employee's file, such as, "Your Mr. Jones is a communist sympathizer," and demanding that the person be fired. Of course, he never told the employer HOW he knew any of the information he provided, answering only, "Never mind how I know!" Of course the employers hung up on him, but at four o'clock he was going to set things right, all by himself.
It's a shame this episode wasn't filmed in 1965, as this secret avenger could have accused anyone who even dared to say a good thing about the newly created Medicare system as being a Commie, or at the very least, a socialist (Ah, come to think of it, maybe he did exist, just in the form of some other people). Or what if the show were filmed now? Hmm, WOW... lots of targets for him, including me, I'm proud to say! Ahh, but is it being filmed now with all of the nasty, distorted, divisive disinformation being thrown out there, sometimes anonymously via emails, for instance, and sometimes in person, as at town hall meetings? The 1962 character lives on in these people today, only it isn't just a television show anymore. This is real!
If you've never seen the above mentioned episode of the Twilight Zone and don't want to know the ending, stop reading now! I don't feel right leaving readers hanging there, without knowing the ending.
As the clock struck four and his parrot squawked, this hate-filled man peered from his window and proclaimed to his parrot that all the evil people were now shrinking. But in an instant, the man found himself looking up at his parrot, having shrunk to the size of a Barbie Doll, or I guess, a Ken Doll.
The other day (this was in 2009), I believe it was in New Jersey, there was a town hall meeting. I don't recall if the congressional person was a Democrat or a Republican, but there was a lady in a wheel chair who told of her crippling illness and how she needs help for her condition. In the midst of hoots and shouts at her, she tried to continue. One man, kind of a big burly guy, who obviously was far from underfed, told one of the reporters something like, "Listen to this...even a handicapped person has more rights than I have!" Hmm...I wonder if that guy stopped his clock at 3:59?
Word History:
Rice-This word came to English during the 1200s (one source says during the 1230s). Some linguists feel "rice" ultimately traces back to an oriental origin, but that sources are lacking to confirm that. In Indo European, it does seem to go back to Sanskrit "vrihi/vrihi-s," (first "i" with long sound) which meant/means "rice." Sanskrit, a relative of English much further down the family tree, still exists, although on a limited basis, mainly religious, especially in India, but its history takes it back many, many centuries ago in that southern part of Asia. Presumably, Old Persian got their word for rice, "brizi," from Sanskrit. Old Persian was the ancestor of Persian, one of the main languages of Persia, now called Iran. Persian is also an Indo European language related to English, but again, much further down the family tree, but more closely related to Sanskrit and to Hindi, one of the main languages of India. It seems that Greek picked up the word from one of these old languages as "oryza" (no, not Ore-Ida!), and it then was picked up by Latin as "oriza." Old French, a Latin-based language, continued with "ris," and presumably that is how English got the word, but Greek brought the word to Europe, and for example, German has "Reis," Polish has "ryz," Welsh has "reis," Lithuanian has "rysai," Italian has "riso," and Spanish has "arroz" (as compared to the old Latin form "oriza;" so, much closer).
Labels: conspiracy mongers, English, etymology, evil, Persian, Rod Serling, Sanskrit, the self righteous, Theodore Bikel, Twilight Zone
posted by Randy at 1:43 PM
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