Another Day
In one of the most popular sci-fi films ever, the 1951
The Day the Earth Stood Still, the outer space alien Klaatu,
after landing in Washington D.C., demonstrates his overwhelming power
by causing all cars, trains, clocks—seemingly everything mechanical that
moves—to shut down, temporarily, across the planet.
His warning: if nations didn’t stop their destructive march to nuclear
conflagration and interplanetary pollution, Earth would be destroyed.
The film ends with assembled world leaders seemingly ready to negotiate a
peace.
Transpose
this cinematic scenario to the current moment. Imagine that the leader
of the US calculates a political advantage: far from humbled, he seeks
to divide. He rouses
his most rabid followers, who see in this threat to humanity a sinister
internal plot to undermine the economic supremacy of America.
“Liberate us from the fake invaders! Attack!” the president cries,
ignoring the pleas of leaders, in the US and abroad.
The soldiers surrounding the spaceship have already been rendered
powerless by the menacing robot Gort. The rebels, carrying their
assault weapons and wearing the emblems of fealty to their leader,
converge and fire on Klaatu as he attempts to depart.
Klaatu
and his people from a distant galaxy have no special feelings for the
human race. It is simply an irritant—more, a menace to peaceful
beings. However, the actions of
this inexplicably foolish leader demand a forceful response. Perhaps
one that doesn’t incinerate all life on Earth but would allow other
benign species to flourish . . . one that completes the task not with a
fiery blast but a silent, slow, efficiency…
Publishing history:
River Reporter 4/21
Hudson Valley One 4/22
Sullivan Democrat 4/23
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