War of the Worlds

Science fiction movies proliferated in the 1950s, all with dire threats for earth, and probably accidental or deliberate metaphors for the nuclear age ushered in during 1945. The aliens were tough, but we usually won, though not always (e.g., “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”). In 1938 Orson Welles, on his Mercury Theater radio show which was extremely popular in the New York area, broke in with a fake news story about Martians landing in the New Jersey meadowlands, which were then impenetrable swamps (and now the home of football stadiums and malls and, perhaps, Jimmy Hoffa). It created an uproar. Police were involved and people went into hiding. By the time the hoax was exposed, many people’s lives had been turned upside down. We’re in a sort of War of the Worlds today. There is the external, international war of aggression, theological oppression, tyrannical dictators, and non-cooperation about resources and disasters. There is also an internal war in this country (and others) about history, religion, politics, and exactly who occupies the higher moral ground. We have an inferior public education system at primary and secondary levels which we seem to think is improved by removing names such as Washington and Lincoln from the buildings. While we were always bailed out in the fictional war of the worlds, will we be bailed out in this one? I’m afraid there is no bailout, only our own accountability to make improvements and to collaborate. That, of course, is never a given.

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