Spoilers ahead!!!! Overall the episode is affecting as most apocalyptic themes are.
The issue I have is this. It bolsters bureaucratic statism while it tries to portray its cousin, martial statism, as bad. I guess that's about what one could expect from a 1960's teleplay, Liberal Statism, but it is the fact that it still is accepted at face value today. I have found no criticism of this episode and its lesson.
It is Major French and his hooligans who are manifestly bad. Their brand of roughshod militarism and short sightedness is held up for ridicule. That is all well and good. But what about Goldsmith? He is portrayed well, and has all the moral high ground by the end of the episode.
Why? Goldsmith represents the brainwashing of bureaucratic statism, Nanny Statism, Big Government Statism, whatever you want to call it. By the end of the episode it is clear that he knew how to open the door, and it may be implied that he knew it was a computer all along. Why the ruse? Why not let the survivors know right off that it was a computer, one that could clearly show what was radioactive or not? I can't help but think that the townsfolk, being rational, would have gladly followed the analytics of the machine, especially when it had been proved right.
It stands that Goldsmith had desires of his own. To be THE MAN. The mouthpiece of the Oracle, and gain position and prestige thereby. He is the bureaucrat, the one who carves out a niche for himself out of nothing. He had no reason not to let the rest know exactly what was up, but then he has no position of glory. The carrier of the Old Man's messages. That's the brand of Statism we have in the US (with a dash of Jackboot now and again). Keep the people in fear and ignorant and take the credit when things go good, whether they had anything to do with it or not. Mr. Goldsmith basically intercepted the credit that belonged to the machine. He also must have had a very low opinion of everyone else and a high opinion of himself, typical traits of the bureaucrat.
And when he revealed to be a liar (or a "half-truther"), the people throw off his smoke and mirrors, much to their detriment. And at the end, Goldsmith, the failed bureaucrat, who lied and distorted to the people so that they didn't know what to believe in, is left pondering where everyone else went wrong.
This, and others like it, is the moral message of the 60's, carried through television into the psyche of America. The seeds sown then are still bearing fruit today. "Have faith in the bureaucrats. Have Faith in general. Don't worry your little heads about the details, that's what we're hear for. WE know the Truth, just listen to us and all will be well."
Bilge water.
The issue I have is this. It bolsters bureaucratic statism while it tries to portray its cousin, martial statism, as bad. I guess that's about what one could expect from a 1960's teleplay, Liberal Statism, but it is the fact that it still is accepted at face value today. I have found no criticism of this episode and its lesson.
It is Major French and his hooligans who are manifestly bad. Their brand of roughshod militarism and short sightedness is held up for ridicule. That is all well and good. But what about Goldsmith? He is portrayed well, and has all the moral high ground by the end of the episode.
Why? Goldsmith represents the brainwashing of bureaucratic statism, Nanny Statism, Big Government Statism, whatever you want to call it. By the end of the episode it is clear that he knew how to open the door, and it may be implied that he knew it was a computer all along. Why the ruse? Why not let the survivors know right off that it was a computer, one that could clearly show what was radioactive or not? I can't help but think that the townsfolk, being rational, would have gladly followed the analytics of the machine, especially when it had been proved right.
It stands that Goldsmith had desires of his own. To be THE MAN. The mouthpiece of the Oracle, and gain position and prestige thereby. He is the bureaucrat, the one who carves out a niche for himself out of nothing. He had no reason not to let the rest know exactly what was up, but then he has no position of glory. The carrier of the Old Man's messages. That's the brand of Statism we have in the US (with a dash of Jackboot now and again). Keep the people in fear and ignorant and take the credit when things go good, whether they had anything to do with it or not. Mr. Goldsmith basically intercepted the credit that belonged to the machine. He also must have had a very low opinion of everyone else and a high opinion of himself, typical traits of the bureaucrat.
And when he revealed to be a liar (or a "half-truther"), the people throw off his smoke and mirrors, much to their detriment. And at the end, Goldsmith, the failed bureaucrat, who lied and distorted to the people so that they didn't know what to believe in, is left pondering where everyone else went wrong.
This, and others like it, is the moral message of the 60's, carried through television into the psyche of America. The seeds sown then are still bearing fruit today. "Have faith in the bureaucrats. Have Faith in general. Don't worry your little heads about the details, that's what we're hear for. WE know the Truth, just listen to us and all will be well."
Bilge water.