Stumbling Towards Obsolescence
In “The Obsolete Man”, from the second season of The Twilight Zone, a man, Wordsworth, is found to be obsolete by the State. He is secretly both religious and a librarian, and is sentenced to death, for both religion and books are illegal. He requests that his final hours be televised, and is granted a choice in his manner of execution.
In his final hours, Wordsworth summons the Chancellor, the man who prosecuted and condemned him, to join him in his apartment. Upon the Chancellor’s arrival, Wordsworth informs him that the door is locked and that a bomb will go off, thus carrying out the State’s execution. Wordsworth procedes to read to the Chancellor from the Bible.
Here are the final five minutes:
Mr. Serling: “Any state, any entity, any ideology that fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of man, that state is obsolete.”
And now we know why they don’t allow Twilight Zone re-runs at the White House.
