"The Monsters Are Due BACK on Maple Street"

Years ago, Bobby Kennedy wrote a book about the threat of those who would work to bring our society down from the inside.

It was called “The Enemy Within”.

I hadn’t thought of that for years.

Until this morning.

(CNN) -- Call it a self-fulfilling prophecy: An estimated three-fourths of gas stations in the Nashville, Tennessee, area ran dry Friday, victim of an apparent rumor that the city was running out of gas.
"Everybody has just gone nuts," said Mike Williams, executive director of the Tennessee Petroleum Council.
He said he has no idea about the origin of a rumor that there was going to be no gas in Nashville. One reporter called him, saying she had heard that Nashville would be without gas within the hour, he said.
Hearing the rumor, drivers rushed to fill their cars and trucks.
CNN called 13 Nashville gas stations at random. Only two reported having gas, and one said it was almost out. The stations said they were being told they would not get more until Monday or Tuesday.
Katie Givens Kime, visiting from Atlanta, Georgia, was trying to fill up her tank for the trip home when she ran into trouble -- when she was already low on gas.
"We panicked and looked online," she said. "And holy cow, there is no gas in the city. ... It has definitely gripped the city, for sure."
One store clerk told her there was no way she could get gas to go back home, she said.
Williams said some drivers were following gas trucks to see where they were headed, and lines at some stations were a mile long. Fuel was continuing to enter the city, however, as pipelines were working and barges were coming in.
He likened it to Southerners rushing out to stock up on bread and milk when they hear it might snow. As stations began running low, the situation snowballed, he said.
One station reported selling as much gas Friday as it usually does in a weekend, Williams said.
The phenomenon seemed to be isolated to the Nashville area, he said.

One thing triggering the memory of another the way it can, I was reminded of an episode of the classic TV series, The Twilight Zone.

It was called “The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street”.

Here’s a quick synopsis.

It is mid-evening in September and the street is full of playing children and adults talking. A shadow passes overhead and a loud roar is heard, accompanied by a flash of light. Later, after it has gone dark, the residents of Maple Street find that the telephones no longer work, and there is no power. They gather together in the street to discuss the matter.

Lights begin turning on and off in different houses; lawn mowers and cars start up for no apparent reason. A riot begins and the hysterical residents smash windows, fight and switch blame from one person to another with little justification.

The episode ends with two Martian observers watching the rioting on Maple Street and discussing how easy it was to create paranoia and panic, and let the people of Earth destroy themselves, one place at a time. One of them tells the other:


"Understand the procedure now? Just stop a few of their machines, and radios, and telephones, and lawnmowers, throw them into darkness for a few hours, and then sit back and watch the pattern."

"And this pattern is always the same?"

"With few variations. They pick the most dangerous enemy they can find.... and it's themselves. All we need do is sit back and watch."

"Then I take it this place, this Maple Street, is not unique."

"By no means. Their world is full of Maple Streets, and we'll go from one to the other and let them destroy themselves. One to the other. One to the other. One to the other."

Read that synopsis again.

Take out the word Martians, substitute the word “Al Quaeda” and have them say “ Just stop their flow of gasoline and then sit back and watch the pattern. All we need to do is sit back and watch”

“Then I take it this place, this Nashville, is not unique”

"By no means. Their world is full of Nashvilles, and we'll go from one to the other and let them destroy themselves. One to the other. One to the other. One to the other."

Maybe the reason we’ve been spared airliners flying into skyscrapers for the past seven years is that our enemies have been busy.

Sitting back and watching.

(note: Part I of the episode is included here...you can find part II at You Tube)