The Twilight Zone Metaphor for Evangelicals' Jerusalem Fantasy

(Article originally published here on May 14, 2008 under the title Explaining the Relationship Between Grateful Jews and Christian Zionists With a Twilight Zone Story

There are a number of Christian Fundamentalist leaders, like John Hagee, one of John McCain's endorsers, who seem to wish the very best for Israel and the Israelis.

These Christian Zionists are, by far, more avid in their support for Israel than most American Jews. We know a bit about the extent of their fervor for Israel because Rolling Stone writer Matt Taibi went undercover to Hagee's church and learned that the members of this megachurch and his movement are taught to be so loyal to Israel that they even oppose the giving up of land in any peace settlements.

So it is not surprising that there are many Israelis, and many American Jews who strongly embrace and welcome Hagee and his flock of brainwashed sheep.

There's one that seems to be a perfect allegory for the Israelis who are so grateful to Hagee's Rapture ready Christian Zionist.

The Twilight Zone story is titled, To Serve Man, originally written as a short story by Damon Knight. The story begins with a flying saucer landing on earth, near Newark (a short commute to the UN.) A nine foot tall "Kanamit" tells the delegates to the UN that he and his people have come to help Earth to become free from want, war, faminme... and in short order, thousands of humans are accepting the offer to fly to the Kanamit planet, where, the word is, they are treated like royalty

Meanwhile, the first Kanamit visitor has left a book, written in Kanamit. They cryptographers interpret the cover title-- "To Serve Man." And they start experiencing the benefits the Kanamits have brought-- new energy technologies, fertilizers that quadruple crop yields... so the job of translating the book, a job given to cryptographers who were involved in the cold war-- is put on hold, as peace seems to be taking over the earth.

But one woman is fascinated by the challenge. Even as she and her colleague are on the waiting list to fly to the Kanamit planet, she is working on breaking the language.

Finally, as her colleague, Michael Chambers, is literally climbing on board the flying saucer, she races to the departure area and calls out to him, and tells him she's translated the rest of the "To Serve Man" book.

"Don't get on. It's a cook book."

But it's too late. He's pushed up the ramp. It's closed, and we see him being very well fed by the Kanamit on board.

The Christian Zionists are like the Kanamit, pretending to be helping the Israelis, but, in truth, anything but their friends. Michael Chambers, on the Flying Saucer, knowing his final fate, opines, "Sooner or later we'll all of us be on the menu, all of us."

And of course, we can take this educational tale as a lesson. We can realize that not only are the Christian Zionists putting Israelis on the menu, but the neocons and their enablers they keep voting into office who have been claiming to help us, making us safer from terrorists, from the threats they've lied to us about-- they are putting us all on "the menu."

Rod Serling, in his inimitable way, wraps up "To Serve Man" with his final observation, "The evolution of man-- the cycle of going from dust to dessert, the metamorphosis of going from the ruler of the planet to an ingredient in someone's soup."

Here's a trailer for the Twilight Zone How to Serve Man episode.

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