Thoughts during the apocalypse, Part 23.

Major French (James Coburn), right, confronts Mr. Goldsmith (John Anderson)

for authority over a war-devastated town in a 1963 Twilight Zone episode.

No doubt, a lot of us are starting to go stir crazy as the COVID-19 pandemic runs its course and people remain cooped up in their houses. But most of us see the stay-at-home and social distancing orders as a necessary evil, a means of reducing exposure to the virus and preserving the safety of millions of Americans.

But of course, there are always exceptions. We're seeing it in several parts of the country, where right-wing zealots have been out in force -- and not respecting the guidelines to protect themselves from the virus -- to protest the quarantining and ongoing prohibitions against conducting business as normal. These nut-job protesters have been stoked into a frenzy by individuals like conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, the unhinged force behind the "InfoWars" broadcasts, and they have even drawn support from our illegitimate president as he uses the protests to attack the Democrat governors of states like Michigan and Virginia as a means of clinging to his conservative base in the upcoming election.

Donald Trump will go down in the history books -- if we get a chance to write them -- as the most incompetent president among the 45 elected thus far, one who determined that the only way to maintain power was to divide the nation along the lines of party, race and financial status. The worst example of his managerial incompetence has been his "leadership" during the coronavirus crisis. His daily press briefings have become nothing more than campaign rallies, in which he wastes the time of the nation by using his platform to attack the news media and those that don't bow to his self-perceived greatness. And when he finally gets around to what he should be discussing, his lack of scientific understanding and empathy and his megalomaniacal need to attach his personal stamp upon the crisis as if its a shining accomplishment are painfully clear. What little valid information he manages to slur into the microphones is tainted by his sheer stupidity.

I've mentioned several times that it's like an episode of The Twilight Zone, the brilliant CBS television series of the early 1960s. And I finally figured out which one -- "The Old Man in the Cave."

It came from Season 5, the seventh 30-minute episode of the 1963-64 season, originally aired exactly two weeks before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It was written by the show's creator, Rod Serling, who was an absolute genius. The following synopsis comes primarily from Wikipedia, with a few edits and additional recollections by me:

"In a sparsely populated town in 1974, 10 years after a nuclear war has devastated the United States, the townspeople have discovered a supply of canned food. However, they are waiting for Mr. Goldsmith (portrayed by John Anderson), the town's leader, to return with a message from the mysterious and unseen "old man in the cave" who will tell them whether the food is contaminated with radiation.

"Some of the townsfolk want to take their chances and eat the food, but they refrain from doing so, recalling a disastrous harvest when they failed to take the old man's advice about which farming areas were contaminated. When Mr. Goldsmith returns, he informs them that the old man has declared the recently-discovered food is contaminated and that it should be destroyed.

"Shortly thereafter, a small group of soldiers drive into the devastated downtown in a military Jeep. They are led by Major French (James Coburn), who claims to be representing some 'central states' authority. Goldsmith is wary of the newcomers; he claims that wandering packs of self-styled military men have previously intruded on the town and tried to establish authority, all unsuccessfully. French reveals that there are maybe 500 people left alive between Buffalo and Atlanta, and also talks of small, isolated primitive societies on the shores of Lake Erie and in 'what used to be' Chicago. He claims his job is to organize the region so that society can be rebuilt. However, Goldsmith believes that French and his men simply want to strip the town of its food.

Major French eats the contaminated

fruit despite the old man's warnings.

"A clash of wills ensues and, frustrated by Goldsmith's quiet and steadfast refusal to bend, French tries to dispel the townspeople's strange beliefs about the seemingly infallible old man in the cave and take control of the area. French tempts the townspeople with some of the food Goldsmith claimed was contaminated. He opens a can of fruit and eats it in front of the survivors, who then throw caution to the wind and take the contaminated food despite Goldsmith's pleas.

"Everyone except Goldsmith eventually consumes the food and drink and Goldsmith falls into disfavor among the townspeople. After being bullied and threatened with his life, Goldsmith finally opens the cave door, and it is ultimately revealed that in reality, the townsfolk have been surviving because of the readouts of a still-operational mainframe computer. Major French rallies the townspeople to destroy the machine, and afterward, the soldiers and townspeople celebrate their 'freedom' by consuming the many caches of contaminated food and drink they had previously avoided.

"However, the 'old man' was correct; without an authority figure to tell them which foods are safe, the entire human population of the town (including French and the soldiers) dies — except for the lone survivor, Mr. Goldsmith, who somberly walks out of the now-dead town, wondering if there is nothing to prevent the remnants of the human race from destroying themselves similarly."

Yeah, that's pretty bleak. As I said, Rod Serling was a genius. He knew exactly how to tap into the paranoia of the times and create parables that would serve as warnings -- not just to Cold War-era America, but beyond.

After watching video of the Michigan protests, in which some of the heavily-armed participants were waving Confederate flags and chanting "Lock her up!" in reference to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and her science-based orders to protect the populace against this deadly virus, all I could see in my mind's eye was Major French ripping open that can of contaminated fruit and inviting his own demise, and consequently, the demise of all that followed him.

Rod Serling saw this possibility almost 60 years ago. But as I said, he was a true genius -- not a "stable genius."