Alan S. Austin
Arizona Playwright • Writer • Poet
  

THE FEAR BUTTON (8/27)

We have all watched The Wizard of Oz, haven't we? Dorothy, Tin Man, Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion arriving at the Emerald City and discovering the Wizard, a fraudulent middle-aged man, operating his machinery and pressing all the buttons behind the screen. We were supposed to be frightened by the projection on the screen and the terrible voice. He was exposed by Toto, Dorothy's little dog, pulling back the curtain and The Wizard then admits to being a humbug and a fraud. It's a great American story about the illusion of power. Psychologically it sounds healthy and eventually everyone gets their heart's desire. Scarecrow a diploma, the Lion a medal and the Tin Man a ticking heart-shaped clock, helping them see that the traits they wanted were already within them. Dorothy goes back to Kansas and everyone lives happily ever after. No pandemic, no economic collapse, no Black Lives Matter, no riots, no fear, no shootings, no war, no big television screen trying to make us all frightened. Like them, we have nothing to fear but fear itself.