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As a fan of the TV show THE TWILIGHT ZONE, I have fond memories of seeing the old episodes on regular TV. One episode that had a huge impact on my life at the age of nine was THE ENCOUNTER. This episode dealed with a subject that is still controversial to this day: racisim. In fact, this episode was so powerful that it never was shown on TV again until it was later uncovered and shown to the unsuspecting audience. And it still has an impact TO THIS VERY DAY! Now if you are not a huge fan of the old TV series, you would know what this episode is about. However, if you never seen it I will tell you all about it and what it caused on my life.

THE ENCOUNTER is about an American veteran of World War II and a young Japanese neighbor. The American veteran is still deeply affected by World War II and feels that life has gone bad for him ever since. The Japanese character is just a young man who knows very little about the war and is ashamed of his own heritage. It begins when the American finds a samurai sword in his attic that is filled with old memories of World War II. The samurai sword is a "souveir" to him because he used it to kill a Japanese soldier. Then enters the young Japanese neighbor. He is asked to help clean out the attic and that is when the suspense begins. The Japanese character wants to use the samurai sword to kill the American, but he has no idea why he wants to. The American treats the Japanese character as a "low life" and continues to interragate him. It gets worse as the American keeps on insulting the Japanese by saying things like, "we weren't told that you were human, that you were some species of an ape" or "Do you know how to move the earth? No, of course you don't. You manacure it". It gets worse as the attic door is loked shut and they can't get out. They both battle over cultural differences, untill... Well, you have to see it to understand the meaning.

THE ENCOUNTER is a pure example of cultural differences and racisim. In fact, if this really happened in real life I doubt that the two will last for an hour together.

This episode really stunned me because I did know what racism was. I just did not know how to classify it. But when I saw THE ENCOUNTER, this placed the meaning of racism in a more clearer note and I began to understand the term more. Because of this, I am not racist to any person of any race or creed at all. This episode did have an impact on me and it still does today. And it also scares me that this type of activity still goes on in the world. But, that is life.

But THE ENCOUNTER is scary for the impact of the true meaning of racism.

Any questions or comments about this one?

Sounds great!! -- never saw it -- & I've watched most of the TZs on tape

wow....you gotta start your own site, dude.