Human nature doesn’t change. The only that’s new is the history we don’t know.

“High Noon” can be viewed for free on the Internet. The 1952 movie was among the first to be preserved by the Library of Congress as the greatest western ever made.

“High Noon” is about more than a murder who vowed to kill the sheriff who sent him to prison. The movie is an allegory in which events and characters represent what’s happening below the surface reality.

Allegories tell truths that provide moral, ethical or religious lessons about human behavior. Some people won’t see the hidden story, while others may agree or disagree.

The gang of killers represents McCarthyism and the Red Scare of the 1950s.

Look the words up on the Internet and notice the similarities with Trumpism and MAGA 2025.

Like now the world was a dangerous place. The world has always been a dangerous place.

After World War II Americans feared the communist’s reds were taking over the country; now it’s about those illegals.

The Soviets had the Atomic Bomb; school kids were taught to hide under their desks to protect themselves from the bombs blast. Today, it’s school lockdowns against school shooters.

Sen. Joseph McCarthy saw opportunity in fear. He claimed without proof that communists were taking over the country.

Now, Trump claims bureaucrats are taking over. Despite being unable to produce any evidence McCarthy used demagogy, accusations, smear tactics and attacks on anyone who opposed him.

High Noon’s town people symbolize the weak-kneed, soft spine, yellow bellowed cowards afraid to speak against evil in the same way Trump fears Putin, the business community, like today’s billionaires, welcomed the gangsters back because the old days were very profitable.

Teaching history is a waste of taxpayer’s money because the only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.

Joseph Woitko

Beaver Meadows