Constable: Are those who don't wear masks vaccinated or ... 'the other'?

We are living in a horror movie. Not some slasher flick where a madman carves up sexually active teens, but a real 1956 science-fiction classic made when Americans were anxious about the Red Scare and McCarthyism.

"Look! You fools! You're in danger! Can't you see?" I want to shout at the unvaccinated, just as small-town doctor Miles Bennell yells in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" after he figures out the impending evil others fail to recognize.

When it comes to the pandemic, I selfishly and arrogantly want all people to be like me - aware of the truth, cautious, fully vaccinated, and willing to wear a mask, avoid crowds and practice safe distancing if that's what it takes to protect our nation. But not everybody wants to be like me.

"In horror and science fiction there is the thing called 'the other.' Things that threaten to change us,'" explains Dann Gire, the legendary film critic and a founding director and past president of the Chicago Film Critics Association. Gire thinks this column's premise merits four stars, but, as with some films, he might give the end result a two-star rating.

"The other" can take the form of zombies, aliens, robots, insanity or just death, but there are worse things than death.

"It's much worse to be assimilated and become 'the other,'" Gire says.

That's the terror. On the weekend, I visit my small-town Hoosier homeland, where masks are rare. I also attend a high school graduation at Arlington Park, where mask-wearing is requested. I'm confused and not confident I won't be mistaken for "the other."

The guy walking my way could be me. He's around my age, smiling, and isn't wearing a mask. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says people like me don't have to wear masks in most cases. But I fear he is "the other," a guy who looks like me but believes Donald Trump won the presidential election, thinks the virus is a hoax and a vaccination will make him sterile, has never worn a mask and probably doesn't even wash his hands.

Of course, if he is "the other," he might size up my appearance and conclude that I'm just like him, or that I'm "the other" in the form of some sheeple who follow orders from Big Brother, is committed to making everyone the same, and won't stop until we're all genderless pod people who love socialized medicine and participation trophies.

At the graduation, the school posts a sign saying everyone should wear masks. Most of the graduates do, at least at the start. Most of the parents, grandparents and "the other" do not. Are they really "the other," or did they get vaccinated and wore masks until the CDC said they didn't have to?

The vaccine isn't foolproof, and fully vaccinated folks have been infected with the coronavirus. I wear my mask, hoping to convince strangers I'm safe, but maybe they see my mask as I sign I'm an anti-vaxxer.

We all know about the "enemies from within" on the wrong side of this debate, but you might disagree about what side you are on depending on your political point of view during this pandemic. Some say America is under attack from freedom-sucking, godless, socialists, communists or Marxists who want us all to bend the knee to some progressive agenda of elitist eggheads who think they know what is best for us and will decide what to inject into our bodies to keep us safe.

Then there's a whole other set of Americans who think people who believe that are ignorant, maniacal, gullible, sheeplike cult members who pretend to be lions and gobble up lies as if they were raw meat.

In "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," the good doctor and his girlfriend try to escape by acting the same as "the other." But his girlfriend becomes "the other" after she wakes up from a nap. "I've been afraid a lot of times in my life, but I didn't know the real meaning of fear until ... until I had kissed Becky," he says.

In today's world, it might be scary if Becky wore a mask before, after or during the kiss.

Just when society appears doomed, others see the doctor was telling the truth and call for help, which is presumed to be able to stop "the other."

We're not sure if that's going to happen yet in our modern-day society. Even if "the other" disappear and things return to "normal," we still could have a sequel because variants of the virus will continue to adapt.

"If the others don't get us," Gire says, "the variants will."