An anti-fascism film produced after War World II first went viral in 2017 after the Unite the Right march in Charlottesville, Va. But it more relevant, and scarier, now than it was then because America is on the way to becoming a fascist nation and most people don’t even know it.
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The U.S. War Department produced “Don’t Be a Sucker” in 1945. The 17-minute film depicts a man talking to a group of onlookers lamenting the fact that Black people and “foreigners” are taking jobs from good, upstanding white people. It then goes on to show the parallels between that kind of thinking and the rise of the Nazi party in Germany, all while a Black man stands in the frame giving the stankiest of stank eyes ever known to man.
I watched this video for the first time this week and it chilled me to my core. America has forgotten all the lessons it learned in World War II, and because of that we may see something shocking: fascism in this country.
When most people think of that kind of political system, they think of Hitler and concentration camps or Mussolini and his atrocities. And yes, those are examples of it after it has had time to foster and develop, but it had to start somewhere. It took time for Adolf to become HITLER. He started small and worked his way into the dictator he eventually became. Something similar is happening here.
There is a reason why one of the leading experts on fascism, Professor Jason Stanley, left the U.S. not long after Trump took office in January. He saw parallels between Trump and the dictators mentioned above. Fascism is a system of government lead by people who are hostile to minorities and deeply suspicious of immigrants. It often has a leader who is all but worshiped by his followers, has a government that will do his or her bidding, and will forcibly suppress opposition.
People have been calling Trump a fascist for years, and it is easy to understand why. So far this year the president has sent troops into American cities, essentially outlawed all DEI programs, deported hundreds of thousands of people, and has a following that worships the ground he walks on. And that’s before we even get to the way he has weaponized the justice system, forcing them to indict Comey and Letitia James…people the president feels have wronged him personally.
That’s not presidential behavior. That’s something a fascist dictator would do.
The War Department’s Don’t Be a Sucker was trying to warn us not to become like the Nazis in Germany. Too bad America didn’t listen.
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