I know I have used the word fascism in several of my previous posts, but I wanted to take a moment to go into it a bit deeper and, as a bonus, show how the US Government’s view on the topic has shifted over the past 80 years (spoilers, it’s a full 180°.)  Key indicators of fascism include: the creation of a mythic past, the propagandist degradation of the ‘other’ (currently immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community, but expect more to be added soon), attacks on higher learning and intellectualism, attempts to erase inconvenient histories, and attacks on the courts and opposition parties. Sounds like what is happening under Agent Orange today.

It’s not like no one saw this coming. After the devastation of World War II, the US Government saw slipping into fascism at home as such a threat that they made a public service announcement (PSA) film warning of the dangers. In its article on the film Don’t Be a Sucker, Wikipedia summarizes it as follows:

Don’t Be a Sucker is an anti-fascist propaganda film produced by the United States Army Signal Corps. It follows a Freemason, Mike, who buys into the prejudiced beliefs of a demagogic street speaker until the speaker denounces Masons. A Hungarian refugee then tells Mike how the same prejudiced beliefs led to the rise of fascism in Germany. The film argues that both majority and minority groups are harmed by fascism, and that Americans must unify against fascism regardless of race, religion, or national origin. Don’t Be a Sucker saw a resurgence in popularity after the Unite the Right rally in 2017.

While the film is a bit dated (you might call it cheesy or even cringeworthy), it is clear that the filmmakers knew that if we allowed fascism to gain a foothold in the United States, we would end up becoming what we had just sacrificed so much to defeat. I highly recommend you watch it, but if you don’t have time for the whole thing (23 minutes), at least watch the last few minutes. Even that will give you a sense of how the government felt about fascism in 1945, and that couldn’t be in starker contrast with how the Trump administration is behaving today. For a group that claims to want to make America great again (MAGA), it’s ironic that they are acting in direct contradiction to the messaging of a film made by a US Army staffed by the greatest generation. Sadly, we have forgotten past lessons, and as a result, look how far we have fallen. Luckily, it’s not too late to stop what is happening, and we can start by following the guidance of an 80-year-old film.