It seems to be a pitfall of the thinking “it can’t happen here.”
Nah this was predicted decades ago. First quote i remember talking about it was “when facism comes to america it will be drapped in an american flag carrying a bible”. And thats pretty much exactly how it happened.
I was in college in 2004 when my philosophy 101 professor said with confidence that fascism was on the horizon for the US and that it would happen in our lifetimes.
Fucking Plato predicted this. And I argued with him like a jackass.
To quote Judd Hersh as Julius Livingston: We knew! We knew then! And we did nothing!
Its not like it just started over night.
But news and social media are turning everyone against eachother, which is a perfect environment for fascists. It also doesnt help that we have Trump in the white house.
Everyone thought Billy the redneck was just dumb. We didn’t think he’d end up being the vehicle for the end of america.
I think plenty of media actually depicted that. Watchmen the tv show is a clear example. I also think Captain American Winter Soldier have that topic.
Those are some recent popular ones, surely there are more.
Star Wars the prequels sort of dealt with the subject, although it framed the fascist leader as an exceptionally skilled statesman puppeteering behind the scenes and not the reactionary populist personality cults they usually are.
A lot of media depict the United States as being invaded by fascists from the outside.
Apart of “Man in the high castle”, nothing comes to mind. I’d say media-wise, the US gets invasion from zombies, aliens, or monsters. But aside of MITHC I’m drawing a blank.
Red Dawn.
“North Korean paratroupers”? If they pose a recognizable problem for the USA, so many things must have gone wrong…
Alternate, simpler explanation: watching the trump administration in movie form isn’t fun. Fascism is boring.
Probably not boring for the people killed, reported and tortured. Wtf?
So you want to watch a movie of people being tortured and deported and killed? I don’t get what you’re trying to argue here.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=uW3-q_oPv4k
Was always funny.
Plenty of people expected that, we just don’t like to think about it because it makes us feel bad to think about our own flaws
Nah we did, we’re just not filmmakers.
Funniest thing I realised about american propaganda is how in your fiction there’s always a threat of an authoritarian evil nation dropping a nuclear bomb, and these countries are usually Russia, North Korea, China, Iran… Now cut to real life and tell me what is the only authoritarian evil country that ever dropped a nuclear bomb.
You realize the most nuked country is the US and 2nd most was the USSR right?
You’re actually right. My mistake as I was meaning to say atomic bomb, not nuclear.
The general understanding of experts on fascism after figuring out what the hell went wrong in Germany was that America was particularly vulnerable to it and it would use the flag and the cross to gain influence.
What the fuck are you talking about. Hunter S. Thompson wrote about it, Punk rock has spoke about it since it’s inception, I’ve been worried about the fascist threat since I became politically aware during the end of Bush 2 saying we’re just waiting for a Caesar.
“Coming of age in a fascist police state will not be a barrel of fun for anybody, much less for people like me, who are not inclined to suffer Nazis gladly and feel only contempt for the cowardly flag-suckers who would gladly give up their outdated freedom to live for the mess of pottage they have been conned into believing will be freedom from fear.
Ho ho ho. Let’s not get carried away here. Freedom was yesterday in this country. Its value has been discounted. The only freedom we truly crave today is freedom from Dumbness. Nothing else matters.
Hunter S. Thompson
“Germany lost the second World War, fascism won it.” - George Carlin
Anyone thinking “it can’t happen here,” wasn’t paying attention in history class. It has always been a part of us from the very start.
In fact America was founded on the genocide of natives. The founding fathers were such hypocrites, preaching about freedom while owning slaves
As a German, on the contrary, it was blindingly obvious. Starting with your massive(ly overblown) patriotism. No insult intended.
As a Black American the number of white people saying “Who could have known” what we have been screaming at them is infuriating.
As a leftist, the people who said we were overreacting about the Patriot Act 25 years ago (and continuously since) are now saying that we devolved into fascism quickly.
Lots of insult intended. More insult than you can imagine. If you’re reading this and you have been complacent, it’s time to get into the streets.
When I was getting really nervous that Obama and the Dems, when they had a trifecta, back a decade ago now… when they had that, and they were not going to repeal the Patriot Act?
My other white ‘leftist’ “friends” called me racist for being too critical of Obama.
Oh lordy do I still feel the rage at their immense, performative, entitled hypocrisy.
It’s painful to watch. And aware it’s always been far worse for you. I’m sorry. You lost the birth lottery (edit to make it clearer: in the eyes of some assholes).
(I did too in biological ways critically btw, but I still ‘enjoy’ the German health system and white privilege)
I did not at all lose the birth lottery. Being Black is fucking awesome. I just need the rest of y’all to act like you have some sense.
I agree. (except for the obvious of course, that a lot think different)
Yeah, as an Australian, when I learnt as a teen that they do the “pledge of allegiance” everyday in school, I kind of wondered how easy it would be to hijack that into something evil.
I’m not sure how many classrooms do this, but it is becoming less common.
They slipped “God” into it in the 1950s. So probably a sizable factor in why we have Christian nationalists now
I remember doing it in elementary school, but not later on. I can say that as a kid it doesn’t mean shit. It’s just an annoying chore you have to do to start the day.
