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Don't Be a Sucker (1947) – U.S. War Department warning against populism

26 pointsby seycombiover 8 years ago

3 comments

dTalover 8 years ago
This is a wonderful piece of work. It could even be called defining. So it&#x27;s curious that it says at the end:<p>&quot;This film will not be shown to the general public without permission of the War Department&quot;<p>Wiki tells me &quot;the film was made to make the case for the desegregation of the United States armed forces&quot;, which lends some interesting historical context.
kronaover 8 years ago
The video naturally needs to be understood within the historical context, and makes a powerful point about the consequences of nationalism as a political movement.<p>Google defines populism as &quot;support for the concerns of ordinary people&quot;, which to me sounds like what a representative form of government is designed to do.<p>I would argue that it&#x27;s the opposite that we need to be more wary of; governments (politicians) who don&#x27;t listen to the concerns of their electorate, no matter how unpalatable they may be.<p>Over time this leads to deep seated resentment, the feeling of being marginalized within ones own community, and so on. Ultimately this opens the door to all kinds of demagoguery; the politicians end up with the very thing they were trying to avoid, except they&#x27;re no longer in power.
adfmover 8 years ago
Fascism doesn&#x27;t end well.<p>Here&#x27;s proof from the U.S. Army Signal Corps: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=Kw4noLIFgGQ" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=Kw4noLIFgGQ</a>