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Clive Thompson (clive@saturation.social)'s status on Wednesday, 20-Nov-2024 15:57:14 JST Clive Thompson

In 1945, the US War Department realized that its soldiers stationed in Europe fighting the Nazis probably needed a good pamphlet explaining what fascism was, and how it occurs ...
... so they wrote one
and in it, they noted that America was not at all immune to this
So they explained how fascism would come to the US
Heather Cox Richardson writes about it in the latest edition of her newsletter: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/october-26-2024
In conversation about 7 months ago from saturation.social permalink
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1. A screenshot reading: The War Department thought it was important for Americans to understand the tactics fascists would use to take power in the United States. They would try to gain power “under the guise of ‘super-patriotism’ and ‘super-Americanism.” And they would use three techniques: First, they would pit religious, racial, and economic groups against one another to break down national unity. Part of that effort to divide and conquer would be a “well- planned ‘hate campaign’ against minority races, religions, and other groups.” Second, they would deny any need for international cooperation, because that would fly in the face of their insistence that their supporters were better than everyone else. “In place of international cooperation, the fascists seek to substitute a perverted sort of ultra-nationalism which tells their people that they are the only people in the world who count. With this goes hatred and suspicion toward the people of all other nations.” Third, fascists would insist that “the world has but two choices—either fascism or communism, and they label as ‘communists’ everyone who refuses to support them.” It is “vitally important” to learn to spot native fascists, the government said, “even though they adopt names and slogans with popular appeal, drape themselves with the American flag, and attempt to carry out their program in the name of the democracy they are trying to destroy.”
  https://sb-9g02l2bbpw.b-cdn.net/media_attachments/files/113/512/590/067/608/680/original/fb96383750d33baa.png
2. Domain not in remote thumbnail source whitelist: substackcdn.com
  
  October 26, 2024
  
  from Heather Cox Richardson
  
  Beginning in 1943, the War Department published a series of pamphlets for U.S.
- Vagrant Cascadian repeated this.
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  Al (mral@mastodon.sdf.org)'s status on Wednesday, 20-Nov-2024 15:57:35 JST Al
  in reply to
  
  @clive
  I like articles that have the provenance of the data included.
  Good job.
  Here is a link to the upstream source. https://ia601608.us.archive.org/21/items/ArmyTalkOrientationFactSheet64-Fascism/Fascism64.pdf
  We should understand that these sources, the internet archive and physical libraries, are under attack. The #bigCorps are the fascist of our time and they are using #lawfare against us.
  We are always prepared for the last last war. This war, our war against fascist-2025 is being fought in the courts, classrooms and bigCorp #media outlets.
  In conversation about 7 months ago permalink
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  M.S. Bellows, Jr. (msbellows@c.im)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 04:24:17 JST M.S. Bellows, Jr.
  in reply to
  - Klaas Pieter Annema
  @kp @clive I'm impressed that the pamphlet had the courage to include the Silver Shirts among the examples of proto-fascism in America, because they were active from 1933 to 1941 (they disbanded after Park Harbor), and their tens of thousands of members were still around.
  Never pull your punches around fascists!
  
  In conversation about 7 months ago permalink
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  Klaas Pieter Annema (kp@mastodon.design)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 04:24:24 JST Klaas Pieter Annema
  in reply to
  
  @clive I was thinking of American exceptionalism. Sadly crushing and containing minorities is not unique to America 😅
  
  In conversation about 7 months ago permalink
  
  Robert Link repeated this.
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  Clive Thompson (clive@saturation.social)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 04:24:26 JST Clive Thompson
  in reply to
  - Klaas Pieter Annema
  @kp
  Yeah, in the US parts of this were already in and out of place for centuries -- as with all the groups that in different ways and to different degrees (slaves, native americans, interred Japanese families, among others) were the bad others that needed to be crushed and contained
  
  In conversation about 7 months ago permalink
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  Klaas Pieter Annema (kp@mastodon.design)'s status on Thursday, 21-Nov-2024 04:24:27 JST Klaas Pieter Annema
  in reply to
  
  @clive wasn’t the second one true already in the WWII era?
  
  In conversation about 7 months ago permalink

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