In 1943, the Army Signal Corps produced Don’t Be A Sucker. Containing anti-racist and anti-fascist themes. this short 17-minute film was intended to boost the morale of U.S. soldiers by helping them understand the dangerous appeal of fascism. Four years later, the U. S. War Department shared the film with the general public, hoping to explain the ways that fascism might take root in the United States.
Created as a warning against creeping fascism and racism in the United States, the movie illustrates the divide-and-conquer method employed by German Nazis.
The movie begins by profiling a young man named Mike who has just arrived in the big city. Noticing a crowd of people gathered around an angry middle-aged man standing on a soapbox, Mike stops to listen to the man’s speech.
“I happen to know the facts. Now, friends, I am just an average American. But I’m an American American. And some of the things I see in this country of ours make my blood boil. I see people with foreign accents with all the money. I see Negroes holding jobs that belong to me and you. Now I ask you, if we allow this thing to go on, what’s going to become of us real Americans?” “What are we real Americans going to do about it? You’ll find it right here in this little pamphlet. The truth about Negroes and foreigners. The truth about the Catholic church.”
Mike follows along with the speech, nodding his head with each rhetorical beat, saying “it makes pretty good sense to me.” But the speaker continues to rant. “I tell you friends, we’ll never be able to call this country our own until it is a country without… Without Negroes and foreigners. Without Catholics. Without Freemasons.”
At this point, Mike hesitates. “What’s wrong with Masons? I’m a Mason.”
The rest of the film dissects the speaker’s arguments, discussing the history of fascism, the need to preserve the rights of the minority, and the value of liberty.
In August 2017, the short film went viral on the internet in the aftermath of the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and various copies have been uploaded to video-sharing sites since then
This film is not propaganda. To the contrary, it teaches how to recognize and reject propaganda, as was used by the Nazis to promote bigotry and intimidation. It shows how prejudice can be used to divide the population to gain power, and attacked racial and nationalist stereotypes, stressing human features that united rather than divided different peoples..
Though this video is over 75 years old, the cautionary tale is more important than ever and feels strangely timely today, serving as a prescient warning. for us here in the UK, and perfectly explains Nigel Farage, Suella Braverman, Tommy Robinson and the right wing mentality. Please Don't Be a Sucker: don't fall for fascism ·
