I downloaded a copy of "It Can't Happen Here" and am...

[TreasonousBastard]

about a quarter way throuvh it so far.

Read it many years ago and it is every bit as relevant now as it was back then.

Maybe even more so.

[PatSeg]

1. I read it recently

and I agree, it was very relevant.

[localroger]

2. Sinclair Lewis wrote it as a warning

...and this is the thing he was warning us about.

One of the most prescient things in ICHH is the role of media. In that then-future history the nascent fascists developed television much earlier and deployed it more widely than happened in our actual past, because the fascists understood the need for popular media to spread the propaganda and make maximum use of a congenial personality like Ronald, er, Berzelius Windrip.

[Johnny2X2X]

3. The destruction of truth

In the post truth world, we can't even agree on what fascism is anymore. To people on the Right, fascism means public health measures like mask and vaccine mandates. To the Right it means cancel culture and political correctness. To the Left, fascism means fascism, it means the destruction of our democratic system and the rise of corporate rule all presided over by intense nationalism.

What people fail to realize is that fascists scream that they're fighting for peace, freedom, and justice as they do away with human rights and pursue genocides. The right today screams "the Constitution" even as they shred it.

"It can't happen here" is such an important book in these times. It is happening here, right now, the outcome is not decided.

[kentuck]

4. Some people would not recognize the truth if it hit them across the face with a cold fish.

They are oblivious.

[Kaleva]

5. Truth is relative

Our biases help determine what is truth and what isn't.

Some here believe our democracy is on the verge of destruction. Others don't. Which is true?