You're Not Overreacting, This Is Actually Fascism, 10 Signs. Rutger Bregman, Dutch Historian, Author

[wnylib]

4. Instead of trying to educate people who lack the

Last edited Wed Mar 18, 2026, 04:32 PM - Edit history (1)

background for understanding fascism, I think we should just speak to them on how they are being directly affected. Why waste time and words on something they might not grasp anyway? Just speak to the violent way that people are treated by ICE, the US citizens being murdered by government officials, and remind them that the illegal force by ICE agents can and will happen in their community as it spreads.

Talk about the lost jobs and higher prices due to tariffs. Remind them that, while average Americans struggle to house, feed, and clothe their families, an elite group grows richer at our expense and that elite group is buying politicians who represent their own interests. not ours.

Remind them that wealthy corporations, CEOs, and investors are denying the working and middle classes adequate health care by paying politicians to vote against it.

Especially tell people that we are all in this together, regardless of ethnicity, race, or religion, so we need to stop pointing to one group or another as the cause of our problems and join together against the real cause -- the financial elites who work against our own best interests and scapegoat select groups.

People will understand and respond to those points better than any academic definitions of fascism.