Dear editor:
I watched a 1942 movie Tuesday night titled "Keeper of the Flame" with Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn that I heard about a while back. It's about a reporter (Tracy) trying to get a story about an American hero who dies, only to find out from his widow (Hepburn) at the end of the movie, while she's burning a bunch of his records, that he was a fascist. She said, "all the little things that stir up the people and to get them sore at each other and then before they know it they too are in chains." She then pointed at propaganda he had that was anti-labor, anti-Jew (now it's Muslim or Mexican), anti-Catholic, anti-African-American, anti-trade union and appeals to the KKK.
And it went on, but you can see the similarities to what's been occurring in the U.S. for 30-plus years. Difference then was that the media, largely print media, called it out before it was too late. Back then we didn't have TV, only radio and the main sources for information were newspapers. We also didn't have corporate personhood or money equals free speech, so it's going to be much harder now to beat them back.
In the '30s, the Germans and the U.S. were both facing economic hard times and Germany chose Hitler and America chose FDR. History proves America made the right choice then and once again America was given a choice (Bernie Sanders), but this time we chose Hitler. God save America.
Judith Zitko
Hot Springs Village
Editorial on 04/26/2017