How Are You Coping with WWIII?

Will We Win?

Well shit, we’re in a full-on global fascism vs. democracy war, right after suffering through two plus years of COVID and losing over six million of us.

I’m afraid a lot. I’m afraid of more violence in the coming months or years. My antidote: I study. Splashing cold hard facts into the fire of strong emotions calms me down. It makes me less fearful and more analytical. And I want to know, are we winning WWIII or are we losing?

Why The Fuck Is This Just Like The Second World War?

Last time there was a world-wide fascist uprising, many Americans sided with the authoritarians then, too. That is, the fascism of Mussolini and Hitler garnered a ton of admiration, especially from wealthy businessmen who thought a dictator would be a lot more efficient at making them richer.

You know what else? Last time fascism threatened the world, there were protests all over the country because of the Great Depression and because WWI vets hadn’t been paid for their service yet. In DC, those WWI vet protestors got gassed by an Army General. They called the protesting vets communists to try to disparage them. I mean holy shit you guys.

Back then, there was even an attempted coup because of the admiration for authoritarianism and the terror of FDR’s “New Deal”, which gave more power and money back to the average people and away from the aristocracy. Who was that coup led by? Wealthy businessmen. They were raising a militia-type force of 500,000 strong. You’ve got to be kidding.

Let’s face it, it was not guaranteed that WWII would go in freedom’s favor. We Americans waited until the last damn minute to get onboard, like we collectively shrugged and said, oh I guess we want that democracy/human rights thing we got here, we can’t let this darkness spread. This time around, just like last time, the rest of the free world has been sounding the alarm since at least Brexit, where Kremlin cash was everywhere.

Oh Fuck, I Guess We’re At War?

It’s been harder to comprehend the war this time around because it’s our first hybrid world war of the social media age. A hybrid war incorporates both hot or kinetic warfare, as well as unconventional weapons like the power of subversion, disinformation, infiltrating elections, hacking our infrastructure, and astroturfing.