Don't Be a Sucker (1947) – U.S. War Department warning against populism

This is a wonderful piece of work. It could even be called defining. So it's curious that it says at the end:

"This film will not be shown to the general public without permission of the War Department"

Wiki tells me "the film was made to make the case for the desegregation of the United States armed forces", which lends some interesting historical context.

The video naturally needs to be understood within the historical context, and makes a powerful point about the consequences of nationalism as a political movement.

Google defines populism as "support for the concerns of ordinary people", which to me sounds like what a representative form of government is designed to do.

I would argue that it's the opposite that we need to be more wary of; governments (politicians) who don't listen to the concerns of their electorate, no matter how unpalatable they may be.

Over time this leads to deep seated resentment, the feeling of being marginalized within ones own community, and so on. Ultimately this opens the door to all kinds of demagoguery; the politicians end up with the very thing they were trying to avoid, except they're no longer in power.

Fascism doesn't end well.

Here's proof from the U.S. Army Signal Corps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw4noLIFgGQ