Fascism Research Paper

“Fascism is defined as a political philosophy that puts the nation above individual needs and stands for a centralized government lead by a dictator. These regimes were present in World War II and were famously lead by Mussolini and Hitler,” said Mr. Carmen as the class diligently took notes. “What are some traits of fascist governments that we’ve talked about?”
“Oppressing women and minorities,” I yelled out immediately.
“Sure. That seems to be a common theme in fascist governments. Anyone else?”
The discussion continued with children reciting answers from the textbook word for word. I had always done well in history and I knew Mr. Carmen wouldn’t mind if I was on my phone instead of participating in a rehearsed class discussion. As I scrolled

through the Instagram explore page, I noticed that more and more political posts separated memes and pictures of beautiful girls advertising tea. Somebody had posted screenshots of an article from The New York Times. The article was titled Trump Warns That ‘Major, Major Conflict’ With North Korea Is Possible. I began to read the article but suddenly the bell rang and I was suddenly aware of the noisy teens that surrounded me and I began to collect my things as they left excitedly.
Outside the building, Taylor was waiting for me.

She saw my uneasy expression and immediately asked what was wrong. Taylor had known me for five years and she was always able to read my expression more quickly and accurately than anyone else. She always knew what I needed to hear and that was why I loved her so much. For five years she had been my confidant and most loyal friend.
“Nothing,” I said, smiling warmly and bursting with affection for Taylor. “It’s nothing important. I’ll talk to you about it later. Let’s go eat.”
We left and walked downtown. Neither of us were really hungry but we sat down in a restaurant and ordered food anyway We sat quietly. Both of us were looking down at our phones and not really acknowledging each other, but I felt like we were communicating with each other in our own way. Occasionally, we would talk to each other about trivial inconveniences that had occured during our day. We might have sounded petty or ignorant about the world´s bigger issues to others, but I think we both felt like it was easier to live in our own little worlds than to carry all the world´s

burdens.
After we left the restaurant, we walked the park and Taylor asked me again what had been bothering me after school.

I was about to answer her, and then I noticed something that bothered me. A girl around our age was pushing a baby in a stroller and yelling at a rambunctious toddler to settle down.
¨Taylor, that girl is literally, like, exactly our age and she´s responsible for those kids¨
¨Well, they´re probably her little brother and sister, Ez,¨ Taylor said, condescendingly.
¨Obviously, but what I'm referring to is like, if she was a boy, nobody would expect her to be responsible for anyone but herself and it sucks that women have to take care of everyone else. Like, I like taking care of other people, but the fact that it´s expected of me literally kills me.¨
“Yeah,” she said, uninterested.
We walked in silence for a few moments. Geese were flying above our heads and landing on the opposite end of the park. They called for each other loudly and frantically. They yelled as if they were panicking and it was urgent that everyone heard their fears. Their honks were irritating, yet somewhat comforting. I felt less alone watching the geese.
“Are you gonna tell me why you were upset,

Ez?”
“Oh, yeah. It’s not like a big deal I guess. Like, it is, but there’s nothing I can do about it so I didn’t think it was a pressing matter. I read that Trump might be like picking a fight with North Korea. I know that people have been making jokes about how he was going to lead us to nuclear warfare, but this was an article by The New York Times. Seems pretty legit, Tay.”
“Don’t listen to the fake news, kid.”
“Oh, word.”
There was no real way to continue the conversation. We were both aware that there was nothing we could do. We both knew the threat of nuclear war was a valid concern. Somehow, our generation had mastered the ability of purposely shutting out to world’s problems for our own mental stability. Yet, we were still portrayed as ignorant kids who had no idea of what was going on in the real world and would be indifferent if we did no. The truth is we prefer to not know. Learning about how old men send young men to fight their wars is not a thought one constantly wants to carry with them. When the reminders appear, it’s better to just keep scrolling.