The movie Falling Down came out in 1993—it can be a disturbing movie. At times you are rooting for the anti-hero, at others you are hoping he gets his comeuppance. One scene in particular stands out for me. The anti-hero, known at this point of the movie by his license plate D-FENS (Michael Douglas), goes into an Army surplus store that is run by a Nazi. By this point of the movie D-FENS has assaulted a Korean shopkeeper, been involved in an altercation with two gang members, been involved in a drive-by shooting by said gang members, steals the gang members firearms, and terrorizes a fast food restaurant with a submachine gun over not serving breakfast. D-FENS is not a nice person. In fact by this point of the movie it is readily apparent that he is a disturbed man prone to anger and violence.
The Nazi in this movie makes his hatred toward everything non-white and non-straight known immediately. He takes D-FENS down to his special area which is filled with Nazi memorabilia—where he tells the anti-hero how he is one of them.
Nazi: I’m with you, we’re the same you and me, we’re the same don’t ya see?
D-FENS: We’re not the same. I’m an American, you’re a sick asshole.
Nazi: What kinda vigilante are you?
D-FENS: I am not a vigilante. I am just trying to get home to my little girl’s birthday. And if everybody will just stay out of my then nobody will get hurt.
Nazi: Fuck You, who the fuck are you? Are you fucking with me?
D-Fens: I am just disagreeing with you. In America we have the freedom of speech. The right to disagree.
Twenty-five years ago a Nazi was a sick asshole. Today, they are in the White House. If this movie were made today the Nazi would be a Trump supporter, as would Michael Douglas’s character. That is how much America has changed in twenty-five years. D-FENS would not be an anti-hero, he would be a hero, and it is likely the movie would have had a much different ending.
What has changed between 1993 and now? The easy answer, Barack Obama. Eight years with a black man as president caused the American right to lose their collective minds. Racism and the white supremacists who come along with it crawled out from under the rocks they had been hiding under. But that isn’t the only reason. Fear is the driving force behind this change in America. Since the 1970s Americans have seen their wages stay stagnant, and entire industries have disappeared, all while the rich have gotten richer.
Instead of understanding that globalization, technology, the decline of labor unions, the lie of trickle-down economics has caused wage stagnation, and the loss of high-paying manufacturing jobs—the party responsible for a great deal of this has pointed the finger not at themselves, but at anyone that they can lay the blame on: liberals, Mexicans, and African Americans.
Donald Trump has played those fears like a fiddle. He lies, and is outwardly racist, and many of our fellow Americans just eat it up. It is easier to hate someone and blame them for your problems then to understand the myriad factors that caused one to lose their job in a foundry.
How do we get back to Nazis being sick assholes? Civility is not the answer. They are assholes—and their racism and bigotry need to be pointed out constantly. We need to point out that we are the Americans, and they are the sick assholes—repeatedly.