This week I saw a picture of a sticker affixed in public. It read: “Part of being nice is being mean to fascists.”

Believe it or not, it’s correct. An important component of resisting fascism is to be mean to fascists.

I’ll save you the explanation; just search Wikipedia for “the paradox of tolerance.” If you come to understand this, then you understand the theory behind the need to work against fascism. That is, to be “anti-fascist.”

And we should define fascism broadly. Maybe you aren’t telling people to be intolerant toward certain groups, or to disbelieve that which folks can plainly see with their own eyes—another tell-tale sign that a line of thinking is fascist. But maybe you’re hampering real-world solutions to fascism with some odd beliefs about how the political world should work. Beliefs that enjoy wide popularity today thanks to trillions of dollars of propaganda, over generations, about what is civil and/or acceptable, and what creates change versus doesn’t create change.

Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt once gloated that you can dismantle a democracy in front of a liberal’s face piece by piece, and all they’ll do is convene breakout sessions and committee meetings ‘til the boots are in the halls. Basically, the Nazis figured out a way to short-circuit the system of governance: act. Act while others waste time debating whether or not you’re technically following the rules. Act while others waste time debating your intentions. (Even better if you can buy more time by giving bogus reasons for your actions.) Act while others speak publicly about you not following the rules, and debate among themselves what level of action is both appropriate and within the rules.

All the while, the fascists act.

That’s what the working class in the U.S. has faced in its fascist dictatorship of capital, maintained and accelerated under both ruling parties of the duopoly. In case you missed the analogy, we—the working class—are the ones endlessly debating. The dictators of capital are acting. Remember: Capitalism does not solve poverty. Capitalism creates poverty and then criminalizes it.

The solution is clear. We should beware of substituting action with political machinations; beware of debates about rules and civility; and beware of condemning those who *do* act against fascism, against the police state. Even if the only thing you’re doing wrong is using your voice to muddle the waters of real-world opposition to fascism… then you’re still helping fascism.

Maybe you think ICE is “just doing their jobs.” Do you support deportations in certain circumstances? Increasing police funding? Local police collaborating with federal authorities? Do you support the status quo of “law enforcement,” which has morphed Andy Griffith into an occupying military, and spends public dollars moving around people who don’t have places to live (even if they’re harming no one where they are)? If so, then you support the police state at a time when 10X more value is stolen via wage theft than in all burglary, robbery, and larceny combined, but wage theft itself is generally not investigated. You have to sue to recover stolen wages. Did you support the Democrats in the last election? Democrats denounced ICE for years before they funded it, with record amounts, every year they were in power. Now they’re denouncing it again. People and parties that behave like “Lucy with the football” with such key things as ICE and Palestine are part and parcel to fascism.

If any of the above is true about you, then your beliefs help along modern fascism. It’s time to re-examine them. It’s time to help your friends re-examine their beliefs about these things. And if your friends aren’t willing to confront their beliefs that help fascism thrive, well… I’ll just say there needs to be a measurable social penalty. They need to feel it. Because of the paradox of tolerance. The only effective weapon against fascism is making it socially unacceptable to help fascism.

Did you see the big march from West Leb to Hartford on Saturday? It’s truly impressive how many folks around here care about good, fair governance. I just pray to the universe that we are not the liberals Carl Schmitt describes. May we be more like the anti-fascists of old: mostly the Soviets, who conducted action after action to deal material damage to the fascists’ ability to function. (And, of course, made supporting it socially unacceptable.) These people took on personal risks because they knew the costs would be even greater if they failed.

Imagine if all the people who marched across our bridge on Saturday had good theory and practice. Imagine what we could do together.

Start by learning the paradox of tolerance. Then join me in:

1. Defining fascism broadly, no matter which party does it. And,

2. not giving fascists, nor fascist-sympathizers, the time of day.

And if you’re too thrown off by what’s going on internationally, take heart. The world is primed for change. As Willow Naomi Curry said this week, “World War 3 isn’t starting; it’s just that the veil that covered the perpetual state of war fostered by the West against communism, against Global South liberation, and for oil and mineral resources has been ripped away. We see now that the world as we know it IS war.”