If weakness is to be despised, dying as a hero is a great way to ensure you’re never seen as weak. Episode twelve laments the victims of such a mindset. The powerful—fascist and otherwise—have forever sent idealistic young people to die in the mud over wars of words and ideas. These poor children are hailed as patriots, but they’ll never know it, because they are dead. Their blind loyalties to the leader, who will not get in the trenches with them, have stolen their potential to resist that bleak fate.

The fascist’s utter disdain for weakness is the topic of episode eleven. To be clear, we’re talking about weakness as perceived by the fascist. Strongmen have always legitimized their control by contrasting their ideas about strength to the weaknesses they identify in their opposition. Whether it’s a physical disability, a lack of financial stability, or even lower television ratings, fascists will pinpoint weakness with glee and then rail against it. Thus, they redefine the meaning and appearance of strength for their target audience.

In episode ten, we will see that for the fascist, life is permanent warfare—we live only to struggle. All must be prepared to fight, endlessly, for the leader’s vision. If you are truly one of us, then you will destroy the enemy at every opportunity. If you are not willing to fight, then you must be the enemy, or at least trafficking with the enemy. Fascists remind us that pacifism is akin to degeneracy and leads down a path of ruin. They don’t want peace, much less appeasement, something we would have done well to recognize then as well as now. So much for giving peace a chance.