Post #3830382
2026-07-15 08:04 UTC
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca "Train ran on time" had always been a joke among the people I knew, until we realized (long ago), that some people were 100% serious and earnest.
Replies (1)
-
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca 2026-07-15 11:02
@bovaz@misskey.social Yes. The other piece of the puzzle is that Mussolini ordered popular tourist trains to have priority over all other traffic, so that foreign visitors would go home and spread the myth. It may have been a joke for Italians living with the day-to-day reality, but even a century later, I'm-not-fascist-but apologists in other countries use "make the trains run on time" as an example of how a dictatorship has some (presumed) benefits. 🤮 #authoritarianism #fascism #history