Be aware of notions of emergency and that this is an exceptional time in which rights and norms must be suspended in service to the common good. Be alert to words used by authoritarians: extremism and terrorists. Anti-democracy autocracies are everywhere. No country will shore up their democracies in isolation. The present difficulties in the United States are not unique and belong to a larger trend. Make choices that support society outside of government. Be active in non-governmental organizations that express your values. Tyrants want everything under the state and all energies directed to the state. Tyrants seek a hook on which to hang you. Consider using electronic media less and have more face-to-face relationships. Despots want to control your private life and eliminate protections against government interference. Form common cause with new friends and march with them. People in power want us to stay home and be passive. Dictators destroy democracy when the only people that show up are their own supporters. Dictators want neighbors to fear one another. Seek to understand others and share your opinion. Take care that you do not pass on propaganda misinformation to others. Don’t trust the propaganda of the regime. With enough chaos in the rhetorical air, autocrats redefine law, norms and human decency. Dictators thrive on relativity and alternative narratives.
#Tim snyder on tyranny free
Free yourself from the sound bites of hackneyed social media. Separate your way of talking from the terms of propaganda, typical phrases and buzz shorthand. The moment an individual sets an example to resist the regime the spell of the status quo is broken and others are given courage. It is easy to follow along and autocracies depend on absolute obedience. Democracies fail when armed forces are swept into unconscionable behavior. If you are a member of the police or military, remember your Constitutional oaths and responsibilities to fellow citizens.
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When the pro-leader paramilitaries, police and military intermingle, the end has come. When people with guns start wearing uniforms in order to enforce the aims of the leader, the end is near.
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When norms are abandoned under the rubric of doing it for the good of the cause, professionals often abandon their ethics. Totalitarian regimes redefine what is acceptable and what is not. Notice the way propaganda is displayed by the indoctrinated. Notice the emergence of symbols that exclude some while building the status or pride of others. Take responsibility for the face of the world.One-party regimes controlled by the autocrat at the top breed the worst forms of tyranny because there are no competing voices. Tyrannical regimes eliminate the competition and turn elections into farce. It is in the interest of autocrats to have weakened institutions under the control of the regime. Institutions do not defend themselves and can be undermined. It is institutions that help us to preserve decency. Anticipatory obedience is a political tragedy. Authoritarianism depends on the public giving blind ascent in advance to anything a repressive government or leader wants. Our advantage is that we might learn from their experience.” I want to summarize here his twenty observations/suggestions. In one sobering statement he suggests that “We are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. It challenges the reader to become aware of the fragility of democracy and how authoritarian regimes may arise in our own time. In 2017 he published a collection of twenty short reflections on tyranny entitled On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. Timothy Snyder is a professor of History at Yale University.