"Don't obey in advance" was Professor Timothy Snyder's first recommendation in his book "On Tyranny" during the Trump Administration. He now returns to discuss how we can still advance our freedoms.
I agree with a lot of what he says except I would change it to Kamala and Biden instead of trump and Vance because I think that they pose a much bigger risk than Trump does. I'm not a leftist though.
Please thank Professor Snyder. He has given me hope and ideas. We can reform our system, we just need enough serious activists to take it on. I study the same kinds of things he does. And with that background I think it is easier for me than for some to determine what my values are, and that I must be willing to stand up for them no matter the consequences. But, I have never given up on the idea that by talking to people, hearing where they are coming from, and then engaging, we may still come to common ground.
I would like to know whether Professor Snyder thinks it takes a big personality like FDR to pull people through? Does that make all the difference?
excellent discussion. I particularly like his comments on the need to understand history and the fact that the present and future depend on many different strands. Too many think that there is "one reason" or "one cause" for something they either support or decry. We are certainly seeing that in the blame throwing over the Gaza Expanded War. Anyone who has studied Proximate Cause vs Cause in Fact knows this; it is too bad that only lawyers get taught it direct (and too many lawyers choose to forget it.).
And excellent book on the whitewashing of history to keep people ignorant of the complexities is Jason Stanley, Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future. It covers not only America and all the "anti CRT" crap, but also other countries under fascist/authoritarian rule. I already bought On Freedom, so sorry I can't go buy it again; its on my list to be read as soon as some books I've borrowed from the library on similar topics are done.
There are algorithims that keep us from uniting, and they're not like space lasers. They keep us siloed in the same way the kill switch did for disagreeing callers on right wing radio shows twenty years ago. It's hard to convince others when access to them has been effectively eliminated.
I suspect that you are incorrect when you say 30% believe in alternate facts. No one believes the election was stolen. No one believes in q-anon or Jewish space lasers or any of this other garbage. What they believe is that they can make you believe that they believe. Insane Clown never wanted intended or expected to be president. His campaign was a put-on publicity stunt from day 1. Hillary's zero presence campaign and that vacuum being filled by Russian bots and all manner of conspiracy theorists and assorted lunatic fringe turned that put-on into a reality and now that put-on and knowing how scared shitless sensible people are of it is what unites them. That unity crystallized on "J6" when they saw the destructive power they could bring to bear when they are laser focused behind the idol that they paradoxically created and worship. Beyond bending the knee our Democracy proved itself decrepit and rotten to the core from top to bottom and deserving of being put out of its misery when it failed to make Insane Clown pay for his treasonous criminal acts.
Why Kamala will not speak the unspeakable forbidden words "he belongs in jail" is nothing short of mind boggling. She will not even raise the question why no president before or since has needed immunity but Insane Clown. Or that no one has ever threatened malicious prosecution of a former president but Insane Clown. Allusions to Insane Clown's 34 arcane felony convictions and being liable for sexual assault are as far as she has been willing to go. And now that Insane Clown has blamed her for the assassination attempts and demanded that she tone down her rhetoric you won't even hear another word about that. Polls still show by a wide margin that Insane Clown is trusted to handle the economy and inflation. Why Kamala and Democrats willingly accept responsibility for inflation when it is so obviously was caused by the pandemic and Insane Clown's clownish response to it is also nothing short of mind boggling. Billionaire tax cuts, trade wars, government shutdown, Insane Clown did everything possible to wreck the economy. Not to mention setting the climate crisis back decades, destroying the Post Office by installing his buttplug DeJoy so as to thwart voting by mail, dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Not a word out of Kamala on any of this. Rope A Dope is a dangerous game whether in boxing or politics. It was a disaster for Hillary in 2016 and barely worked for Biden in 2020 when Insane Clown recognizing that his clown act was wearing thin basically threw the election preferring a civil war be fought over him.
thank you Waj! i appreciate the discussion, warmed me up for reading the copy of On Freedom that arrived today šš¼
Letās just say heās promised to be a dictator. I donāt think it would be for one day. #unfit
I agree with a lot of what he says except I would change it to Kamala and Biden instead of trump and Vance because I think that they pose a much bigger risk than Trump does. I'm not a leftist though.
What you are is a fucked up Insane Clown cult follower.
Thank you! I highly recommend this book (even though I havenāt finished reading it yet).
Please thank Professor Snyder. He has given me hope and ideas. We can reform our system, we just need enough serious activists to take it on. I study the same kinds of things he does. And with that background I think it is easier for me than for some to determine what my values are, and that I must be willing to stand up for them no matter the consequences. But, I have never given up on the idea that by talking to people, hearing where they are coming from, and then engaging, we may still come to common ground.
I would like to know whether Professor Snyder thinks it takes a big personality like FDR to pull people through? Does that make all the difference?
excellent discussion. I particularly like his comments on the need to understand history and the fact that the present and future depend on many different strands. Too many think that there is "one reason" or "one cause" for something they either support or decry. We are certainly seeing that in the blame throwing over the Gaza Expanded War. Anyone who has studied Proximate Cause vs Cause in Fact knows this; it is too bad that only lawyers get taught it direct (and too many lawyers choose to forget it.).
And excellent book on the whitewashing of history to keep people ignorant of the complexities is Jason Stanley, Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future. It covers not only America and all the "anti CRT" crap, but also other countries under fascist/authoritarian rule. I already bought On Freedom, so sorry I can't go buy it again; its on my list to be read as soon as some books I've borrowed from the library on similar topics are done.
That is exactly the plan - they want chaos
There are algorithims that keep us from uniting, and they're not like space lasers. They keep us siloed in the same way the kill switch did for disagreeing callers on right wing radio shows twenty years ago. It's hard to convince others when access to them has been effectively eliminated.
I suspect that you are incorrect when you say 30% believe in alternate facts. No one believes the election was stolen. No one believes in q-anon or Jewish space lasers or any of this other garbage. What they believe is that they can make you believe that they believe. Insane Clown never wanted intended or expected to be president. His campaign was a put-on publicity stunt from day 1. Hillary's zero presence campaign and that vacuum being filled by Russian bots and all manner of conspiracy theorists and assorted lunatic fringe turned that put-on into a reality and now that put-on and knowing how scared shitless sensible people are of it is what unites them. That unity crystallized on "J6" when they saw the destructive power they could bring to bear when they are laser focused behind the idol that they paradoxically created and worship. Beyond bending the knee our Democracy proved itself decrepit and rotten to the core from top to bottom and deserving of being put out of its misery when it failed to make Insane Clown pay for his treasonous criminal acts.
Why Kamala will not speak the unspeakable forbidden words "he belongs in jail" is nothing short of mind boggling. She will not even raise the question why no president before or since has needed immunity but Insane Clown. Or that no one has ever threatened malicious prosecution of a former president but Insane Clown. Allusions to Insane Clown's 34 arcane felony convictions and being liable for sexual assault are as far as she has been willing to go. And now that Insane Clown has blamed her for the assassination attempts and demanded that she tone down her rhetoric you won't even hear another word about that. Polls still show by a wide margin that Insane Clown is trusted to handle the economy and inflation. Why Kamala and Democrats willingly accept responsibility for inflation when it is so obviously was caused by the pandemic and Insane Clown's clownish response to it is also nothing short of mind boggling. Billionaire tax cuts, trade wars, government shutdown, Insane Clown did everything possible to wreck the economy. Not to mention setting the climate crisis back decades, destroying the Post Office by installing his buttplug DeJoy so as to thwart voting by mail, dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Not a word out of Kamala on any of this. Rope A Dope is a dangerous game whether in boxing or politics. It was a disaster for Hillary in 2016 and barely worked for Biden in 2020 when Insane Clown recognizing that his clown act was wearing thin basically threw the election preferring a civil war be fought over him.
You got it really bad.