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What did you think of “On Tyranny” and why? Which of Snyder’s lessons resonates most with your values? Does Snyder seem to value freedom or equality as more important to human rights? Which do you think is more important? When might we have to choose? What is missing from Snyder’s framework for resisting tyranny?
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Synder’s lessons are timely and relevant to current events, not just within the U.S. but in other countries as well. Trump and his oligarch associates are part of a global movement, with the strategies and policies being replicated in all parts of the world.
I couldn’t pick one lesson that resonated the most with my values, but I think the “defend institutions” lesson is the most urgent at this point for the U.S.—so much is being dismantled and at an alarming rate.
I’m not sure what Snyder values more—freedom, equality, or human rights. I’m guessing freedom, because without it you can’t achieve equality or have human rights. For me, I have a hard time separating them from one another because I see them as entwined, but if I were to choose one, it would be freedom as well. We cannot all be “equal,” as wealth, race, gender, and age, factor into how equal we are in society. There are fundamental human rights, but they too can be stripped away by authoritarians. The laws of a country can be perverted, suppressed, and ignored, and the institutions of government can be destroyed and reshaped. Authoritarians hold their populations hostage, stripping them of their freedoms, and there is no equality under the law, and they often have no regard for human life. That is why your personal freedom is precious, and we should always try to protect ours and others’ freedom.
There is lots to admire about the US Constitution with its central tenet of protecting individual liberty through a system of limited government and the rule of law. To see this central tenet being slowly undermined, well, it’s a sad, scary time. I hope it can be upheld.
I think Snyder’s framework didn’t account for an unelected individual with vast wealth, like Elon Musk, inserting himself inside the government. (I noted that John Amaechi, a psychologist, said of Musk, “He’s a cuckoo. He implants himself in another person’s organization and then insinuates and then finds a way to make him the owner of that organization…”)
Snyder also doesn’t talk a lot about the activism, labour movements, and coalitions that have come together to bring about change in the history of the U.S. Nor does he suggest what could be built into the democratic framework to safeguard it better against authoritarian threats. But On Tyranny is essentially an essay, and I think these topics are better contained in another work.
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This was a small book with a huge, eye opening message. It really drove home what is happening right before our very eyes – if we choose to see. To me freedom is the foundation upon which we establish equality. You can’t have one without the other. Yet one does not guarantee the other. Just because you have certain freedoms it doesn’t mean you will automatically be equal with everyone else. Lincoln freeing the slaves did not automatically make them equal with everyone. To this day their ancestors are fighting for equality. I think now is the time when we have to choose to either fight for our freedoms that we cherish or to succumb to apathy and indifference and finally tyranny.
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Mostly profoundly sobering but also somewhat hopeful, hopeful in the sense that Snyder provides ideas and options to resist, to stand up, ideas that are practical, workable.
“Practice Corporeal Politics” resonated with me. It fits with the practical, the “don’t just stand there, do something” approach. It offers an alternative to the inertia of doom scrolling. That chapter also ends with this, “The choice to be in public depends on the ability to maintain a private sphere of life.”
Whatever rights, opportunities, security or autonomy we have derives from the law. It seems like a false or artificial choice to decide between freedom and equality. They are wrapped up in acceptance of the law, of a representative government that follows the law. It seems to me that there are plenty of folks in the U.S. now who reject or fail to see that. They apparently believe that it is possible to remove the rights of some, to exempt some people from following the law and the effects of that will not harm, or even benefit, them. I hope we never find ourselves saying, “I told you so.”
I agree with Tara, that the impact of extreme wealth could use more scrutiny. It was economic inequality that contributed to authoritarianism and fascism in the 1930s. Today’s uber-wealthy are even more wealthy and influential. And the rallying cry to just give people an opportunity is being defined as income redistribution and socialism.
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This book is perfect. Small enough to be accessible to a large group of readers, and hopefully even people who do not normally read books, yet packed with valuable information. The most important lesson, in my opinion, is the first: Do not obey in advance. This lesson enables all the other lessons to be followed, but importantly, sets up the mindset that is the most important aspect of resisting tyranny.
I dearly hope that citizens all over the world read this book as a start to getting informed of what is happening and how we must all fight against authoritarianism.
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