On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
The European history of the twentieth century shows us that societies can break, democracies can fall, ethics can collapse, and ordinary men can find themselves standing over death pits with guns in their hands.
Timothy Snyder • On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
nation is defined by its inherent virtue rather than by its future potential, politics becomes a discussion of good and evil rather than a discussion of possible solutions to real problems.
Timothy Snyder • On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
Reality television must become more dramatic with each episode. If we found a video of an American president performing Cossack dances while Vladimir Putin claps, we would probably just demand the same thing with him wearing a bear suit and holding rubles in his mouth.
Timothy Snyder • On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
We need to remove private funding from what should be public campaigns for office. We will have to take seriously our own Constitution, which forbids oath-breaking insurrectionists from running for office.
Timothy Snyder • On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
People who assure you that you can only gain security at the price of liberty usually want to deny you both.
Timothy Snyder • On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
It is your ability to discern facts that makes you an individual, and our collective trust in common knowledge that makes us a society. The individual who investigates is also the citizen who builds. The leader who dislikes the investigators is a potential tyrant.
Timothy Snyder • On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
The mistake is to assume that rulers who came to power through institutions cannot change or destroy those very institutions—even when that is exactly what they have announced that they will do.
Timothy Snyder • On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
When we take an active interest in matters of doubtful relevance at moments that are chosen by tyrants, oligarchs and spooks, we participate in the demolition of our own political order.
Timothy Snyder • On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
You might one day be offered the opportunity to display symbols of loyalty. Make sure that such symbols include your fellow citizens rather than exclude them.
Timothy Snyder • On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
Each story on televised news is “breaking” until it is displaced by the next one. So we are hit by wave upon wave but never see the ocean. The effort to define the shape and significance of events requires words and concepts that elude us when we are entranced by visual stimuli.