On Tyranny - Lesson 17: Listen for Dangerous Words

 Lesson 17 of 20 from the 20th Century On Tyranny is to listen for dangerous words. Snyder focuses on the words extremism and terrorism, but I'll add some important caveats and contextual examples.

In this lesson, Snyder discusses how tyrants work to define the mainstream so that they can call everything they don't agree with or embrace extremism or terrorism. Once they effectively label dissidents as extreme terrorists they can use that language to encourage people to give up freedoms in a trade-off for perceived safety, even if that safety is wholly fabricated. For example, Hitler painted Jews and Jewish sympathizers as a threat to Germany. He demanded the nation boycott Jewish businesses for the sake of driving them out. He wanted Germans to sacrifice a freedom to shop wherever they liked for the sake of more safety by forcing "dangerous" Jews out of business. In reality, there was nothing inherently dangerous about Jews or their businesses. It took a while for the boycotts to really take hold, but eventually the rhetoric was successful anyway.

That said, airport security was forever altered in the US in response to the 9/11 attack in 2001. Citizens gave up what they perceived as the freedom to travel relatively unbothered and unchecked for the safety of everyone on a plane or in an airport. I don't think this was an unnecessary or unwarranted approach. So while we listen for dangerous words and requests to trade freedoms for safety, we need to also resist the urge to balk every single time. We should be analytical and intentional about our response.

Domestic terrorists are a real problem in the US. White supremacist groups and Neo-Nazis are re-gaining popularity, and we need to be able to address that and call it what it is. We shouldn't have to stray from the most accurate phrasing so as to not raise alarm bells. Words aren't inherently dangerous, though they do hold great power; the words extreme and terror aren't inherently treacherous. What we need to listen for is these words being used in false narratives. We should be careful to observe when a word's power is exploited to justify oppression and tyranny.

Are all immigrants terrorists and criminals? No. Is the far-right propping up that rhetoric? Yes. We should be alarmed about that. Are leftists committing widespread acts of terror? No. Even the UHC killer is shockingly mid-line in his politics; same for the Trump shooter. Yet we have people in power calling anyone who disagrees with them "enemies within". That's dangerous. That's what we should be alarmed about. It isn't that we should only be concerned when right-wingers use these words; it's that we should be concerned when the words are used inaccurately to elicit and exploit fearful responses.

We still have to respond to extremism and terrorism. We still have to be vigilant to not allow those things to fester in our societies. But we can't let the words lose their meaning because they're being abused by people in power. We need to be aware when a tyrannical leader or administration is using those words to turn us on one another and distract from the dismantling of our democracy.