Political commentary and abstract musings through the eyes of an amateur political junkie.
We did it! We're here! To the 5ish people who've been consistently reading these posts, I don't know who you are but thanks for joining me on this journey and I hope you stick around for the next book. :)
The final lesson Timothy Snyder gives us from the 20th Century On Tyranny is to be as courageous as possible. The chapter sub-header is a little ominous: "If none of us is prepared to die for freedom, then all of us will die under tyranny." Oof, right?
Lesson 19 of 20 from the 20th Century On Tyranny is to be a patriot by setting an example for what America should be for the next generation.
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.
Lesson 16 of 20 from the 20th Century On Tyranny is to learn from peers in other countries. The United States isn't going through our current political strife without context or in a vacuum. The entire world saw an anti-incumbent movement as well as a shift towards far-right policies and politicians.
Lesson 15 of 20 from the 20th Century On Tyranny; almost down to the final 5! Contribute to Good Causes
Keeping it rolling - lesson 13 of 20 from the 20th Century On Tyranny: practice corporeal politics
A+ for you if you already know what corporeal means; I looked it up before reading the chapter. It means with your body or material objects. So practice politics with your body in a material way.
Lesson 11 of 20 from the 20th Century On Tyranny: Investigate
Snyder issues two main calls to action here: invest in good journalism, and take responsibility for the information you spread.
Lesson 10 of 20 from the 20th Century On Tyranny - we're half way there. If you're still reading, or if you're tapping in at the mid-point, welcome. Thanks for taking the time. This lesson is one that feels a little hopeless to me sometimes. Believe in truth.
Lesson 9 of 20 from the 20th Century On Tyranny: be kind to our language. This one might be a love/hate situation. You'll either agree completely, or you'll want to tell me to fork off and that there's no way you're doing it.
Lesson 7 blew my mind, and to some degree changed how I think about those who carried out the Holocaust. Be reflective if you must be armed.
Lesson 6 is to beware of paramilitary groups. The notion is that governments generally try to keep a monopoly on violence. When you see paramilitary groups working outside of the law to support a leader or a cause with violence, it's often orchestrated by people in power to exploit lawless implementation of their agenda.
Lesson 5 is another easy one: remember professional ethics. Snyder points out that all kinds of atrocities were committed by all kinds of professionals during the Nazi regime in Germany. Doctors and scientists performed medical experiments on unwilling participants, businessmen exploited cheap labor from concentration camps, lawyers and judges sentenced innocent people to death without trials.
Lesson 4 is to take responsibility for the face of the world. This lesson is about noticing symbols, being careful about what symbols you wear yourself, and being intentional about what you do with symbols out in the world.
Welcome back to the series I'm committing to 20 Lessons From the 20th Century On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder, inspired by ! Lesson 2 is to Defend Institutions. This is difficult, because I have some distrust of institutions so it's hard to want to defend them, even as they fail us.
Within my first days on BlueSky I found a sense of community with many users. I've seen a ton of book recommendations, but none have entranced me like one friend's posts about On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder. Lobstah Grl has posted brief summaries of each chapter, and by lesson 3 I made plans for a trip to the library because I HAD to check this book out. As the title suggests, it's a book of lessons we learned about tyranny in the 20th Century. It's a relevant topic, as we see a shift towards fascism across the world, but particularly here in the United States. What better way to learn than from history? And how better to learn than together? This begins a series of posts outlining the lessons from this book with my own commentary and ties to our current political landscape.