On Tyranny
A Review
by Tim Snyder
The book titled, On Tyranny is a must-read; it is authored by Tim Snyder, and his vignette forces one to reflect upon what is taking place in the United States of America and how other countries have fallen to authoritarianism. In many ways, it is a call to awareness and also a call to action. I will highlight a few points; these points resonated with me. Snyder asserts that “most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given.” We assume that bad things will not happen, but sadly, bad things do occur. Another point-–we need to ensure the survival of a two-party system, but when there is only one party, then we lose representation; the one party in control has the power to influence and impact all decisions, as we are witnessing today- so we must be vigilant about a strong two-party system.
In section 8, Snyder says that it is important to stand out. In another way, the moment
you STAND OUT, you help to topple the status quo, in the same way Rosa Parks did.
We need to be risk takers and symbols of the opposition. In another way, when you
stand out, “the spell of the status quo is broken, and others will follow.” Snyder makes
you think in a section titled, “Believe in Truth,” he states that to abandon facts is to
abandon freedom. In other words, “if nothing is true, then no one can criticize the power,” and this seems to be exactly what the Trump administration is doing today. In another way, you submit to tyranny when you do not renounce the mistruths. It is
argued that at one point in his presidency, the Washington Post documented up to
twenty-seven lies per day that he told the American people. The takeaway here is that
we find this blatant disregard for the truth untenable. And in another thought-provoking section about the media, money, and investigations, we all need to have clear minds and not get caught up in the online and media propaganda. The media should not knowingly print or repeat false statements. Doing so gives authoritarians more than a modicum of credibility. Snyder states that the “appetite for the secret is 'dangerously political' and feeds totalitarianism.”
In Synder’s book, there are countless vignettes about tyranny and autocratic leadership with additional ideas about how to move forward. Some of these additional ideas include the following: that we learn from peers in other countries, contribute to good causes, and “support a civil society that helps others to do good. Last, authoritarians are also terror managers; we must be prepared and have a plan of action, maybe by speaking out and fighting back as hard as the authoritarian and realizing that the autocratic leader will accuse you of doing the same thing that he or she is doing. We must get ahead of the game and find ourselves on offense.
Reviewed by Robert Bing