“On Tyranny” - Chapter 4: “Take responsibility for the face of the world”

Cover for “On Tyranny” paperback edition

The current regime has move quickly in its attempts to establish hegemony over the country. Reading the news is increasingly an exercise in doom-scrolling and despair, but we’re not in the final moments yet.

To be sure, reading about the number of lawsuits brought against the administration and its various branches, one harbors a hope, however small, that the courts will side with the those who are filing. There is not a segment of the population that is not, in some way, represented by these cases. However, that said, there are bound to be people who still support the president and the regime in seeing them as somehow divinely guided or just plain smarter than everyone else.

The courts remain the most problematic link in the chain of addressing the current moment. Many are stacked with loyalists to the regime and if not, then at least, members of the judiciary sympathetic to it. Representative James Raskin (MD-D) discussed the possible impeachment of the sitting president recently and said that if he could find two Republicans to work with him, he’d get to work on the proceedings. That’s fine, but it will take more than two Republicans to join him. I find it doubtful in the extreme that any Republican is going to break ranks at this point.

I’d like - love - to be proven wrong. What’s coming down for every American is - should the administration’s criminality not be checked - going to be hellish sooner than later. Citizens reliant on social services are facing disaster; non-profits are likely to lose federal funding, and absent any bureaucratic structure in place to at least provide some support those who are going to be impacted (which, frankly, is most of us).

The courts, which would, under normal circumstances, be instruments for reining in an out of control Executive Branch, may prove to be obstacles. This does not mean that legal channels shouldn’t be pursued. If the courts are shown to be complicit in stifling dissent, the will of the people, and further supporting an anarchic regime, then the next steps are likely going to be more volatile actions on the part of the citizenry. Snyder addresses this in a couple of chapters, but for now, in terms of eyes on the ground, the fourth chapter is what to look for in terms of symbols.

This might sound anodyne, but it is not. To be sure, many who supported the extremism that is now derailing institutions and processes that the majority rely on, will also feel the pain of the current power plays. When Social Security checks cease coming in, when Medicare no longer exists, and when federal aid to your organization ceases, the pain will be excruciating. The supporters as well as the non-supporters of the regime are going to be cast into some dire straits. That said, there may be many who will still throw in even more avidly with the regime and will present themselves as loyalists. They may do this for any number of reasons.

Perhaps, they will identify with the regime to curry favor, gain power, and/or actually believe in the regime’s project of dismantling government completely. It may well be that there will be many for whom this is performative to protect themselves from attacks on person and property, should civil discourse completely vanish and society fissures at a physical level.

However, with the latest image circulating that seems to have penetrated society’s consciousness, it’s important to remain on guard about what might be seemingly innocuous and absolutely is not. I’m referring to the image of Elon Musk giving what appears to be a Nazi salute. Even if it is not, the image resonates.

At issue, using this example, is that a significant amount of the population might well support the apparent meaning behind it; i.e., that it reflects the support of neo-Nazis, KKK, racists of all stripes, etc. The countervailing response has been to deride and mock the image. This is easy to do online. But for the sake of argument here to bring our commentary on the fourth chapter of “On Tyranny” into shaper focus, should the response be to seeing this image posted in the physical world?

“Do not look away, and do not get used to them. Remove them yourself and set an example for others to do so.”

This is simple, and necessary. I sincerely considered removing signs for the current occupier of the White House from people’s lawns in the lead-up to the election, but that would have been theft and if I’d defaced them, vandalism. Now, I would have no compulsion because those norms no longer exist.

Consequently, when signs and slogans are posted, they should meet immediately removal. If they decry this as a violation of their First Amendment Rights, I would reply by agreeing with them, if the Constitution was still the law of the land, but their elected and un-elected leaders have rendered the document irrelevant. Alternatively, I would say that it is my First Amendment right to exercise by removing offensive and obscene material. See you in court.

More importantly, it’s important to consider the power of symbols and how, once accepted as part of daily life, how they feed into and sometimes alter quotidian reality. Snyder uses the example of dehumanization of prosperous farmers in Stalin’s Soviet Union in the 1930s as an example. Here, they were depicted as pigs fit to be slaughtered. Those who had more land than others were the first to lose all they had.The ploy was to turn the poorer against the richer and set to the instituting the program of collectivization. This brought starvation to the Soviet peasantry and millions died in the Soviet Union, Soviet Ukraine, and Soviet Kazakhstan. “Before it was over, Soviet citizens were butchering corpses for meat.”

Snyder continues about the labels used under the Nazis around the same time; the marking of one firm as “Jewish” was the beginning of the Nazis boycott of Jewish businesses. Most people looked on as Jewish shops disappeared. “Accepting the markings as a natural part of the urban landscape was already a compromise with a murderous future.”

Suppose it comes to it that the regime begins a loyalty test where we are asked to display symbols or flags of support of the regime? Snyder points to the voluntary donning of the swastika as such a moment. The idea was to foster the illusion of a positive engagement or inclusion into a greater national unity; however, “what might seem like a gesture of pride can be a source of exclusion.” Others, after all, were forced to wear yellow stars.

Snyder’s final example was of how people in Czechoslovakia would continue to post signs like “workers of the world, unite!” In their shop windows, not out of belief in the system or of Marx, but just so the authorities would leave them alone. This was far into the waning days of the communist regime when the populace was thoroughly oppressed and demoralized.

He quotes Vaclav Havel that the acceptance of the now-empty symbols signals to the regime not whether the visibility of the symbol means active support, only that they’ve accepted the rules of the game, the goal of which is to ensure that those in power stay there and the rest go along to get along.

There are plenty of symbols I find risible. The Confederate flag, the Nazi swastika, the NRA stickers, and others. Would I consider taking them down if I saw them postered on a wall or a lamppost. Yep. Wouldn’t think twice about it.

The point is not trivial. Signs and signifiers, by their imagery and number, are registers to the type of world that is forming around us. “Flooding the zone” is a game play by the regime and it’s been, up to this point, successful. The hardest part, in many ways, was laying the foundations; flooding the media with lies and repeating them until enough people became dispirited on the one hand and apathetic, and on the other, fired up to fight an oppressive and illusory Leftist insurgency. Equally difficult was ensuring the instantiation of loyalists at various levels of office and of course, in the courts.

The insistence on imagery hasn’t happened yet. Most of what we see exists online and hasn’t quite spilled over into the real world where people may be less willing to put their ideology into action, either for or against the regime.

I don’t have to add a lot here in terms of what we will likely be called on to do. You will read, again and again, how important it is to contact your reps, to volunteer your time, to march in protest, and to help where you can/as you can.

Two places to start with:

Mobilize at https://www.mobilize.us/. I have the landing page set to my area; populated with events, petitions, and volunteer opportunities, it’s practically one-stop shopping.

Indivisible at https://indivisible.org/ is another comprehensive hub. You can sign up for updates, download their guide to organizaing, find candidates to support, and more.

If you don't have a copy of "On Tyranny", you can purchase one here:

"On Tyranny" at Timothy Snyder's website where he lists several options. Support local bookstores and buy local or check it out from your local library.

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Introduction and Chapter 1

Chapter 4