“On Tyranny” - Chapter 14: “Establish a private life”

Much of what Snyder suggests here are steps many of us have taken already to preserve some degree of privacy in an internet-connected world. Given circumstances, securing a dimension of privacy is more important than ever.

There’s always been the fallacy of “well, I don’t have anything to hide” that few ever grasp. Even with a relatively benign authority, your iife and the lives of your loved ones are not your own, and should anyone want to make use of your data to compromise you, they very well could. Even if it was all manipulated and libelous, consider how your life would be updended. Consider the damage to reputation, legal fees, and again, how this would affect those you care for and about.

The current regime is, emphatically, not a benign authority. If privacy was a specious commodity at best before now, it is now a potential weapon to be used private citizens as well as more public figures.

Most of us assume that the right to privacy is part of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”, but for as long as there are people distrustful of their neighbors, let alone corporations that really want your money, and governments that want to control you, privacy is a hard-won element of our lives.

Snyder begins with an amplification of all this: “Nastier rulers will use what they know about you to push you around.” He is almost being coy here. Authoritarian regimes will not stop at “pushing you around.” They’ll start with that and depending on the ratio of the cowed to the active dissidents, they may decide you’re trouble and “re-educate” you/imprison you/torture you/disappear you and/or flat-out execute you.

This may sound alarmist since we’re not there, and I am not a prophet and don’t know for certain what the future holds, but the thesis statement is in the title, this is “On Tyranny”, after all. Twenty lessons of how to prepare for and adapt to living under a tyrannical regime. My sense of what Snyder is getting at in this chapter is that much of it is practical advice you can start doing right now, and even if the regime never reaches full totalitarian strength, practicing good internet and legal hygiene is always a good idea.

“Scrub your computer of malware on a regular basis. Remember that email is skywriting. Consider using alternative forms of the internet, or simply using it less. Have personal exchanges in person. For the same reason, resolve any legal trouble. Tyrants seek the hook on which to hang you. Try not to have hooks.”

Were I to get picky, I would run tests for malignant software on all devices. As for email, consider a client like Proton; alternative forms of the internet could include using the Tor browser, or at the very least, using a VPN. There are plenty of resources on the internet. A graduated approach could work such that you wean yourself off of Meta/Amazon/Google and onto to more discreet platforms.

Recently, I met up with an old friend and we had a terrific time and I thought how much I enjoy being with a real human being and how this is sometimes obscured by constant contact online. We joked about how long it had been since we last got together, and how that’s a direct result of instant messaging and following each other on social media. As she said, “hey, I know what you’ve been up to, you know what I’ve been up to” but we both agreed that it’s not the same as actually talking to someone directly, in person.

On a more chilling side; we do know what each other have been up to. Of course, dear friends and family do know what everyone’s been up to on social media, but what of less benevolent actors? Not to sound paranoid, but again, it’s not a bad idea to turn your settings on social media to private and if you need to be online for business purposes, maintain a separate account for that reason alone. Plus, getting off the internet is just plain good for you.

Resolving legal trouble: this could be anything from not paying a parking fine to not filing taxes on time to a lousy credit rating. That last is not illegal, but it’s not a bad idea to see if you have outstanding or unpaid debts that you might have forgotten about because they were too small to bother with. Again, this may sound like paranoia but repressive states look for devils in every detail. If Snyder’s motto here is anything, it’s “cover your ass.”

Snyder points out that what Hannah Arendt meant by totalitarianism “was not merely the all-powerful state, but the erasure of the difference between private and public life.” This is where Snyder amplifies more of what I called the fallacy of “I haven’t done anything wrong, I have nothing to fear.”

As he says, “We are free only insofar as we exercise control over what people know about us, and in what circumstances they came to know it.” It’s one thing for your spouse or relative or good friend to know you intimately in ways that developed over years of togetherness. It’s an altogether different proposition when your buying habits, where you spend your time outside of work, or how you vote are well-known to entities you do not know.

Snyder reprisers the step Americans took during the campaign in 2016 “toward totalitarianism without noticing by accepting as normal the violation of electronic privacy.” While Snyder is referring to the “timed email bombs” of then-candidate Clinton’s emails, I would go further back and point to earlier legislation regarding warrantless surveillance by the state on American citizens domestically or abroad. I am, of course, referring to the Patriot Act, H.R. 3162. Snyder, I believe has in mind that the furor over the emails was partially set up and amplified by Russian actors as part of Russian influence in the 2016 campaign and election.

What’s important is that “Whether it is done by American or Russian intelligence agencies, or fo that matter, by any institution, the theft, discussion, or publication of personal communication destroys a basic foundation of our rights.” That this happened to a Secretary of State should have chilled all discourse surrounding the election. The first stop should have been, “wait, you just made public emails that were not intended for disclosure” as opposed to the inane distraction that so many voters followed.

This release wasn’t just a “distraction”, it was also a consummate exercise in disinformation. We’re not re-litigating election corruption here; we’re looking at the use of the private for the political. “Totalitarianism removes the difference between private and public not just to make individuals unfree, but also to draw the whole society away from normal politics and toward conspiracy theories.” Snyder points to “our appetite for the secret” which can easily be weaponized against candidates or against neighbors.

Snyder notes, “we are seduced by by the notion of hidden realities and dark conspiracies that explain everything” and while the media in some cases belatedly became aware of the wider implications of the email debacle and the like, “millions of Americans have learned to substitute sinking into the depths for thinking about the facts.” Let’s let that last resonate for a bit.

One fo the big issues with even discussing a book like this is that there is the tendency to dismiss the argument that we are heading for fascism by saying it’s just an overreaction to a figure some find offensive. The charge of “paranoid” tends to be liberally lobbied at those who actually have done the work to investigate, read, review, and engage with principals in the regime, and it is difficult to dismiss the fraught nature of the nation at this very motion as a “nothing more than a slightly rough transition.”

We saw on national television a president lie for a hundred minutes. We saw earlier that same president and his vice-president belittle and berate an ally in need of continued assistance from the United States in a war for his country’s survival. We’ve seen too many other examples of precisely the kind of “leaders” we are dealing with. To think that the reaction to the occupier of the Oval Office is unwarranted is to disregard the evidence of one’s own eyes.

Snyder points out that "the revelation of what was once confidential becomes the story itself.” We know that those emails were of no import to the campaign or the candidates, but by crying “fire”, both the opposition and the media sowed enough distrust in the public to sway the election. We know this. And here is where Snyder delivers a coup de grace; “When we take an active interest in matters of doubtful relevant at moments that are chosen by tyrants, oligarchs and spooks, we participate in the demise of our own political order.” From here, Snyder points out that many may feel they’re just doing whatever one else is, but that this leads to what Arendt “described as the devolution of a society into a “mob”.”

While he adds that we can try to solve some of this individually (protection of data and information about our lives), but also by solving it collectively by supporting groups and organizations. This is the topic for the next chapter.

However, there’s more to consider here that requires a deeper look and this will be more immediately applicable in a later chapter. One major thing to consider is that living your life privately is a form of defiance to the regime. Right now, this may not seem significant; but as with suggestions from earlier chapters, it is important to see this as all of a part. Living as well as one can for as long as one can, with neighbors and loved ones, becomes an act of political resistance, particularly when coupled with public displays of resistance. Even if you elect not to participate outwardly, the private domain is yours. Treasure it, protect it, and let it be a refuge.

Bibliography

Snyder, Timothy. On Tyranny - Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. Crown Publishing. New York. 2017..

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