“On Tyanny” - Chapter 11: “Investgate”
This chapter is the last of the “epistemological” chapters in the sense that we started with language and truth, and now are tasked with researching and determining what are and are not valid sources of information and how to move through political terrain. Snyder’s checklist opens the chapter: “Figure things out for yourself. Spend more time with long articles. Subsidize investigative journalists by subscribing to print media. Realize that some of what is on the internet is there to harm you. Learn about sites that investigate propaganda campaigns (some of which come from abroad). Take responsibility for what you communicate to others.” On the surface, this all seems fairly straightforward, but let’s be clear that all of this requires discipline and vigilance. Figuring things out for ourselves is important, but in doing so, we need to be aware of and confront our confirmation biases. Bertrand Russell in his entry on Truth in the Britannica Encyclopedia (if I’m remembering this correct...