USA: The Left Appears to be Unhappy With Their New President

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USA: The Left Appears to be Unhappy With Their New President

Postby RYP » Fri Dec 02, 2016 9:00 pm

VIGILANT
A Yale history professor’s powerful, 20-point guide to defending democracy under a Trump presidency


WRITTEN BY

Timothy Snyder
Housum Professor of History at Yale University, author of Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning


2016
November 28, 2016
Americans are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience. Now is a good time to do so. Here are twenty lessons from the twentieth century, adapted to the circumstances of today:

1. Do not obey in advance.

Much of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then start to do it without being asked. You’ve already done this, haven’t you? Stop. Anticipatory obedience teaches authorities what is possible and accelerates unfreedom.

2. Defend an institution.

Defend an institution. Follow the courts or the media, or a court or a newspaper. Do not speak of “our institutions” unless you are making them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions don’t protect themselves. They go down like dominoes unless each is defended from the beginning.

3. Recall professional ethics.

When the leaders of state set a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become much more important. It is hard to break a rule-of-law state without lawyers, and it is hard to have show trials without judges.

4. When listening to politicians, distinguish certain words.

Look out for the expansive use of “terrorism” and “extremism.” Be alive to the fatal notions of “exception” and “emergency.” Be angry about the treacherous use of patriotic vocabulary.

5. Be calm when the unthinkable arrives.

When the terrorist attack comes, remember that all authoritarians at all times either await or plan such events in order to consolidate power. Think of the Reichstag fire. The sudden disaster that requires the end of the balance of power, the end of opposition parties, and so on, is the oldest trick in the Hitlerian book. Don’t fall for it.

6. Be kind to our language.

Avoid pronouncing the phrases everyone else does. Think up your own way of speaking, even if only to convey that thing you think everyone is saying. (Don’t use the internet before bed. Charge your gadgets away from your bedroom, and read.) What to read? Perhaps The Power of the Powerless by Václav Havel, 1984 by George Orwell, The Captive Mind by Czesław Milosz, The Rebel by Albert Camus, The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt, or Nothing is True and Everything is Possible by Peter Pomerantsev.

7. Stand out.

Someone has to. It is easy, in words and deeds, to follow along. It can feel strange to do or say something different. But without that unease, there is no freedom. And the moment you set an example, the spell of the status quo is broken, and others will follow.

8. Believe in truth.

To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.

9. Investigate.

Figure things out for yourself. Spend more time with long articles. Subsidize investigative journalism by subscribing to print media. Realize that some of what is on your screen is there to harm you. Learn about sites that investigate foreign propaganda pushes.

10. Practice corporeal politics.

Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen. Get outside. Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Make new friends and march with them.

11. Make eye contact and small talk.

This is not just polite. It is a way to stay in touch with your surroundings, break down unnecessary social barriers, and come to understand whom you should and should not trust. If we enter a culture of denunciation, you will want to know the psychological landscape of your daily life.

12. Take responsibility for the face of the world.

Notice the swastikas and the other signs of hate. Do not look away and do not get used to them. Remove them yourself and set an example for others to do so.

13. Hinder the one-party state.

The parties that took over states were once something else. They exploited a historical moment to make political life impossible for their rivals. Vote in local and state elections while you can.

14. Give regularly to good causes, if you can.

Pick a charity and set up autopay. Then you will know that you have made a free choice that is supporting civil society helping others doing something good.

15. Establish a private life.

Nastier rulers will use what they know about you to push you around. Scrub your computer of malware. 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. Authoritarianism works as a blackmail state, looking for the hook on which to hang you. Try not to have too many hooks.

16. Learn from others in other countries.

Keep up your friendships abroad, or make new friends abroad. The present difficulties here are an element of a general trend. And no country is going to find a solution by itself. Make sure you and your family have passports.

17. Watch out for the paramilitaries.

When the men with guns who have always claimed to be against the system start wearing uniforms and marching around with torches and pictures of a Leader, the end is nigh. When the pro-Leader paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the game is over.

18. Be reflective if you must be armed.

If you carry a weapon in public service, God bless you and keep you. But know that evils of the past involved policemen and soldiers finding themselves, one day, doing irregular things. Be ready to say no. (If you do not know what this means, contact the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and ask about training in professional ethics.)

19. Be as courageous as you can.

If none of us is prepared to die for freedom, then all of us will die in unfreedom.

20. Be a patriot.

The incoming president is not. Set a good example of what America means for the generations to come. They will need it.
This article was originally published as a Facebook post by Timothy Snyder, the Housum Professor of History at Yale University and author of Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning.
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Re: USA: The Left Appears to be Unhappy With Their New Presi

Postby goat balls » Sat Dec 03, 2016 1:05 am

Remember, gentlemen, what a Roman emperor said: The corpse of an enemy always smells sweet.
Napoleon Bonaparte

That's still true today. France is next. Then Merkel. Then the EU.
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Re: USA: The Left Appears to be Unhappy With Their New Presi

Postby gnaruki » Sat Dec 03, 2016 7:08 am

It reads like an article that would be published by the homeless weekly in town.

Unfreedom? He couldn't just use an actual antonym?
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Re: USA: The Left Appears to be Unhappy With Their New Presi

Postby grawp » Sat Dec 03, 2016 9:14 pm

Sweet Mother...

Have you seen what your kid's tuition to Yale is costing?
And THIS guy is getting some of it?

"Unfreedom" indeed.
Having read 1984 doesn't mean you can crib Orwell's pseudo-wordcrafting ability.
Next, he'll be plagiarizing Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five.

Sheesh!
The world will never love us. They respect us - they might even grow to fear us.
But they will never love us, for we have too much audacity!

- Theodore Roosevelt – “The Wind & the Lion” (1975)
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Re: USA: The Left Appears to be Unhappy With Their New Presi

Postby nowonmai » Sat Dec 03, 2016 11:24 pm

goat balls wrote:Remember, gentlemen, what a Roman emperor said: The corpse of an enemy always smells sweet.
Napoleon Bonaparte

That's still true today. France is next. Then Merkel. Then the EU.


Let's hope so.
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Re: USA: The Left Appears to be Unhappy With Their New Presi

Postby goat balls » Sat Dec 03, 2016 11:58 pm

Bet on it. The EU's days are numbered. Even Juncker is threatening EU countries not to hold referendums because he knows people want out. They'll put boots on their peoples necks before they let them get away. Assholes.
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Re: USA: The Left Appears to be Unhappy With Their New Presi

Postby snaark » Sun Dec 04, 2016 9:25 am

Dem experts be like all being smart n shit again. Where have all them smarts gotten us, huh?

Seriously, Tim Snyder is really a guy you should pay attention to.
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Re: USA: The Left Appears to be Unhappy With Their New Presi

Postby gnaruki » Sun Dec 04, 2016 9:40 pm

grawp wrote:Sweet Mother...

Have you seen what your kid's tuition to Yale is costing?
And THIS guy is getting some of it?

"Unfreedom" indeed.
Having read 1984 doesn't mean you can crib Orwell's pseudo-wordcrafting ability.
Next, he'll be plagiarizing Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five.

Sheesh!


Yale tuition and fees $46,800/yr.

Got his Ph.D from Oxford. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_D._Snyder

Most doubly so it goes!
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Re: USA: The Left Appears to be Unhappy With Their New Presi

Postby MJK » Mon Dec 05, 2016 12:01 am

I'd listen to Tim Snyder's thoughts on Pizzagate or how closely Tony Podesta and his brother match the police sketches of the two persons of interest in the Madeline McCann kidnapping. What an interesting coincidence that at the time of her disappearance they were both in Portugal and staying just a short ways away in a now known pedophile's mansion…..

Or what he thinks about the open hatred the Haitians feel for the Clintons knowing that less than 6% of what was gathered to assist in Haiti actually made it to Haitians….yeah I'd be intrigued by his thoughts on that…..

Do you have the clout to herd Mr Snyder on over to the Flag for a Q and A session? That would be sweet.

Or you can just go old school Snaark and answer with anything but a refutal….or you can let the crickets do the talking……..

Gimme a minute to find a quote of Mr Snyder discussing Trump not honoring the results of the election so we can lay it against the tripe currently exiting his yup hole for comparison.
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Re: USA: The Left Appears to be Unhappy With Their New Presi

Postby snaark » Mon Dec 05, 2016 5:21 pm

Tim Snyder is a historian you halfwit. History is stuff that happened a long time ago.
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Re: USA: The Left Appears to be Unhappy With Their New Presi

Postby MJK » Mon Dec 05, 2016 9:44 pm

Yeah, but he wasn't waxing historical, he was advising on future behaviors. What is his expertise level on the future? Same as yours, I'm afraid.

Resorting to namecalling; the last refuge of a statist lackey. How utterly Snaarky of you.
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Re: USA: The Left Appears to be Unhappy With Their New Presi

Postby rickshaw92 » Mon Dec 05, 2016 10:29 pm

MJK wrote:
Resorting to namecalling; the last refuge of a statist lackey. How utterly Snaarky of you.


Yer both cunts.
Im reallly fuclimg pissed but fespite that I can still hit a tarfet at 1000m plus. mayVRVe bnot tonight but it qint beyond the wit if man. Nowhammy.
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Re: USA: The Left Appears to be Unhappy With Their New Presi

Postby friendlyskies » Tue Dec 06, 2016 6:20 pm

I'm torn.

On the one hand, I used to laugh at the cowardly morons who whimpered pathetically that Obama was a Nazi Communist AntiChrist who was gonna "Take ar guns" and "put us in FEMA rape camps." That shit was hilarious.

So it pains me to see my fellow Democrats doing the same thing. Trump is not ideal, but he's probably not a Nazi AntiChrist who is going to put Muslims into interment camps. Maybe he will, but the guy has missed 17 intelligence briefings and watched every episode of Saturday Night Live since the election. Something tells me he lacks Hitler's, much less Lucifer's, discipline.

On the other hand - it worked. All the people who were in a lather about Obama the AntiChrist destroying democracy, declaring himself dictator for life, stealing our guns, putting the rednecks in ovens and baking them into tasty, high fat snacks..... they went out and voted for a reality television star who went bankrupt selling mail-order steaks, because he championed the birth certificate conspiracy theory. Which is an accomplishment.


So..... the debate. Do I embarrass myself by calling a Trump a Nazi, and win the next election? Or do I keep my dignity, and lose in 2020? I can't decide.
"4 cylinder Camaro=communism" El Presidente

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Re: USA: The Left Appears to be Unhappy With Their New Presi

Postby Kurt » Tue Dec 06, 2016 8:19 pm

Exactly. I am like "Stop fucking crying you idiots, that's why he won!"
Jesus, in NYC there was a "sticky note" wall on one subway station so alleged people could share their feelings.

It is embarrassing how spineless they are.

Anyway, I am enjoying the Neo-Liberal spin on this whole thing. Seeing some true colors coming out here finally. In Haiti I know people who hated Aristide but said "at least he showed people where the power was and who had it and now they will never forget"

I feel the same way about Trump. Especially when I saw a Washington Post headline that said "Why preserving jobs in the USA may be bad for the Economy"

It is apparent whose economy they were talking about. Not factory workers in Indiana, that is for sure.
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Re: USA: The Left Appears to be Unhappy With Their New Presi

Postby flipflop » Wed Dec 07, 2016 1:41 pm

Image

You can tell why ISIS wanted the Democrats to win

Cheers
Patriots always talk of dying for their country, and never of killing for their country - Bertrand Russell
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