Arthur Morris

Assistant Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).

1 minute read

The first lesson is: Do not obey in advance.

Any fall is a great time to read or reread Timothy Snyder’s essential On Tyranny. This fall, if you’re an American, it’s urgent. Whatever the outcome of the election, the lessons of the 20th Century are essential now.

The first lesson of the 20th Century, of the spread of tyranny across Europe in the guise of Nazism and Communism, is: Don’t obey in advance.

Wait until you must to comply.

“Most 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 offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.”

The Washington Post and LA Times are showing us how this works right now. Did Donald Trump and JD Vance know that Jeff Bezos1 was afraid of them? That he was ready to capitulate to their demands on the content of his paper if they asked? No. Not until he did without being asked. Jeff Bezos,1 by pulling the Washington Post’s endorsement of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, is teaching the second Trump administration about it’s power over the media and over the billionaire class.2

So order On Tyranny. Jeff Bezos might be too scared to let his paper endorse Kamala Harris for President, but Amazon will certainly get you a copy of On Tyranny by tomorrow.

I happen to have the book in three formats: The pocket-sized version (you can put it next to your pocket Constitution), the comic/graphic novel version (which I sent to everyone in my family in 2022 in preparation for just this eventuality), and the audio book. I recommend them all, though the extended audio book includes an additional section on the War in Ukraine is worth the slight increase in time and treasure.

Timothy Snyder’s site has links to purchase all of the formats. Buy On Tyranny anywhere, (even Amazon!) but buy it somewhere.

  1. and Patrick Soon-Shiong ↩ ↩2

  2. Timothy Snyder is touring swing states with his new book On Freedom right now, and recorded an excellent video on this topic a couple of days ago. ↩

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