I was canceling my subscription …ending tomorrow. I have so many subscriptions but will keep yours and Ruth Ben Ghiat’s LUCID. I imagine those who were aware as the ‘glory’ of their societies disappeared with the apathy and indifference of the population. We are in the midst of what will result in such toxic change. Black & brown citizens including our indigenous leaders & communities have warned us for decades. My husband’s deceased uncle, a former college president and professor of history & political science, warned us 10 years ago. He gave all of his family members your book On Tyranny. Few have taken it seriously. In 2009 my husband and I traveled to Turkey. Our friends, prominent citizens in Istanbul seemed anxious and annoyed. We couldn’t put a finger on it and didn’t understand the fear of future autocracy that is Erdogan. Sigh. Thank you Timothy for your efforts…thank you to Ruth, Bandy, Malcolm N, Frank F, Nicole W, Rep Schiff and so many who authentically have warned us. I feel like I’m on the Titanic and now realize our fate is sealed.
I wonder how the covid-19 pandemic might alter trajectories. This past weekend, trying to lift my mood, I watched the PBS broadcast of a retrospective of 20 years of Christmas shows by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It was not the experience I expected from previous years. Scores of musicians, singers, and dancers; 20,000 maskless strangers in the packed auditorium enjoying the show together--so familiar and so lovely. But gradually, I began to feel that I was seeing a vanished world--the pre-pandemic "before times" we exited 2 years ago. It seems increasingly clear to me that that world is gone. Can this be a break that enables us to go forward?
There’s so many things the Politicians have gotten wrong. You were right to bring us back to a time in the Soviet Union where Communism flourished by tyrants. They still exist but it was Reagan and his horrid ideas to swipe welfare away from poor folks who really needed it. That action is why we see so many homeless on the streets to this day. Now we are reeling from Russia’s infiltration to our government’s election proceedings. It’s also maddening that half of the country fails to care about their fellow man.
Thank you for putting everything into perspective.
This is one of your best essays, Professor Snyder. The essays I like best are the ones about central and eastern Europe (especially Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia), and the lessons that Americans can and should but unfortunately don't, learn about the experiences of these peoples. And the conflation of capitalism and democracy in the US is truly maddening. If you bring up the example of China, the reaction of your fellow Americans will almost always be negative precisely because the idea of the inseparability of democracy and capitalism is an unspoken assumption that cannot ever be spoken until and unless Americans become more self-aware.
Professor Snyder have you ever looked at the work done by Peter Turchin? He wrote the book "Ages of Discord". I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts if you wished to share. Is there a way to sit the elites down and broker a settlement between them so that we can avoid catastrophe? Or are we destined for upheaval irregardless and we should all start practicing Stoic philosophy and chanting the mantra "Amor Fati"?
There's a book titled "A Bottom Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity"
Perhaps a way forward, that gives the individual hope is the Strong Town movement. https://www.strongtowns.org/. I cannot change the massive structural problems in America, but I can focus on my block. I can pick up the trash, connect with neighbors, explore ways to build resiliency. It's not much, but it's what I have control over.
I was canceling my subscription …ending tomorrow. I have so many subscriptions but will keep yours and Ruth Ben Ghiat’s LUCID. I imagine those who were aware as the ‘glory’ of their societies disappeared with the apathy and indifference of the population. We are in the midst of what will result in such toxic change. Black & brown citizens including our indigenous leaders & communities have warned us for decades. My husband’s deceased uncle, a former college president and professor of history & political science, warned us 10 years ago. He gave all of his family members your book On Tyranny. Few have taken it seriously. In 2009 my husband and I traveled to Turkey. Our friends, prominent citizens in Istanbul seemed anxious and annoyed. We couldn’t put a finger on it and didn’t understand the fear of future autocracy that is Erdogan. Sigh. Thank you Timothy for your efforts…thank you to Ruth, Bandy, Malcolm N, Frank F, Nicole W, Rep Schiff and so many who authentically have warned us. I feel like I’m on the Titanic and now realize our fate is sealed.
Thank you for taking the time to help me see what I don't see on my own.
Cogent and provocative. Maybe it’s a strong outline for an OpEd. Regardless, please keep painting the picture.
I wonder how the covid-19 pandemic might alter trajectories. This past weekend, trying to lift my mood, I watched the PBS broadcast of a retrospective of 20 years of Christmas shows by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It was not the experience I expected from previous years. Scores of musicians, singers, and dancers; 20,000 maskless strangers in the packed auditorium enjoying the show together--so familiar and so lovely. But gradually, I began to feel that I was seeing a vanished world--the pre-pandemic "before times" we exited 2 years ago. It seems increasingly clear to me that that world is gone. Can this be a break that enables us to go forward?
...and the catastrophe of climate change. About which we do nothing at a federal level.
Thank you, Professor, for your insights and understanding. Faultlines, indeed, prefiguring the quake of disruption.
Excellent clear analysis.
There’s so many things the Politicians have gotten wrong. You were right to bring us back to a time in the Soviet Union where Communism flourished by tyrants. They still exist but it was Reagan and his horrid ideas to swipe welfare away from poor folks who really needed it. That action is why we see so many homeless on the streets to this day. Now we are reeling from Russia’s infiltration to our government’s election proceedings. It’s also maddening that half of the country fails to care about their fellow man.
Thank you for putting everything into perspective.
Yikes! Scary and disconcerting but clarifying. Thank you.
This is one of your best essays, Professor Snyder. The essays I like best are the ones about central and eastern Europe (especially Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia), and the lessons that Americans can and should but unfortunately don't, learn about the experiences of these peoples. And the conflation of capitalism and democracy in the US is truly maddening. If you bring up the example of China, the reaction of your fellow Americans will almost always be negative precisely because the idea of the inseparability of democracy and capitalism is an unspoken assumption that cannot ever be spoken until and unless Americans become more self-aware.
American politicians of the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher, and a sense of the future.
WORKING CLASS HERO
John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band (1970)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D77dbv-xNfE
https://www.songfacts.com/lyrics/john-lennon/working-class-hero
Thanks
Professor Snyder have you ever looked at the work done by Peter Turchin? He wrote the book "Ages of Discord". I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts if you wished to share. Is there a way to sit the elites down and broker a settlement between them so that we can avoid catastrophe? Or are we destined for upheaval irregardless and we should all start practicing Stoic philosophy and chanting the mantra "Amor Fati"?
There's a book titled "A Bottom Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity"
Perhaps a way forward, that gives the individual hope is the Strong Town movement. https://www.strongtowns.org/. I cannot change the massive structural problems in America, but I can focus on my block. I can pick up the trash, connect with neighbors, explore ways to build resiliency. It's not much, but it's what I have control over.