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A lesson from Timothy Snyder's, On Tyranny, 20 Lessons From The 20th Century; The Village 3/15/23 [1]
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Date: 2023-03-15
Hola Villagers! I’m on the road today, but expect to be home by mid-afternoon and look forward to reading and responding to your comments.
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Last week I read a tweet that I thought about replying to with the lesson that Timothy Snyder calls, “Be kind to our language” I ultimately decided against it because trying to tweet a stranger about something like this just wouldn’t have been effective. The tweet in question was about the term, ‘woke’ and how Democrats should respond to the usage of it by republicans. I didn’t save the tweet, but if you’re on Twitter you’ve probably seem tweets like it and/or understand the argument about ‘what Dems should do’ to be successful.
I don’t know what the answer is and of course it could vary by congressional district and state. I do know that the question of how to handle it also includes the terms, CRT and grooming, and who knows what else!
But let’s start with the gist of Snyder’s lesson. His introduction to it says:
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. Make an effort to separate yourself from the internet. Read books.
The book was written in 2017, so after TFG took office. He may have been referring to so many of TFG’s oft repeated phrases like, fake news, lock her up, or hoax.
He goes on to say:
Television purports to challenge political language by conveying images, but the succession from one frame to another can hinder a sense of resolution. Everything happens fast, but nothing actually happens. Each story on televised news is “breaking” until it is displaced by the next one. So we are hit by wave upon wave but never see the ocean.
Gosh, I feel this so much and I haven’t watched much news since early 2016. Of course it’s often even worse on social media. It took me several years to understand that my anger and frustration at what was happening was not being served by following the news so closely. I still think following the news and having some anger about events is important, but have managed to strike a balance. Yes, I’m still angry at some of what is happening in the world, but it’s not at the surface of my day to day life. I’m not stuck in what he calls the politics of eternity. I know what I need to do to impact the change I want to see in the world and I do it — GOTV activities, having IRL conversations with friends and family, and making donations.
He offers a reasonable solution:
Staring at screens is perhaps unavoidable, but the two-dimensional world makes little sense unless we can draw upon a mental armory that we have developed somewhere else. When we repeat the same words and phrases that appear in the daily media, we accept the absence of a large framework. To have such a framework requires more concepts, and having more concepts requires reading. So get the screens out of your room and surround yourself with books.
Fear not friends, he says, any good novel enlivens our ability to think about ambiguous situations and judge the intentions of others. I would think that a variety of television shows and/or movies could also enliven your ability to think about situations and judge the intentions of others as well. It also exposes you to language that is different than what’s on/in the news and social media.
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Now back to the questions at hand — should Democrats engage with republicans on words and slogans they use to purposely be vague?
If yes, what’s the best way to do so?
If no, is there a better alternative to clarify our policies and practices?
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/15/2157215/-A-lesson-from-Timothy-Snyder-s-On-Tyranny-20-Lessons-From-The-20th-Century-The-Village-3-15-23
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