Amidst the tyranny among us, let us not forget the terrible toll that SARS-COV-2 is having on the world and the United States. Click on the link for the most current data and information.
Lesson 14: Establish a Private Life
“Nastier rulers will use what they know about you to push you around. Scrub your computer of malware on a regular basis. 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. Tyrants seek the hook on which to hang you. Try not to have hooks.”
Timothy Snyder, “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From the Twentieth Century,” 2017
Nothing dark about this right? This isn’t meant to drive you further into your shell, but to alert you as to what some folks are trying to do with your personal information and how they are using it to create misinformation. This is no mystery and it is a great cause of concern. Be mindful of your personal information, take the necessary precautions and move on with making life healthy and happy for you and yours.
Dr. Snyder points out in this lesson that totalitarianism doesn’t mean an “all-powerful state, but the difference between public and private life.” Our freedom lies in what we wish to keep to ourselves and that which we are ok becoming public information. You personally get to make the decision about which one is which. Make no mistake that when your personal information becomes public without your permission, you need to take steps to stop it using the tools within your power. Secure you computer’s internet security with appropriate software and speak up to your lawmakers about the security of your personal life. This is very important.
“Whether it is done by American or Russian intelligence agencies, or for that matter by any institution, the theft, discussion, or publication of personal communications destroys a basic foundation of our rights.”
Remember the email dump that occurred just before the 2016 elections? This is a case study to make this point. Private communications between people were taken from their context and made public out of context. This action was an act deliberately designed to spread misinformation. This should not have been the storyline for the news. The news should have been that this was a privacy violation and against the law. It wasn’t reported as a rights violation. It was used to distract us from the real news and where it had come from.
Hannah Arendt, to whom Snyder frequently refers to as a great political thinker, refers to our collective appetite for the secret to be dangerously political. Political in that Totalitarianism makes us as individuals “unfree.” Interpret the term from the perspective of right leaning political thinkers and Totalitarian means Liberal or Socialist. Interpret the term from left leaning political thinkers and you have Fascists and tyrants. It’s not my end game here to to determine the efficacy of one or the other. Click the link on Totalitarianism above and Google will take you wherever you want to go with the term.
My point based on Dr. Snyder’s research, is that Totalitarianism directs societies away from normal politics and toward conspiracy theories. Have you heard any of these lately? Consider our current political climate in the United States. Where is our attention? Let me answer that. Our attention is on stolen emails, stolen laptops, stolen elections and dark conspiracy theories. In the words. of Dr. Snyder, “When we take an active interest. in matters of doubtful relevance at moments that are chosen by tyrants and spooks, we participate in the demolition of our own political order.”
They do this by blurring the line between what is private and what is public. By taking private information and presenting it out of context, the information is often used to misinform and create an environment of doubt, chaos and confusion. Tyrants thrive on doubt, chaos and confusion.
Guard your privacy and be aware of what is going on in the world. Keep your head up, stay informed and encourage those you know to stay informed. It may get dark at times. There is a lot of darkness out there at this point. In my opinion, the best way to deal with darkness is to shine light on it. That light needs to be real bright right now. May your light shine very brightly.