On Tyranny - Prologue, Timonty Snyder

On Tyranny is a short book published in 2017, written by Timothy Snyder; it offers 20 lessons from the 20th Century, warnings on the woes of tyrants. In the first of the series, I begin with lesson 1:  "Do not obey in advance".  

Ideally, persons are taught as children about obedience, respecting authority and generally, the law, but as to the latter, "law", few if any know of all the many laws, even for which they are subjected, as children or even adults. Yes, the proliferation of laws produce a dilemma for the "average citizen" who conceivably if not actually can be violating the law without any knowledge that such exist.  

In the prologue, Tim begins, 

History can familiarize, and it can warn.  In the late 19th century, just as in the late 20th..., the expansion of global trade generated expectations of progress. [] These hopes were challenged by new visions of mass politics in which a leader or a party claimed to directly represent the will of the people.

He sites examples in Europe of once relatively free societies falling to Fascism and Communism, in essence tyranny.   Still more, 

Both fascism and communism were responses to globalization, to the real and perceived inequalities it created, and the apparent helplessness...  Fascists rejected reason in the name of will, denying  objective truth in favor of glorious myth.

In one interview (link below) on the topic of truth, Tim touches on Relativism once more; that if there is no truth(s)--as accepted by persons--then all that remains is a mindless myth. He says that if there is no reality or facts, there can be no trust; and without trust there is no reverence or respect for law.

ON TYRANNY: Lessons From the 20th Century with Author Timothy Snyder

More to come.