to clarify: life under authoritarians is often boring and normal for many people until it all of a sudden isn’t, and of course it’s that uncertainty that causes the corrosion.
Living under authoritarian regimes is both relatively boring and normal AND incredibly corrosive to the human soul. These things can absolutely co-exist.
This is why everyone needs to resist authoritarians, even people who privately assume they’ll be just fine.
A lot of Americans do know what it's like to live under an authoritarian regime. My parents do. Many immigrants ended up in the US because they were fleeing authoritarianism (sometimes US backed). Offhand Haitians, Dominicans, Salvadorans, Nicaraguans, Koreans all know.
I know - I’ve been trying to qualify the “many” thing as much as possible in my various posts about this, in that I’d say probably the *majority* of Americans don’t have direct experience with authoritarian regimes, but of course lots and lots of Americans do.
Yes to all of the above.
An immediate problem – vast majority of the public, loudmouth pundits, some academics, and editorial writers, don't have a clue about the structures of repression in place rn.
We need to consider:
1) How to protect against current regime
2) What if current regime falls
