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.
I recall a Russian protest with a lady was screaming at a cop "your violating the constitution", and the narrator noting "people did nothing and lost those rights 19 years ago" and even if somehow it were fixed they would do it again, too. This seems America's future now.
Apparently some believe it comes on a piece of paper given to them by a government, hence yes, just as easy to loose them, too ;). Personally I believe in birthright freedom, simple as that. But I could also easily see someone in the US acting just like her in the next decade.
What people are willing to believe is what may often limit the actions they are willing to imagine or take against an illegitimate society. If they believe governments have power over them, it certainly will.
