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.
The damage this causes across generations (even if the regime is short lived!) is so hard to grasp if you haven’t lived with it. It touches every aspect of life. It makes trust impossible, and without some level of trust and a belief in the possibility of justice, *nothing in society works.*
when I was ten my mom took me to Brasilia to watch some protests there, and she was fighting tears as she told me this wouldn't have been possible in previous years.
As I was ten, I didn't understand at all, but I remember it, and when I was older I learned how bad the dictatorship was.
