Erosion of truth-telling is a warning sign preceding authoritarian politics

Evidence

Timothy Snyder is a Holocaust historian who has written a provocative book called On Tyranny. He offers it as a warning to remain aware of the path we’re on, where something like fake news and alternative facts can easily march us down the road to authoritarian politics. Indeed, in a recent radio interview, Snyder warned that “post-truth is pre-fascism.” This may seem a heavy conclusion to draw from something as facile as fake news. But with today’s social media to facilitate the spread of misinformation faster than a propagandist’s dream, shouldn’t we at least be awake to this possibility? — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 228

Categorization

• QUESTION: Snyder’s claim “post-truth is pre-fascism” raises the question of timescale and mechanism — worth chasing the full argument in On Tyranny.
• SEED: A short art-essay angle: examining the historical sequence Snyder claims between misinformation-normalization and tyranny.
• XREF: connects to: Authoritarians are gullible toward candidates who say what they want to hear; Contemporary political crises stem from denial of systemic truths more than ignorance — bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress: Education as…, 70; Observers fear current politics is re-enacting 1984’s truth-as-casualty dynamics — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 39

Broader Connections

• Contemporary political crises stem from denial of systemic truths more than ignorance #corroborates (0.85) — bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress, 70
• Authoritarians are gullible toward candidates who say what they want to hear #corroborates (0.72)