LESSON 1: Do Not Obey In Advance
Why Hacker News recommends it
Linked in political threads as a short, accessible companion to Snyder's book and as a reminder not to obey in advance.
What it is
The first lesson from Timothy Snyder's short video series accompanying On Tyranny, arguing that most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given when people comply in advance. It runs about eight minutes.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2023 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Recommends hayst4ck · 2023-04 · on “Ask HN: Tech work that strengthens liberal democracy”
I would go spend a couple of days on Yale history professor Timothy Snyder reading his books and then watch him on YouTube. Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig is also a major academic in this area. Their respective relevant books are "The Road to Unfreedom" and "They Don't Represent Us." Timothy Snyder also wrote "On Tyranny," which is a very quick read which is directly applicable to the question you are asking, he also narrated it in video form: [this video] Timothy Snyder is more about understanding and fighting the forces of tyranny while Lawrence Lessig focuses more on the mechanics of our democracy and the consequences of our current implementation. I promise you will love Timothy Snyder
Recommends neo4llm · 2025-03 · on “On Tyranny [book]”
Could not agree more! I also recommend the short Youtube series Snyder recorded before the release of the graphic edition: Lesson 1: [this video] Full Playlist: [LINK]
Recommends hayst4ck · 2025-03 · on “On Tyranny [book]”
He has a new book On Freedom , too. I haven't read it yet, but I have watched him give excellent talks on youtube, which reference it. I believe his core thesis in On Freedom is that America has focused on negative freedom, when what really matters is positive freedom. "Negative freedom" is the idea that no government should interfere with your life. Authoritarian regimes arbitrarily exercise power, and that results in people being prevented from doing things or forced to do things. Maybe that's restrictions on speech or protest. Focusing on "negative freedom" turns people against their governments, which creates a sort of power vacuum anyone with resources is happy to fill. Negative freedom
Cites peutetre · 2024-12 · on “LA Times Owner Personally Reviews Opinion Headlines to Avoid Offending Elon Musk”
Gutless. That's how it happens in authoritarian regimes. People start obeying in advance. Do not obey in advance: [this video]
Cites _DeadFred_ · 2025-01 · on “Ask HN: Is this too political for Hacker News? [video]”
My bad. Doesn't look like I can delete my submission. I apologize for coming off gotcha, gloaty, or sneering I thought I was being pretty blunt. I was genuinely surprised yesterday and realized I have a huge misunderstanding about how things operate here. On the Elon thread dang stated that users flag articles and implied that user flagging was the overriding arbiter of authority on HN and linked [LINK] (implying flagging/community consensus is above the mods) which is how I came to my 'not very accurate description of how HN works'. Yesterdays response further confused me as the community discussion in the flagged article seemed to lean more towards unflagging than support for the flag rema