26
" One can record that these people were not fascists or Nazis or members of a gay international conspiracy or Jewish international conspiracy or a gay Nazi Jewish international conspiracy, as Russian propaganda suggested to various target audiences. One can mark the fictions and contradictions. This is not enough. These utterances were not logical arguments or factual assessments, but a calculated effort to undo logic and factuality. Once the intellectual moorings were loosed, it was easy for Russians (and Europeans, and Americans) to latch on to well-funded narratives provided by television, but it was impossible to work one’s way towards an understanding of people in their own setting: to grasp where they were coming from, what they thought they were doing, what sort of future they imagined for themselves. "
― Timothy Snyder , The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America
28
" Americans and Europeans were guided through the new century by a tale about “the end of history,” by what I will call the politics of inevitability, a sense that the future is just more of the present, that the laws of progress are known, that there are no alternatives, and therefore nothing really to be done. In the American capitalist version of this story, nature brought the market, which brought democracy, which brought happiness. In the European version, history brought the nation, which learned from war that peace was good, and hence chose integration and prosperity. "
― Timothy Snyder , The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America
34
" В 1976 году Стивен Кинг опубликовал рассказ “Я знаю, что тебе нужно” - о молодой женщине и ее поклоннике, умевшем читать мысли. Она не знала об этом: он просто давал ей то, что она хотела в настоящий момент (например земляничное мороженое). Постепенно он изменил ее жизнь, сделал ее зависимой, поскольку она не имела возможности осмысливать свои желания. Подруга заметила, что происходит нечто странное, и выяснила правду. “Это не любовь, - предупредила она. - Это самое настоящее насилие”. Интернет устроен отчасти так же. Он многое знает о нас, но взаимодействует так, что не сознаем этого. Он порабощает нас, пробуждает наши древние, худшие инстинкты и отдает их в распоряжение невидимых других.
Ни Россия, ни интернет никуда не денутся. Демократии было бы полезно, если бы граждане больше знали о российской политике, а в Сети бы сохранились представления о “новостях”, и “журналистике”. В конце концов, свобода зависит от того, способы ли граждане отличить то, что они хотят услышать, от того, как дела обстоят на самом деле. Авторитаризм возникает не потому, что люди желают его прихода, а потому, что они теряют способность различать действительность и желаемое. "
― Timothy Snyder , The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America
36
" Like all immorality, eternity politics begins by making an exception for itself. All else in creation might be evil, but I and my group are good, because I am myself and my group is mine. Others might be confused and bewitched by the facts and passions of history, but my nation and myself have maintained a prehistorical innocence. Since the only good is this invisible quality that resides in us, the only policy is one that safeguards our innocence, regardless of the costs. Those who accept eternity politics do not expect to live longer, happier, or more fruitful lives. They accept suffering as a mark of righteousness if they think that guilty others are suffering more. Life is nasty, brutish, and short; the pleasure of life is that it can be made nastier, more brutish, and shorter for others. "
― Timothy Snyder , The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America
