ABSTRACT
A courageous voice may be necessary to break the spell, as seen in the whistle blower in the Stanford Prison Experiment. Timothy Snyder encourages the energetic mind to pay attention to history, and to learn, rather than to collapse into myth and mindless reactivity. The reality of personal choice and freedom of thought seems to be easily overturned by slipping into a role or a myth that defines who is in power and what can be thought or done. This is another significant lesson in terms of protecting one’s personal authority via self-respect and CARE. Edward R. Murrow’s words beautifully illustrate nearly all the Lessons in Snyder’s book about confronting tyranny: remain active, thoughtful, courageous, and patriotic in terms of whole-minded thought and universal ideals. Historian Snyder describes two states of mind that he has observed from his understandings of history that threaten the clear-eyed vigilance needed to protect against tyranny.
