The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America

by Timothy Snyder

Americans and Europeans found in the channel an amplifier of their own doubts—sometimes perfectly justified—in the truthfulness of their own leaders and the vitality of their own media. RT’s slogan, “Question More,” inspired an appetite for more uncertainty. It made no sense to question the factuality of what RT broadcast, since what it broadcast was the denial of factuality. As its director said: “There is no such thing as objective reporting.” RT wished to convey that all media lied, but that only RT was honest by not pretending to be truthful. Factuality was replaced by a knowing cynicism that asked nothing of the viewer but the occasional nod before sleep.5

“Putin has correctly surmised that lies unite rather than divide Russia’s political class. The greater and the more obvious the lie, the more his subjects demonstrate their loyalty by accepting it, and the more they participate in the great sacral mystery of Kremlin power.”

Authoritarianism arrives not because people say that they want it, but because they lose the ability to distinguish between facts and desires.

It is easy to see the appeal of eternity to wealthy and corrupt men in control of a lawless state.85 They cannot offer social advance to their population, and so must find some other form of motion in politics. Rather than discuss reforms, eternity politicians designate threats. Rather than presenting a future with possibilities and hopes, they offer an eternal present with defined enemies and artificial crises.