--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: As observers of totalitarianism such as…" description: "\"“As observers of totalitarianism such as Victor Klemperer noticed, truth dies in four modes, all of which we have just witnessed. The first mode is the..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d6e/timothy-snyder-882_authoritarianism_as-observers-of-totalitarianism-such-as_808285.jpg" --- # As observers of totalitarianism such as Victor Klemperer… ![“As observers of totalitarianism such as Victor Klemperer noticed, truth dies in four modes, all of which we have just witnessed. The first mode is the open hostility to verifiable reality, which takes the form of presenting inventions and lies as if they were facts. The president does this at a…” quote by Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d6e/timothy-snyder-882_authoritarianism_as-observers-of-totalitarianism-such-as_808285.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d6e/timothy-snyder-882_authoritarianism_as-observers-of-totalitarianism-such-as_808285.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d6e/timothy-snyder-882_authoritarianism_as-observers-of-totalitarianism-such-as_808285.jpg) > ““As observers of totalitarianism such as Victor Klemperer noticed, truth dies in four modes, all of which we have just witnessed. The first mode is the open hostility to verifiable reality, which takes the form of presenting inventions and lies as if they were facts. The president does this at a high rate and at a fast pace. One attempt during the 2016 campaign to track his utterances found that 78 percent of his factual claims were false. This proportion is so high that it makes the correct assertions seem like unintended oversights on the path toward total fiction. Demeaning the world as it is begins the creation of a fictional counterworld. The second mode is shamanistic incantation. As Klemperer noted, the fascist style depends upon “endless repetition,” designed to make the fictional plausible and the criminal desirable. The systematic use of nicknames such as “Lyin’ Ted” and “Crooked Hillary” displaced certain character traits that might more appropriately have been affixed to the president himself. Yet through blunt repetition over Twitter, our president managed the transformation of individuals into stereotypes that people then spoke aloud. At rallies, the repeated chants of “Build that wall” and “Lock her up” did not describe anything that the president had specific plans to do, but their very grandiosity established a connection between him and his audience. The next mode is magical thinking, or the open embrace of contradiction. The president’s campaign involved the promises of cutting taxes for everyone, eliminating the national debt, and increasing spending on both social policy and national defense. These promises mutually contradict. It is as if a farmer said he were taking an egg from the henhouse, boiling it whole and serving it to his wife, and also poaching it and serving it to his children, and then returning it to the hen unbroken, and then watching as the chick hatches. Accepting untruth of this radical kind requires a blatant abandonment of reason. Klemperer’s descriptions of losing friends in Germany in 1933 over the issue of magical thinking ring eerily true today. One of his former students implored him to “abandon yourself to your feelings, and you must always focus on the Führer’s greatness, rather than on the discomfort you are feeling at present.” Twelve years later, after all the atrocities, and at the end of a war that Germany had clearly lost, an amputated soldier told Klemperer that Hitler “has never lied yet. I believe in Hitler.” The final mode is misplaced faith. It involves the sort of self-deifying claims the president made when he said that “I alone can solve it” or “I am your voice.” When faith descends from heaven to earth in this way, no room remains for the small truths of our individual discernment and experience. What terrified Klemperer was the way that this transition seemed permanent. Once truth had become oracular rather than factual, evidence was irrelevant. At the end of the war a worker told Klemperer that “understanding is useless, you have to have faith. I believe in the Führer.”” [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Truth is eroded through four tactics: denial of facts, repetitive slogans, contradictory promises, and magical thinking, creating a fabricated reality that masks authoritarianism. **In simple terms:** Four ways truth is destroyed: lies, chants, contradictions, magic. Key Takeaway Recognize and call out each mode of falsehood. Themes politics authoritarianism media truth Mood cautious critical concerned Type analytical warning When to use this quote - election campaigns - social media discourse - public rallies - policy debates Key Concepts propaganda cognitive bias information warfare Questions to Reflect On - How do you verify claims in fast‑moving media? - What habits can protect against accepting contradictory promises? A Different Perspective These tactics can be resisted only if audiences critically evaluate sources and demand evidence. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Authoritarianism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/authoritarianism/) [Character trait](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character-trait/) [Character Traits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character-traits/) [Fascism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fascism/) [Former students](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/former-students/) [Losing friends](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/losing-friends/) [Magical thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/magical-thinking/) [National debt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/national-debt/) [National defense](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/national-defense/) [Totalitarianism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/totalitarianism/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [“Once truth had become oracular rather than factual, evidence was irrelevant. At the end of the war a worker told Klemperer that “understanding is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/once-truth-had-become-oracular-rather-than-factual-evidence-was/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“We all have a stake in the truth. Society functions based on an assumption that people will abide by their word - that truth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-navarro/we-all-have-a-stake-in-the-truth-society-functions-based-on-an/) [Joe Navarro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-navarro/) > [The Austrians are brilliant people. They made the world believe that Hitler was a German and Beethoven an Austrian.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-wilder/the-austrians-are-brilliant-people-they-made-the-world-believe-that/) [Billy Wilder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-wilder/) > [“The Chancellor’s assurances were so satisfying and so unexpected that I think they are on the whole too good to be true,” Messersmith wrote.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erik-larson/the-chancellor-s-assurances-were-so-satisfying-and-so-unexpected-that/) [Erik Larson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erik-larson/) > [There comes a time when people with values simply have to stand up. Think about Nazi, Germany. Most of those people did not believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-carson/there-comes-a-time-when-people-with-values-simply-have-to-stand-up/) [Benjamin Carson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-carson/) > [“Truth never dies.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ng-g-wa-thiong-o/truth-never-dies/) [Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ng-g-wa-thiong-o/) > [The genuine essence of truth never dies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/the-genuine-essence-of-truth-never-dies/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [Justice is the handmaiden of truth, and when truth dies, justice is buried with it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ravi-zacharias/justice-is-the-handmaiden-of-truth-and-when-truth-dies-justice-is/) [Ravi Zacharias](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ravi-zacharias/) > [The truth is not delicate and it does not suffer from denial—the truth only dies when true stories are untold.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-liu/the-truth-is-not-delicate-and-it-does-not-suffer-from-denial-the/) [Ken Liu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-liu/) > [“A dream doesn't die because it has no truth. It dies because you fail to nurture it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susie-clevenger/a-dream-doesn-t-die-because-it-has-no-truth-it-dies-because-you-fail/) [Susie Clevenger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susie-clevenger/) > [Like all professors, I also do a lot of extra jobs for which I was never trained, such as advising former students as they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hope-jahren/like-all-professors-i-also-do-a-lot-of-extra-jobs-for-which-i-was/) [Hope Jahren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hope-jahren/) > [A lot of my students have been quite notable. Notable in both the personal sense - people who have changed my life - and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-roberge/a-lot-of-my-students-have-been-quite-notable-notable-in-both-the/) [Rob Roberge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-roberge/) > [I have students who are PhDs in music who come back and scored the music and teach the kids the instruments that I don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rafe-esquith/i-have-students-who-are-phds-in-music-who-come-back-and-scored-the/) [Rafe Esquith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rafe-esquith/) > [More than half of my former students teach - elementary and high school, community college and university. I taught them to be passionate about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-straight/more-than-half-of-my-former-students-teach-elementary-and-high-school/) [Susan Straight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-straight/) > [I always thought that you could do worse than find yourself dying in the company of a devoted former student.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-irving/i-always-thought-that-you-could-do-worse-than-find-yourself-dying-in/) [John Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-irving/) ## More by Timothy Snyder > [“Nationalism is relativist, since the only truth is the resentment we feel when we contemplate others.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/nationalism-is-relativist-since-the-only-truth-is-the-resentment-we/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“The time is out of joint. O cursed spite,/That ever I was born to set it right!” Thus Hamlet. Yet he concludes: “Nay, come,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-time-is-out-of-joint-o-cursed-spite-that-ever-i-was-born-to-set/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“the democracies that arose after the First World War (and the Second) often collapsed when a single party seized power in some combination of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-democracies-that-arose-after-the-first-world-war-and-the-second/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“salami tactics—slicing off layers of opposition one by one. Most people were distracted, some were imprisoned, and others were outmatched.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/salami-tactics-slicing-off-layers-of-opposition-one-by-one-most/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“We allowed ourselves to accept the politics of inevitability, the sense that history could move in only one direction: toward liberal democracy...We imbibed the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/we-allowed-ourselves-to-accept-the-politics-of-inevitability-the/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“The key to this translation of ideology to politics in both cases was an effective appeal to human experience at the crucial time.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-key-to-this-translation-of-ideology-to-politics-in-both-cases-was/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“Both of these positions, inevitability and eternity, are antihistorical. The only thing that stands between them is history itself. History allows us to see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/both-of-these-positions-inevitability-and-eternity-are-antihistorical/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“The whole notion of disruption is adolescent: It assumes that after the teenagers make a mess, the adults will come and clean it up.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-whole-notion-of-disruption-is-adolescent-it-assumes-that-after/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“As she observed, “the first essential step on the road to total domination is to kill the juridical person in man.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/as-she-observed-the-first-essential-step-on-the-road-to-total/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“The first mode is the open hostility to verifiable reality, which takes the form of presenting inventions and lies as if they were facts.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-first-mode-is-the-open-hostility-to-verifiable-reality-which/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“Once we subliminally accept that we are watching a reality show rather than thinking about real life, no image can actually hurt the president…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/once-we-subliminally-accept-that-we-are-watching-a-reality-show/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“Confidence in duration is the antidote to panic and the tonic of demagogy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/confidence-in-duration-is-the-antidote-to-panic-and-the-tonic-of/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“Be calm when the unthinkable arrives. Modern tyranny is terror management. When the terrorist attack comes, remember that authoritarians exploit such events in order…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/be-calm-when-the-unthinkable-arrives-modern-tyranny-is-terror/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“Life is political, not because the world cares about how you feel, but because the world reacts to what you do. The minor choices…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/life-is-political-not-because-the-world-cares-about-how-you-feel-but/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) > [“Extremism' certainly sounds bad, and governments often try to make it sound worse by using the word 'terrorism' in the same sentence. But the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/extremism-certainly-sounds-bad-and-governments-often-try-to-make-it/) [Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) [Explore all 339 Timothy Snyder quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/) ## More Authoritarianism quotes > [Philosopher is a dictator who modifies accepted standards with his thoughts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilkin-santak/philosopher-is-a-dictator-who-modifies-accepted-standards-with-his/) [Ilkin Santak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilkin-santak/) > [“The mission is, not to replace old world mindlessness with new world mindlessness, but to put an end to all forms of brainless authoritarianism.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/the-mission-is-not-to-replace-old-world-mindlessness-with-new-world/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [Motherland is our property and we have right to handle our properties as pleased. The jokes about death for the sake of the motherland…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilkin-santak/motherland-is-our-property-and-we-have-right-to-handle-our-properties/) [Ilkin Santak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilkin-santak/) > [Your best friends are your principles, if you havent them, dont look for another friend.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilkin-santak/your-best-friends-are-your-principles-if-you-havent-them-dont-look/) [Ilkin Santak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilkin-santak/) > [A strong saying is not afraid of criticism, because it includes all the answers to criticism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilkin-santak/a-strong-saying-is-not-afraid-of-criticism-because-it-includes-all/) [Ilkin Santak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilkin-santak/) > [“Therapy requires a collaborative working relationship in which both partners act on the basis of their implicit confidence in the value and efficacy of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-lewis-herman/therapy-requires-a-collaborative-working-relationship-in-which-both/) [Judith Lewis Herman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judith-lewis-herman/) > [The libertarian can have no truck with 'left' or 'right' because he regrets any form of authoritarianism - the use of police force to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-read/the-libertarian-can-have-no-truck-with-left-or-right-because-he/) [Leonard Read](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-read/) > [A noble person stands up as though a theater curtain rises.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilkin-santak/a-noble-person-stands-up-as-though-a-theater-curtain-rises/) [Ilkin Santak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilkin-santak/) > [“Democracy can exist only in the countries where people are brave! Coward nations always live under the authoritarian regimes!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/democracy-can-exist-only-in-the-countries-where-people-are-brave/) [Mehmet Murat ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [“I have been called arrogant myself in my time, and hope to earn the title again, but to claim that I am privy to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/i-have-been-called-arrogant-myself-in-my-time-and-hope-to-earn-the/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [We have power... Our power isn’t in a political system, or a religious system, or in an economic system, or in a military system;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-trudell/we-have-power-our-power-isn-t-in-a-political-system-or-a-religious/) [John Trudell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-trudell/) > [The practical reason for freedom is that freedom seems to be the only condition under which any kind of substantial moral fiber can be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-j-nock/the-practical-reason-for-freedom-is-that-freedom-seems-to-be-the-only/) [Albert J. Nock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-j-nock/) > [It has been well over half a century and I'm glad to say we have taken the right path from authoritarianism to democracy and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chen-shui-bian/it-has-been-well-over-half-a-century-and-i-m-glad-to-say-we-have/) [Chen Shui-bian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chen-shui-bian/) > [Subconsciously it is possible to act, consciously it is possible to decide and overconsciously to create.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilkin-santak/subconsciously-it-is-possible-to-act-consciously-it-is-possible-to/) [Ilkin Santak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilkin-santak/) > [We must nevertheless present all possible interpretations for each observation, so that competing theories can be formulated and defended. In science, as elsewhere, intellectual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hubert-reeves/we-must-nevertheless-present-all-possible-interpretations-for-each/) Hubert Reeves [Browse all 233 Authoritarianism quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/authoritarianism/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“As observers of totalitarianism such as Victor Klemperer noticed, truth dies in four modes, all of which we have just witnessed. The first mode is the open hostility to verifiable reality, which takes the form of presenting inventions and lies as if they were facts. The president does this at a high rate and at a fast pace. One attempt during the 2016 campaign to track his utterances found that 78 percent of his factual claims were false. This proportion is so high that it makes the correct assertions seem like unintended oversights on the path toward total fiction. Demeaning the world as it is begins the creation of a fictional counterworld. The second mode is shamanistic incantation. As Klemperer noted, the fascist style depends upon “endless repetition,” designed to make the fictional plausible and the criminal desirable. The systematic use of nicknames such as “Lyin’ Ted” and “Crooked Hillary” displaced certain character traits that might more appropriately have been affixed to the president himself. Yet through blunt repetition over Twitter, our president managed the transformation of individuals into stereotypes that people then spoke aloud. At rallies, the repeated chants of “Build that wall” and “Lock her up” did not describe anything that the president had specific plans to do, but their very grandiosity established a connection between him and his audience. The next mode is magical thinking, or the open embrace of contradiction. The president’s campaign involved the promises of cutting taxes for everyone, eliminating the national debt, and increasing spending on both social policy and national defense. These promises mutually contradict. It is as if a farmer said he were taking an egg from the henhouse, boiling it whole and serving it to his wife, and also poaching it and serving it to his children, and then returning it to the hen unbroken, and then watching as the chick hatches. Accepting untruth of this radical kind requires a blatant abandonment of reason. Klemperer’s descriptions of losing friends in Germany in 1933 over the issue of magical thinking ring eerily true today. One of his former students implored him to “abandon yourself to your feelings, and you must always focus on the Führer’s greatness, rather than on the discomfort you are feeling at present.” Twelve years later, after all the atrocities, and at the end of a war that Germany had clearly lost, an amputated soldier told Klemperer that Hitler “has never lied yet. I believe in Hitler.” The final mode is misplaced faith. It involves the sort of self-deifying claims the president made when he said that “I alone can solve it” or “I am your voice.” When faith descends from heaven to earth in this way, no room remains for the small truths of our individual discernment and experience. What terrified Klemperer was the way that this transition seemed permanent. Once truth had become oracular rather than factual, evidence was irrelevant. At the end of the war a worker told Klemperer that “understanding is useless, you have to have faith. I believe in the Führer.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Timothy Snyder" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/as-observers-of-totalitarianism-such-as-victor-klemperer-noticed/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Authoritarianism" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/as-observers-of-totalitarianism-such-as-victor-klemperer-noticed/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d6e/timothy-snyder-882_authoritarianism_as-observers-of-totalitarianism-such-as_808285.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d6e/timothy-snyder-882_authoritarianism_as-observers-of-totalitarianism-such-as_808285.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d6e/timothy-snyder-882_authoritarianism_as-observers-of-totalitarianism-such-as_808285.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“As observers of totalitarianism such as Victor Klemperer noticed, truth dies in four modes, all of which we…” — Timothy Snyder", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Timothy Snyder", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“As observers of totalitarianism such as...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/as-observers-of-totalitarianism-such-as-victor-klemperer-noticed/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/as-observers-of-totalitarianism-such-as-victor-klemperer-noticed/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```