How to stop politics from controlling your emotions | Tim Snyder | Big Think

How to stop politics from controlling your emotions
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Has the constant barrage of political news got you down? Yale University historian Timothy Snyder reminds us that looking at things from a historical perspective—and comparing your own perspective to this—can help you from becoming overwhelmed... and keep your emotions in check when you browse your newsfeed. Snyder's most recent book is The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America.
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TIMOTHY SNYDER :
Timothy Snyder is the Levin Professor of History at Yale University and the author of On Tyranny, Black Earth, and Bloodlands. His work has received the literature award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Hannah Arendt Prize, and the Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding. He lives in New Haven, Connecticut.
Snyder's most recent book is The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America.
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TRANSCRIPT:
Timothy Snyder: History is actually the one thing I think which allows you to get out ahead. It’s very ironic, because when people think about history they think, “Well, history means that things are going on in the world and a historian is off reading dusty books,” which, fair enough, I would love to be reading lots of dusty books right now. I will concede the point.
But when you’ve read all those dusty books, what happens is that you have the ability to see certain patterns, you have a sense of what fits together and what doesn’t fit together.
Isaiah Berlin wrote an essay on the possibility of the scientific history, in which he said that “history is not about knowing what happens, it’s about knowing what can’t happen.” That is extremely useful.
So a historian will never look at a problem and say, “This is entirely new,” a historian will look at a problem and try to find the familiar aspects of it.
And that’s a very big advantage over other forms of analysis, because if you look at something and say that it’s totally new, that disables the mind right away, it also tends to disable, I think, political action.
Because if something is totally new it’s very easy to take the next step and say, “Well if it’s totally new then what can I do about it?” Or you can say, “Since it’s totally new all things are permitted,” which can also lead you in some really unproductive direction.
So the first thing the historian will do is we’ll say, “Whatever this problem is, it’s not entirely new.”
When a historian is confronted by something very surprising like the 2016 campaign in the United States, the historian is likely to say, “Well, the things that this candidate is saying aren’t true, but the possibility this kind of campaign could work is a real possibility.”
So the historian is freed from, or should be freed from the conviction of the day, and the historian automatically looks back to other moments where similar things like this coalesced.
So for example, we’re in a second globalization. There was a first globalization in the late 19th and early 20th century. The second globalization began, our globalization began, with all kinds of promises that technology and export-lead growth would lead to enlightenment and liberalism—the first globalization did too. The first globalization crashed. It crashed into the first World War, the Great Depression, the second World War, Stalinism, the Holocaust.
A historian looking at today won’t think “Well that whole pattern is going to repeat itself,” but the historian looking at it today can say, “Yeah, a politician who says that globalization is a problem not a solution, a politician who says that globalization is a matter of particular people plotting against us as opposed to objective threats to the country or objective problems, that kind of politician has a chance. That can work. Things like that have worked before.”
And once you see that it can come together that way, it’s not that you’re sure, it’s not that you predict it (although I have made some predictions that were right), but it’s more that you can see it coming together, and then that allows you to get out ahead, and you can think, “Okay, well, if this is going to come together this way then I can also steal from the past people’s correct reactions to it or people’s wise reactions to it. I can use those things from the failure of the first of globalization, I can just borrow them, I can now extract them and put them in the 21st century,” which is what I did in On Tyranny. So rather than saying, “...

[G]

To summarize what he said, it is much easier to keep a level head and stay rational if one does not lose track of the big picture.

[paytonl]

Just don't get involved in a "side" and always be kind to others no matter their beliefs because helping others makes you happy too

[kerrell]

I wish people would stop letting their emotions control their politics.

[DDCrp]

I can't stand it when people tell me that I ought to be indignant or upset or angry like it's their business to tell me what to feel. It's just a lack of boundaries and self awareness that I think puts people at the mercy of 'historical patterns' rather than being helpful towards something better

[ivandafoe]

Prof. Snyder is so good at this. I really appreciate how well he presents his research, conclusions, and ideas.

[jakomean]

Very good talk! This kind of objective, informed reflection is what the current political climate needs. It's not about what's "right" or "wrong" (although objectively provable facts should not constantly be called into question), it's about gaining perspective and looking at different angles. "This is a problem" --> "Why? Is it? If so, what can we do? If not, what is/are the problem/s?". Whenever someone confronts me with an already solidified solution to what they perceive to be a problem (Solution "Build wall" to stop Problem "illegal immegration"), I take a step back and ask "What is the problem?" and then "assuming it is a problem, how do we fix it? What are the different dimensions of the problem and can we approach one of them?"

[davideassis]

But without politics controlling my emotions I'll never be sure that I am the hero and the truly good person in the room while anyone else who disagrees with me is worse than Hitler. I need to be sure that I'm good and the others are evil and only my heart and my convictions are capable of make it clear. :-(

[kirawelty]

If you no longer make it part of adulthood to understand and regulate your own emotions... this is what happens. Some intellectual who thinks they know more than you will stand up and tell you something you should already know.

[Fresh_Water]

this video went in an entirely different direction than I thought it would

[rizmacadillac]

One thing you can do to keep politics from controlling your emotions is to run for political office. This is an opinion only. A teacher used to hit me up with talk about various issues - including, for example, Unions and over time he seemed to be encouraging me to get involved. So I ran for a Class Office and Ran again for an office when I got to College. I lost the election in High School and I have had people trying to claim that since I had been talking to this teacher that maybe I supported Unions or something. Look I lost a High School Election. I think the girl who won - who beat me - supported labor Unions because of her family ties and all. But teachers aren't necessarily your friend even if they are friendly and working for a Union is something separate. I participated. I lost. People had a chance to tell me what they thought of me. Why would I want further involvement as a loser? Do I become a winner if someone else wins? NO, Of course not. Have I won an election if I join a Union? No, of course not. To be honest, involvement with Unions might prevent me from have a decent career in the future? I don't know what to think about the 2024 Election Cycle. I'm not sure I trust any of them and I wonder if maybe I could have improved things if I had been able to win. The teacher was a Democrat and quite honestly I believe the politicians he knew wanted to hurt me. Why else would he convince me to run for a political office he expected me to lose? And i particular why would he try to get me involved with harmful and destructive Labor Unions? I can't say being helpless makes me feel happy. But maybe I know what democracy really is and what people are trying to do to me.

[angelic]

Hes on the right track alright. Just add a few other science disciplines and you can really spot whats bs and whats not.
Sociology/psychology, biology, geography and modern day anthropology, especially.
Otherwise you might misinterpret history and draw the wrong conclusions.

[JayZondi-cdjj]

A lot of comments here saying that they're done thinking or being involved in politics. That would be like saying they'd rather not have anything to do with how the society they live in is organized and how that affects them. Good luck with that.

[Masterfinli]

Great video, this it's truly impressive, Mr Snyder just decomposed a very complex issue in something really easy to relate and understand, keep this kind of videos coming on Big Think :)

[KoAkaiTengami]

This might have been one of the best of 2018. I'm surprised but happy.

[thetruthsetsyoufree]

The illusion of fear by itself grew from spear during the prehistoric time to nuclear bomb in the WWII. This should be similar to those who irresponsibly use their emotions to control their politics.

[memo]

I think it is important to have an opinion on politics as long as you don't let it define you, control you, and use it for evil and act in an aggressive behavior towards others. I hate politics anyway it was the least enjoyable thing I learned in high school I hated every second of it. While I may have some opinions on politics I do not let it consume me and I do not invest a lot of my time and energy into it. It destroys people which I've seen, given the fact that I am Syrian I've seen the worse of the worst lmao

[Erdnase]

Unfortunately it also works the other way - history shows us how fragile 'civilisation' is and how quickly things escalate. The lesson I suspect i should be taking is, at the first signs of fascism, get out. The question is, are we at that point. That is the anxiety that a historical perspective brings rather than eliminates.

[-nick-]

Yeah politics can also effect the people you love

[RobertEskuri]

I think people attempt to become the opposite of a person who has hurt them in some way. Sharing an emotional experience that provides support from others is reassuring.

[ellana]

were can i find the transcript of this video of mr. snyder? pls..