¶ … totalitarian regime, the first instinct for a lot of people is to keep their heads down and try to go about their lives as best they can. There is a good case to be made for this -- no good comes to people who are paid a visit by the likes of the Stasi or NKVD. Yet, there is something about non-resistance that is inherently wrong. In 1978, Vaclav Havel, the future Czech President, argued that such non-resistance contributes to a "panorama" of society, presenting the impression that non-resistance in the face of brutal totalitarianism is somehow acceptable. Havel argues that even small forms of dissident behavior -- little subtle gestures -- can carry great meaning when they are repeated throughout society. Yes, the decision to make such a gesture is difficult because of the increase in risk to one's own person and family that protest gestures carry, but such risk is a small price to pay for freedom. It is important never to surrender one's values for expediency, especially...
A small sing or symbol, perhaps imperceptible to those in power, he suggests can provide all the strength that people need to help rise up against totalitarian governments. When such symbols are absent, the tableau that is painted illustrates a society that accepts the conditions under which it lives. Those who do not accept such conditions may not feel confident that their views are widely shared. It is critical, therefore, that dissidents make their voices known. Even in the face of severe oppression, those voices can be known in subtle ways, and when subtle symbols of resistance become a common part of society's tableau, society itself transforms.
Taking such a view is a little bit controversial. Havel himself was "all-in" as a dissident, but he cannot reasonably ask everyone to put their lives on…
