Anne Applebaum on the Harper’s Letter and the rise of authoritarianism
The Big StoryPlay episode
Show notes
Last week, Harper’s magazine published an open letter, speaking out against a culture of “intolerance of opposing views, a vogue for public shaming and ostracism, and the tendency to dissolve complex policy issues in a blinding moral certainty.”
The letter was signed by 150 people. Among them, prominent figures like J.K. Rowling, Margaret Atwood, and Salman Rushdie. Once published, it created a wave of backlash, and at least two people withdrew their names when they saw who else had signed it.
Today, a discussion with one of the letter’s signatories about flawed democracies, and why she felt it was important to sign the letter.
GUEST: Anne Applebaum, author of Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism
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