Tyranny- the inseparable trio of power, barbarism, and brutality

The weight of society’s invisible shackles

“Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” — Jean-Jacques Rousseau

As I opened my news feed this morning, I was struck by myriad headlines, all relaying the same news in some permutation of this title:

“Jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny has died.”

This unfortunate story, which I’ve been tracking for some time, has really prompted me to think more about how language and power play out in our lives. These issues have been on my mind a lot recently as we watch the American elections from here in Canada, and as we prepare for our own voting. The US elections seem to have turned from something that happened now and then into something we hear about every day, with endless commentary from experts all aiming to grab our attention and maintain the usual way of things. And while we may not think of the immediate intersections with Navalny’s passing, there is a deep connection worth surfacing via the curation of historical moments that tell us of our human cruelty.

It starts with Politics — I am exhausted and I know many of you are as well. As a regular person, I find it tiring to…