I remember watching videos of protesters being attacked by dogs and firehoses in Birmingham in 1963. I remember learning that this footage prompted a domestic and international shift in support for the Civil Rights cause. But I also remember drawing my own conclusion: if those photographers and cameramen hadn't been out there, it would have likely been bullets, not water and dogs, set upon the protesters.
There are many parallels between the rise of Trump and the rise of Hitler and Putin. But there are at least two important differences. The first is that the USA has a much older and more established government/institutions than the young Weimar and Russian republics. The second is that it is now possible for individuals to document their lives through photo and video without having to devote much attention to the task.
The ability to serve as one's own cameraman has important consequences. One, it protects the individual. If someone can stream video of their whereabouts and make it available to many others than they cannot just be "disappeared" without some documentation of it. This makes their disappearance or unlawful treatment less likely. When/if such things do happen, it makes it much more difficult for others to deny. (In Russia, for instance, motorists have turned to dashboard cameras as their best form of protection from corrupt officials and criminals.)
People have already been dismissing hateful acts and protests in the wake of the Trump election as fabrication, the work of hired protesters, etc. More than ever, people will believe what they want to believe. But, if a picture tells a thousand words, the content of a photograph or a video is 1000-fold harder to deny or ignore than a verbal account.
It is the task of those who feel vulnerable or threatened to document their lives electronically and make this documentation available. Sunlight is the best disinfectant; communication is antithetical to the control of perception and the atomization/isolation of the individual upon which totalitarianism/authoritarianism feeds.
