Don’t obey in advance

It’s called Anticipatory Obedience, preemptively following unwritten rules of authoritarian leaders without the threat of coercion. In Timothy Snyder’s book “On Tyranny,” he states:

“Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.”

Don’t obey in advance. Even spurious compliance, going along and toeing the line just to avoid confrontation, shows others that compliance is the way to go. If you lie and say you are complying, you are giving others a permission structure to give in, but without the knowledge that you are doing it facetiously.