I genuinely hope you never have to deal with a situation where you have to deal with mental math of deciding to protest against your government almost certainly ending up not only with your death, but that of your entire family (and that might be not even the worst outcome that you could expect.)

>People can't hold power without the cooperation of everyone involved.

Following this exact same principle, people cannot overthrow a dictator without the cooperation of everyone involved. And doing so in 2022 (where dictators have access to fairly modern military tech and nukes) is not quite as accessible as it was during early 20th century revolutions.

Do what you will with that, but I can completely understand people not willing to "just overthrow the dictator, bro, it is that easy", when doing so would almost certainly end in their own death and the death of their family members (who had no involvement with what you did aside from being your relatives), all while accomplishing exactly nothing in the end.

Imo it isn't about "all normal people" overthrowing the dictator, it is about "big" people near the dictator doing so.

I hope so too. I also hope that if I were faced with such a situation, I would behave heroically.

> "just overthrow the dictator, bro, it is that easy"

it's not easy - it's awfully difficult and risky, but it is that simple. Just like fighting Russian soldiers in Ukraine - it's not easy - but it is as simple as taking up arms and fighting.

Popular movements to overthrow tyranny (South Africa, India, etc.) have always relied on the masses refusing to cooperate or actively resisting.

Well, yes and no, indeed the 'big' people can do it faster and with less bloodshed. But the 'normal' people can do it too, it will take longer, lots of them will likely die and it will be very hard to organize and get off the ground, especially in a country where the dictator has a ridiculously high approval rating given his performance so far. But it can be done.