In a country that is embarking on an experiment in authoritarianism–one that many of us were desperately trying to avoid–many of us feel overwhelmed by the flood of incoming threats to our civil liberties and our democratic institutions.
But feeling flooded and overwhelmed often leads our brains to an amygdala hijacking that forces us into a fight, flight, freeze or fawn reaction that shuts down access to our own thinking processes. You’re not alone if you’re experiencing these reactions–and it’s not an accident.
Savvy, predatory voices have learned that they can best build and captivate an audience using messages of fear, anxiety or anger. They’re doing it because they know it will petrify us into inaction. Join #TheOpposition, and don’t let them get away with it.
In the first year of the first Trump Presidency, a historian who studies the Holocaust, the Nazi and the Soviet regimes and who specializes in Ukrainian history wrote a political pamphlet summarizing the lessons he learned from the history of authoritarian governments. Timothy Snyder’s #OnTyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century is super easy to read (and quick!).
We Can Each Do the Next Right Thing
But I’m just one person. How can anything I do possibly make a big enough difference?
The answer is #OnTyranny’s 20 Lessons.
