Thread by @alindguzik

Hello new followers. I'm sorry to be meeting you under such sad circumstances, but I'm glad you're here. I joined Twitter in the wake of Trump's election with the express goal of helping Americans come to terms with rising authoritarianism.

I changed careers in 2015. Until then, I was going to be an academic, trained in intl human rights law (genocide, refugees, trafficking, gender violence) followed by training to be a Soviet legal historian, studying authoritarian abuses via defamation, copyright, censorship.

I'm also the survivor of a lifetime of narcissistic abuse, which sadly cost me my academic career. After disclosing CPTSD, my advisor tossed me out like a dented trophy. All of which left me free in 2016 to respond to Trumpism.

At first I began by shouting on Facebook, which only got me trolled by shitty men from high school. It was @NataliaAntonova who redirected my energy and mentored me as I became a published writer/Twitter void-screamer. We started a Medium blog called the Anti-Nihilist Institute.

As survivors of domestic violence with expertise on authoritarianism and US-Russia relations, we knew we were in a unique position to make sense of the catastrophe happening within our institutions.

We led with the belief that interpersonal abuse and state abuse are related.

ANI has now morphed into The Conversationalist (@Convo_ist), a feminist nonprofit devoted to publishing thoughtful journalism from often overlooked experts. We're starting conversations that expand people's imaginations about what's possible, w/ reality checks on taboo subjects.

Running @Convo_ist has been incredibly rewarding. Executive Editor @lisang is a treasure, and has shaped the voice of the magazine into one of rigorous empathy, with fresh, counterintuitive takes that I expect one day will just be considered common sense.

It's been hard work too. Most Americans would rather not think about authoritarianism. It's painful, frightening, and leaves a bad taste. Life is hard enough already. The popular myth of American exceptionalism precludes even the possibility.

But no matter whether you've been on board this chaotic rollercoaster from inception, or are joining this corner of the internet for the first time today, thank you, because we need each other. We need community, collaboration, conversation. We need hope. Not the slogany kind.

When the news is as bad as it's been, it's hard not to succumb to nihilism. Bc it's overwhelming, paralyzing. I get it. I've been to very dark places - you saw my background. And these dudes are cool. But don't be like them. Choose to find meaning. Nurture the good stuff.

Rejecting fatalism isn't sentimental. It's a matter of survival. It's about retaining our dignity, humanity and empathy. There are no easy fixes to these problems, and people's suffering is growing, but we can always do something to slow the repressive motherfuckers down.

TLDR: We no longer have a functioning democracy, and it's getting worse. Here's some writing I've done over the years on the subject. Most recently:

https://twitter.com/alindguzik/status/1397983140078141444?s=20

Additional writing dating back to 2016. I tweeted this last one on 1/6. Ugh.

https://twitter.com/alindguzik/status/1347018204196065281?s=20