In some ways Anya and I are total opposites and in other ways, we lived parallel lives. While I was tyrannized by a far right ideology, her experience was that of tyranny from the far left. Anya is from the Soviet Union. As everybody else there, she was heavily brainwashed into the communist ideology. While she didn't have to wear a hijab, there was plenty she was forced to do, think, and say - whether she liked it or not. She is of Jewish descent and, due to systemic antisemitism, her options in life were limited. She had to wonder, which university is accepting Jews? Which jobs are open to Jews? etc. It took her years of reading books that were prohibited, having discussions with trusted friends and thinking, thinking, thinking to clean-up her mind and open it up to free critical thinking.
