NEW YORK — Despite living in an age of xenophobia, attacks on the free press and political corruption, office manager David Newton is finding that fascism is much easier to ignore than he previously expected.
“It’s weird how nothing’s really changed,” said Newton, who recently led an active shooter drill as part of a new company policy, “So long as I turn off the news and mute a lot of words on twitter, things are the way they’ve always been”.
Newton always assumed that people living in fascist, oppressive regimes would be overwhelmed by the gradual erosion of rights and freedoms, but has so far found things pretty bearable. “The fact that it’s gradual is actually a big help,” he said.
“When I first heard news stories about Latinx families getting deported at hospitals and schools and stuff, I was kind of worried I’d have to actually witness something like that,” said Newton. “But I don’t think there are any Latinx families in my neighbourhood, so I guess it’s not as much as a problem as I thought”.
“I also assumed there would be more jack-booted thugs and swastikas. I mean, there definitely are a lot, I just thought there’d be more. And jackboots are in fashion now, so…”
Newton’s friends aren’t surprised he’s so capable of shutting out things like the dismantling of voting and civil rights. “He’s been ignoring the military industrial system and mass incarceration for decades, so what’s another few political scandals?” asked friend and colleague Jan Lopez, whose coming out story was recently flagged for deletion as part of Tumblr’s new anti-adult content rules. “Plus the new Marvel trailer came out last week, so that’ll distract him from anything that happens over the next month”.
Newton is determined to keep calm and carry on despite everything, and is confident that with access to multiple streaming services and a Nintendo Switch he will also be able to ignore the rising tides of xenophobia sweeping across Europe.
