I’m having to rethink my wardrobe since neo-Nazi is the new black.
Why can’t white supremacists just wear white, like their Klansmen brothers?
Those flaggards want to travel back in time to the good ol’ days of meat and three veg and the White Australia Policy, yet insist on dressing from head to toe in black – and ironically tucking into yum cha after their hate rallies.
Pity all the arty types going to exhibition openings in their billowing black Comme des Garcons ensembles, or mourners having to rethink their solemn attire for fear they come across as ‘too Nazi’.
Melburnians had better rediscover the colour wheel quick smart!
The deeply disturbing resurgence of fascists
I’m not trying to trivialise the deeply disturbing resurgence of fascists on our doorstep with my black humour, but as the hate-filled spiralling collapse of the democratic world seems to be continuing unabated, it’s my way of coping and maybe yours too?
Gallows humour is a well-known psychological coping mechanism in dire situations. Laughter is a great somatic release and gives a moment of escape from the unbearable.
When you laugh, you take in oxygen, organs are stimulated, and endorphins are released, which all serves to momentarily soothe the stress response.
When people laugh together, it creates a sense of unity and shared understanding. After a good group guffaw, there’s often that collective ‘ay ay ay’ cathartic moment and a wiping away of tears of relief.
That kind of momentary reprieve can give rise to creative responses and shifts in perspective about collective problems.
South Park
It’s probably why South Park and silly memes elicit more reactions than the unwatchable news these days.
It’s also why Gavin Newsom ‘the greatest and most handsome Californian governor in the history of governors’ is having such success with his mocking memes as the anti-Trump. He’s emerged as a Democratic contender and seems to grasp the seriousness of what’s occurring so rapidly.
The Democrats have been floundering and desperate for someone to fill the leadership void – to take on the Trump/MAGA wrecking ball that’s already cut a swathe through parliamentary processes and the rule of law.
Newsom is holding up a mirror to the Narcissist-in-Chief, but it’s a dangerous game. When malignant narcissists are confronted with humiliation, they quadruple down and get even more vengeful.
They can’t risk the shame of exposing their fragile egos and will do whatever it takes to regain control.
Desperate times
These are desperate times, and Newsom has some traction for now, but there’s a risk it ‘re-enforces’ the idea that another authoritarian saviour is needed, albeit a nicer one, to save us from the evil one.
US Democrats are already saying they need a ‘winner’, and they’ll sort out the politics later.
Things are just getting weirder and more like The X Files every day.
Perhaps agents Mulder and Scully could do a reboot as The E Files? They could switch roles – Scully could be the one who believes the women who’ve been trafficked and sexually abused, while Mulder would take some convincing because his patriarchal framework makes it hard for him to accept the evidence. Mulder would eventually come round to the idea of a vast government conspiracy that’s been hiding the truth about a network of rich and powerful men who sexually abuse children and silence them when they dare to speak out.
The tagline could be – ‘The truth is in there’.
Meanwhile in the Oval Office, or the ‘Blingdom of Trump’ as it’s become, reality as we knew it is warping one executive order after another. I say we, because sadly Australia is still so tethered to America.
Department of War
In the latest decree, the Department of Defense has just been renamed the Department of War.
Apparently, defence is too ‘woke’. Not kidding. The changeover comes at vast expense as swapping seals, signs and stationery across 700,000 facilities doesn’t come cheap.
Pete Hegseth, now the Secretary of War, told reporters, ‘We’re going to go on the offence, not just on defence. Maximum lethality, not tepid legality’.
Europe is being forced to prepare for war too, ramping up defence spending since it may be forced to defend Ukraine without the US. French hospitals have been instructed by the country’s ministry of health to prepare for a ‘major military engagement’ by March 2026.
A ‘survival manual’ has been issued to French households which lays out instructions to help prepare for imminent threats such as natural disasters, health crises or armed conflict. Alarming, but wise.
What will Project 2028 look like when things have already lurched so far into authoritarianism?
Will there be a phoenix rising from the ashes by then?
We’re in desperate need of creative perspective shifts as we navigate these difficult times, so it’s our duty to laugh more together and yet bear witness to the atrocities and absurdities going on around us.
Protecting our inner calm and staying grounded in our humanness is paramount.
Jo Immig is a former advisor to the NSW Legislative Council and coordinator of the National Toxics Network.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
