Yume Nikki.

“C’mon, guys, be fascist like us!”

Because they’re stupid too and he speaks at a third grade level way they understand.

Cyberpunk dystopias are depressing because we have all of the bad stuff (corporations running everything) and none of the cool stuff (cybernetic augments).

Same, does it go by another name or something?

I guess it’s easier to tell when someone has a physical injury, which probably removes some of the stigma around talking about it.

Yup, pretty much the premise of the comic. When someone has a visible injury, (most) people will show empathy and acknowledge it’s a problem. But an invisible ailment like depression? Meh, no big deal, get over it.

One of many futuristic “dystopias” that actually ended up being far too optimistic compared to reality.

“This plague…the rioting is intensifying to the point where we may not be able to contain it.”

“Why contain it? Let it spill over the schools and churches, let the bodies pile up in the streets. In the end they’ll beg us to save them.”

Reality: “In the end they’ll refuse to be vaccinated anyway.”

Ah, the classic Zelda location the spoom tsol.

He also played the aptly-named Goldmember.

“Aren’t people going to see through that?”

I actually never interpreted it that way - I though it was just showing it getting worse - but that’s a good point and you may be right. It could be showing that he “fixed” the problem by pretending it doesn’t exist as much as he can around others, since none of them take it seriously anyway. Of course, that won’t help anything and will likely make it worse.

Yeah, but unless we’re mercifully nuked into oblivion, it will be a very slow, painful demise.

Sure, but that’s not this situation. First they have to actually care to get to that point.

I used to be able to read stories like this and be glad I didn’t live in a country that had nationally state-sponsored things like this.

I won’t be able to feel that way any more.

True!

You know what would help this situation? Letting a fascist become President of the United States. Again.

It’s a very imperfect one, yes. But the comic is trusting that the reader will understand the metaphor. A big ask for some, it seems.