Meredith Marsone

WRONGTHINK I just got fired for wrongthink. Then I find out that my bank account’s been frozen, too. I try to get an Uber back home but no cars will pick me up. How did Uber find out I committed wrongthink? I check my phone and apparently I’ve been banned from Instagram for the same reason. Then a social worker knocks on my door and takes my son from me. They tell me I’ve endangered my son by exposing him to wrongthink. The State will now house and re-educate him, ensuring that he is only exposed to Government-Approved facts. I feel my heart rate increase. I try to turn some lights on, but it looks like my power has been disconnected. I remember that I have some cash upstairs, so I decide to use that to buy some food whilst my bank accounts are frozen. But the grocery store tells me that it can’t accept cash. So now I can’t even buy food! I think I have some vague recollections of people warning me about the dangers of a cashless society… I call all my friends for help, but none of them want to talk to me. They’ve all been warned about my wrongthink. They know that if they talk to me on the phone for too long, they’ll get punished as well. I call the police to see if they can help me. They say no, but I’m referred to a Government-Approved Mental Support Officer. I tell her my situation, and she listens carefully. Once I’m done, I hear the Officer get extremely excited. She tells me that the Government has a new solution they’re trialing for people in my situation: a Euthanasia Care Package. She says it’s my best option. The best thing is that it’s $0 up front! They just charge a 58% tax on my estate. I ask if there are any other options, as this seems a bit heavy-handed. But she says that Euthanasia is perfect for people like me. She stresses that it’s a voluntary decision, but then adds that the Government will continue to deny me services until I opt in to the Euthanasia Care Package. I sit on the floor of my living room in despair. How could all of this happen to me? And just because I noticed that the TV was telling me lies? I didn’t even break any laws. These days it seems that there’s one set of rules for the people who repeat what the news tells them. And another set of rules for the people who speak out about the continuous stream of inconsistencies and outright lies that we are force-fed every day at 6pm. And these lies coming from the TV seem so obvious to me. So I wonder how other people don’t notice them. Why don’t they say anything? And then after a while I realise that they must notice them, but they’ve been forced to ignore their own eyes by this machinery of coercion. You see, governments, media, and corporations are now so interconnected globally that they can move in unison to unperson anyone who doesn’t say that 2 + 2 = 5. And so I was unpersoned for wrongthink. As if I’d committed a crime. But I wasn’t tried by a court, I was tried by this new judicial system. Where there’s no evidence, no trial, and no judge. Just a verdict and a punishment.