In a World of NRC & Brexit, ‘Carnival Row’ Is a Show for Our Times

Amazon’s new show lays bare the fallacies of racist, anti-immigrant rhetoric – and warns us of its consequences.

Here’s a small challenge. Which of these lines were spoken in the real world and which come from a fictional TV show?

• “The *** are swarming our country. They are changing the very fabric of our society. The *** are like a tide that will swamp – and drown our country.”
• “The *** are like termites. They are eating the grain that should go to the poor, they are taking our jobs.”
• “^^^ can't find honest work because the *** do their jobs for a pittance!”
• “The government will identify *** living on every inch of the country's soil and will deport them.”

Don’t worry if you find it a bit difficult to figure out which is which – we are living, after all, in a world where this kind of rhetoric is all too common.

What makes matters worse is that this talk is not confined to narrow-minded middle class living rooms and tasteless family WhatsApp groups, and is instead a part of mainstream politics, with prominent political leaders proudly making pronouncements such as these for the whole world to hear.

Which is why, perhaps, ‘Carnival Row’, which arrived on Amazon on 30 August, touches a nerve in these times.