I was chatting with folks in the NL tech sector earlier this week and the subject of corporate authoritarian surveillance came up.
It got me thinking.. who the fk reads/watches Lord of the Rings and identifies not with the heroes, but with the power-mad villains Saruman and Sauron?
Who engages with this story of resistance against evil and authoritarian oppression and legitimately thinks they would be the one man who would overcome the temptation of the One Ring?
Who arrives at the conclusion that an all-seeing panopticon eye-in-the-sky dystopian tech company named after a surveillance device used by the vilains in the story would be a good idea to build in real life?
Most importantly, it made me think about what kind of person would let Sauron build this technology and take over (middle) earth without putting up a damn good fight?
Folks who know me know that I love some good wordplay, and won't be surprised that I would tongue-in-cheek come up with an alternative to some broligarch taking Tolkien's fictional names in vain and bastardizing LOTR for their own greed and control.
So, I'd like to share this little gem with you all and hear what you think. I present to you:
The Fellowship of Community Organisations Fighting Fascism, or FoCOFF, for short!
Why? Because like many of you, I'd like a nice way to tell the billionaires and broligarchs to FoCOFF from their selfishness and greed and get their hands off of our democracies!
What do you think? Do we need some sort of common front to organize community resistance against the enshittification of tech and our democracies? Do you have any other creative accrostic peoms that you'd like to send a message with?
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