Worst company I've seen
May. 28th, 2021 09:23Fahrenheit 451 was, to most people, a book about how sacred books were. I always took that for granted. To me it was a book about the tyranny and the manipulation of crowds (the government urged people to open their doors and look for the criminal Guy Montag). Growing up in the post WWII world I've always been very aware of manipulated crowds.
Now there is a company, Citizen, that does so openly and in a way to make money. A lot of money. The company is, essentially, an app on your phone that urges you to bolo for one criminal or another. Like 451 they raise the alarm and stimulate the reptile chase nerve that resides in us all. Here is a link to the story I found. Before Trump I'd have said it will quickly pass. Now I'm not so sure. Qanon has made the country ripe for the pickings of a new age piper.
That the company has the same name as a book on the subject of The Reign of Terror in 18th century France where the crowds got just a little out of control is, I'm sure, totally lost on the founder. But the parallel is apt. The Terror was populism taken to extreme (glad we don't have anything like that going on).
Something will happen to this company. It will most likely die in the courts one way or another. But were I a black Guy Montag I'd be terrified. Or an asian one. Or a jew.
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