Three Little Fools and the Big Bad Shareholder

Once upon a time, there were three little fools.

Not mean fools. Just... a bit naive. A little too hopeful. Overflowing with good intentions and degrees that no longer paid the rent. They had ideas, subscriptions to collaborative tools, and a shared desire to be free in a world run by blurry clients and clearer algorithms.

They were freelancers. Which meant they spent 70% of their time invoicing, chasing payments, re-registering with social security, and searching for a simpler status. The other 30%? They dreamed. They built. They believed. So one day, they decided:

— Let's start a cooperative.

A cooperative of independents—to support each other, pool resources, break the isolation. It was noble. It was simple. It was naive. It was doomed.

The first little fool was a graphic designer. He said:

— I found an old warehouse. We'll recycle everything, use reclaimed wood for furniture, design a slick Helvetica brand identity.

But the rent had to be paid in cryptocurrency. And the platform managing the space rewrote a clause in the smart contract and demanded 1,500 extra tokens for "non-compliant occupation."

The first little fool cried. Then he went back to designing logos for an anxiety-management app.

The second little fool was a developer. He said:

— Let's make our own platform. Ethical. Decentralized. Open-source. No tracking. No ads.

He coded for two weeks. Then three. Then twelve. One morning, he discovered that his Git repo had been scraped by a crawler from Amazoogle. His code had been ingested, improved, monetized, and packaged as a plug-in for $49.99/month.

The second little fool screamed. Then he went back to freelancing on a gig platform where you have to pay to bid for jobs.

The third little fool was a storyteller. He said:

— Since platforms exploit us and the tools we build betray us, let's create something they can't steal: stories. Real ones. That bite.

So he told the tale of the first little fool. And the second. Changed their names. Added metaphors. Made the pain a little prettier. He titled it "Three Little Fools and the Big Bad Shareholder."

— Who's the Big Bad Shareholder? a child asked.

The third fool smiled.

— The one you never see. But who takes everything.

Then he published the story. On a platform.

It took 18% commission.

Moral:

You can blow down the straw house.

You can hack the code house.

But a story... a story remains.

If we remember it.