I don’t think it’s an accident that JRR Tolkein portrayed evil as seeking “one ring to rule them all… one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.” He was writing at a time when facism was rising – a binding together being part of the etymology of both the word and the concept behind it – and so I suspect that his depiction of evil was no more an accident than the translations of many of his characters’ names.
What is the One Ring of our day, this powerful weapon which, if used, will destroy the wielder? I’m clearly not the only one who sees it as the State.