In Defense of Bitcoin Culture

The archetypal nonfiction this portion is responding to: Reflections connected Bitcoin Culture. 

Bitcoin changes our lives.

It’s an astir spiritual reflection that we’ve each seen wrong ourselves. After acquiring some, learning however it works, and to assorted degrees delving into what this decentralized, uncensorable, proof-of-work wealth is, we’ve seen our lives change. It echoes history. Some radical see god successful it.

Bitcoiners person had their lives upended, their perspectives shifted, and their worth systems altered. We spot however our behaviour changed from our pre-Bitcoin selves, our accent present squarely placed connected existent things, hard things, the agelong term, and the local. We look to our interior selves, and we look aft ourselves. We spot to our families. We acceptable our ain location successful bid earlier we knock the world.

Bitcoin encourages higher-level thinking, of the dynamic benignant that erstwhile characterized bully economics. Once a Bitcoiner, we go little prone to believing commonly accepted just-so stories — much skeptical and funny successful verifying alternatively than trusting.

Anyone who’s been successful Bitcoin for a portion tin constituent to countless specified examples successful their ain lives. It’s undeniable, therefore, that Bitcoin itself has a culture. It affects alteration successful the radical it welcomes; you don’t alteration Bitcoin, Bitcoin changes you.

The values embedded successful it are rules that radical who clasp this monetary gyration can’t assistance but internalize. Whether they recognize it oregon not is unimportant. Bitcoin is for anyone, sure, but you don’t enactment that aforesaid idiosyncratic aft Bitcoin has changed your life; you’re a antithetic “anyone” than erstwhile you archetypal opened your fiat eyes.

Bitcoin allowed america to spot overmuch of the stupidity of the corporate delusions astatine the basal of the state, democracy, cardinal banks, nationalist health, nationalist schooling — nationalist anything, really. It’s the aforesaid realization that makes america enactment immense question marks connected clime alteration worries oregon trans ideology.

In the satellite of fiat, thing goes. You tin unverifiably consciousness oppressed, a antheral tin unverifiably beryllium a woman, anyone who’s bittersweet oregon distracted tin unverifiably consciousness autistic oregon depressed. If the lord of the printing property doesn’t consciousness similar there’s capable wealth around, helium makes more. Violently extorting productive members of nine is held arsenic a morally bully happening and celebrated. The experts and fiat media voices accidental the satellite ends successful twelve (or five) years, and if you disbelieve them oregon inquire for verification, you’re connected par with the Nazis.

In Bitcoin, this playbook doesn’t alert anymore. Identifying arsenic receiving a artifact reward does nothing, governmental votes go irrelevant, nobody’s unverifiable feelings reign supreme, and cheating gets harder. UTXOs don’t person a sex. It each goes retired the window, revealed and denuded for the nonsense it ever was.

Thus, thing doesn’t adhd up successful Margot Paez’s caller nonfiction thrashing Bitcoin culture. She writes:

“…popular influencers who are often millennial men spending a batch of clip taking photos of themselves flexing their muscles successful beforehand of a mirror. I truly wonderment however large those muscles person to get to support the fragile ego buried beneath those muscular fibers.”

Big muscles are flexes due to the fact that they’re unfakeable — similar a hash nether the trouble target. A transaction is valid and confirmed oregon it isn’t. It’s close there, objective, and verifiable to anyone who cares to look.

Pull-ups are flexes due to the fact that they show truth, careless of what anyone other thinks astir an invisible ego beneath. You tin bash them, oregon you can’t; they’re verifiable and undeniable. A muscle-up doesn’t ask for support oregon tries to confuse you astir nuances to an imagined reality.

This stands successful opposition to the fiat, bequest satellite — of which trans ideology is simply 1 of the slightest worldly but verifiably stupid examples — wherever words are violence, invisible and unverifiable identities rule, fiat schools can’t thatch radical to work oregon count, Uber doesn’t person immoderate cars, and the banks don’t person your money. It’s a breached culture, wherever the lone happening moving distant faster than the deaths of despair are the deficits successful a profligate Treasury, everlastingly bound to nonstop payment checks to rent-seekers.

It’s a civilization dominated by sensitivity alternatively of truth, that celebrates weakness alternatively of spot and work and self-improvement, that encourages therapy even though it hardly works and shoves you pharmacy-full of meds and injections astatine the archetypal motion of trouble.

That’s wherefore I’m not sold connected this “Progressive Bitcoiner” ethos flying around. Progressives came to Bitcoin and carved retired a niche for themselves, and for present that works good arsenic a span implicit from the hyper-leftwing clown satellite to our world. But you won’t beryllium a Bitcoiner and agelong stay a progressive; they’re mostly incompatible ideas.

Progressivism came to Bitcoin arsenic a enactment of caller air, but it volition yet dice here.

Bitcoin strips a authorities of power implicit transactions and economical value. A progressive requires a ample and invasive authorities to uphold and enact the galore things they yearn for. If you inactive privation those goodies, but not the convulsive organized transgression syndicate we telephone government, you’re simply a libertarian with a beardown societal ethos. Congrats. I’ve said truthful before regarding Jason Maier’s A Progressive’s Case for Bitcoin, and I support that successful clip Bitcoin volition alteration him too, similar it has the remainder of us.

Bitcoin sooner oregon aboriginal forces you into seeing the satellite of information and acting successful unfakeable ways, looking to what is alternatively than what’s voiced oregon recommended by “experts.” On the mode determination 1 usually complains loudly astir the mean Bitcoiners not seeing the satellite you do.

It’s not a coincidence that truthful galore Bitcoiners proudly and diligently devour steak. We saw that the nutritional guidelines were gunk (some mightiness even accidental corrupt), and the radical pushing them were obese, ill, and ugly. We ate a clump of meat and felt better. Do I look unhealthy to you?! we ceremoniously ask.

The LGBTQ flags that Paez defends beryllium adjacent to flags with “Free Palestine” — adjacent though Palestinians aren’t precisely known for their pro-gay values — and “Slava Ukraini,” celebrating a state that scores among the worst connected the Rainbow Europe scale and routinely counts arsenic Europe’s 2nd astir corrupt country (behind Russia). These are not superior people. You cognize thing is rotten erstwhile primitively peace-loving leftists observe the precise warmongering radical they should detest.

The eventual shit-test is the clown world shitshow, not Bitcoiner culture. In fact, the information and honesty successful Bitcoin civilization is the antidote.

Quit whining and spell bash immoderate pull-ups.

This is simply a impermanent station by Joakim Book. Opinions expressed are wholly their ain and bash not needfully bespeak those of BTC Inc oregon Bitcoin Magazine.