The original article this piece is responding to: Reflections on Bitcoin Culture.
Bitcoin is changing our lives.
It’s an almost spiritual observation that we’ve all seen within ourselves. After acquiring some of it, learning how it works, and delving to varying degrees into what this decentralized, uncensored, proof-of-work money is iswe have seen our lives change. It echoes of historySome people see God in the.
Bitcoiners have turned their lives upside down, their perspectives have changed, and their value systems have changed. We see how our behavior has changed from our pre-Bitcoin selves, our emphasis is now squarely on real things, hard things, the long term, and the local. We look within ourselves and we take care of ourselves. We take care of our families. We put our own house in order before we criticize the world.
Bitcoin encourages higher-level thinking, the dynamic kind that once characterized good economy. Once we become Bitcoiners, we are less likely to believe commonly accepted “just-so” stories. We are more skeptical and more interested in verification than trust.
Anyone who has been in Bitcoin for a while can point to countless examples of this kind of thing in their own lives. So there is no denying that Bitcoin yourself has a culture. It influences change in the people it welcomes; you don’t change Bitcoin, Bitcoin changes you.
The values inherent in it are rules that people who embrace this monetary revolution cannot help but internalize. Whether they understand it or not is immaterial. Bitcoin is for everyone, sure, but you are not the same person after Bitcoin changes your life; you are a different “someone” than you were when you first opened your fiat eyes.
Bitcoin has shown us much of the stupidity of the collective delusions at the base of the state, democracy, central banks, Public health, public education — everything is public, really. It’s the same realization that leaves us with huge question marks about concerns about climate change or trans ideology.
In the world of fiat, anything is possible. You can feel uncontrollably oppressed, a man can be uncontrollably a woman, anyone who is sad or distracted can feel uncontrollably autistic or depressed. If the lord of the printing press finds there is not enough money, he makes more. Violent extort productive members of society is seen as a moral good and celebrated. The experts and fiat media voices say the world is ending in twelve (or five) years, and if you don’t believe them or ask for confirmation, you are on the same page as the Nazis.
In Bitcoin, this textbook no longer applies. Identifying as receiving a block reward does nothing, political voices become irrelevant, no one’s uncontrollable feelings rule, and cheating becomes harder. UTXOs don’t have sex. It all goes out the window, exposed and stripped of the bullshit it always was.
So there is something wrong with Margot Paez’s recent article in which she criticizes Bitcoin culture. She writes:
“…popular influencers who are often millennial men who spend a lot of time taking pictures of themselves flexing their muscles in front of the mirror. I really wonder how big those muscles have to get to protect the fragile ego that lies hidden beneath those muscle fibers.”
Large muscles are flexible because they unfathomable — as a hash under the difficulty level. A transaction is either valid and confirmed or it isn’t. It’s there, objective and verifiable by anyone who wants to look at it.
Pull-ups are flexes because they show the truth, regardless of what anyone else thinks about an invisible ego underneath. You can do them, or you can’t; they are verifiable and undeniable. A muscle-up doesn’t ask for permission or trying to confuse you about nuances of an imagined reality.
This is in contrast to the fiat, legacy world, where trans ideology is only one of the least material but verifiable stupid examples — where words are violence, invisible and uncontrollable identities rule, schools cannot teach people to read or count, Uber doesn’t have cars and the banks don’t have your money. It’s a broken culture, where the only thing that runs away faster than the killing of despair are the deficits in a wasteful state treasury, forever destined to send social benefits to rent-seekers.
It is a culture dominated by sensitivity rather than truth, that celebrates weakness rather than strength and responsibility and self-improvement, that even encourages therapy although it hardly works and at the first sign of trouble, pushes you into a pharmacy full of medicines and injections.
That’s why I’m not convinced by the “Progressive Bitcoiner” ethos that’s going around. Progressives came to Bitcoin and carved out a niche for themselves, and for now it works well as a bridge from the hyper-left clown world to our world. But you can’t be a Bitcoiner and remain a progressive for long; they’re mostly incompatible ideas.
Progressivism brought a breath of fresh air to Bitcoin, but it will eventually die here.
Bitcoin takes away government control over transactions and economic value. A progressive needs a large and invasive government to enforce and implement the many things they desire. If you still want those goodies but not the violent organized crime syndicate we call government, you’re just a libertarian with a strong social ethos. Congratulations. I’ve said it before regarding Jason Maier’s A Progressive Plea for Bitcoinand I’m convinced that Bitcoin will eventually change him too, just as it has changed the rest of us.
Bitcoin forces you sooner or later to see the world of truth and act in a non-fake way, looking at what is instead of what is said or recommended by “experts”. Along the way, people usually complain loudly about the mean Bitcoiners who don’t see the world you see.
It is no coincidence that so many Bitcoiners proudly and diligently eat steak. We saw that the dietary guidelines rubbish (some would even say corrupt), and the people they pushed were obese, sick and uglyWe ate a bunch of meat and felt better. Do I look unhealthy?! we solemnly ask.
The LGBTQ flags Paez is defending sit alongside flags reading “Free Palestine” — even though Palestinians are not exactly known for their pro-gay values — and “Slava Ukraini,” celebrating a country that ranks among the worst on the list of countries with gay values. Rainbow Europe index and is routinely regarded as Europe’s second most corrupt country (behind Russia). These are not serious people. You know something is wrong when originally peaceful leftists celebrate the very warmongers they should despise.
The ultimate shit test is the clown world shitshow, not Bitcoiner culture. In fact, truth and honesty in Bitcoin culture is the antidote.
Stop whining and do some pull-ups.
This is a guest post by Joakim Book. The opinions expressed are entirely his own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.