Thread by @davetroy

1/A common feature of cults is that participants in the rank and file low-end of the cult may not be aware of the true purpose or nature of the cult, or the full goals of its topmost participants.

2/Fort this reason, it may be surprising, dispiriting, and even unpleasant for participants in Jan6, QAnon, and the crypto-cult that they are cogs in a libertarian machine bound in common purpose: to avenge the gold standard and the 1933-34 Business Plot.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_…

3/The proposed army of “500,000 veteran super-soldiers” had little economics background or common cause with the National Association of Manufacturers or the American Liberty League industrialists behind the “Wall Street Putsch,” as Jules Archer explains.

ia802702.us.archive.org/22/items/pdfy-…

4/And so today we have multiple cults weaponized in service of the same libertarian agenda, pursuing the same hardline “Austrian Economics” that animated Fred Koch and his pals in 1933. Now it’s for Kochs, Mercers, Putin, and the oil lobby.

5/And much of the cryptocurrency world has in fact devolved into a cult. Some know outright it’s been put in service of the Koch/Mercer agenda and are on board; others think this is something new or different. It is not. It’s gold, but with new bells and whistles.

6/The same dynamics emerged in 1980 when the Hunt Brothers took a run on the silver market. That was squashed by limiting leverage available to purchase silver. The same needs to be done with crypto today.

7/While there are some very valid use cases for cryptocurrency, taking a stealth run against the Federal Reserve and the dollar is not one of them.

In a democracy, we talk about policy and set it through legislation and other mechanisms.

8/In a democracy, we don’t violently overthrow election results.

We don’t subvert monetary policy with stealth interlocking technology plays.

We talk about policy and our shared collective future.

9/It is a well-known historical trope that many people do not like the @federalreserve, central banks or the bankers that run them.

This is also a recurring source of anti-Semitic propaganda, and has served as a precursor to genocide.

We do not want to replay this history.

10/The many good-faith participants in the so-called “web3” ecosystem are rightly excited about the future and its possibilities, but need to take care not to become instruments of historical fascist or anti-Semitic agendas such as those outlined above.

11/Mounting an ideologically-driven stealth attack on “fiat currency” is wildly anti-democratic, and harms the majority of people who are not yet part or the crypto ecosystem.

It’s antisocial, misanthropic behavior, barely better than that of the January 6th insurrectionists.

12/Years of study of the global disinformation and dark money landscapes show that the push towards crypto and the Jan6 coup are linked operations.

Good faith tech enthusiasts should separate themselves from hardcore libertarians aligned with a fascist anti-democratic agenda.

13/Anything worth doing in this space can be done with full sunlight and democratic oversight.

Regulation is good; it protects people and serves democratic aims.

Those ideologically opposed to this are, defecto, siding with insurrectionists.

14/There are obviously ways for digital currencies to exist within state controlled monetary system. But like gold and silver before them, they require regulation and guardrails.

I am in favor of digital currencies with regulation, and state backed digital currencies.

15/I am not in favor of unregulated non-state digital currencies in functional democracies because they undermine democratic power and public oversight.

In failed states, some currencies may be useful while establishing democracies.

16/The impulse behind gold and crypto is to deny policymakers the opportunity to make policy, because one believes they are not capable of doing so.

That’s an extremely blunt instrument, and one historically favored by fascist right wing regimes. Learn that history.

17/Those too enmeshed in the crypto cult to see this clearly may wish to consider the BITE Model of Authoritarian Control.

While many people engaged with crypto are not involved in cult behavior, a lot are. Learn the signs.

freedomofmind.com/cult-mind-cont…

18/Given the precarious state of world affairs and the fascist currents that have re-emerged in recent years, I believe it’s vital we talk about this.

Making plays in silence and stealth is not right.

In democracies, we talk about things.

This should be obvious to anyone with a passing familiarity with 20th century history.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Proto…

de-facto (thx autocorrect) sigh

19/For those interested in learning more, please read (back to back) Democracy in Chains by @NancyMacLean5, Dark Money by @JaneMayerNYer, and Shadow Network by @anelsona — three women with a pulse on the history that brought us here.

Common retorts: “If the status quo is so great, why are so many people suffering?”

1) human condition, 2) governance takes work, oversight, dialogue and mess, 3) giving up on governance in favor of “regulation by protocol” is obviously undemocratic unless we design the protocol.

Also, I have limited replies to people I follow to avoid the massive three-cult troll army that would be deployed against this thread.

My DM’s are open. If you have something to contribute, feel free to DM me. Happy to listen.