Thread by @davetroy

Please refer to these points when evaluating rhetoric coming from cryptocurrency and NFT cults. Once you see them as markers of cult behavior, they're easy to call out.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_R…

#1 "Crypto spaces" create safe spaces where participants can "help" each other and build social bonds. These spaces are imbued with "love" and "constructive energy" that enable people to "build" and "learn together about what works."

#2 Certain actors in the space are imbued with mystical energy or properties, say a Saylor, Dorsey, Musk, Thiel, or Novogratz. Their prognostications are watched closely, and when they are right, they are assigned prescience and respect. They signify a top of a hierarchy.

#3 "Demand for Purity" Being "all in" is revered; one must be either "a believer" or a heretic. Fence-sitters are pitied and may be labeled as "NGMI" (not gonna make it). Believers are encouraged to go all in and "keep stacking" profits with any cash they may have.

#4 "Confession" Participants in crypto spaces often share their doubts and failures in "safe spaces." Often but not always associated with a temporary wavering in faith, and mistakes that result from that. Confessions/stories of failure help build cohesive social structure.

#5 "Sacred Science" The "technology" sits above all else; those who question it do not understand the significance or revolutionary nature of it. By shrouding the belief system in "science" and "code," it can be shielded from socio-historical inquiry or critique.

#6 "Loading the Language" is, perhaps, the key feature of the crypto-cult. From "HODL" to NFT to NGMI/GMI to DOGE and a myriad of symbols, coded phrases, sacred persons and meme-culture meanings, the space is littered with thought-terminating cliches and linguistic mind-control.

#7 "Doctrine over person" suggests that individual experience or doubts be subjugated to the goals of the group and the shared project. Ultimately, personal experience is subordinated to the group's dogma and norms.

#8 "Dispensing of existence" is best summed up in the adoption of the terms "NGMI" (not gonna make it) and "GMI" (gonna make it). The group determines who has the right not only to exist, but also who is eugenically suited for reproduction. Those deemed "unfit" are expelled.

The crypto-cult needs to step away from the get-rich-quick MLM scheme and the technology, and read up on cults, sociology, and political technology. Too many are co-opted by this cancerous scheme and it needs to be viewed from a public health and national security perspective.