The crytpo crash isn't just tulip-trading -- it's a result of the toxic entitlement that led to Trump
Link to tweet
Amanda Marcotte
@AmandaMarcotte
The crypto mania — and crash — is part of a larger and troubling social trend that's led to vaccine refusal and Trump. It's about toxic levels of entitlement and a rejection of the social contract.
salon.com
The crytpo crash isn't just tulip-trading — it's a result of the toxic entitlement that led to Trump
Vaccine refusal, tech bro libertarianism and Trump: It's all the same white guy refusal to play nice with others
11:26 AM · Jan 26, 2022
https://www.salon.com/2022/01/26/the-crytpo-crash-isnt-just-tulip-trading--its-a-result-of-the-entitlement-that-led-to/
It was an outcome that anyone familiar with the terms "tulip trading" or "Beanie Babies" could see coming: Cryptocurrency is crashing. Prices for cryptocurrencies "have cratered since reaching all-time highs in early November, wiping out an astonishing $1.35 trillion in value globally, nearly half of the total market," the Washington Post reports.
The whole thing had an air of a pyramid scheme to it. Media hype and ads featuring Matt Damon lured a bunch of ordinary people into the market, inflating the value of the already questionable currencies. Then, predictably, more professional investors got out, running off with their very real money while the rest of the market collapsed.
But the story of cryptocurrency is about more than just a bunch of gullible people losing their shirts gambling with Monopoly money. Cryptocurrency mania is part of a the same social forces that created libertarianism, rising fascism, and Donald Trump. (Unsurprisingly, the Trumps are trying to cash in, unsuccessfully so far, on crypto.
It's all rooted in the overblown sense of entitlement held by a lot of Americans — especially white Americans, and especially male Americans. It leads them to believe they are above having to live with the same social contract that binds the rest of us. Millions of Americans have decided that they not only can, but should, cheat the system — even to the extent of having separate currency systems. The result is that social structures we all rely on are starting to get shaky and, in some cases, are already on the verge of collapse.
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= new reply since forum marked as read
I think it goes marrow-deep in today's society.
Things like gamer-gate and toxic masculinity are also part of this overarching storyline. The rise of the "dude-bro" in online gaming started more than 20 years ago as a generation of kids were growing up and seeing a lot of things happening simultaneously - opportunity was being squeezed through $$$ for college educations, and even those who came out the other side with an expensive degree did not find much success in the job market (or "free" market) to meet their overblown entitlements and out sized expectations.
To them, being white, male and young (and predominantly binary heterosexuals) meant that the world was THEIRS and no one else should bother asking for a piece of the pie before THEY GOT THEIR FILL.
When that failed to materialize, these people stopping trying to find reasons or alternative paths to the success they (falsely) assumed was a birth rite. Instead, they went looking for 'others' to blame and castigate as the source of their own failures.
Suddenly, the border is a constant "crisis", immigrants are the devil, and so are females and non-binary persons of any identification. The world is put on notice through misogny, hate and anonymity online (in games and chatboards and social media apps). Then they marched and lit torches and chanted obscenities ("Jews will not replace us" - when most them do not even know a real Jewish person or family; "Blood and soil" - because some racist told them it was cool; "white lives matter" - because that was an immature riposte to the very real protests about minorities experiencing a fatal difference in interactions with law enforcement officers around the country at rates that should have been addressed BEFORE protests were needed to draw attention to the disparity).
I have had discussions with a friend trying to understand the mindset that engenders "MAGA"-fandom, and at its core is a false bill of goods. A implied promise that cannot and will not be kept - a side-eye nod that says "You - white, heterosexual, males - YOU are going to be propped up if only you give ME the power to make it happen"...
A story as old as time, false prophets and charlatans have used this same playbook for millenia to put one people at another's throat. In the past, it seemed to be more localized and provincal...now? Its global and if its not cut down very, very soon - and ripped out at the root while we are at it (holding ALL accountable for the ideology, the use of propaganda and the use of hate crime style language) - or we run the risk of adding total social collapse to the political, economic and ecological collpases that are already underway.
Its deadly serious and time is rapidly running out to prevent the worst calamity in human history from becoming reality. It may already be too late given the powerful entrenchment of people into "teams" and abandoning common references (like science or facts) that led to real solutions in the past.
