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I have not read all of this yet. This came to my attention through my iPad's Stocks App, which under BTC-USD ticker currently has the article with the headline "How Bitcoin Became an Emotional Tether for a Specific Type of Lost Boy".

Naturally, I take offence to this, even if don't know what it means. It doesn't sound complimentary afaic.

The People—OK, the Men—Who Still Love Bitcoin

183 sats \ 1 reply \ @Scoresby 21 Sep
I met no bears within the predominantly male crowd. Instead, I found confidence and joy in Bitcoin.

Confidence and joy in Bitcoin sounds nice. And the author sort of understands that things have value because people are willing to trade for them:

This fluctuation is due in part to Bitcoin having no intrinsic value: Like gold, it is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it.

But unfortunately he relies on Zeke Faux (at least it wasn't Ben McKenzie). I have not found Faux's reporting on Bitcoin to be very good: he gets so many of the details right, but misses the bigger picture.

“Though people give a lot of reasons for why they like Bitcoin and you can get caught up in the genuinely interesting stuff of how it works,” Faux said, “I think interest in Bitcoin boils down to a desire to get rich.”

I'm also a little confused why Slate is publishing this article now. Seems like it would have gotten a lot more attention if they had published it shortly after the conference. Maybe because the price is in the news again?

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I'm also a little confused why Slate is publishing this article now. Seems like it would have gotten a lot more attention if they had published it shortly after the conference. Maybe because the price is in the news again?

I wondered the same thing... a) he was this slow writing it? b) the editors were that slow working on it? c) Slate just had way more interesting things to publish until now...?

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120 sats \ 2 replies \ @k00b 21 Sep

I was expecting worse, but the article does a decent job covering bitcoin as a defense against inflation and central banking. It does the usual thing these articles do which is find balance to the moon boys in the wrong places, and spends ample time on Saylor (yawn), but some of it's written from a place of genuine curiosity at least.

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It's the kind of patronizing curiosity one feels for a UFO convention. Once they realize we're serious about replacing the dollar and that it could actually work, then the knives come out.

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You had more patience in reading the article than I did.

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381 sats \ 1 reply \ @siggy47 21 Sep

The author seems to have a nice little career going bashing men. I can't entirely fault him for his observations of the Vegas Bitcoin Convention. I wouldn't go myself.

What is strange is how he completely ignored BlackRock, Fidelity, and all the big ETF players, which go against his narrative of bitcoin as a freak sideshow for displaced men.

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These journos know what their audiences crave, and it's Luke 18:11

The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector

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After all, wasn’t American life saturated with rich men who seemed to get richer without doing any real work? Obviously such financial freedom was possible—but only if you were a guy who knew how the crooked game was played. Saylor made clear that he knew the game perfectly well as he asked these people, whose trust had been routinely abused, to trust him with their money.

lol, amazing!

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52 sats \ 0 replies \ @anon 21 Sep

This article gives me When Money Dies vibes. The people interviewed are noobs gambling for more fiat in a highly inflationary system. One guy said he hopes to be out of debt by November. (7 months).

He started stacking sats in 2025.

The US national debt is already being monetized with stablecoins. It's 40 trillion and the government is using crypto because the math is fucked. Prices suck. Jobs are scarce. Dudes in that situation are forced to gamble. That seems to get lost in these articles.

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Saw this (haven't read yet)... Why do these big msm outlets take so goddamn long before running these pieces...? (Conf was months ago!)

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