What do we REALLY need to be fighting? \ stacker news ~meta

2343 sats \ 37 comments \ @birdeye21 14 Nov 2023 meta

Ignorance as Elon put it on Lex Fridman's most recent pod.

I think I agree entirely on that: much of the evil in the world today can probably be considered a result of a lack of understanding. Between people, between ideas.

So, we decide killing each other is the best way to resolve our disputes. Apparently it's easier than trying to resolve the ignorance lying inbetween each party's perspective.

What do you make of this? What really needs to be attacked, and what doesn't?

How does Bitcoin (if at all) help in these efforts?

view all related items

3402 sats \ 4 replies \ @kepford 14 Nov 2023

Against stupidity we have no defense. Neither protests nor force can touch it. Reasoning is of no use. Facts that contradict personal prejudices can simply be disbelieved — indeed, the fool can counter by criticizing them, and if they are undeniable, they can just be pushed aside as trivial exceptions. So the fool, as distinct from the scoundrel, is completely self-satisfied. In fact, they can easily become dangerous, as it does not take much to make them aggressive. For that reason, greater caution is called for than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous.

~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Bonhoeffer was a German Christian Theologian that stood up to the Nazi regime.

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

~ C. S. Lewis

We have both and my view of history is that the German people thought they were right and justified. Today most politically active people (voters) believe they are just and right. They are also ignorant and mostly willfully ignorant. The thinkers will never outnumber them. We will not get through to them intellectually. Mostly because they are not interested in all this nerd economics and money stuff. They aren't interested in liberty or freedom. They are interested in comfort.

Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.

~ Sigmund Freud

Most people think they are free.

The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he's in prison.

~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky

I don't think most people think the best way to solve problems is to kill one another. This is war. The average American has no beef with the average person from another nation. It is states that create war to profit and gain control over more land and other states. We know that the public doesn't want war for the sake of war because war is sold to us in moral terms. It is not sold as an acquisition of land, resources or control. It is sold as the way to find justice and peace. These are noble lies the elite sell to the public.

Does bitcoin fix this? I hope so. Fiat money fuels war. Without it, with a hard money the state is forced to tax the public to pay for these wars. The people will only tolerate so much taxation. It has a limit I mean. Fiat seems to continue with a much longer tail. Eventually the system breaks but the public is kept in the dark as to the causes. How? Because of their ignorance and lack of curiosity and skepticism.

Only a portion of the population is even interested in true intellectual thought. I'm not sure how small the number is but it is no where near a majority. Politics is marketing and manipulation of the dumb masses. That is not the way. But there is value in writing, podcasts, books and other content that teaches those with ears to hear the truth. The solution in my view is to destroy and expose the lie of fiat. We do this by using bitcoin. By adopting it. Use the tools. The apps, the nodes, the miners. Do business with other bitcoiners. We build this ecosystem for the day when fiat collapses. That day may come soon or in 100 years. But the better prepared we are, the less pain there will be. The existing system will fail. It is inevitable. What is not inevitable is the new system. We want it to be bitcoin but we must be ready.

221 sats \ 2 replies \ @Undisciplined 14 Nov 2023

I love it when someone else has the same thing to say as I do but they put way more thought into it than I did. I couldn't agree more with your statement.

562 sats \ 0 replies \ @birdeye21 OP 14 Nov 2023

I love when someone is also so quick to express my feelings exactly before I even have time to say them. Stackers recognize the PoW -- thank you both :)

I agree @kepford I think most people like you and I would agree that best way to solve problems is not to kill one another. I'm more so speaking from a perspective of nature, it's how all living creatures have resolved dispute. Nature is violent and superior to man's law. At a certain point all our societal structures we build up fall apart when it comes time to solve "real" disputes (over stupid things still that never actually lead to peace, as you said).

Technology and LOVE (edited lol) are the only things that progress peace forward. The things that are superordinate to human law. Tech like bitcoin i think does have a medicine, not a cure, to alleviate conflict. Countless bitcoiners before me have explained why, but it follows the same principle as nature -- Bitcoin's "law" is imposed on us and our money, not the other way around. We'll have to work it out amongst ourselves to learn the new rules.

I am very happy to have found a community of bitcoiners here that truly do value intellectual thought :) And you are using it quite well!!

322 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 14 Nov 2023

Thank you. You just nailed why I value SN so much. Its not just MEMES from lazy people that are sure of themselves. Its far more thoughtful and this thoughtfulness is rewarded. I've learn new stuff every week from the stackers here.

112 sats \ 0 replies \ @duvel 17 Nov 2023

Fantastic comment and quotes!

I think the masses are ignorant and the root problem lies with the politicians or the psychopaths. The best way would be for the masses to ignore government (policies) as much as possible by civil disobedience.

It seems that history is repeating and propaganda is again one of the most powerful weapons of the state. Stalin used it and Joesep Goebbels, who was chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda.

“The press must grow day in and day out - it is our Party's sharpest and most powerful weapon.” - Stalin

We have made the Reich by propaganda. - Joseph Goebbels

The nazis used propaganda to appeal to emotions and instincts, just like our government did during the planned pandemic:

There was no point in seeking to convert the intellectuals. For intellectuals would never be converted and would anyway always yield to the stronger, and this will always be "the man in the street." Arguments must therefore be crude, clear and forcible, and appeal to emotions and instincts, not the intellect. Truth was unimportant and entirely subordinate to tactics and psychology. - Joseph Goebbels

Regarding Bitcoin, I think education is the most important thing.

200 sats \ 4 replies \ @davidw 14 Nov 2023

Fighting ignorance to me is a losing battle, at least at scale. There will always be a new topic, new legislation or a new injustice, where the masses are simply unaware or are easily influenced. At times it feels like trying to steer a train off its tracks. Fighting at all, is probably not the optimal verb either.

I would argue we need to optimise for our own happiness, independence, creativity & innovation. Only once we have saved ourselves can we offer a helping hand to others. Be it in the form of products, refuge, food, technology or employment.

If 80% of people did this, the buy-in and impact of what we see in the world today would be more minimal.

50 sats \ 3 replies \ @birdeye21 OP 14 Nov 2023

100% agree, and we need to use our own optimizations to create platforms for more people to feel the same way. To a large degree the suit-wearing cockroaches have destroyed that foundation for many around the world, never even given a chance to optimize for others let alone themselves...

112 sats \ 2 replies \ @davidw 14 Nov 2023

I know you’ll agree with this, but those in privileged positions should not be called ‘elites’.

Nothing elite about them. They are not leaders, not role models, not special. Just power-hungry psychopaths.

(nice work on the edit 😅)

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @c137Heather 14 Nov 2023

Someone (I can't remember who) calls them the "counterfeit class" because they are the ones close to the money printer benefiting from all the legal counterfeiting.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @birdeye21 OP 14 Nov 2023

im sorry ser of course i agree

i have edited appropriately

498 sats \ 3 replies \ @derekross 14 Nov 2023

Hot take. We don't need to fight. Just stack, zap, and build.

1 sat \ 2 replies \ @birdeye21 OP 14 Nov 2023

that is fighting in a way tho no?

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @derekross 14 Nov 2023

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @birdeye21 OP 15 Nov 2023

a matter of interpretation i suppose

Perhaps building certain things with bitcoin is an offensive move, whereas self custody and personal use of those tools is defensive

either way it's not a passive movement, certainly feels like a fight of good and evil quite literally

keep in mind, i am brainlet

102 sats \ 1 reply \ @Undisciplined 14 Nov 2023

This is a great question. The answer is going to require identifying the margins we can really impact.

Sadly, I don't think ignorance is a good target, because people are so entrenched in their positions and generally uninterested in learning new things. Of course, if you meet open minded curious people, do your best to spread knowledge.

394 sats \ 0 replies \ @birdeye21 OP 14 Nov 2023

Yep perhaps it's a symptom of something deeper. Sadly at the end of the day you can only do so much to spread knowledge. Leading a horse to water...etc.

81 sats \ 1 reply \ @ladyluck 14 Nov 2023

Let us fight to end world hunger

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @birdeye21 OP 14 Nov 2023

ser elon shouldve just spent 44 billion to fix it tho >:(

133 sats \ 3 replies \ @k00b 14 Nov 2023

Nihilism. It's a total drag on the rest of us.

142 sats \ 1 reply \ @kepford 14 Nov 2023

Yup. Nihilism is a poison. There is so much joy to be found in the world around us. People who have taken the black pill are so sad to me. Nihilism is what leads to a kid shooting up a school. I don't think we take enough time to think about how we view the world around us and how we fit into it. To me, nihilism is simply giving up. There is meaning in life. You just need to find it for yourself.

202 sats \ 0 replies \ @birdeye21 OP 14 Nov 2023

black pill is escapism

202 sats \ 0 replies \ @birdeye21 OP 14 Nov 2023

and very, very lame.

77 sats \ 1 reply \ @911 14 Nov 2023

deleted by author

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @birdeye21 OP 14 Nov 2023

life sucking forces

Workers struggle is a funny one in the USA.

42 sats \ 0 replies \ @piecover 14 Nov 2023

It's simple, Bitcoin ends the money printer thats pushing all the buttons from the background

42 sats \ 0 replies \ @rhombus 14 Nov 2023

Apathy

42 sats \ 0 replies \ @stargut 14 Nov 2023

Complacency. I think complacency is the root cause of ignorance. It is easy to get stuck in the same routines and habits even if it has a negative impact. Bitcoin helps foster a well balanced financial lifestyle counter to the perpetual debt that consumerism encourages.

42 sats \ 0 replies \ @Entrep 14 Nov 2023

Fight for a better tomorrow

42 sats \ 1 reply \ @SimpleStacker 14 Nov 2023

I don't think that all evil comes down to misunderstanding. Sadly, I think some worldviews are fundamentally incompatible, even after you've fully understood where every side is coming from.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @birdeye21 OP 14 Nov 2023

yes and some views can simply just be wrong. don't know why some ppl have hard time accepting this

42 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinIsTheFuture 14 Nov 2023

No. Fiat drives an interest in all types of blood and divide! Bitcoin is freedom, peace, togetherness!

42 sats \ 1 reply \ @fishyness 14 Nov 2023

deleted by author

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @birdeye21 OP 14 Nov 2023

i know of an ostrich and a yellow hatted cowboy working on this as we speak...

210 sats \ 0 replies \ @techonsapevole 15 Nov 2023

fight for privacy and the right to be left alone

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitSapien 15 Nov 2023

No need to do any fighting. More educating of the masses on Bitcoin. We opt out of this system to a new one.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @TwoLargePizzas 15 Nov 2023

First of all.. what does it mean to 'fight' ignorance?

ignorance :- lack of knowledge or information

If ignorance is lack of knowledge, it would seem the weapon used to fight it is education.

education :- the act or process of imparting or acquiring knowledge

On the surface, this all sounds so simple but it raises lots of questions like... Who lacks the knowledge? What knowledge do they lack? Who's responsible for imparting said knowledge? How does one go about imparting said knowledge? What REALLY is the desired outcome?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @trevor 15 Nov 2023

What really needs to be attacked? ANYONE who tramples on your rights. Sue the fuck out of them, but don't use a lawyer so you actually have a chance.