NO WAY OUT

I know there are many people out there who don’t watch the daily drivel emanating from their 72 inch HD boob tubes. I don’t blame them. Most of the shows on TV are dumbed down to the level of their audience of government educated zombies. The facebooking, twittering, texting, instagraming generation is too shallow, too self-consumed, and too intellectually lazy to connect the dots, understand symbolism or learn moral lessons from well written thought-provoking TV shows. But there have been a few exceptions over the last few years. Breaking Bad, House of Cards, and Walking Dead are intelligent, brilliantly scripted, morally ambiguous, psychologically stimulating TV shows challenging your understanding of how the world really works.

The Walking Dead is much more than a gory, mindless, teenage zombie flick. Personally, I find myself interpreting the imagery, metaphorical storylines, and morality lessons of Walking Dead within the larger context of cultural, political, and social decay rapidly consuming our society today. I don’t pretend to know the thought process or intent of the writers, but I see plot parallels symbolizing current day issues plaguing our empire of debt. Their mid-season opener was one of the most intense shocking episodes of the entire series. It was titled No Way Out, as the main characters appeared to be trapped in a no win situation with long odds and little hope of surviving.

From my vantage point I see four explicit types of characters inhabiting the world of the Walking Dead. There are the infected mindless zombies roaming the countryside in search of flesh to consume. They are oblivious to the world around them, unable to think, feel, or act human. They can be distracted and led in different directions by loud noises or other diversions. Then there are the still human zombies inhabiting the walled city of Alexandria who are sentient, thinking, frightened men and women, not prepared to face the harsh reality of an unfair brutal world and the consequences of not fighting the forces of evil. They cower behind their walls and hope for the best.

There are bands of nomadic lawless gangs wandering the barren countryside, living off the scraps left behind by civilization and taking what they want through brute force. They abandoned any sense of morality as the world spun out of control. Killing innocent people to achieve their ends is fair game in their survivalist worldview. They see anarchy as an opportunity to loot, steal, murder and disrespect the rights of others.

Anarchy is essentially the absence of institutional coercion. It doesn’t mean chaos, with human beings automatically becoming bandits and murderers. Humans cooperate, trade, exercise personal responsibility and create social order without the dictates of a government ruler. What binds society together are not thousands of overbearing laws and a ruthless police state, it’s basically peer pressure, moral suasion, and social censure. We interact with other humans every day, without some higher authority dictating how it should be done.

The cohort of decent men and women trudging through the southern regions of a fallen America experience horrific scenes, but maintain their humanity despite anarchy. The main characters (Rick, Daryl, Michone, Carol, Carl, Glenn and Maggie) approach every day with their eyes wide open. In a setting where there is no government, no enforceable laws, no police, and no higher authority to provide guidance on how to approach every dangerous situation and ethical dilemma, they choose the honorable path.

As the crumbling remnants of a once mighty nuclear superpower decays, this tight knit group of heavily armed citizens rely upon their guile, intelligence, courage, and moral backbone to try and rebuild a new society. They are honorable, bold and resolute as they fight the ravenous brain dead zombies and the malicious roving mobs swarming over the apocalyptic terrain, while attempting to turn the cowering cowards of Alexandria into courageous patriots who see the world as it is rather than as they wish it to be. In a catastrophic situation where all governmental functions are non-existent it is those who are physically prepared, self-sufficient, mentally strong, heavily armed and able to deal with dire circumstances through the lens of reality, who will survive.

The No Way Out episode opens in the midst of a horrifying crisis within the bigger ongoing crisis. The village of Alexandria had successfully walled off their community from the outside world and had grown soft as they failed to grasp the nature of their perilous circumstances. They passively believed walls would always protect them; weapons were barbaric and unnecessary; and preparing for an adverse turn in conditions was pointless. But misfortune and a threat to their very survival did arrive. They were attacked by a band of murdering thieves and bad luck befell their community when their wall was breached. Their lack of preparation, inability to utilize firearms, and absence of courage to confront the dangerous threats, left them helpless in the face of a life or death situation.

The two types of zombies inhabiting the world of the Walking Dead represent two distinctive types of people populating our country today, as we relentlessly meander towards our own rendezvous with destiny. Our country is already disintegrating, as unpayable debt, endemic corruption, military overreach, civic decay, and moral degeneration coalesce to insure a societal collapse. It’s not a matter of if, but when. The zombies are unaware and apathetic, as their inability to think critically has left them trapped in an “all is well” paradigm peddled by their government keepers and their corporate fascist benefactors.

The American zombies resembling the infected mindless variety from Walking Dead inhabit the urban ghettos, semi-rural trailer parks, and putrefying suburban enclaves across the land. They probably constitute close to 50% of the population and continue to multiply. They are uneducated due to the dreadful government run public education system and the bad life choices of those who brought them into this world. They feed off the public welfare system, incapable or unwilling to work for a living. They are easily distracted by their iGadgets, 600 cable channels, sporting events, the latest fashions and hero worship. They don’t read books, participate in civic affairs, create cohesive communities, or think for themselves. The aimlessly shuffle through their wretched lives taking what they can and being herded by those in control. As society collapses they will panic, burn their dilapidated hovels to the ground and quickly die off, with no government to sustain them.

The next category of zombies populating America today is much like the people of Alexandria in the show. They are educated, employed, middle to upper middle class, living in suburban single family homes and townhouses, afraid of guns, trusting of authority, and are trapped in a web of normalcy bias. They’ve already forgotten the 2008 global financial crisis and believe their politician leaders that adding $70 trillion of global debt since 2008 has actually cured a disease caused by excessive unpayable debt. Since a further disaster has not materialized thus far, they convince themselves it will never occur. Therefore, they take no precautionary measures to prepare for any type of disaster, whether it is financial, societal, or related to their personal safety.

Despite clear warnings of a global conflagration already underway, these humanoid zombies optimistically believe everything will turn out for the best. The more aware among these zombies have an uncomfortable feeling about the state of affairs, as they know in their gut we are headed towards disaster. This cognitive dissonance makes them uneasy, so they purposefully avoid or disregard information that would confirm their worst fears. These zombies drive super-sized SUVs, shuttle their kids to soccer games, live in McMansions, commute to high rise office towers where they push paper, watch mainstream media, believe gun control will make them safer, and still think voting for hand-picked corporate candidates will make a difference.

They lack the intellectual curiosity to question the existing social order. They lack the courage to confront their oppressors, corrupt government, malevolent banking cabal, or corporate media mouthpieces spreading lies for the ruling oligarchy. They are completely unprepared for a world where processed toxic foodstuff isn’t plentiful and easily accessible at their local Wally World; ATM machines don’t spit out $20 bills on command; energy isn’t cheap, plentiful and accessible; and they are no longer protected from bad guys by government thugs. In a societal collapse their lack of self-sufficiency, firearms training and mental toughness to deal with a dreadful reality will result in most losing their lives. A segment of this zombie population can be salvaged if they can be convinced of the jeopardy in which they have been placed. With proper leadership and example to follow, the courage to resist and survive can be regained.

The nomadic lawless gangs committing acts of aggression against the well-intentioned decent survivors of the collapse know they are acting in a criminal manner, don’t care, and rationalize their psychotic disregard for moral standards because there is no institutional authority to stop them from raping, pillaging and murdering. I liken this segment to the criminal sociopathic Wall Street bankers; bought off crooked political class; government apparatchiks and surveillance state thugs; corporate fascists; military industrial complex; shadowy string pulling billionaires; propaganda spewing corporate media; and the leeches who suckle off this evil prototype. This gang of lawless psychopaths has no concern for the greater good or their fellow man. Their only objective is to pillage the remaining wealth of the nation, with no concern for laws, regulations, morality, decency, or the victims of their ravenous sacking of America. They are the real enemy.

Lastly, we have the self-reliant, courageous, disciplined characters that represent the last best hope for humanity in the apocalyptic world of the Walking Dead. Despite the catastrophic circumstances they face on a daily basis, they never lose their integrity or their humanity. Kindness, generosity, intelligence, adaptability, and situational awareness complement their courageousness and willingness to use whatever means necessary to survive. A common thread among the main characters is their ability to utilize weapons, think strategically, act as a team, and approach every situation in a realistic, resolute mode. They choose to not deny reality. Lying to yourself about the desperateness of your situation does you no good. They choose living over despair and death.

The people represented in our society by Rick, Daryl and their motley crew of freedom loving patriots is the gun clingers referred to by Obama in 2008:

“They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

They are also derogatorily referred to in the corporate media as preppers, gun nuts, survivalists, right wing extremists, and potential domestic terrorists. Ron Paul supporters, Christian conservatives and anyone believing strongly in the 2nd Amendment is considered suspect by those in power. DHS is spying on them, the IRS is harassing them, the liberal media scorns them, and the president wants to disarm them. It is the hard working, self-reliant, morally upstanding, gun owning citizens of this country who have been screwed by the onslaught of illegal immigrants, the Wall Street owned Federal Reserve, and the corporate fascists who have written the laws and trade legislation which has enriched them while destroying the working middle class.

Wall Street/K Street oligarchs have financialized every aspect of our society, gutted the productive industries, indebted our grandchildren to the tune of $200 trillion, and destroyed the jobs needed to sustain our nation. The frantic efforts of the Federal Reserve, their minions in NYC & DC, and the propaganda press to prop up this hollowed out carcass of a country are failing. The debt is too vast; the corruption too entrenched; the vital systems too damaged; populace too apathetic and distracted by bread and circuses; and leaders too feckless to do what it would take to save the country.

When it all falls apart, it will be the small minority of gun clinging men and women who know what needs to be done and will do it. These people only represent a small percentage of society. They will do the heavy lifting during the coming crisis, because they have retained their moral compass, believe in the Constitution, and don’t need Big Brother and thousands of heavy handed laws to do what’s right. There is good and evil in this world. Bad people will need to be dealt with brutally and swiftly. The approximately 40 million households with a gun owner are our last line of defense against a government losing control, zombie hordes that will rampage when the EBT deposits stop, and the unprepared normalcy bias infected multitudes. It will require courage, endurance, and community team work to survive the perils ahead in order to rebuild our once great nation. A coercive overbearing bloated government will not be part of the solution.

In the meantime, there are lessons to be learned from the No Way Out episode. Rick and a group of the main characters needed to disguise themselves as flesh eating zombies in order to secure the weapons they needed to fight off the mindless voracious hordes overrunning their community. Until the SHTF moment descends upon our country, those whose eyes are open to the imminent threats will need to blend in with the iGadget addicted masses, while continuing to prepare, build supplies, accumulate weapons and ammunition, and becoming more proficient in using those weapons. They will need to stay under the radar of the corporate fascist military surveillance state until it crumbles in a heap of diseased debris. When the vast majority have been brought up to believe the only boundaries are those exerted through force by the authorities, and that governmental power disappears, the bad people take whatever they want, by force, unless good people fight back.

When their plan to blend in with the zombies goes awry due to fear and hesitation by some of the Alexandrians, loss of life ensues and Rick’s son Carl is shot in the eye. This event creates a turning point in the battle between the immense throng of zombies and the minority of fanatical freedom lovers. Rick goes rogue and single-handedly begins taking on the thousands of voracious zombies in a display of rage and retribution for his son’s life threatening injuries. Sometimes a single act of defiance can change the course of history.

When Rick dashes outside and begins to fight the zombies he has no concern for his own safety. His act of boldness and bravery leads his clan of fearless troops to enter the fray and kill even more zombies. Even the formerly passive priest Gabriel and the cowardly Eugene take up arms and battle the forces of evil. But, the most uplifting occurrence is seeing the previously weak willed inhabitants of Alexandria become inspired by Rick’s courage and valor to find their nerve and finally fight for their community. They didn’t fight for their country or because they were commanded to, but for their fellow man. They were still vastly outnumbered, but Daryl’s intelligence and understanding of the situation led him to implement an audacious strategy to lure the brain dead zombies to a fiery demise. His astuteness saved the day, proving the majority does not always win and the good people can prevail.

The lesson I deduced from this chapter of the Walking Dead is one of hope. The authorities pulling the strings of our increasingly mentally infected country prefer mindless, non-thinking, easily manipulated zombies so they can retain their power, control, and strip mining wealth operation. We only exist for the benefit of the state. Society does not have to be built for the benefit of an essentially criminal organization – the coercive state. There is nothing in human nature that makes it impossible to create a community of people that respect each other’s natural rights and follow accepted moral standards for working out differences. There will always be a few criminals and sociopaths to deal with, but the community can self-police and rid themselves of these vermin. These are the people who usually gravitate to and flourish within a government police state.

When the ongoing crisis worsens over the next few years, with government collapsing under the weight of debt and corruption, societal implosion results in civil chaos, and economic calamity befalls the nation, the brain dead zombie class will have no hope. It will require a tireless minority to prevail. We will need men and women to step up and lead through example. There is a segment of the sentient zombie class who can be awoken from their self-induced stupor by an irate few who set brushfires of freedom in their hearts and souls. The odds of a few rag tag farmers defeating the greatest military power on earth were virtually impossible in the 1770s . But through noble citizen leadership, fortitude while facing extreme adversity, and courage in the face of death, a minority of good people prevailed.

At the end of the episode, Rick finally sees a way out. As Carl lies unconscious in bed Rick tells him he underestimated the Alexandrians and vows to rebuild the community. They rose to the challenge. Rick adds that for the first time since before waking up in the hospital in King County, he feels truly hopeful for the future. “I want to show you the new world,” he says. Carl’s fingers grip Rick’s hand. The immediate future is bleak, but there is hope. The country and our future will be determined by those who are most prepared and willing to do whatever it takes to reinstitute the principles upon which this country was built. There is a way out. Are you prepared?

“It does not take a majority to prevail … but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.”Samuel Adams

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195 Comments
Rise Up
Rise Up
February 24, 2016 4:18 pm

@Slayer, you’re welcome. I’m not trying to knock bitcoin, just helping myself and others to be more educated on the subject.

gman
gman
February 24, 2016 4:23 pm

“So I suppose it’s not that farfetched for someone to create a virtual currency.”

money is a medium of exchange, so in theory money can be anything, sure. in practice, however, one of the requirements for money is that the owner have free-standing independent asportation of his money. bitcoin is dependent upon 1) a power grid and 2) a communication grid. if either one of these are not present then bitcoin is null. most here seem intelligent enough to imagine all sorts of scenarios where one or both are inaccessible or compromised.

look at it this way. bitcoin is like gold in the bank, where the gold is never seen or touched but ownership is transferred virtually and electronically. would anyone here find such a monetary system acceptable? no, you wouldn’t, because there would be no personal asportation of or accounting for the gold. bitcoin is just like this, only without the gold.

by the way, you can expect to see exactly this system in the future. “the u.s. dollar is dead, but try the new improved world dollar! it’s backed by GOLD! no, you can’t see the gold, no you can’t touch the gold, no we won’t tell you where the gold is, but trust us, the new world dollar is backed by GOLD! get yours today!” there’s bitcoin for you.

Slayer of Sacred Cows
Slayer of Sacred Cows
February 24, 2016 4:43 pm

No, bitcoin is not like having gold stored somewhere else that you can’t touch, it’s exactly the opposite of that. Bitcoin is like having gold in your own personal safe that you can access at any time you want. The problem is that you are still thinking in analog, not digital. Bitcoin functions exactly like gold but in the digital realm. And, as I already mentioned, if the power grid goes down, so do your USD’s. Only around of money actually exists in the physical world – the rest of it is nothing but an entry in a ledger. Lastly, I’m not arguing for bitcoin exclusively; I’m a huge advocate of gold, silver, and other non-fiat means of wealth.

I find it odd that people who beat their chests about the corruption of government and how fucked up the system is are often the most resistant to adopting a system that actually grants them freedom that corruption. The banks and government have all their power because they control the means of trade. By moving to bitcoin, governments won’t be able to tax us, fund wars, spy on us, etc etc. Bitcoin is the first viable path to freedom we’ve ever had on a global scale; why on earth would you not champion it?

Slayer of Sacred Cows
Slayer of Sacred Cows
February 24, 2016 4:44 pm

Edit *Only around 8% of money actually exists in the physical world – the rest of it is nothing but an entry in a ledger.”

Suzanna
Suzanna
February 24, 2016 6:51 pm

We have been looted

We have terminator seeds

gman
gman
February 24, 2016 7:12 pm

*Only around 8% of money actually exists in the physical world – the rest of it is nothing but an entry in a ledger.”

yep. but that’s not an argument in favor of bitcoin. in fact the arguments against a cashless society are the arguments against bitcoin.

“The problem is that you are still thinking in analog, not digital.”

no. real, not virtual.

“Bitcoin is the first viable path to freedom we’ve ever had on a global scale; why on earth would you not champion it?”

1) because it’s not real.
2) because it’s dependent upon multiple complex systems for its very existence – power grid, comm grid, data base farms.
3) because it’s not free from corporate/government control via power grid, via comm grid, via permissions enforced against you, and via encryption/decryption compromise.

gman
gman
February 24, 2016 7:14 pm

“We have terminator seeds”

yep. at this point all the software and hardware is pre-hacked for surveillance. think you’re being sneaky and free spending your bits? it’s all transparent to them and data-based for use against you should they ever feel the need.

Slayer of Sacred Cows
Slayer of Sacred Cows
February 24, 2016 8:18 pm

gman

1) A CD and an MP3 are both containers of music but only the CD physically exists. A letter and an email both contain messages but only the letter physically exists. Gold and bitcoin both contain value, only gold physically exists. Bitcoin is very much like gold on steroids. It has all it’s strengths – it’s scarce, it’s durable, it’s divisible, it’s fungible, etc, but it has abilities that gold doesn’t have due to it’s digital nature. Without a decentralized currency like bitcoin, trade over distance isn’t possible without a trusted middleman, aka banks, and I shouldn’t have to tell you that having banks at the center of all trade isn’t working out so great. Bitcoin, for the first time in history, has granted us the ability to trade with anyone in the world without having to get permission. Bitcoin is freedom.

2) As I’ll say for the third time now, our current economic system is entirely dependent upon the grid. Bitcoin is actually more robust because of its decentralized nature.

3) bitcoin exists outside of the control of governments and corporations. They can try to control it legally, but that would require that people voluntarily obey that order. Hiding bitcoin is ridiculously easy.

IndenturedServant
IndenturedServant
February 24, 2016 11:11 pm

Slayer of Sacred Cows says:
“Obviously if there’s no power, bitcoin won’t work, but neither will our existing financial system. If the power goes out for an extended period, we’re completely fucked whether your money is in USD’s or BTC’s. Secondly, you won’t lose your bitcoins, they’ll just be unavailable while the power is out, and considering that it’s beyond unlikely that we’ll have a global outage, your bitcoins will comeback online as soon as power is restored to your area.”

Hmmm…………I wonder what such an event might do to the *value* of yer BTC’s? I’m sure it will go up right?

Got PM’s?

IndenturedServant
IndenturedServant
February 24, 2016 11:22 pm

Slayer of Sacred Cows says:
“Lastly, when you own bitcoins, they are yours and yours only. Conversely, any money you have in the bank belongs to the bank, not you. Bitcoin is the solution to global debt bubbles and the massive economic fraud being perpetrated against us.”

If the banks wanted solutions to global debt bubbles and massive economic fraud we’d be using gold backed currency. Solutions for us are not solutions for them.

Billah's wife
Billah's wife
February 24, 2016 11:27 pm

Indented Sphincter

I beg of yer. Stop deucin all over admenstruater’s post. It’s all over the interweb, and now new people us gonner cone here and be lik, ‘if this is the kind uh dipshitted homos Jimmy Q attracts, might as well flush this latest far stretched interpretation of a pop culture totem right down the shit hole’.

Good gawd yer an idiot IS.

EL Cibernetico
EL Cibernetico
February 25, 2016 12:09 am

BW, your an assclown of the highest order.

Like one of the 3 stooges, your mission is to deflate pomposity in all self-righteous judges of humanity like Infested Slayer.

While I cannot approve of all your assaults on the TBP icons, I nonetheless admit, when you apply pressure on a boil, who knows what poisonous effluence will come out.

ditchner
ditchner
February 25, 2016 2:29 am

Bilah’s wife talks kind of funny be she makes a lot of sense!

Llpoh
Llpoh
February 25, 2016 5:43 am

How bout that Bitcoin bank where all those bitcoins went poof? Bwahahaha. There is a sucker born every minute.

Stukfuk says:
Stukfuk says:
February 25, 2016 7:09 am

LL, you and stukfuk can go fuk urselves, admin too.

the only reason i left this site was because stukfuk and admin started censoring my posts, cuz they can’t handle the truth.

stupid fuks, and you’re right up there with them. i know you didn’t leave the country, you just built a compound somewhere in gentrification country. if that just so happens to be in a different country, who gives a fuck. it’s probably in CAN anyway, you sactimonious prick. wassamatter, don’t like you’re own kind? i don’t give a shit either way.

bwahahahaha yourself a new asshole, you butt bugger. you too stukfuk. admin gets a pass this time.

Stukfuk says:
Stukfuk says:
February 25, 2016 7:10 am

cuz he rights gud shit

Stukfuk says:
Stukfuk says:
February 25, 2016 7:11 am

u fuks

IndenturedServant
IndenturedServant
February 25, 2016 7:35 am

Stukfuk the butt plug done slid out of Robert Finnegan’s ass and needs to be punted back in.

EL Cibernetico
EL Cibernetico
February 25, 2016 8:28 am

Any guy who would call himself Stukfuk has got to be delirious.

Stucky
Stucky
February 25, 2016 9:14 am

” … the only reason i left this site was because stukfuk and admin started censoring my posts, cuz they can’t handle the truth ” ————- Stukfuk

Is that you Winston?

I have ZERO ability to censor any posts.

The reason you left is because you’re an asshole with nothing interesting to say and people don’t like you …. so, your butthurt special snowflake ass pouted and ran,

Slayer of Sacred Cows
Slayer of Sacred Cows
February 25, 2016 9:19 am

Lilpooh, if a bank gets robbed, do you declare the dollar to not be valid? You really have no idea what you are talking about, do you?

Slayer of Sacred Cows
Slayer of Sacred Cows
February 25, 2016 9:21 am

IS – bitcoin is not a solution for the banks, it’s a solution for us to escape the control of the banks.

DRUD
DRUD
February 25, 2016 10:40 am

Ah, slayer, you have inadvertently hit on Bitcoin’s biggest flaw. As I have said many times before, all currency is at it’s most basic one thing: and agreement. As such, the ONLY thing that gives currency it’s value is confidence….the more widespread and ingrained said confidence (however misplaced it may be) is what really drives the value of a currency.

Bitcoin has some wonderful features which you hit on: near-infinite divisibility, perfect fungibility, absolute cap on total number that can ever exist–making it slightly deflationary and best of all total transparency making governing bodies not only powerless over it, but ultimately unnecessary.

However, you obtusely avoid it’s biggest detriments: it IS technically complex to use and to hold, the Blockchain, by definition, must be allowed to grow infinitely, which even in the cyber world is not possible, lack of vendors who accept it (although that is surely growing) and by far the biggest of all is most people don’t like it or trust it. Of course that may change and it may end up that the whole world will someday run (in it’s present ever-growing technological glory) on 22 million bitcoins—but I seriously doubt it.

I believe your optimism in Bitcoin is misplaced and an example of linear thinking (which is devastating in a Fourth Turning). That said, I wouldn’t mind having a few Bitcoins just in case…it is just WAY down on my priority list for preparing for the future.

Slayer of Sacred Cows
Slayer of Sacred Cows
February 25, 2016 11:38 am

DRUD:

The internet was initially difficult to not only use, but for people to even grasp what it was, and look at it now. Likewise, bitcoin is getting easier and easier to use. Now, all you have to do is create an account on Circle and use your debit card to buy bitcoins – extremely simple. And buying things with bitcoin is easier than having to pull out your debit/credit card and entering your number, expiration, etc.

Regarding the 4th Turning, I believe that decentralization is the new paradigm that’s going to emerge dominant. Decentralized technology, whether it’s bitcoin, Open Bazaar, Uber, AirBNB, etc, is out of the bag and simply can’t be stopped. What we are witnessing with the end of this turning is the beginning of the end of the state. Maybe it will collapse in the next ten years or maybe it will take another saeculum, but this is the end of the state, make no mistake on that.

gman
gman
February 25, 2016 12:13 pm

“A CD and an MP3 are both containers of music but only the CD physically exists.”

in this example one has asportation of the cd with its data content. with bitcoin one has asportation of nothing, someone else holds it and controls access to it. be assured that if bitcoin ever is a significant player in economic interactions it is 1) thoroughly compromised 2) thoroughly transparent and 3) thoroughly controlled by the nsa. they’re watching everything you’re doing with bitcoin, buiiding up a data base of your behavior, and if someone decides they don’t like what you’re doing they’ll shut you down, zero your account, and/or send you visitors to inquire about your activities.

gman
gman
February 25, 2016 12:23 pm

“I believe your optimism in Bitcoin”

probably not optimism. likely he owns some, he wants them to go up in value, so he talks his book, and the bitcoin market is so thin that a little carnival barking goes a long way.

“That said, I wouldn’t mind having a few Bitcoins just in case…it is just WAY down on my priority list”

in my opinion, the proper attitude.

KaD
KaD
February 25, 2016 12:36 pm

Venezuela descends into chaos:

The Game Changed in Venezuela Last Night – and the International Media Is Asleep At the Switch

Slayer of Sacred Cows
Slayer of Sacred Cows
February 25, 2016 1:21 pm

KaD – that article is 2 years old.

gman – “shut your account down” – you don’t understand even the fundamentals of bitcoin. Go read, it would serve you well. And yes, I own several bitcoins. So? You think I actually have influence on a billion dollar market? Of course I want the price to go up, but I also wan the price of silver to go up. So what? I am actually am altruistic in support of bitcoin though – I actually want a better society and the path to a better society is not through centralized control of our financial system. But you go ahead and keep whipping your buggy horse while I drive by you in my horseless carriage.

DRUD
DRUD
February 25, 2016 2:10 pm

“Decentralized technology, whether it’s bitcoin, Open Bazaar, Uber, AirBNB, etc, is out of the bag and simply can’t be stopped. What we are witnessing with the end of this turning is the beginning of the end of the state. Maybe it will collapse in the next ten years or maybe it will take another saeculum, but this is the end of the state, make no mistake on that.”

I do think you are right about decentralization in general, but tech worship is highly misplaced. Do you really believe that we can witness the “end of the state” but still somehow keep all our shiny electronics functioning flawlessly. The State (in general terms and specifically the Deep State of the USA!USA!USA!) is not going down without a fight (aka war) and the psychopaths in charge may just decide to pull the plug on the whole planet once their loss is assured. Point is, the state is not juts going to go gently into the night and leave all of us peons with our iGadgets and our global economy.

Your knowledge on Bitcoin is clearly exceeded by your naivete on virtually everything else.

Slayer of Sacred Cows
Slayer of Sacred Cows
February 25, 2016 2:50 pm

DRUD: I never said that the state wasn’t going down without a fight. In fact, I’m so confident of it that I just bought 13 acres out in the middle of nowhere so I can ride out the upcoming shitstorm. I’m not naive, I’m just not as deluded as you in thinking that the state is all powerful and can simply “pull the plug”. I’m not worshipping tech, as you put it, it’s just that I’m intelligent enough to see the path when it presents itself.

DRUD
DRUD
February 25, 2016 2:58 pm

The point is that “bitcoin, Open Bazaar, Uber, AirBNB, etc” can and will be stopped when we have real problems to deal with. I think these things will be the tiniest of footnotes in history, along with Facebook, Twitter and most likely Bitcoin…hell, perhaps even the internet itself. Maybe I’m wrong…nobody can know.

Land in the middle of nowhere is the ultimate investment to be sure. One of the many things that puts Bitcoin WAY down on my list.

The “pull the plug” reference, which I thought was self-evident, was about nuclear war.

gman
gman
February 25, 2016 4:49 pm

“you don’t understand even the fundamentals of bitcoin.”

at this point we can allow the readers to decide for themselves. good luck.

“Do you really believe that we can witness the “end of the state” but still somehow keep all our shiny electronics functioning flawlessly.”

it’s not that he believes that. it’s that the issues don’t even register with him. “continuity of power?” “BITCOIN!” “continuity and security of comms?” “BITCOIN!” “NSA?” “BITCOIN!”

“I just bought 13 acres out in the middle of nowhere so I can ride out the upcoming ….”

ah. now that is a wise purchase. all other things being equal of course – for example, if it’s not TOO far into the middle of nowhere, and if you actually can do something with it, and if your neighbors don’t get too uppity and snipe your house from half a mile away, and as long as some rogue national guard unit doesn’t come by and drop a few mortar rounds on your house and loot your property and move on, and as long as you can maintain access to power and comms to access your bitcoins ….

gman
gman
February 25, 2016 5:40 pm

“The “pull the plug” reference, which I thought was self-evident, was about nuclear war.”

absolutely. a nuke pre-positioned in every major city on earth.

who, you ask? simple. which nation on earth has 1) lots of nukes and 2) no relevant delivery systems?

P.M.Lawrence
P.M.Lawrence
February 25, 2016 11:13 pm

“The odds of a few rag tag farmers defeating the greatest military power on earth were virtually impossible in the 1770s”.

That is perfectly correct – and they didn’t. You were referring to the last embers of quasi-Elcaderist Corsican resistance to the French takeover of Corsica, right? Because France was the greatest military power on Earth in the 1770s (you didn’t think Napoleon started from a low base just over ten years later, did you?). That means that you can’t possibly be referring to the American rebellion against Britain, then a weaker military power than either Holland or Sweden, let alone France and Spain who BOTH fought alongside the rebels. Sure, Britain then had the strongest ECONOMY (which was why that war was a Pyrrhic Victory for France, as its finances suffered so much that it brought on the French Revolution), and Britain had the strongest single NAVY (though not yet a match for France and Spain combined, which was why Yorktown could not be relieved), but Britain deliberately had a very weak army both to keep costs down and to prevent its use in imposing tyranny.

“But through noble citizen leadership, fortitude while facing extreme adversity, and courage in the face of death, a minority of good people prevailed”.

Now I know that can’t be referring to the American rebellion against Britain, because the bad guys won that time. How else do you think they set themselves up so they and their successors could do the very things to their dupes that the rest of this article so ably brings out? You know, the system that Hamilton sought. That is why all Americans save the powers that be should fear that “The country and our future will be determined by those who are most prepared and willing to do whatever it takes to reinstitute the principles upon which this country was built”, because that is just precisely what they have received and are suffering from right now.

Stukfuk says:
Stukfuk says:
February 26, 2016 6:28 am

Stucky, ur a lying sack of shit and you know it. I don’t give a fuk if anyone on this site doesn’t like it. Censorship can and did it occur, and all of you know it.

If you can’t handle the truth, go fuk urselves, and the horses you rode in on. That means you, too, stucky the dick sucker.

Stucky
Stucky
February 26, 2016 10:01 am

@Stukfuk

You know what I am? I am ……. IN YOUR HEAD! hahahaha I bet you think about me in the morning, afternoon, and night. LMFAO!

How pathetic that you get ALL WORKED UP over a total internet stranger whom you will never meet.

You have come unglued …. and I’m loving it, ya fuckin’ moron.

IndenturedServant
IndenturedServant
February 26, 2016 12:28 pm

Stucky says:
“@Stukfuk

You know what I am? I am ……. IN YOUR HEAD! hahahaha I bet you think about me in the morning, afternoon, and night. LMFAO!”

Excellent response Stucky! That’s the thing these internet morons never figure out. You own them by being in their head and their obsession reveals the fact that you’re in their head. It’s a vicious circle they never seem to grasp….a prison of their own making. You just can’t fix stupid!

Who the hell is/was stukfuk anyway? Can’t say I ever remember that moniker outside of the last few days. Coming to The Burning Platform to bitch about being censored is rich. Every single other site on the internet is 99.999999999% more likely to censor or ban someone yet this assclown is able to come here and bitch about being censored. That’s some effective censorship!

@stukfuk, if you have an issue with the site owner or being censored, take it up with the site owner. His email is posted on every page. Otherwise, fuck off.

stukfuk says fuck off
stukfuk says fuck off
February 26, 2016 1:11 pm

IS, go fuck yourself, you dick wad. I am taking it up with the site owner.

Fucking hypocrite calling someone else an internet moron, you fucking moron.

Stucky, the ony head you’re inside is your own, when you don’t have one in your mouth, you fukwit.

You and admin started this shit. When’s the censorship going to start up again? Eh, morons?

IndenturedServant
IndenturedServant
February 26, 2016 1:19 pm

@ stukfuk……….LOL!

You’re definitely owned!

If you are taking it up with the site owner, don’t quit your day job because you have zero skills at working it out.

How is it that we can read your bullshit if you’re being censored?

Dis Nigga
Dis Nigga
February 26, 2016 1:25 pm

200, I winn

Dis Nigga
Dis Nigga
February 26, 2016 1:27 pm

Stuck and IS playing with the poor sap that call herself Stukfuk. Where did you guys pick up that barfly?

Nonanon
Nonanon
February 26, 2016 6:56 pm

Hahaha, censor this!