Hey Steemians,
I had a self-realization moment about crypto and the world we live in today.
As most of the world knows, Houston Texas was devastated by Hurricane Harvey about two weeks ago. Since then there has been millions and millions of dollars in damages done and many people have completely lost everything they've ever owned. It's been a tragedy.
Now I'm a Texas native. I live over 5 hours away from the affected zone, however, I have been effected by Hurricane Harvey actions. Actually, not Harveys actions, but the MEDIA REACTION that followed it's wake of destruction.
The media put a bunch of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt) over the airwaves during Hurricane Harvey. A news outlet suggested that there will be a pandemic of gasoline shortages due to Corpus Christi gas reserves inability to access cities in Texas.
THERE WAS NO GAS SHORTAGE!!! 3/4 OF TEXAS GAS DISTRIBUTION DOESN'T COME FROM CORPUS (Don't quote me on exact specifics on this)
BUT, the news from the media, created widespread panic. In ONE DAY, every single gasoline station in the entire Dallas/Fort Worth area all the way to the coast of Texas was pumped completely dry. Tons of gas stations as far as El Paso and Lubbock were also pumped dry. There are pictures all over the internet with people from random towns filling up 55 gallon drums full of pump gas. There were local Craigslist and OfferUp ads selling 1 gallon of gas for $20-50.
See where I'm going with this?
Crypto is already sketchy to most people.
People that have heard of crypto but know nothing about it have heard that it's only associated with the darkweb. Or that it's a Ponzi scheme. Or that it's MLM. Or that there's "no way something made out of thin air can be valuable".
People that haven't heard of crypto usually don't care to hear about it, or they're scared to invest or work for something that could "vanish overnight".
How do we honestly expect to get the world onboard with crypto, when 90% of the world are sheep that are frightened of a fake gas shortage or fall into whatever the media says? Simple, we can't do it
I know my facts: I know how blockchain tech works, I know how crypto works. I can explain digital currency to a complete noob all the way to a top level IT, networking, or programming guru. But it's still a struggle to get people to understand it, because they're scared to understand it.
This is the world we live in, everyone. Like it or not.
Fear - false evidence appearing real.
Yes - there's indeed way too much of it. It is quite the process in directing change. Obviously there is many here who do not subscribe to the fud and fomo. This is indeed a minority group. A world wide group. Interesting things about a small group of people with world wide influence - it has the power and ability to influence - direct the masses. It's not always so instant...because sometimes there is stubborness that requires patience from the teacher to let the student make the mistake and the correction. This is what is happening. Lot of mistakes taking place. Lot of poor decisions...and missed opportunities.
With all that being said - I am seeing expansion in my my networks with regards to crypto, world politics and self-development. It's likely partly do to myself involvements...but also do to so many others around the world who are on the same page...who are on point....who are grounded....this core group of us throughout the world who recognize and understand the psychological warfare that's been a real tragic comedy.
Staring at a seed and watching it grow is a slow process.....but....when you don't focus on it so much and just check in from time to time...the growth is incredible and the change is evident.
It's happening.
Great Post
Awesome reply! I agree with you completely!
Awesomeness!
I love 100% Alignments :)
Sound Agreements are the Best!
Cool connecting with cha :)
The idiots don't even understand how the Feral Reserve system works, but they use it. In two years they'll all be using crypto cuz it'll be the only game in town.
But the thing is, everytime crypto dies... PART of the money stays in. Some people are HODLing, others have taken out their investment long ago and will just keep profits inside crypto. It is these people who eventually make the charts bottom out... And the chart always bottoms out. At some point, people will start buying again because it's so cheap. Then it will slowly rise.
Just like every other time. We've been through these so-called 'bubbles' before. They're not bubbles. They're cycles. And they are increasing in size, and happening in shorter intervals. Why? Because more people are confident that crypto is not going away. This group will only continue to keep growing, because it's a self-fulfilling prophecy... Everytime Bitcoin dies, it will be back later and more fiercer, and everytime it does it will grow consumer confidence. As it has always done.
TL;DR: Buy Bitcoin
Most definitely. I HATE the reference "bubble".
Very good post, an interesting point of view. Follow.
Thank you!!
Followed back.
I get it... but I respectfully (with my glass half full) disagree. 😏
In fact, I just explained it to an old hippie Buddhist (my handy-man, I live in a weird place) and he was super excited and on board.
Did I expect this reaction? Nopers. But I was pleasantly surprised. I expected exactly what you describe... but lo and behold- every time I've explained even just a little crypto to someone who knows nothing I've only been hit with positive responses and interest.
I find this to be happening more than not. Even a couple of months ago I would bring it up to tunes of, "Oh, the darkweb?" "Isn't that illegal?" etc. But not any more. The interest is there. We just gotta peak it from a safe distance.
So, I suppose the only reason I disagree is because of your all or nothing attitude. That is simply not how things work... At least in my life.
I totally understand being exhausted with trying to explain things. This happens with literally any and every topic you/one cares about.
It's like, as soon as I learn something I want to scream it from the roof tops... yet, no one is listening. (I find this to be particulary true of conspiracy theories...😎 )
You have to find the right folks to listen, when they are ready. Then it will happen. It always does.
Don't give up.
A lot of us haven't yet. ❤️
Thanks for the thoughts and discussion. I'm currently trying to power back up my voting strength. I'll try to pop back here in a couple of days and give you an upvote. 🤑
Thank you for your reply. I'm not all or nothing, though. I think crypto will have a powerful place in the money industry, but will it be fully accepted? I think not. Great reply
Cool. I agree with you there. It won't probably be FULLY accepted. I predict the end of the world prior to that. 😵
You're not wrong!!
well said... it would take something drastic for our current system in order to achieve main stream adoption. I would think the govt knows this and would do anything they could to prevent an incident of that scale to happen.
I agree and respectfully disagree to your statement. Our system is failing. Fiat currency in the US especially is simply supply and demand. Not backed up by anything and our debt is increasing by the second. Inflation will continue to rise and people will look for alternative ways to purchase goods and items. Unfortunately, I don't think digital currency will be the 100% solution. I think the government will try to adopt a different style of currency or attempt some form of backing the current fiat. Either way, you're absolutely right about government doing anything they can to prevent adoption of a decentralized currency.
I mean, why wouldn't they want their sticky fingers on everything we, the people, work for?
Interesting thoughts..I think other countries will adopt it before the US, and we will be "late to the party." But really it doesnt even matter it stays a reserve commodity, I think it will continue to grow
Agreed! Especially 2nd world countries and counties with major economic failure, Greece for example. The Chinese will "surrender" to crypto first, but damn the govt. there is trying to make it difficult. I think crypto will eventually take over 10% of the worlds economy, but not much more. I feel ASSETS will start to obtain more value (gold, platinum, real estate) as the world moves from fiat.
The reason the stations were pumped dry is that the government won't let them raise prices. Limited supply means high prices in the free market. If they were allowed to raise prices, people are sure to buy only what they absolutely need, making it go around a lot farther.
They raised prices anyways. Local gas stations were charging upwards of $4-8 per gallon. Texas govt had somewhere around 500 complaints of price gouging
See? The higher prices makes an incentive to bring in more gasoline that people need. The price spikes because of an intense increase of local demand. The higher price helps motivate people to move in more gasoline to meet that demand. When the demand falls back to normal, the prices drop back to normal. Keeping the price abnormally low will only ensure shortages. There is no incentive to try harder to bring in gasoline.
When you see that same media pumping hysteria about the crashing dollar -people will be scrambling to get out of it and will be looking for somewhere else to put it . Granted - precious metals will be very popular - but as the demand for hard assets increases and the price goes through the roof .. crytpos , which will have established themselves by then , will start to look real attractive as a trading currency. As long as people can spend it - they will use it - they just need to know that they can spend it -so a lot of the work is going to have to go into getting global merchants to jump on board.
Even with all that said - I believe that it is just a matter of time before crytpo represents ALL currency - this is the digital age wee already use digital money in the form of debit cards and credit cards- as they usher out the paper dollar , consumers will get used to using digital currency. Once everyone is on digital money , or even sooner they will announce a need to make it more secure - so they will transition it to the blockchain and before you know it , that will be only form of cash and several decades from now , they will look at a stack of money , the same way we look at confederate money - more of a novelty, than a functional currency.
I expand on that a little ore here on my rebuttle to this post:
https://steemit.com/crytpocurrency/@jorlauski/my-personal-opinion-on-why-the-whole-world-will-submit-to-cryptocurrency
Interesting perspective. However, media wont be nearly as hard on the crashing dollar because govt. interference on the media.
It's hard to debunk you on that point .... ;)
You know, as a fellow Texan, I agree with you. Another reason why Crypto feels "Sketchy" to some people is because the government goes out of it's way to keep people hooked on Greenbacks. As long as the government can't tax Crypto, they will bad mouth it and talk people out of it.
Another reason is because people try to invest in Crypto, and in my opinion, this investment kills innovation.
How does it kill innovation in an ever evolving digital world? Take IOT and the blockchain for example.