What is Power
I have been with the Hive Blockchain from the beginning like many others, and before that with the Steem Blockchain for a considerable period of time. For a while now, one of my interest in this Delegated Proof of Stake (DPOS) blockchain have been governance. When I accumulated 'meaningful' stake on the Hive Blockchain, I thought I should use it responsibly. One of the key responsibility of a stakeholder is to protect the blockchain from abuse. Most common form of abuse comes from greed, which is a basic human instinct. Greedy people see this blockchain as a tool to earn money by any means. They only care of their personal benefits, and they do it at the expense of others and the blockchain itself. The Hive Blockchain itself have a abuse fighting tool in the form of downvotes. A downvote is just the opposite of upvote and it takes rewards away and puts it back to the common reward pool. When I started governance, I used this tool to protect the blockchain against abuse. Very quickly there is a sentiment that I had to deal with and still deal with almost on a daily basis. Most abusers, large or small, when they get caught, typically play the victim. They say I am 'abusing my power'. They mean my hivepower or stake is getting misused. This is a difficult fight and I always reach out to the scene below from the Schindler's List by Steven Spielberg!
This is one of my favorite scene from the movie. I always wondered about "What is Power". This scene doesn't answer the question. In reality here Oscar is manipulating Amon, in such a delicate way that Amon feels that he is in control, but in a way, keeps his sadism in check. Oscar knows that Amon is under a lot of pressure to exterminate every living soul at the camp and destroy the evidence of the genocide as allies are graining ground everyday and the Nazi leadership is crumbling from within. Oscar's goal has always been to save as many souls as he can. He is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve that goal at all cost.
So here Oscar is trying to soften Amon by telling a story about forgiveness, and how that translates to power. If you are powerful, the ability that comes with the power is useless if you can't use it wisely.
Oskar Schindler: Power is when we have every justification to kill, and we don't.
Amon Goeth: You think that's power?
Oskar Schindler: That's what the Emperor said. A man steals something, he's brought in before the Emperor, he throws himself down on the ground. He begs for his life, he knows he's going to die. And the Emperor... pardons him. This worthless man, he lets him go.
Amon Goeth: I think you are drunk.
Oskar Schindler: That's power, Amon. That is power.
Fighting abuse at Hive blockchain in not easy. I know many people who tried it and in the end lost interest, and even got mentally demotivated to even be on the Blockchain. This is a social network and the social trauma of fighting abuse can be mentally taxing. I use Friedrich Nietzsche's quote quite often as a medicine and a reminder to myself
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you
This is a constant struggle, and I hope not to become a monster.
Your post makes me want to watch that movie again.
yeah, its a good movie
I really dig this post. This is a perfect example of how you can tie in almost any subject with the niche you are trying to target. You just took Hive, the idea of Power, and Schindler's List and merged all those subjects together, and it worked. I was actually in the midst of writing a similar post on Leo before this place took off :)
Yeah, it is not difficult. Most people try and write reviews, and its not enjoyable. Because there are 1000s of reviews of Schindler's List, why I write another. But if there is something that resonate with me, and it often does, I can always write about it so that I remember it. Mostly we write for ourselves :)
I agree with this. Been trying to keep the flow of freestyle rather than just reviews!
Yeah. We will encourage others to do the same. That would be fun content to read.
I thought of this song when reading about your relationship with Hive 😀
Wow! Thank you :)
Its a classic. The community makes it worth it. I understand what that word means actually. You made my day!
It's a great song in deed. And thanks for what you're doing for Hive
I remember holding my breath in that scene! It was intense!
You're fighting the good fight. You didn't need to. I don't think anyone pays you to moderate posts or expose the abusers. You could just make money and turn the blind eye. But you're doing it anyway, like the saying in Bengali, ঘরের খেয়ে বনের মোষ তাড়ানো, and I believe that's commendable.
All kinds of bad things happen when the good people do nothing. I suppose the rise of the third Reich taught us that in a very gruesome way.
Nop, no one pays me :)
But this is my house, it is my job to protect it.
You know I am no hero :). There are multiple people here who does what I do, so I am certainly not alone, but not too many out there either.
But I like to think about this quote:
and Yes Amor, I strongly believe in your last statement.
Oh I love that quote and in fact it is one my favourites.
It is hard when you fight the abuse of the platform because you have to retread the same old ground everytime because they always feel that they are justified. I especially hate the but x y and x does it and no one downvotes them?!?!
Sometimes you should just become the monster and revel in it! RAAAR :OD
yeah, similar argument is, that other guy is killing others, and not getting caught, why am I getting arrested for killing people :)
Lol exactly!! Sometimes its easier to communicate in GIFS with these folk :OD
Nice post!
Dead guy quote: "Let us control the money of a country, and we care not who makes its laws."
A great film, one of the few must watch in your life films.
You do a good job but at times we all make mistakes it is part of being human. No matter how hard we try we will at times get it wrong. So don't worry or stress to much about it, it's how we grow from our experiences.
Keep up the great work, you must have done really well and started off with great posts on Steemit. It was a challenging environment to be in and you did well so that proves you're in the right path.
What would you say your top 5 tips for new users are?
Great reminder and keep fighting the good fight!
Some of us are willing to do that....whatever it takes.
Nothing against your PoV; I just think it's a bit ironic that a post trying to make a point for "fighting against abuse" is a prime example of "abuse". I guess you don't mind being on the other side of the end, if it's you that's getting auto-voted by Haejin?
Honestly, is this post worth 50$ (author rewards)?
Answer:
I absolutely don't. I appreciate your point of view and I am thankful for your action.
I have no idea why rancho votes and how he votes and why he votes me. I don't know him, and I have no control over his actions. I think he is likely looking for curation rewards and votes on post that are on trending....but again that is a wild guess from my end, and I am NOT an expert on the subject.
Thank you for stopping by, I always enjoy our conversations.
He sometimes votes on brofund on the rare occasion that we get a HUGE vote. I'm pretty sure it's for the curation rewards.
I usually stay away from downvoting as I find the thought alone of "this should have fewer rewards" is a negative mindset. Though seeing the same faces for weeks/months on trending, benefiting from a broken system where stakeholders are incentivized to go on auto-pilot isn't any better.
You're new on trending, of course, though I haven't forgotten your morale finger you so "respectfully" directed towards me a few months ago, that I felt it was just fair to return the favour.
But no need to worry, I'm not resentful nor I'm not interested in putting my morale finger on more contributions.
I think the most important questions is to ask whether the current system is serving us and the growth of this community.
My answer to this is clear, I've shared it many times over the years, but as I've learned - if the community doesn't want something, who am I to object. This is what breads resentfulness, anger and frustration. It's better to be like water: to adapt and to move on, instead of trying to fight resistance. This is the way.
I will repeat what I said above and say that I appreciate your point of view. I have no control on who votes me or who downvotes me.