Option 3: engulfed by dogma and groupthink.
Vast majority of people I see being like this are neither retarded nor stupid.
They've just fallen victim to groupthink, and believing they know better than everyone else (big ego) is not helping things.
And because of that, we have ALL suffered. Because in the end, Bitcoin maxis or Monero bros, we're all looking for the same. More freedom and more autonomy.
The mass-failure to recognize #monero for what it is - the biggest fuck you to the totalitarian mass-surveillance system that keeps growing and under which we presently find ourselves, has had deleterious effects for freedom fighters everywhere, as Bitcoin maxis of all colors and sexes larped on and on and on and outright dismissed another tool, just because it has a different flag.
No second best and all that dogmatic stupid crap.
Well, for 15 years now those maxis have normalized transparency, traceability, zero privacy.
Blinded by dogma and hubris, they could not see they were setting in motion the inevitable.
That one day, because tracing is possible AND trivial on Bitcoin, the powers that be would do everything in their power to stamp out any and all hiding places in a very public ledger.
Thankfully for us, though they are evil and control freaks, they don't seem to generally be very bright, so it took them 15 years to accomplish what could have been done in 3 or 4 years.
It's time for the maxis to reflect. We who use Monero as a tool, the best tool for financial privacy we have IN THE WHOLE WORLD, tried to warn you.
We were ostracized. Laughed at. Sneered at.
Your cups were already full, and no new water could go in.
And I'm not saying all this to rub in your face that you were wrong.
No, I'm saying all this because I am certain that without privacy AND anonymity, we won't be able to progress towards the freer world with less State interference that so many of us envision.
Bitcoin as it exists today just isn't that tool. And it boils down to its lack of fungibility, which stems from its lack of privacy.
I'm not saying start a new religion based on Monero this time.
I'm saying, stop treating this stuff as a religion, with priests, dogmas and heretics.
Fucking USE Monero, it is the BEST tool for financial privacy TODAY.
Normalize anonymous and private payments. This has been the standard throughout ALL of history!
And yes, make Bitcoin better! It has by far the biggest network effect and a very recognizable brand.
Either we win and we get to do with money what the cypherpunks managed to do for calls, the web, im, etc, or they win, and we get the world we deserve because of our failure to collectively get our act together.
Stop with the nonsensical tribalistic nonsense. Choose the best tool. And help improve other tools that matter to you if you can.
The dogmatic nonsense is what got us here.