Lessons for Bitcoiners from the Failure of 60s Counter Culture
“It seems like a lifetime, or at least a Main Era — the kind of peak that never comes again. San Francisco in the middle sixties was a very special time and place to be a part of. Maybe it meant something. Maybe not, in the long run... but no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world. Whatever it meant...
There was madness in any direction, at any hour. You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning...
And that, I think, was the handle — that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply PREVAIL. There was no point in fighting — on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave...
So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark — that place where the wave finally broke, and rolled back.”
― Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
60 years on from the 1960 there is once again electricity in the air. Change is afoot. The forces of Old and Evil are seemingly being pushed back as their debt based financial system appears to be floundering. Yet there are lessons to be learnt from the 60s, because looking back – when the wave finally broke, and rolled back – freedoms have only been eroded since then. Government and private/public partnerships have only gained in strength. Surveillance of ordinary people has only increased. And while we stand on the brink of a financial collapse which could bring down the controlling current system, we also stand on the brink of a global technocracy. Our actions now will dictate how future generations will live…
Will they be free to express personal opinions? Will they be free to purchase what they want, when they want? Will they have freedom of choice over their bodies and the medications they take or don’t take?
It takes no particular foresight to predict that if the current system persists that these freedoms will be gradually, and then suddenly, eroded. No force can maintain control over a population, which far exceeds its own numbers, if that population is plunged into turmoil and starvation. The people will revolt. Thus, their desire and ability to revolt must be neutralised before a financial collapse can take place.
There are two main things to learn from the 60s and one point to note about our current age. These can broadly be expressed as follows (Expressed in bullet points for anyone with ADD who can see where this is going and thus doesn’t need to read to the end):
1. MK Ultra and Controlling the Counter Culture or Undermining it from Within: Think Charles Manson, Ken Kesey, Timothy Leary, the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic, the Hell’s Angels, etc.
2. Kicking the Can Down the Road: Given that the US Dollar is the global reserve currency the current administration’s efforts to reduce government spending and debt can be seen as a delaying tactic to the inevitable rather than a real effort to completely avoid financial collapse.
3. How we Prevail: Hunter and his fellow malcontents of the 60s thought, mistakenly, that their energy would simply prevail. We cannot make that same mistake by quietly hoddling and hoping for the best, we need to actively work to create a better future.
This is a work in progress... more to come.