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The author reports on cults, but doesn’t draw many specific parallels with Bitcoin in this article. She omits any insight into what qualifies a group as a cult,

The author reports on cults, but doesn’t draw many specific parallels with Bitcoin in this article. She omits any insight into what qualifies a group as a cult, and how those characteristics apply to this particular one. She also seems to equate the broader group with its most enthusiastic members. By the same token (heh), you might as well call Star Wars a cult after attending one convention. Which, to be fair…

luciusdomitius 5y ago
The Daily Beast is a low-quality far-left tabloid. The intellectual level of the comments in this thread perfectly reflects this.
Barrin92 5y ago
doesn't draw any specific parallels? Directly from the article "The religious overtones carried over into a happy hour at a nearby hotel, where I met two men who had helped put on an outside event for Christian Bitcoiners called Thank God for Bitcoin[...] Hawthorne, a former pastor and executive director of a Christian nonprofit, said he thought of Bitcoin as a primer for religion: Both required evangelizing, conversion, and community building. Also, both required acceptance of a higher power you cannot control: just like you can’t rewrite the Bible, you can’t change the rules of bitcoin." Bitcoin fits pretty squarely into prosperity gospel type logic that is so prevalent in the US. In this case it's not even an analogy, she's literally talking to a bitcoin pastor lol. I'm sure you can draw more parallels yourself. Bitcoin has its own version of depluralization ("maximalism"), it's own eschatology in the form of the final collapse of the system when judgement is rendered upon the fiat users , and so on.
- mypastself 5y ago
  That’s drawing parallels with religion rather than a cult. Surely the author should understand the difference.
  - Barrin92 5y ago
    Many American Christian movements are de-facto cults. That there's so many of them that they have achieved mainstream recognition doesn't diminish that fact, it just speaks to the prevalence of cult-like thinking in the US. There's no need to engage in pedantic semantics to attempt to discredit the author.
    - mypastself 5y ago
      Cults have different connotations, usually involving secrecy, social isolation of its members from outside society, lack of accountability, and charismatic leaders. This is presumably the type of group the author usually reports on. The problem with applying the label so loosely is that it might lose its meaning, not to mention marginalize members of a group unfairly. Moreover, even without conflating religion and cults, the pastor’s quote might equally well be applied to most fandoms.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]

luciusdomitius 5y ago

The Daily Beast is a low-quality far-left tabloid. The intellectual level of the comments in this thread perfectly reflects this.

Barrin92 5y ago

doesn't draw any specific parallels? Directly from the article "The religious overtones carried over into a happy hour at a nearby hotel, where I met two men who had helped put on an outside event for Christian Bitcoiners called Thank God for Bitcoin[...] Hawthorne, a former pastor and executive director of a Christian nonprofit, said he thought of Bitcoin as a primer for religion: Both required evangelizing, conversion, and community building. Also, both required acceptance of a higher power you cannot control: just like you can’t rewrite the Bible, you can’t change the rules of bitcoin." Bitcoin fits pretty squarely into prosperity gospel type logic that is so prevalent in the US. In this case it's not even an analogy, she's literally talking to a bitcoin pastor lol. I'm sure you can draw more parallels yourself. Bitcoin has its own version of depluralization ("maximalism"), it's own eschatology in the form of the final collapse of the system when judgement is rendered upon the fiat users , and so on.

mypastself 5y ago
That’s drawing parallels with religion rather than a cult. Surely the author should understand the difference.
- Barrin92 5y ago
  Many American Christian movements are de-facto cults. That there's so many of them that they have achieved mainstream recognition doesn't diminish that fact, it just speaks to the prevalence of cult-like thinking in the US. There's no need to engage in pedantic semantics to attempt to discredit the author.
  - mypastself 5y ago
    Cults have different connotations, usually involving secrecy, social isolation of its members from outside society, lack of accountability, and charismatic leaders. This is presumably the type of group the author usually reports on. The problem with applying the label so loosely is that it might lose its meaning, not to mention marginalize members of a group unfairly. Moreover, even without conflating religion and cults, the pastor’s quote might equally well be applied to most fandoms.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]