4 ms·

This is just another case where the far right picks up dubious fights in the name of freedom in order to recruit new supporters. There is really no imminent ris

This is just another case where the far right picks up dubious fights in the name of freedom in order to recruit new supporters. There is really no imminent risk of Switzerland becoming forcibly cashless or people losing their freedoms.

sschueller 4y ago
I agree that this far right group bringing up this issue is a problem as I don't agree with any of their policies. However on this issue: There is a lot of push from Visa and Mastercard to get people to go cashless. Push of ads, claims that cash is dirty etc. PostFinance for example no longer is issuing their own debit cards instead are now also part of Mastercard. We have lost all control of our purchasing data. Additionally there are now several businesses not accepting cash at all when this is forbidden by law.
- intellectronica 4y ago
  It's hard for me to judge how much of a problem this is, and it's at least to some extent a matter of opinion, but even if it is a problem, the guiding principle for non-extremists is that you resolve problems at the appropriate level. An alarmist campaign and a national initiative isn't the appropriate level for this kind of problem, which can more productively be addressed through the relevant regulatory bodies, consumer groups, etc ... The only reason to start a campaign like this one is to make noise, desperately trying to recruit supporters to far right causes. It's not an honest and genuine attempt to address a real problem, even and especially if you are convinced that this is indeed a problem.
  - sschueller 4y ago
    Yes exactly, I hope this doesn't backfire because of the way it is being brought up and accelerate the death of cash.
gerikson 4y ago
I figured FBS was far-right despite not reading German, simply from some keywords, the illustrations, and the web design. Interestingly they're presented neutrally ("a pressure group") in the linked Reuters article. It took some googling to find their webpage: fbschweiz.ch.

sschueller 4y ago

I agree that this far right group bringing up this issue is a problem as I don't agree with any of their policies. However on this issue: There is a lot of push from Visa and Mastercard to get people to go cashless. Push of ads, claims that cash is dirty etc. PostFinance for example no longer is issuing their own debit cards instead are now also part of Mastercard. We have lost all control of our purchasing data. Additionally there are now several businesses not accepting cash at all when this is forbidden by law.

intellectronica 4y ago
It's hard for me to judge how much of a problem this is, and it's at least to some extent a matter of opinion, but even if it is a problem, the guiding principle for non-extremists is that you resolve problems at the appropriate level. An alarmist campaign and a national initiative isn't the appropriate level for this kind of problem, which can more productively be addressed through the relevant regulatory bodies, consumer groups, etc ... The only reason to start a campaign like this one is to make noise, desperately trying to recruit supporters to far right causes. It's not an honest and genuine attempt to address a real problem, even and especially if you are convinced that this is indeed a problem.
- sschueller 4y ago
  Yes exactly, I hope this doesn't backfire because of the way it is being brought up and accelerate the death of cash.

gerikson 4y ago

I figured FBS was far-right despite not reading German, simply from some keywords, the illustrations, and the web design. Interestingly they're presented neutrally ("a pressure group") in the linked Reuters article. It took some googling to find their webpage: fbschweiz.ch.