Bitcoiners Have Cassandra’s Curse – Bitcoin Magazine
This is an opinion editorial by Mark Maraia, an entrepreneur, author of “Rainmaking Made Simple” and Bitcoiner.
Legend has it that there was once a princess of Troy named Cassandra, the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, sister of Hector, the prince of Troy who famously fought Achilles (of heel-related fame). The god Apollo fell in love with her and in an attempt to woo her he gave her the gift of being able to see the future. Unimpressed, she rejected his love. A god could not take back a divine gift once given, so in his anger Apollo could only give her something more – this time a curse. Cassandra was destined to always see the truth about the future, but never to be believed by anyone she told her vision to.
Cassandra of Evelyn De Morgan: Image source
The frustration that this must have caused Cassadra to suffer is a sensation quite familiar to most Bitcoiners. All of us who understand our monetary system realize how bad it is. Shockingly, this is not because any of us have been taught it. It is not taught in elementary school or anywhere else in the modern curriculum, even though half of every transaction involves money and, for much of the world, dollars. On a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is about as bad and unfair as possible, our economic system is a 9.5 on the way to 10. There is no adjective for bad or unfair that will fully convey the idea.
How many more months, years or decades will it take for the masses to discover this reality? Will they ever? Who knows.
What we do know is that most Bitcoiners have seen it and even many in the altcoin universe have seen it too – and we can’t see it. We also tend to sound like crazy people when we try to explain it to family and friends. And so, many of us have given up trying, or we’ve been told in no uncertain terms “can’t we talk about it tonight?”
Take, for example, the recent economic problems in the UK. With the national currency losing enormous value in an incredibly short period of time, it should be obvious that there needs to be a cash alternative. Some may want to see it, as told in this article about the Isle of Man. But for many people – not just the British – currency collapse is a spectator sport, not something they feel they have the power to change.
Image source
A problem for Bitcoiners is that once we’ve seen the injustices of the fiat system, most of us feel some sort of evangelistic drive—or at least some moral responsibility to try to show what we’ve seen to the people we care about – and to help them free themselves to a greater or lesser extent from the inevitable consequences of the current unfair system by purchasing Bitcoin.
And then we have Bitcoin itself. Almost no one understands it. This technological boomer has studied it intensely for thousands of hours and still does not fully understand all the benefits it brings to the average citizen of this planet, especially the most vulnerable and poorest among us in the Global South. Bitcoin is about as brilliant an idea as the mind can think of for a digital money system. There is no adjective for brilliant that will convey how wonderful an alternative it is to the US dollar.
Put these two systems together and what do you get? Cognitive dissonance. A gap wider than the oceans. Cassandra’s Curse. The delta is wide. There is a gap of ignorance that is greater than the distance to the sun.
“Cassandra and Ajax”: Image source
There is no cure for Cassandra’s curse other than time and patience. We are so early.
This is a guest post by Mark Maraia. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.
