There was a thread on Reddit /r/Bitcoin the other day referencing Roger Ver's tweet or posting that he'd been denied a U.S. visa to travel to the Miami conference. (Personally, as much as I respect what Roger Ver did, he basically said he didn't need the U.S. anymore and now he's whining that they won't let him back in when he does need it. Anyway, my opinion is irrelevant.) I mention this here because the comments on that thread really surprised me. Bruce Fenton weighed in regularly on RV's behalf, which was predictable. But while a year or two ago, 100% of the comments would have been blindly in favor of Roger Ver, Bruce Fenton, and Bitcoin, nearly half of the comments there were negative or questioning.
My point: Plenty of people are supportive of Bitcoin and its icons. But there may be fewer 'blind' supporters than we think. A one year bear market + all these scandals is taking a toll. People are willing to question some things now. And that's healthy.
What Roger was saying was that he chooses to no longer be a citizen and pay taxes to the state that imprisoned him for criticizing the abuses of ATF, using his ebay sales of farmers bird scarers as "fireworks" as a convenient excuse (while none of the other 8 sellers on ebay were prosecuted).
Roger's bitterness toward the US government is completely justified - claiming he is "whining" about being denied entry to visit family and conduct business is bullshit.
The politics being played regarding that are nothing but petty revenge by the US government - it is quite obvious that he is being individually targeted, just as he was 15 years ago.
Here's Roger's story if you haven't read it:
http://dailyanarchist.com/2012/11/12/bitcoin-venture-capitalist-roger-vers-journey-to-anarchism/
The fact that 100% of the bitcoin community isn't completely supportive of Roger just goes to show how much it has been invaded by morally bankrupt boot-lickers who would gladly sell away your liberty to see their shiny new bitcoin investment increase another 10%.
/rant
The dude got railroaded, no question. Whoever went after him was way too overzealous. But that's the way cops and prosecutors often work, and it wasn't entirely unforeseeable that they might connect those two dots he left out there for them. Free speech has never been limitless. I can point you to plenty of court cases holding that the wrong words + the wrong actions can get you into a heap of trouble. When you're making anarchist statements that someone might interpret as threats against the government, it's best not to keep a closet full of M-80 gopher blasters. You just have to be smarter than that and can't give them that kind of fodder. Roger won't be trying that one in Japan, I guarantee you.
Live and learn. Everyone makes mistakes, especially when they're young. I respect Roger Ver and I'm sorry that happened to him when he probably didn't intend any harm to anyone. But he's not sitting in an American jail; he chose to give up his passport.
Anyway, let's say I agree with everything you wrote. My point wasn't that agreeing with Roger Ver makes you a 'tin foil hat' type. It was actually kind of the reverse: that I was shocked at how many people were not necessarily supporting every aspect of the whole Bitcoin narrative anymore. Combine that with other evidence, such as the fall of Litecoin and the ongoing weakness of PoW in general, and I think there are some cracks. If you see this as money people coming in, then so be it; I see it as weariness with Bitcoin's ongoing weakness.
Upshot: evangelizing BitShares to that crowd may not be as futile as some of us (including me) have believed.
Topic: The end of POW approaches... (Read 10470 times)
