I'm a journalist who wrote about "Bitcoin 2012" conference—I was wrong

[WuTangForever]

Dear Bitcoin Talk community,

My name is Jake Hanrahan. I’m a freelance journalist based in the UK. I’ve written for The Guardian, Wired, Vice, The Independent, Rolling Stone Middle East, and others. I first heard about Bitcoin when I wrote this early piece about Silk Road: http://www.sabotagetimes.com/life/shopping-on-the-dark-web-pure-drugs-and-plastic-explosives/

I looked into it and kind of liked the idea but wasn’t convinced at all (which I’m kicking myself for now as BTC were around £3 each at the time).
Later in the year, after I’d written the Silk Road piece, I was commissioned by Vice UK to attend the Bitcoin 2012 conference that was held in London. I went there and was massively disillusioned with the whole thing, as it focussed primarily on far-left ideals and felt very much like a self-important Bitcoin circle jerk by the time it was over. There was nowhere near enough focus on the currency itself. It was mostly just about how Bitcoin will be synonymous with anarchists, WikiLeaks, whistleblowers, libertarians, and freedom fighters. This is all well and good in extremely small doses, but for me the anti-capitalism rhetoric was jarring. So I went home, quickly wrote my piece and sent it off to Vice who published it: http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/printable-guns-grey-matters-and-masked-hackers. Looking back now I admittedly didn’t spend enough time writing the piece and it’s most definitely not my best work.

But anyway, since a tidal wave of attention hit Bitcoin after the Silk Road seizure, I began to look back into the cryptocurrency. I quickly realised that there’s so much more to it than trust-fund revolutionaries and anarchists wondering around a conference room in Guy Fawkes’ masks. I even invested my own money into it and bought my first Bitcoin, trading it two weeks later for a fair profit (reinvesting the cash into more Bitcoin afterwards). I have grown to really like Bitcoin and find myself becoming more involved in it every day.

I don’t know if Bitcoin will be as revolutionary or has the longevity that many people think it does, but I do think it has at least raised some very important points of conversation in powerful places. I like that it’s also empowering a whole community without them having to be tied to government, which is never a bad thing. And sure, it may be the currency of choice when it comes to buying drugs online, but fiat money is the currency of choice when it comes to buying drugs on the street—that for me no longer defines what Bitcoin is all about.

I’m still a total “Bitcoin newb” and have made a ton of mistakes trying to buy and trade Bitcoin, but in doing so I’ve learnt a lot about the movement. Although I’m still not 100% sold, I’m definitely along for the ride now and hope it lasts.

So yeah, I just wanted to write this to put my hands up, address the Bitcoin community in some small way, and say I feel my first inclination toward Bitcoin was wrong.

And if anyone’s interested, some other articles of mine about other stuff can be found below.

    Skating in a Warzone

    The New Black Panther's Mission to Help Mugabe

    Meet The Cult Trying to Rehabilitate the Swastika

Cheers

[odolvlobo]

... I went there and was massively disillusioned with the whole thing, as it focussed primarily on far-left ideals ... It was mostly just about how Bitcoin will be synonymous with anarchists, WikiLeaks, whistleblowers, libertarians, and freedom fighters. This is all well and good in extremely small doses, but for me the anti-capitalism rhetoric was jarring. ...

You are still confused. That you consider anarchists and libertarians to be far left and anti-capitalist shows how confused you are. You have a lot to learn.

[WuTangForever]

... I went there and was massively disillusioned with the whole thing, as it focussed primarily on far-left ideals ... It was mostly just about how Bitcoin will be synonymous with anarchists, WikiLeaks, whistleblowers, libertarians, and freedom fighters. This is all well and good in extremely small doses, but for me the anti-capitalism rhetoric was jarring. ...

You are still confused. That you consider anarchists and libertarians to be far left and anti-capitalist shows how confused you are. You have a lot to learn.

There was a hell of a lot of far-left ideal thrown around, but to be clear the list, i.e. WikiLeaks, anarchism etc, doesn't specifically tie in to that bracket, no. I'm not confused though, thanks all the same.

[mindfulmojo]

I would like to say welcome to the community... I always enjoyed watching vice,

good entertainment and interesting topics....  

Edit: I might have you confused with a tv show, I'm not sure..lol

[PenAndPaper]

It seems that you still don't understand what bitcoin is.
Come back when the price hits 10.000$ since it is obvious that only the price rally brought you here...

[mindfulmojo]

It seems that you still don't understand what bitcoin is.
Come back when the price hits 10.000$ since it is obvious that only the price rally brought you here...

Why do you not want to welcome someone who is going to write positive articles on bitcoin?

Hopefully anyway...lol

[Akka]

... I went there and was massively disillusioned with the whole thing, as it focussed primarily on far-left ideals ... It was mostly just about how Bitcoin will be synonymous with anarchists, WikiLeaks, whistleblowers, libertarians, and freedom fighters. This is all well and good in extremely small doses, but for me the anti-capitalism rhetoric was jarring. ...

You are still confused. That you consider anarchists and libertarians to be far left and anti-capitalist shows how confused you are. You have a lot to learn.

There was a hell of a lot of far-left ideal thrown around, but to be clear the list, i.e. WikiLeaks, anarchism etc, doesn't specifically tie in to that bracket, no. I'm not confused though, thanks all the same.

Hmm, I also have the impression (Political-) Left doesn't mean what you think it means.

Far left = Socialist, Communist. etc.. A Majority of Bitcoiners is as far away from this as it gets.

But welcome to the forum. Good that BTC finally sparked you interest.

[PenAndPaper]

Why do you not want to welcome someone who is going to write positive articles on bitcoin?

Hopefully anyway...lol

Well bitcoin was full of negative reports from mainstream journalism and look where we are now  
People that don't understand what bitcoin is cannot have an impact on it.

[WuTangForever]

... I went there and was massively disillusioned with the whole thing, as it focussed primarily on far-left ideals ... It was mostly just about how Bitcoin will be synonymous with anarchists, WikiLeaks, whistleblowers, libertarians, and freedom fighters. This is all well and good in extremely small doses, but for me the anti-capitalism rhetoric was jarring. ...

You are still confused. That you consider anarchists and libertarians to be far left and anti-capitalist shows how confused you are. You have a lot to learn.

There was a hell of a lot of far-left ideal thrown around, but to be clear the list, i.e. WikiLeaks, anarchism etc, doesn't specifically tie in to that bracket, no. I'm not confused though, thanks all the same.

Hmm, I also have the impression (Political-) Left doesn't mean what you think it means.

Far left = Socialist, Communist. etc.. A Majority of Bitcoiners is as far away from this as it gets.

But welcome to the forum. Good that BTC finally sparked you interest.

Trust me there were a lot of socialists and communists there. Even the socialist magazine (Socialist Worker I think it was?) was given out at the front of the conference place.

I know what far-left means, I'm not saying Bitcoiners are far-left, I'm saying there was a lot of far-left rhetoric at the Bitcoin 2012 Conference. You can argue with me that I'm confused if you like but it was definitely there.

Thanks for the welcome though!

[WuTangForever]

It seems that you still don't understand what bitcoin is.
Come back when the price hits 10.000$ since it is obvious that only the price rally brought you here...

I never claimed to understand what it is and said very clearly that I have made many mistakes trying to get to grips with it.

Of course the price rally brought me here, but if that in turn opened up my mind to the possibilities of the currency then is that such a bad thing? Hey, maybe I'm just some dick trying to jump on a bandwagon, who knows, but I just wanted to say that I feel my initial reaction to BTC was wrong and that now I feel like learning a lot more.

[Inedible]

Dear Bitcoin Talk community,

<snip>

So yeah, I just wanted to write this to put my hands up, address the Bitcoin community in some small way, and say I feel my first inclination toward Bitcoin was wrong.

Listen, you had your chance and you blew it.

You're forever spurned from the community you stabbed in the back.

You're dead to us.




I'm kidding - lol

Glad you had a chance to take a second look. Don't worry about other people's views of Bitcoin. Just imagine how your future, your world, your government could be changed for the better with Bitcoin and you won't go far wrong.

Don't forget, Bitcoin as a vehicle for investment is only an early phase. At some point it'll just be a currency.

[WuTangForever]

Dear Bitcoin Talk community,

<snip>

So yeah, I just wanted to write this to put my hands up, address the Bitcoin community in some small way, and say I feel my first inclination toward Bitcoin was wrong.

Listen, you had your chance and you blew it.

You're forever spurned from the community you stabbed in the back.

You're dead to us.




I'm kidding - lol

Glad you had a chance to take a second look. Don't worry about other people's views of Bitcoin. Just imagine how your future, your world, your government could be changed for the better with Bitcoin and you won't go far wrong.

Don't forget, Bitcoin as a vehicle for investment is only an early phase. At some point it'll just be a currency.

Lol thanks man, much appreciated. Yeah I wish I could pay for more things with Bitcoin. The transaction fees alone are much nicer.

[Dysfunction86]

Hey guys sorry 1st post. Need to contact someone. Due to the Payonix Scam.

[nak]

Some of the hostility in here is completely unjust. The guy has put his hands up and admitted that he didn't fully grasp bitcoin when he first published that article. It takes balls to admit when you're wrong, and I think this guy deserves a little more credit.

I'm a Londoner, and I'm still totally bemused as to why bitcoin get's no TV time on any UK channel other than RT. It really does put the mainstream media into perspective. The most the BBC can do, is produce some piss-poor, fear-mongering bitcoin article, tucked away on their website.

[gracesfall]

Welcome aboard I'm new to BTC as well but am learning all that I can. I think folks are in for a wild ride w/ bitcoin. It may not be around forever, but it may well be the 'founding father' of something even greater later on down the road. Either way, I'm in.

[Gator-hex]

It takes a big man to admit they are wrong. How about writing some positive stories around how Bitcoin could change the world. What will the world look like if people from the third world can trade with people from the 1st world on a level playing field?

for me the anti-capitalism rhetoric was jarring.

It's about as far away from Anti-Capitalism as you can get. Bitcoin is the most pure form of capitalism, there is no government to bail you out by printing more currency (effectively a tax on your population via inflation).

[WuTangForever]

It takes a big man to admit they are wrong. How about writing some positive stories around how Bitcoin could change the world. What will the world look like if people from the third world can trade with people from the 1st world on a level playing field?

Very interesting concept, and I find the use of Bitcoin spreading throughout Kenya something that I'd like to explore further.

It's about as far away from Anti-Capitalism as you can get. Bitcoin is the most pure form of capitalism, there is no government to bail you out by printing more currency (effectively a tax on your population via inflation).

Sure, which is a concept I like, but again, I was referring to the Bitcoin conference I went to, not Bitcoin as a whole. It felt very anti-capitalist at the conference is all, which put me off.

[PenAndPaper]

No hostility from my part and of course it takes no balls to admit what is now obvious.