We do not see this type of action taken against drug cartels, prostitution rings or any other illicit activities, just ones that the average person would not generally look on as such a bad thing. The state then used media to propagandize the situations to some monstrous proportions, the first was based on a racial issue that did not exist, and the other was claims of religious sexual practices that did not exist...
The strength of this is the decentralized nature, there is no one place to attack that will destroy us all...
It's always been true that groups who isolate themselves from the mainstream are distrusted and persecuted--(hello, Jews). If people act different, or weird, or unusual it is human nature to fear and distrust them (and give impetus for the raids of their homes and property). I have seen men convicted on circumstantial evidence because they acted "weird" and the Jury did not trust them. These groups that move into the hills to start micro-societies get the same treatment. I remember once Oprah had Michael Moore on her show and they showed footage of a baby in diapers being held by his mother, who wore fatigues and had a rifle slung over her back (something that I was accustomed to seeing in my home and didn't find strange). Oprah and Michael both agreed (to the cheers of the audience) that there was something "wrong" with people who acted this way--even though the act harmed absolutely no one.
After reading some undergraduate psychology texts I came across the theory that this behavior was ingrained into all human beings as a matter of instinct. Apparently, back in our primitive, barbaric days as early primates--groups that stuck together and punished outsiders were better protected against predators--and groups who enforced strict social codes were better protected against disease--hence it is these traits that were passed down to humanity.
That being said--it seems that the way to get bitcoin popular would be to sell it to the mainstream so it is not perceived as the tool of a "weird" grouop of "outsiders" and human instinct does not inevitably drive people to fear it and brand it as a scepter of the terrorists, pedophiles, drug lords &c.
I am going to try to introduce this program to as many econ professors as possible. Hopefully this way it will work it's way into the mainstream as a sort of "experiment" in economics.
Also, celebrities should start using and promoting bitcoin--I think that Drew Carey and Jessie Ventura might be interested in it. Also--mainstream activist organizations like the ACLU would make valuable allies. IRRC--PGP cryptography was once banned, but the creator printed the code onto a book and published it--and the ACLU defended it as free speech (and won).
