the impending propaganda war in media

[2tights]

  

Once public acceptance reaches a certain point or its threat to petroldollar is apparent enough, does anyone else expect the major news conglomerates to hijack the dialog and direct it for their own benefit?

If, for the sake of argument, their masters committed to destroy Bitcoin they would have the structure to wage a lengthy propaganda campaign.

Does a team exist in the Bitcoin community that handles public relations, and active defense?

[maursader]

No, they'll just move/transfer the wealth to an altcoin (hello litecoin!)

Simple.

[2tights]

No, they'll just move/transfer the wealth to an altcoin (hello litecoin!)

Simple.

But what if the result of their propaganda campaign is to introduce legislation to ban or regulate all cryptocurrency? Fear is the enemy and they'll make people fearful then they'll support anything.

[maursader]

That's like trying to ban p2p technology such as torrent. It's been attempted, and never could be done.

Another example, it's like how the RIAA tried to outlaw music downloads by imposing nasty fines on a few people to serve as examples. Piracy still happens, profits are made, world goes round.

So to sum it up, it's impossible.

Edit: As long as there's a general mistrust in a country's government and their banking/currency system.. mixed in with greed, and a desire to keep it away from them, there's always going to be an alternative (hard to stop). Silk Road is a prime example.

[Kungfucheez]

No, they'll just move/transfer the wealth to an altcoin (hello litecoin!)

Simple.

But what if the result of their propaganda campaign is to introduce legislation to ban or regulate? Fear is the enemy and they'll make people fearful then they'll support anything.

Then don't listen to the propaganda??? That would be my advice. You are a human you know and you have a choice, I'm sure you, like all adults, can make a decision on your own.

[maursader]

No, they'll just move/transfer the wealth to an altcoin (hello litecoin!)

Simple.

But what if the result of their propaganda campaign is to introduce legislation to ban or regulate? Fear is the enemy and they'll make people fearful then they'll support anything.

Then don't listen to the propaganda??? That would be my advice. You are a human you know and you have a choice, I'm sure you, like all adults, can make a decision on your own.

+1 this. He has a point. The "War on Drugs" all these years were promoting anti-drug propaganda, and now you can buy it legally in Colorado, but people were buying it well before it became legal regardless.

[notig]

My guess is that it wouldn't be that hard to convince people that bitcoin is "bad". People are not terribly bright. What is ironic is that bitcoin is an instrument of freedom and it is something we have never had before. Yet people might still reject it because they are easily brainwashed by propaganda. For instance I have heard that some terrorists are actually funded by the CIA or whatever. All it takes is for them to start funding the terrorists with bitcoin and then tracking it and proving it and convincing people that using bitcoin = terrorism (even though all bitcoin is ... is a giant public ledger. To simplify it. )

[2tights]

No, they'll just move/transfer the wealth to an altcoin (hello litecoin!)

Simple.

But what if the result of their propaganda campaign is to introduce legislation to ban or regulate? Fear is the enemy and they'll make people fearful then they'll support anything.

Then don't listen to the propaganda??? That would be my advice. You are a human you know and you have a choice, I'm sure you, like all adults, can make a decision on your own.

Are you being condescending or just dense? Of course I'm not worried about myself here I'm talking about the "average" 'merican and how media influences public opinion which shapes legislation.

[frankenmint]

 

Once public acceptance reaches a certain point or its threat to petroldollar is apparent enough, does anyone else expect the major news conglomerates to hijack the dialog and direct it for their own benefit?

If, for the sake of argument, their masters committed to destroy Bitcoin they would have the structure to wage a lengthy propaganda campaign.

Does a team exist in the Bitcoin community that handles public relations, and active defense?

I don't know if there is an entire team...but there IS A PERSON who is diretor of public affairs for the bitcoin foundation, her name is Jinyoung Lee Englund

Like the comment-er above says - look at the war on drugs and look at the reverse of propoganda - spin efforts of pr.  There will be greater spin efforts in the form of wider adoption (think of overstock.com for example) that will pale in comparison if our great experiment indeed becomes ubiquitous like 1st world fiats.

[2tights]

My guess is that it wouldn't be that hard to convince people that bitcoin is "bad". People are not terribly bright. What is ironic is that bitcoin is an instrument of freedom and it is something we have never had before. Yet people might still reject it because they are easily brainwashed by propaganda. For instance I have heard that some terrorists are actually funded by the CIA or whatever. All it takes is for them to start funding the terrorists with bitcoin and then tracking it and proving it and convincing people that using bitcoin = terrorism (even though all bitcoin is ... is a giant public ledger. To simplify it. )

++1 and it's a dismal conclusion. But its also the logical outcome. So my point purpose is to talk about how we're going to actively defend against this.

[frankenmint]

My guess is that it wouldn't be that hard to convince people that bitcoin is "bad". People are not terribly bright. What is ironic is that bitcoin is an instrument of freedom and it is something we have never had before. Yet people might still reject it because they are easily brainwashed by propaganda. For instance I have heard that some terrorists are actually funded by the CIA or whatever. All it takes is for them to start funding the terrorists with bitcoin and then tracking it and proving it and convincing people that using bitcoin = terrorism (even though all bitcoin is ... is a giant public ledger. To simplify it. )

++1 and it's a dismal conclusion. But its also the logical outcome. So my point purpose is to talk about how we're going to actively defend against this.

Through the use of Satire and Memes - Youtube and Icanhazchezburger could allow us to make "anti-bitcoin" the new reefer madness that would pretty much cause curiosity rather than fear.  - my two satoshis

[2tights]

That's like trying to ban p2p technology such as torrent. It's been attempted, and never could be done.

Another example, it's like how the RIAA tried to outlaw music downloads by imposing nasty fines on a few people to serve as examples. Piracy still happens, profits are made, world goes round.

So to sum it up, it's impossible.

Edit: As long as there's a general mistrust in a country's government and their banking/currency system.. mixed in with greed, and a desire to keep it away from them, there's always going to be an alternative (hard to stop). Silk Road is a prime example.

Anything is possible

[2tights]

My guess is that it wouldn't be that hard to convince people that bitcoin is "bad". People are not terribly bright. What is ironic is that bitcoin is an instrument of freedom and it is something we have never had before. Yet people might still reject it because they are easily brainwashed by propaganda. For instance I have heard that some terrorists are actually funded by the CIA or whatever. All it takes is for them to start funding the terrorists with bitcoin and then tracking it and proving it and convincing people that using bitcoin = terrorism (even though all bitcoin is ... is a giant public ledger. To simplify it. )

++1 and it's a dismal conclusion. But its also the logical outcome. So my point purpose is to talk about how we're going to actively defend against this.

Through the use of Satire and Memes - Youtube and Icanhazchezburger could allow us to make "anti-bitcoin" the new reefer madness that would pretty much cause curiosity rather than fear.  - my two satoshis

Cool that's really creative and funny as shit!

[Kungfucheez]

No, they'll just move/transfer the wealth to an altcoin (hello litecoin!)

Simple.

But what if the result of their propaganda campaign is to introduce legislation to ban or regulate? Fear is the enemy and they'll make people fearful then they'll support anything.

Then don't listen to the propaganda??? That would be my advice. You are a human you know and you have a choice, I'm sure you, like all adults, can make a decision on your own.

Are you being condescending or just dense? Of course I'm not worried about myself here I'm talking about the "average" 'merican and how media influences public opinion which shapes legislation.

I'm being neither. I'm telling you you have a choice, so does "every American".

And if telling someone that they are free to choose is somehow being "dense" or "condescending", then I don't know what to say to you cause clearly you've lost touch with reality

[maursader]

I would say that yes, people can be brainwashed to believe certain things, but things on the internet can go viral. So, think about the internet as sort of being yet another medium to brainwash for the cause of bitcoin? It just depends on who's more effective at portraying the message. Gangnam style did pretty good, topping over 1 billion views on youtube. Maybe there'll be a series of smaller pro-bitcoin videos that go viral.

I don't see it a big threat. Alternatively, by the time it becomes a large enough threat, there'll be enough established businesses already using bitcoin actively... so the government would have to effectively have to convince literally millions to shy away from the medium. That's expensive.

[2tights]

No, they'll just move/transfer the wealth to an altcoin (hello litecoin!)

Simple.

But what if the result of their propaganda campaign is to introduce legislation to ban or regulate? Fear is the enemy and they'll make people fearful then they'll support anything.

Then don't listen to the propaganda??? That would be my advice. You are a human you know and you have a choice, I'm sure you, like all adults, can make a decision on your own.

Are you being condescending or just dense? Of course I'm not worried about myself here I'm talking about the "average" 'merican and how media influences public opinion which shapes legislation.

I'm being neither. I'm telling you you have a choice, so does "every American".

And if telling someone that they are free to choose is somehow being "dense" or "condescending", then I don't know what to say to you cause clearly you've lost touch with reality

So you believe the average intelligence and constitution is pretty high, then?

Edit: seems dense if you're arguing about people's choice to not believe garbage when I'm acknowledging that, in reality, people do believe garbage. I've lost no connection to reality it's you who may be in denial of this reality which is America. A lot of people and an eroded culture. Just look at "reality" TV. If you ask 100 highschool age kids what profession they'd like to pursue, how many would say reality star? Have you been to Walmart on the 5th and 20th of the month? Have you seen what people put in their bodies and think that it's food?  It's not a fearful future that I'm talking about, its here and now that public opinion and the direction of legislation is following a big concern.

[Kungfucheez]

No, they'll just move/transfer the wealth to an altcoin (hello litecoin!)

Simple.

But what if the result of their propaganda campaign is to introduce legislation to ban or regulate? Fear is the enemy and they'll make people fearful then they'll support anything.

Then don't listen to the propaganda??? That would be my advice. You are a human you know and you have a choice, I'm sure you, like all adults, can make a decision on your own.

Are you being condescending or just dense? Of course I'm not worried about myself here I'm talking about the "average" 'merican and how media influences public opinion which shapes legislation.

I'm being neither. I'm telling you you have a choice, so does "every American".

And if telling someone that they are free to choose is somehow being "dense" or "condescending", then I don't know what to say to you cause clearly you've lost touch with reality

So you believe the average intelligence and constitution is pretty high, then?

Average intelligence and constitution are completely irrelevant.  Neither deters the ability of one to make a conscious decision on their own.

[BTCisthefuture]

I don't know about other countries but I'm not too worried about the media in america. While it's true the mainstream media is very closed and just a couple companies,  for the most part media is very open in america, especially since the internet.

Typically the only "anti" bitcoin news pieces and articles I'm seeing currently are just due to lack of education or understanding on the topic,  not out of ill will,  at least not from what I see.

As bitcoin gets more adoption and people start to realize more that it's not going away , it's not going to destroy banks or governments, and it provides real positives along side other forms of payments I don't expect to see as much "negative" news pieces.  If news pieces at wll, it could be very likely that once bitcoin receives enough adoption it's no longer even a "story" that any news outlet would want to report on.

[2tights]

I don't know about other countries but I'm not too worried about the media in america. While it's true the mainstream media is very closed and just a couple companies,  for the most part media is very open in america, especially since the internet.

Typically the only "anti" bitcoin news pieces and articles I'm seeing currently are just due to lack of education or understanding on the topic,  not out of ill will,  at least not from what I see.

As bitcoin gets more adoption and people start to realize more that it's not going away , it's not going to destroy banks or governments, and it provides real positives along side other forms of payments I don't expect to see as much "negative" news pieces.  If news pieces at wll, it could be very likely that once bitcoin receives enough adoption it's no longer even a "story" that any news outlet would want to report on.

I hope you're right, because later this year when bitcoin reached critical mass we may find out.

[Dr Bloggood]

My guess is that it wouldn't be that hard to convince people that bitcoin is "bad". People are not terribly bright. What is ironic is that bitcoin is an instrument of freedom and it is something we have never had before. Yet people might still reject it because they are easily brainwashed by propaganda.

True, hey, they can even brainwash people into thinking that gold is bad and unnecessary!

BUT as soon as word of mouth spreads of people finding big personal advantages in BTC, THAT will be even more powerful and can overcome the media with time! I'm 100% sure of this, if you give it enough time and the product is 1A.

There was a rock band in Germany, called "Böhse Onkelz". They were believed to be Nazis by the press (which wasn't true, although their earlierst songs were borderline Nazi-songs, but that was when nobody knew them and they soon decidedly distanced themselves from their past).

The press conducted a witch-hunt against them for 30 years by ABSOLUTELY REFUSING to write about them. There were 20.000 people going to a concert, their record would be at #1, yet not one word in any press outlet about them. Almost spooky, as if they didn't exist.

It took some time, but they became one of the very biggest bands of Germany without the slightest little help from TV or print media, just by putting out kick-ass music and by word of mouth. An impressive story. Google them!