>There is such focus on being tolerant regardless of sexual orientation, but many more people face much greater discrimination on a wider variety of issues
So you think you know more about how commonly LGBTQIA+ people are discriminated against than LGBTQIA+ people themselves? You think you are an authority on something you seemingly have never experienced. Think about that for a second. This is implicit bias. Learn to trust minorities when they say they're being disrespected, marginalized, etc.
Also, gender-noncomformists are gaining respect in mainstream society because of their own work. Don't try to theorize away the blood, sweat, and tears of LGBTQIA+ activists.
Is there much decentralized trust in bitcoin? If you're using it like money, you still have to trust someone will give you goods and that your wallet software isn't going to steal your information.
We really are living in strange times. I can't tell if it's a brave new world or a hype train headed off a cliff.
I'd like to point out that you're referencing hand picked, extreme examples of a community. There's a massive bias. You have no way of knowing what Tumblr is like based on these examples.
How can you implement such a practice when our politicians and leaders are fat cats (or aspiring fat cats)? Only vote for people below a certain wealth line?
True. There are many more limitations with cash. The most important example might be illegal drug quality. With cash, you can give a friend of a friend some money for drugs. Who the hell knows where they got it from. With crypto, you can buy from an online marketplace complete with thousands of reviews and quite possibly much safer drugs than what you may find in your local community.
Why are bitcoin prices going up? Because there's no reason why they should go down.
People who buy bitcoin are largely trying to buy in "early". This raises the price, which makes other people want to be in "early". This raises the price, etc etc etc.
Bitcoin has legitimate uses, but most people who buy crypto don't plan to use it. They plan to sell it. And they rely on the newcomers to inflate the price. Very much a pyramid type model. I think the most real threat is legislation restricting its handling.
Until then, bitcoin price is not going to stop rising.
American culture really comes down to this. The driving force behind our "leaders" is a blind will to dominate and hoard wealth. It feels like we're reaching the point in history where this human instinct is backfiring tremendously.
I have a theory that one way of decentralizing power is to create protocol standards that help us share freely. For example, if the concept of a user was somewhat standardized across social media, social media companies could expose an API for sending cross-platform messages, tagging each other in photos, etc.
As the internet itself became standardized, so must our social media. Hell, what's stopping it from becoming a crowd-funded FOSS network of independent social media platforms? Costs a whole lot less to run a social media website if you're not trying to take over the world!
Why are you calling a random person's milk preferences meaningless? They just like raw milk. It's not a big deal. I like pink lady apples. Do I need to do a blind test to confirm that? No, I don't.
If that works for you, then cheers. I get so sucked into Reddit's front page that I just need to avoid it all entirely. With Twitter, I'm less inclined to explore.
If you stop consuming cable television and take a step back, you can see that pundit news shows and professional sports have so much in common. It's "right" vs "wrong", "red" vs "blue", "stupid" vs "smart", "weak" vs "strong", etc. There's a winner. There's a loser. You aren't a loser, are you? Don't forget to buy Doritos.
Since media isn't going way, we really need to create alternative systems that stimulate our empathy instead of our anger.
>...the default state of a society is not a working democracy and you have to fight to keep it.
Stop carrying your smartphone. Leave it at home. If you must because your family/work depends on you, then delete every app. Use your laptop as your main driver. If you need to, get a laptop with better battery life.
Start developing a personal philosophy of internet usage. Here is mine:
Category 3 [Abstain from completely] Reddit (Yes, all of reddit), Facebook ... Category 2 [Check once every couple days ~15 min total] Serious news sites (NYT, WashPo, WSJ)
... Category 3 [Check daily ~30 min total] Twitter (Follow helpful people only), HN, Medium
This article makes some really good points. Our media is becoming adversarial. Developing a time management plan is essential. I can't let my time fall victim to the system. I don't have enough to throw away.