Adam Curry is the modern-day Prometheus. His discovery of podcasting and sharing it with the world was as vital of a improvement as when Prometheus stole fireplace from the gods to present to people. Podcasting has shortly advanced into one of the vital well-liked methods to speak helpful data, fully disintermediating the CIA-controlled media equipment. Whereas Bitcoin seeks to separate cash and state, podcasting seeks to separate syndicated information organizations and data.
Giving the world podcasting was not sufficient for Curry as he’s now as soon as once more looking for to wrestle management from the gods by permitting people to have interaction in what he coined the “value-for-value financial system” by permitting podcasters to obtain Lightning funds.
The fiat value-for-value financial system is huge. There are instruments like YouTube tremendous chats, PayPal, Patreon, and extra that permit content material creators to obtain immense quantities of worth from their viewers with out having to rely solely on sponsors.
The Bitcoin value-for-value financial system is way smaller, however in my view as a credentialed journalist, considerably extra vital. The primary value-for-value use of bitcoin was when WikiLeaks was kicked off the fiat cost rails. Exposing warfare criminals is among the core obligations of journalists, but is an unapproved exercise by the parasitic ruling class. Considered one of my mottos is journalism dies in compliance, and constructing your entire media equipment on prime of methods that depend on permission to function will fully kill any skill for any actual data to be transmitted.
In latest months, via the revelations on USAID funding of media, the playbook for the way the media equipment is managed has been laid naked for everybody to see. The methods for controlling and manipulating data are subtle and infrequently aren’t obvious. For a lot of media corporations to get any notable funding, they should bend the knee to the ruling class, sacrifice any dignity they’ve, and carry out fellatio on people who in all probability had shut ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Because of this I left conventional media to kind The Bugle, the world’s premier information company.
There are lots of myths in regards to the establishment of journalism. Many consider that journalists are supposed to inform the reality, convey helpful data to people, and expose wrongdoings. Individuals who consider these myths possible haven’t interacted with many journalists. I’d argue that the establishment of journalism is extra about participating in covert propaganda, hidden behind the duvet (fable) of getting some ethical excessive floor.
The vast majority of journalists are people who’re mercenaries for whoever can pay them.
Following the trailblazing efforts of Adam Curry and Julian Assange, The Bugle has operated totally off a value-for-value mannequin, utilizing bitcoin as the principle funding mechanism. The product we’re promoting is our content material. We don’t function as a advertising company for corporations that try to promote merchandise to our shoppers, as a result of meaning the content material turns into secondary. With the intention to obtain worth out of your shoppers, you first have to supply one thing helpful sufficient.
The problem of going totally Bitcoin is that you’re asking your viewers to wade into the realm of unhealthy UX. Lightning has been one of many backbones for monetization for The Bugle as micropayments are nice for customers trying to ship small funds.
Some might declare that instruments like Fountain, Nostr, BTCPay Server, and different instruments that permit content material shoppers to ship bitcoin to content material creators lack the UX essential to make a distinction. This appears to be the final consensus. “The revolution must have good UX for it to even occur” is, in my view, flawed considering. The unhealthy UX of those platforms permits them to predominantly be occupied by precise revolutionaries and scares away the faint of coronary heart, who discover utilizing their mind even the slightest an impediment so insurmountable that they find yourself watching Netflix as a substitute.
At The Bugle, we aren’t competing with Netflix. We’re not catering to those that should not have the willingness or capability to assume. We’re catering to the few, the proud, the revolutionaries. In response to our analytics, 90% of our podcast listeners use Fountain. We’re limiting our potential viewers development by specializing in selling our content material on platforms with poor person expertise, however in doing so, we’re focusing on people who really matter. The Bugle will not be in your boomer father who believes that smoking cigarettes is unhealthy for you, believes within the sanctity of establishments, and has a number of opinions on issues he has completed zero analysis on. No, we’re catering to those that have completed the proof-of-work and have an opinion that truly issues.
Bitcoin initially had horrible UX and due to this fact was solely utilized by revolutionaries. Those that have been mining hundreds of bitcoin on the CPUs within the very starting could also be(come) a few of the richest people in human historical past. Satoshi didn’t pause the revolution as a way to first implement good UX. He knew that the NPCs who have been scared of utilizing command traces would finally come however that to ensure that the mission to achieve success, it needed to begin with those that have been prepared to wade into the unknown.
Our society lacks private duty. It lacks accountability. It doesn’t worth the person. It preaches altruism and focuses on the “frequent good”. All of this outcomes from calls for for good UX. Consequently, the weakest (gayest) rise to the highest. All the things is predicated on a reputation contest decided by the least distinctive amongst us. The thought of getting an actual meritocracy is threatening to those that refuse to truly do any work, or who discover it difficult to arrange mind cells for duties apart from superficial pleasure.
I reject these premises. I consider that we are able to construct a helpful media firm whereas utilizing unhealthy UX. I consider we are able to have extra influence broadly by looking for to completely goal these with the capability to wade into nuance and transcend brain-dead groupthink. My complete life I’ve hungered for content material that has depth and which means. Sitting on the sidelines hoping that another person steps to the plate will not be the mindset of somebody who issues. I cannot spend my time making an attempt to persuade silly folks to not be silly. If I did that, it might be as a result of I don’t worth my time and don’t worth myself. As an alternative, I’ll spend my time making an attempt to encourage the revolutionaries, the doers, the people who find themselves demoralized as a result of they really feel remoted in a sea of mediocrity.
My title is Richard Greaser,
And I’m the John Galt of journalism.
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This piece is an article featured within the newest Print version of Bitcoin Journal, The Lightning Concern. We’re sharing it right here to indicate the concepts explored all through the complete concern.
