# Last edited on 2014-05-20 09:14:25 by stolfilocal
# NOT POSTED

It is undeniable that bitcoin has become a religious cult for many (not all, obviously) of its enthusiasts.  Tell-tale signs include:

* Unfaltering belief in dogmas like "anonymous", "safe store of value", "governments cannot control it", "safe from hackers", "cannot be seized", "banks are afraid of it", etc., in spite of major events that clearly contradict them;
* Deep hatred for other "religions" (altcoins) that are just like their own, only with other "priests";
* Compulsion to convert the "infidels",
* Creation of a community consisting of believers only, with forums and media restricted to "canonical" and positive views by believers;
* Uncritical assumption that anyone who praises the "religion" is a saint, anyone who criticizes it is working for the "devil";
* Belief that their "religion" is not just an incremental improvement to society, but an event that will change it radically and forever;
* Rejection of middle ground: either one accepts the full canonical doctrine, or one is an infidel; 
* Feeling that a believer should sacrifice his wealth for the cause; 
* Interpretation of any criminal charges against "priests" as  perscution of their "religion" by the state;
* Suppression of the sense of ridicule when praising their "religion";
* Belief that insulting an unbeliever is not the same as insulting a person. 
* Sanctification of the "religion"'s First Prophet;
* Belief that the writings of the First Prophet are perfect and unquestionable Holy Words, that terminate any discussion;
* A clique of Reverent Fathers who interpret and expand the First Prophet's writings, and claim that their interpretations are just as Holy;
* Praise of blind ignorant faith in Bitcoin as a virtue, and claims that it is a basic necessity for Bitcoin's success;
* Avoidance of non-believers and censorship of negative options, [i]because they may weaken the faith[/i];
* Transformation of rejection and ridicule by the majority into a positive feeling of "chosen ones" or "enlightened minority";
* Use of "doomsday" prophecies (dollar collapse, mega stocks crash) to scare doubters into the faith;
* Unshakable belief in a "redemption" at some unspecified future, when the true believers who endured to the end will be rewarded with unimaginable benesses, [i]just for having believed[/i], while the infidels will be left groveling in the mud at their feet.

Bitcoin is a cult also in the "epiphanic" nature of its conversion.  Once one becomes a bitcoin "true believer", one's goals, values, and perception of the world change radically.  The true believer no longer plans to succeed in the real economy and within current society.  Instead he will just get going while impatiently waiting for the "coming of the bitcoin", thinking only of how he will live in the bitcoin economy, within the socity of bitcoin users.

Actually one of the things I like in this thread is that many people here are [b]not[/b] cultists, just ordinary gamblers hoping to make money out of other gamblers -- possibly by bluffing and tricking them, as in any poker game.  (In constrast, there are threads in this forum where the Sons of Unabomber are discussing the detais of how Bitcoin will allow them to take over the planet and destroy all governments, without them ever having to leave the basements of their log cabins in the woods, revealing their identities,  or meeting other human beings face to face.)