Thank you for this. It has mystified me why @ned and @dantheman seemingly welcomed @dollarvigilante with open arms.
While I have misgivings about hit pieces citing individuals this case is a little different because first of all there's evidence of fraud here. Second of all Jeff Berwick is a celebrity in his own right with a hype machine behind him. A single instance of investigative journalism isn't going to destroy him. Hopefully @stellabelle has opened some eyes.
Heartfelt thanks for taking a stand. You are putting yourself up against many whales, perhaps the whale-y-est of whales by exposing some truth here.
I don't know the reasons the whales are continuing to support him. In the beginning of building a platform, the people running it are looking for numbers, celebrities and energy. He has all those things. He also has a very significant dark side, obviously. All the information I presented is freely available on the internet. I am in direct email contact with someone who is providing me with more information. What I find most disturbing is the fact that the whales who upvote his garbage don't bother to look into who he is or what he is doing. Just imagine if you were one of his victims and you saw that Jeff was promoting Steemit. Then, imagine what it would be like if you had been scammed out of $15,000 and you saw that Jeff was making huge amounts on this platform. Imagine what you would think of Steemit then...........
These are the bigger issues that I am really concerned with moving forward. I certainly don't want to be associated with a platform that supports and rewards those who have stolen money from others. That goes against my core structure. I am not alone. Thanks for your generous compliments.
This video is my source for citing @ned as a supporter. This and you can find he's upvoted TDV numerous times. @dantheman being present and not interjecting is kind of tacit approval. It's Brian Sovryn responding. His response is awesome.
Shuttle to 41 minutes for what I'm referencing if the video doesn't cue right.
BTW I recommend watching the whole thing too. It was a great interview. To be clear I'm not hating on Ned or Dan. I love the work they do. I'm skeptical of their support of TDV is all.
Ih Ned considers Jeff and Sterlin "intelligent" then we are doomed.
I wrote this about the TDV when I came to the platform
https://steemit.com/anarchy/@kyriacos/why-i-respect-the-dao-hacker-but-not-the-dollarvigilante
I wrote this about Sterlin and the TDV later on
https://steemit.com/anarchy/@kyriacos/a-little-something-for-the-dellusional-anarchists-of-steemit
Btw, Sterlin and TDV came together. They got shilled from the same whales. Why? They have "anarchism" glued in front of their agenda. They are both cheesy recycling the same political mantra over and over again with ZERO critical thinking.
It appears good to teenagers and those who haven't really studied the subject well but for the rest is just 2 people with their heads too far up their ass preaching like televangelists.
I don't see things changing anytime soon. We need some outside challenge to really shake things up. Neither Dan or Ned like "confrontentional" types since they are about the "positive thinking crap" , business like relationships and so on.
...and look where it got us. Scam atists, convicts, ex cops with shady background trending th front page. the few that are getting shilled over and over again are either pawns or just keep a savoir vivre.
Effort has little to do here in Steemit. Connections and superificiality are everything. I spend hours and hours creating my articles with infographics and all and get cents.
oh well. they made their money one way or another. the ideological crap is just the selling point to make them sleep better at night
Couldn't have said it better.
The one exception I take to your points above is I wouldn't include convicts as persona non grata out of hand. The justice system in America isn't suitably fair nor just enough for a ruling to ruin a person's reputation in my eyes. For some, yes, if the evidence is there that they caused real harm to others.
I'm assuming you're indicating Shrem as one of the convicts headlining this site. To the best of my knowledge he was brought in on some trumped up charges. At worst he was operating outside financial guidelines. Who here using Bitcoin hasn't skirted the law in some way?
In a nutshell when the law becomes onerous enough everybody sane becomes an outlaw.
No Shrem literally knew what was going on with silk road and was still facilitating for them. He believed he would be above the law and his reasoning wasn't unsound at the time, but someone had to be the test case. He was rightfully charged and convicted. But he has cleaned up his act and become a better man for it.
I've seen the video before. Ned clearly hasn't done his research. Ned is primarily a business guy. His dad, from what I understood is a banker. Ned comes from money, so his entire outlook is money-based. On the surface, TDV could seem like a successful man. But we know that is not the case, clearly. Dan probably supports TDV because they both dislike "the government". That kind of blind faith can mislead even the brightest of minds.
Completely right. It's sort of the M.O. of TDV. He can gain attention and approval through motivated reasoning.
All people are subject to forming their own information bubble of like-minded speak. When somebody speaks "their language" it might not matter to take the time to look beyond the emotional spark of agreement. Validation always feels good whether or not your reasoning is flawed.
exactly. And this is especially the case when one is experiencing a massive amount of suffering. Identifying a mutual target and then feeling a part of a movement, especially if it's fringe in nature, is the probable cause of such blatant and egregious support. The deeper harm will come later once the veil has been lifted and the damage is clear for everyone to see.
Dan on tdv again: