Rab 2 Reality

Remember that scene in The Matrix, when Neo bursts out of his pod, gasping into a nightmare of endless human batteries? Or that moment on the street, where Morpheus warns him that anyone, even a stranger in a red dress, alluring and innocent, could suddenly turn into a deadly agent because the system is rigged?

That raw awakening mirrors what I felt getting into Bitcoin. Hours of podcasts and thousands of pages across endless books on money, history, economics, politics, philosophy, health and everything in between, until piece by piece, I shattered my last illusions and stared straight at the unfiltered truth.

None of that flipped a switch overnight, unlike popping the red pill in the movie. Real change never works that way, it takes consistent grind. Time and energy. What we call "proof of work" around here.

I shouldn't pin it all on Bitcoin alone. Sure, it's the best form of money we've ever had and diving deep into it sharpened my thinking, steered my actions and focused me. But it is just a tool, one that helped my conscious effort to connect with like-minded people, (re)learn relentlessly, make better choices and have the discipline to keep going.

If you're reading this, I expect you are connected to the Cyphermunk House, so you probably know what I mean. Not everyone, however, walks this same path. And here’s the twist in my story: the part that really shows how Bitcoin did change me…

"Illusion parrots slogans and seeks heroes. Awakening questions both." ~Şelale Malkoçoğlu

For a good couple of years, caught up in all the amazing experiences and hopeful for humanity by nature, I believed we were all for freedom, truth, and sovereignty. It wasn't just an idea; it was my life and work. But step by step, action by action and through many reactions that followed, I came to see that not everyone has actually unplugged from the system.

Satoshi gave us a chance to separate money and state, a solution to the world's problems that generations before us just couldn't crack. However, it all comes with a price: sovereignty requires independent thinking, vigilance and a backbone. That contradiction is kind of beautiful: Knowing you can opt out gives you confidence but it should also keep you on edge, ready to push back if you have to.

For anyone who thinks this will be easy? Sorry, NOPE! The financial establishment has centuries of hegemony behind it. As much as the talking heads might look ridiculous, the real machine they represent is run by highly intelligent and ruthless people. From behind the curtain they built the system the entire world depends on and they have a long proven track record of manipulation and violence to protect it. A few steps forward for Bitcoin are encouraging, but let's not mistake them for the final win.

Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Morgans, Warburgs, Sassoons, just a few names to dig into. Throw in the Fed, the WEF, the IMF, the CFR and a handful of other three-letter organizations and you start to see that history as we know it isn't random. Neither is the present, nor the future they're building.

So, back to what Bitcoin gave me and what it took away.

For a while, I expected everyone, or at least most people on this journey, to be critical thinkers, genuine builders, and what I like to call "freedom fighters at heart." My peers, my tribe, they get it, I used to think. They understand what Bitcoin offers, so they dig into facts from every angle. Not just that, they operate with integrity and everything they do is driven by a desire to build a better, fairer world.

You might not like hearing this. But over time, I came to see things differently. Greed, bias, selective thinking, trust in authority, corruption, ego, ideology, they run deeper than any belonging or noble cause.

Now I'm not here to rank who's better than who, that's not the point. I'm simply expressing my disappointment in many ‘bitcoiners’ (we'll get to that term in a moment) who hail idols, chase fame, obsess over price jumps, toss around empty slogans without digging into what they actually mean, blindly believe we've won because some politician pretends to be Bitcoin-friendly, or worse, publicly cheer for aggression, force, war and the transhumanist nightmare creeping in under the guise of ‘progress’.

Fair enough, people can live how they want. But don't ask me to pretend we're all aligned, sharing similar values or heading toward the same destination. For me, that destination is a freer world. Not one solely focused on Bitcoin as a store of value so that some of us can eventually count our fiat-sat millions, but where people transact without middlemen, using the purest form of money that has ever existed. Not through shallow mass adoption with stablecoins and centralized tech pushed under the table, but through conscious choices grounded in real understanding.

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. " ~Lao Tzu

That doesn't mean sitting around waiting for miracles. But when it comes to Bitcoin? Mass education before mass adoption. Everything else follows. Anyone who doesn't get that is probably too lazy to act, uninformed or deep down, doesn't believe in the incredible gift Satoshi gave us.

Lacking knowledge? Fine, I'm not the alpha and omega. But refusing the sincere effort to learn, question and grow? That's complicity through inaction. Yes, there are plenty of incredible people with integrity out there. But sadly, the ones on the other side are becoming harder to ignore.

I don't want to sound like one of those all-knowing ideologues lecturing on who is or isn't "a real bitcoiner”, that term doesn't mean much to me anymore. I'd rather stick to words circling around freedom and fighters. Even maximalists, though they at least tend to have conviction, are too often stuck in ideologies. And make no mistake, but that's also one of the social sicknesses polarizing the world. Simply put, "Bitcoiner" has become as broad and shallow as it can be, just another label. Not for me to judge who is who. But it is my right to say where I stand.

"I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it." ~Morpheus

So, how did Bitcoin change me? Well… Deeply. Painfully. Maybe necessarily. I went from meeting the most amazing people on the planet to realizing many don't share the same goals. Like it or not, not everyone is here for the same fight. Some, nice as they are, chase the comfort of the orange bubble, cosy up to famous faces and parrot talking points while barely grasping real history. Simply put: they're still happily playing the fiat game.

And as hopeful as I am, I'm also afraid. Afraid that we're headed toward more toxic division, fuelled by inflated egos, mental shortcuts, echo chambers and far too much performative outrage. Not just in the world, but inside the very bitcoin community.

That's how I've changed. I see it now. More clearly than ever. I haven't given up. I've just stopped pretending everything’s ‘prettier’ than it is. And maybe that's the point, awakening isn't a single moment but a lifetime of choosing to see.