I realize that this is exactly the kind of opinion that fellow steemians like @hodgetwins don't appreciate. Meaning, that to them the points I'm trying to make, the evidence I intend to provide makes absolutely no difference. As much as I can understand their views and those who stand with them, I for one feel like ignoring the obvious has too much risk for my taste. img src

How is consensus achieved?

This part might be confusing for those who are not too interested in the technical aspects of things. That being said, I think it's extremely important to understand the underpinnings of a technology that is attempting to change the world, specially as early adopters.

As it exists today, blockchain cryptocurrencies usually have two methods implemented to support the network: Proof of Work & POS , being DPOS a further development of POS holding most of it's basic elements. Now, in the case of Ripple or more accurately said XRP, let me ask you. How is consensus achieved?

If you can't answer that question or even worse, if you don't care to answer that question, then in my opinion you are walking blindly into the slaughterhouse.

There are no new coins - Centralization

No miners, no masternodes, nothing of the sort. All the coins and I do mean, all the coins were premined by Ripple and are slowly released into the markets. This alone should be setting of some red flags for everyone, but I'm also aware that to the majority of people who are buying to "make them gains", to quote the twins, this is completely trivial.

You would think it would not take much explaining to point out the risks involved in such a system. In other words, manipulation is just too easy to pull off, without even pointing out that we are effectively imitating the way fiat works, the SWIFT network, adding a logo and calling it a crypto.

With Ripple labs holding 100 billion coins on their vaults, you would also think that the idea of a clean distribution is a pipe dream for the foolish, but at this point I'm just beating a dead horse in an attempt to drive this home.

The Tenants & Lack of desire to learn

I won't bore anyone with preachy stuff here. To be honest, it's up to every single person participating of the cryptosphere to read up on this subject if they choose to. But, the concerns those who are against ripple are bringing up are very valid.

If the idea was to take back our self governance through decentralization of power. Then why, if we are given a new canvas to rewrite our economic systems are we gravitating towards painting the same picture? - This makes very little sense to me and it seems so self defeating, it's frustrating.

A quick way to dismiss a mature conversation on the subject would be to say something along the lines of: "Your hatred for banks is going to make you miss out on all the profits"- To this line, which I heard from a video recently I have a silly replies too: (I apologize for the strawman)

• My disdain for human trafficking is also making me lose the gains
• My disdain for selling drugs to children is also making me lose money
• My disdain for theft is also making me lose money

Granted, I'm being ridiculous, but the point I'm trying to make is that the position some take when it comes to ripple, calling me a "Bank Hater" is not an valid argument at all.

Humanity's future > Gains

There, I said it. So controversial that I might even get flagged. Of course I'm sure that there will be someone calling me dramatic, and to an extent I could see where they are coming from. However, to me this seems to be pretty obvious, this is exactly what we are fighting for, not just "the gains!".

If enough of us took back financial control over the governments, we could achieve the one thing that no politician, as pretty as they might learn to speak could ever accomplish under our current "democracy" ; Peace!

• How would corrupt organizations keep puppets in power?
• How would we enter wars?
• How could they tax us to pay for their administrative blunders?

If we took all that power back. How could they maintain the grip on us? It simply would not be possible. Hence why I can't just think about "The gains" as the only measurement of success.

Nothing against Ripple fans

Not personally that is. I suspect most of you have not given this serious thought, hence why it sits where it does in coinmarketcap. But, I don't think anyone could tell me "It's all good" with a straight face, after learning, and I do mean, really learning what governance is all about and how the system today is manipulated. The fabricated consensus for wars, Banks that are too big to fail saved by the people they screwed over.

If you are a Ripple HODLer I wish you luck. But, I hope that enough people wake up to the fact that the way towards winning our peaceful rebellion is not by becoming best friends with the ones that declared war on us.