Have you ever watched those movies where someone has invented a device that is about to be used for the good of humanity?
It's about to save the world. Make crops miraculously grow in the desert, or cure cancer, or create free electricity for every human on the planet.
And just when you think, "Ooooh! Wouldn't that be awesome for real? I want to live in this fantasy world too!!!", some secret agency funded by the organizations that would be financially impacted by food for all, cured cancer, or free electricity, swoops in and confiscates the device.
And what do they always say?
They are taking it away "on the basis of national security."
And we all really know what that means, don't we?
Surely, there is no one in the audience cheering the organization on saying, "whew! We THOUGHT this was a fantastic idea but we are SO THANKFUL that you are here to rescue us from ourselves! Who knew that this was a threat to our national security??? Wow. You did. We are grateful."
They cloak their actions in "protecting lives" but it seems it is only protecting the livelihood of the few at the expense of the masses.
Remember a few weeks back? A whole slew of people got memos in their wallets blackmailing them to change their witness votes or they would get downvoted.
I remember the general air of annoyance. How dare this nutjob blackmail everyone! This user obviously doesn't know how blockchain works. We don't use blackmail to get our way here. Take that nonsense to the "real world", pal. This is Steemit.
Cut to 73 million steem being held in ransom by a soft fork until someone agrees to assure the community that he won't use it the way he wants. He will ONLY use it the way you want. Ok? Is that ok?
But don't worry, everyone. They wouldn't do that to YOUR stake.
You're not a "threat to national security." See? Get it?
Carry on with your lives and sleep at night knowing that your puny stake doesn't matter to them. You only will have your stake held, if you purchase a lot and then you choose to NOT defend how, why and where you're going to use it to the powers that be.
Oh, but wait. You bought it? Just like everyone else?
Sorry. You should have bought a DIFFERENT set of 73 million steem.
Then, you wouldn't have to get permission to use it, sell it, trade it, gift it, vote with it, etc.
BUT WAIT...he didn't just purchase massive amount of steem. He owns Steemit, Inc. now too!
Right, and didn't the WHOLE chain go up in arms for a week explaining that Steemit, Inc is NOT steem. It is ONLY a dapp, like steempeak, splinterlands...and we force THE OWNERS of those dapps to tell us what they're doing with their stake too !!!!
Oh. We don't? Huh.
Remember when HF20 came out? And it affected alllllll those little accounts. And the concensus was, "sorry, not sorry. You don't like how this affected your options on the platform? Well, now you have to pay to play."
And there was NO sympathy for the new user. It was "Invest to keep your options, or don't. But this is how the platform is changing."
And when we said that there are users all around the world that cannot invest in steem in the same way that others can afford, there was no sympathy. Either they would afford it or not, but the game would change with or without them.
I say now to those same voices....you don't like that someone purchased all that power? Well, pay to play. Invest YOUR money to buy more power. OH. You can't afford it? Well, afford it or not, but the game has changed. You can pay to stay in the game or you can get squeezed out.
I used to want to be a whale, but now I see that whales are subject to being "threats to national security" too.
It almost makes one wish that this certain game-changing whale would purchase another 73 million steem with a new account ....just to see what excuse they would have to seize THAT 73 million.
I'm not saying I wholly trust either party. I'm just saying undermining the integrity of the chain while saying you're protecting the chain is duplicitous.
Just say what you're doing.
"We don't trust that he won't change everything. We weren't expecting this. We are eliminating the threat to preserve our power, and we will do the same to anyone who threatens our power."
Oh silly me. That would be a PR nightmare. Just stick with "Threat to national security". It's much tidier and the masses will thank you.
Hey look- a new post! The top 50 witnesses are invited to have a town hall meeting. Well, I guess the ransom worked!
Hm. I guess we all should be grateful.
La la la. Life goes on.
Disclaimer: Yes I stopped posting. Yes I powered down after the successive hard forks that I disagreed with. Yes I have continued to have love for the Steem community while sitting back and watching. Yes I have been in shows and watching from a distance. Yes I have been supportive of this platform in ways that are not public. You can disagree with the opinion in my post, but "them's the facts above".
As far as what has transpired in the last week or so, it would have been nice if things were handled better- we all can agree on that. After the shock of #softfork, I'm happy that @justinsunsteemit wants to talk because I think cooperation of both sides is the best way forward. I just don't think that blackmail and holding his steem as ransom (oh, yes you did) should have EVER been the tactic used by witnesses.
I'm happy that Justin has chosen to respond the way he did. #ForNow I also think you're foolish if you honestly think your actions won't have serious repercussions down the road when things "settle". Most businessmen forgive, but rarely forget- especially when it comes to touching their money.
Image from pixabay