I can't stop laughing

[dolorosa_12]

Apparently a bunch of libertarian crypto bros are trying to buy an island in Fiji and set it up as their own private libertarian paradise. It's going about as well as you might imagine. In other words, it's shaping up to be as much of a scam and a disaster as Fyre Festival, or that time a bunch of libertarian crypto bros tried to buy a cruise ship, or that time a bunch of libertarians set up their own tax-free township in a rural part of the US and it got overrun with bears.

The whole thing could just be an exquisitely on-the-nose piece of satirical performance art, I suppose.

However, nothing I've seen so far has swayed me from my opinion that crypto is basically a multilevel marketing scam aimed at tech bros.

Comments

[sixbeforelunch]

I saw that. I find myself hoping that all of the crypto bros voluntarily exile themselves on an island and then the internet will fail, because of course it will, because they have no idea of how to run a functional society, and then the rest of us will be left in peace, but I don’t think we will be so fortunate.

[dolorosa_12]

Your wish is mine as well! They are so arrogantly incompetent, and oblivious to their own limitations, and the limitations of their worldview.

[pauraque]

This honestly reads like the setup for a found-footage slasher flick. The murderer lures the cryptobros to his private island with promises of being able to indulge their most decadent fantasies of greed and entitlement, and then......

[dolorosa_12]

Hahaha, that is so true! I'd watch that film.

[chestnut_pod]

This is almost better than the crypto bros trying to set up a floating, ocean-going pod society.

[rachelmanija]

That was so delightful. Also the Libertarians taking over a town and then getting attacked by bears.

One of my very favorite subgenres of real life is "Libertarians attempt to create Libertarian paradise; consequences ensue."

[dolorosa_12]

One of my very favorite subgenres of real life is "Libertarians attempt to create Libertarian paradise; consequences ensue."

Mine too!

[dolorosa_12]

Oh my God, I'd forgotten about that one. Like rachelmanija, this is one of my favourite genres of real-life literature.

[waterfall8484]

Oh wow, that was a ride and a half!

that time a bunch of libertarians set up their own tax-free township in a rural part of the US and it got overrun with bears.
...wait, what?

[rmc28]

https://newrepublic.com/article/159662/libertarian-walks-into-bear-book-review-free-town-project

(it's an article about an amazing-sounding book)

[waterfall8484]

A fascinating article! Kudos to the person even thinking about writing something like that.

Thanks for the link!

[dolorosa_12]

Wasn't it just?

I'm glad you enjoyed the account of the libertarians and the bears.

[goodbyebird]

Extremely hilarious but oh no I read too far and got to the age of consent bit 🤮

[dolorosa_12]

I know, right? Just gross.

[raven]

That book about the bears is INCREDIBLE, I wish I could make everyone read it!

[dolorosa_12]

I've only read the article, rather than the book, but even that is wild from start to finish.

[montfelisky]

I misread this as "librarian crypto bros" and was like, surely not?

Crypto makes me furious but I also find the misadventures of these bros so compelling and bizarre at the same time.

[waterfall8484]

Me too, it made for an interesting mental image XD

[dolorosa_12]

I misread this as "librarian crypto bros" and was like, surely not?

Haha, most librarians are definitely not libertarians (she says, using one of two possible icons of socialist librarians in her icon set).

Your attitude is basically one I share: I loathe crypto, but I have a ghoulish fascination with crypto bros, because their lack of self-awareness (of their own gullibiity, of their own limitations, and of the inherent limitations of their world view and its easy capacity for scams) is utterly staggering.

[lyr]

Ha! That is pretty awesome. The one with the bears is still my favorite, though. Because bears!

[dolorosa_12]

Oh yes, the bears one is definitely the funniest. But I'll read anything in this genre!

[lirazel]

This is what happens when you read Ayn Rand at an impressionable age and don't realize that her stuff was fantasy even less realistic than Edgar Rice Burroughs.

[dolorosa_12]

Yep, absolutely.

[dhampyresa]

I'm so tired of tech bros.

[dolorosa_12]

Me too, but I find I have infinite capacity to laugh at their hubristic failures.

[luzula]

Thanks for giving me some lunchtime amusement!

[dolorosa_12]

No worries! I'm glad it made you laugh too.

[syntheid]

I need to head to bed so I won't read this whole thing right now, but my first thought is ... is this actually different from the cryptobros who were trying to use a cruise ship as a means of tax evasion or are these the same people...

[dolorosa_12]

They really do seem to fall for scams like this on a regular basis, don't they? I think it comes with the territory — if a person thinks it's possible to get rich quickly by one simple trick (and that simple trick isn't 'be born wealthy and pay for the services of clever accountants'), they're also likely to think that setting up an entirely new society from scratch is bound to be really simple and easy.