Today was one of those days... well, technically, it still is because it's just early afternoon.

But I already know my productivity will be low, which is fine because defining yourself via your output means you've bought into the system. It's a trap.

The longer I am in crypto, the more often I ask myself, am I in the wrong here? Am I the insane one?

It sure could seem that way when the most visceral reactions to someone on a NEAR livestream accidentally showing nudes was for people to fawn over it, congratulating them on their viral video and creating a memecoin and NFT based on the entire affair.

Next thing you know, you find yourself having to explain why even sharing hentai AI boobs is not the way to go.

And you can't help but wonder what the world has come to. Is this the new normal?

What happened to decency?

Are we just not doing that anymore? Have we given up on it completely?

I don't believe the people entering this industry were always this morally on the loose end. Sure, it attracts people whose only goal is to extract as much money as possible and leave quickly.

Now, with a president following the playbook, it has never been more socially acceptable to be a ruthless extractor marinated in solipsism.

In his 2017 essay on Decency, Axel Hacke ascertains that there have always been people who didn't care about manners and being good to their fellow human beings. Yet it appeared to him that nearly everyone now has a story readily available of bearing witness to someone completely lacking a notion of decency.

He wonders: How can it be that in such an advanced civilization, such behaviors pierce through the thin cloak Didn't we supposedly make progress?

Usually, the explanations are along the lines of: everyone is on their own. The own survival and success is what matters beyond. You can't get ahead without "breaking a few eggs" - even if maybe those eggs are how your whole industry is perceived by 50% of the world population.

Anyway, I'm tired of this dog-eat-dog, Attack on Titan, Hobbesian view of the world. It seems very extreme in crypto, even though you'd think that... with countless accounts of crypto turning decent people into value extractors, we'd be validating Rosseau.

Every other person onchain is, first and foremost, a potential person you can dump on. We're not all in his together - as my Grandma used to say: If everyone thinks of themselves, everyone is being thought of." The smart woman she was, her use of it was purely sarcastic and aimed at whichever kid was thinking only of themselves when cake was served.

The same can't be said of our PVP Olympics. It's not sarcasm, it's real loss of money with real consequences.

I'm reminded of a phrase I heard in a Gwart Show episode with Charlotte, creator of Milady. I don't agree much with Milady in many regards, but I can still respect that she managed to put something into words I've always felt. Love or hate them, it's incredible how cohesive of a community identity they built.

She said that WAGMI was soulless. It is the war cry of communities gaslighting themselves and others, a hostile, manipulative phrase that makes others believe a coin will go up so that you can dump it on them.

We don't really use the term WAGMI much anymore, but the spirit remains like bacteria only temporarily tamed by antibiotics - waiting to grow resistant.

The game is all about getting the most eyes on your project to increase the chance that someone will buy your coin. I seriously doubt that long-term success will come from marketing stunts that clearly show a lack of decency and empathy.

It's impossible to argue against people with the mindset that everyone is always trying to put themselves first, that you have to give into the race to the bottom because you see all the others do it... Paired with insecurity (how else do you explain this entire alpha male stuff), you get a bunch of man-childs with way too many eyeballs, creating an image of an industry that,... started with such bright ambitions.

It might be hard to stomach, but decency applied only to a certain group of people is not very decent at all.

You'd not create an NFT or memecoin of such a screenshot if it was your sister, but congratulating others on it is ok? I am not sure what kind of mental gymnastics people go through.

Look, we're all in this together - except for the few who think they can go live on Mars, pls do go ahead - so it might be a good moment to occasionally show some empathy and interest in fellow humans.

Even in an industry so cut-throat as crypto has become.

In the end, one fact remains: you, as a human, can't fully realize yourself without a Gegenüber.

And because you won't ever fully control another being, you can never foresee the consequences of any of your acts.

"These consequences are boundless, because action, though it may proceed from nowhere, so to speak, acts into a medium where every reaction becomes a chain reaction and where every process is the cause of new processes”

Hannah Arendt in the Human Condition

The least we can do then is be a bit more generous with each other, think before we propose stupid shit, and realize that the one thing we can do to make the world a little better is to be more generous with ourselves and others.

To be decent even if the others aren't.

In the end, you attract what you are.

Thanks for reading 💚

Excuse typos, I just had to pour this out before the courage would leave me.