Bitcoin ‘Crashes’ To 1-Week Lows – The Difference Between Fear And Concern

Bitcoin dropped over $900 from its record high at $2760 on Thursday in the last 48 hours, but has bounced back to remain up 17% week-over-week.

A 30% drop from Thursday's highs…

 

But Bitcoin is still up around 140% year-to-date…

While the volatility is unprecedented, Liberty Blitzkrieg's Mike Krieger notes it is indicative of the emotional excesses as investors experience the difference between fear and concern of what lies ahead for the global financial system (and indeed the status quo).

The last 24 hours were quite interesting for me, and have sparked all sorts of thoughts and tangents in my mind. I’ve been absolutely thrilled that yesterday’s post, A New Financial System is Being Born, has been so well received in the broader Bitcoin/crypto/tech world, but I also noticed a meaningful contradiction. While the post has been cheered beyond the confines of this website, within Liberty Blitzkrieg itself, it hasn’t been celebrated by anyone, at least not publicly in the comment section. In fact, if you scroll through the comment section of the post, you’ll see it’s basically 100% skepticism or dislike for Bitcoin. The reason I find this so interesting is because of what it tells me about sentiment.

I got a lot of insight from the comment section of this particular post because I know for a fact many of my readers love Bitcoin and have been involved in it for years. I know this based on private conservations I’ve had as well as many donations over the years. In a euphoric market environment, I’d expect the comment section to yesterday’s post to be filled with gloating, giddiness and “to da moon” commentary. There was absolutely none of that. In contrast, the skeptics were out in full force and totally dominated the discussion, which is fine. I want people to express different opinions and feel like they have the space to totally disagree with something I write. At the same time, it does tell me something about overall sentiment. The people who are long and sitting on gains are largely keeping their mouths shut, while the skeptics are very, very vocal. It’s not just here either, the skepticism and dislike for Bitcoin is even more prevalent within my Twitter feed. Incredibly, despite the recent enormous run, Bitcoin sentiment seems cautious-to-negative. Take that information as you see fit.

This sets the stage for the key part of this post which relates to the difference between fear and concern. One of these is a largely unproductive emotional state, while the other is a rational response to potential or real trouble. The reason Bitcoin sparked my interest in the topic is because I’ve witnessed a lot of people miss the Bitcoin run due to irrational fear, as opposed to reasoned concern. This isn’t to gloat about Bitcoin, or predict its future price. Pretty much everyone involved in this space for more than a few days understands that its price could completely collapse any minute and, despite all its advances, Bitcoin remains an experimental project that could end up worthless. I knew that back in 2012 when I first became involved and I know it now, yet I got involved anyway. Why did I do that?

The main reason is because I could see the potential and didn’t allow myself to make decisions based on fear. Fear overwhelms you, stunts your growth, makes you miss out on opportunities, and ultimately prevents you from living a fulfilled, interesting life. I know plenty of people who saw the potential of Bitcoin, but didn’t buy any or embrace it out of fear alone. Fear governments wouldn’t allow it. Fear the power grid would go down. Fear they’d be hacked. Fear overwhelmed them and prevented them from becoming involved in one of the few areas of this terribly corrupt economy filled with actual innovation and optimism. In my years in this space, I’ve found crypto currency people (especially the old school ones), to be some of the most humous, talented, decent and optimistic people I’ve ever met. So what if it goes to zero? The whole journey has been one of the most interesting of my entire life and worth every minute. As I noted on Twitter earlier today…

Which brings me to concern. While I always acknowledged many of the things Bitcoin skeptics pointed out, my response was concern, not fear. Concern allowed me to think things through and determine an appropriate allocation to something as unproven and risky as Bitcoin, but it didn’t propel me to avoid something I believed in and wanted to support. Concern is normal and healthy. It helps you take calculated risks and prompts reasonable measures to insure against catastrophe. Concern doesn’t freeze you up. It doesn’t prevent you from taking action or embracing new experiences. Fear does.

Fear is a negative emotion and mindset that only holds you back. It prevents calculated risk-taking, without which us humans would still be shivering in caves somewhere. We’ve all heard the saying “fortune favors the bold,” but you’ve never heard anyone say “fortune favors the fearful.” That’s because it doesn’t. And by fortune, we’re not just talking material wealth. We’re talking mental health, a breadth of experience and the joy and fulfillment that comes from a life of action as opposed to existing in a state of doom and gloom.

Of course, there are times when fear is appropriate and beneficial, but I’d argue pretty much only when you’re faced with a life or death situation, like in the middle of a war zone or being attacked by a wild animal. Fight or flight is very well established element of the human being for good reason, but unless you’re in a situation of extreme distress or danger, it’s almost always better off to avoid this state of mind.

I previously touched on this concept in my series on Spiral Dynamics. Here’s what I noted in the piece titled, What is Spiral Dynamics and Why Have I Become So Interested in It?

All of the madness being perpetrated by the media and divisive pundits on both sides needs to be seen in the context of this unfolding of consciousness. These people are in the fight for their lives to keep the current paradigm they are comfortable with alive. If you accept this view, then you recognize the importance of staying true to your values and not regressing back into first-tier type thinking. As Wilber and others explain, these are fluid states, so periods of stress or fear can result in a regression of consciousness. It’s not an exaggeration to say that preventing this from happening is of the utmost significance.

Expanding our consciousness is probably the most important work any of us can do on an individual basis, and fear is characteristic of the most base level of consciousness. As Ken Wilber described it:

   1. Beige: Archaic-Instinctual. The level of basic survival; food, water, warmth, sex, and safety have priority. Uses habits and instincts just to survive. Distinct self is barely awakened or sustained. Forms into survival bands to perpetuate life. 

      Where seen: First human societies, newborn infants, senile elderly, late-stage Alzheimer’s victims, mentally ill street people, starving masses, shell shock. 0.1% of the adult population, 0% power. 

People living a life consumed by fear are in many ways living as if they are mentally ill. Living life in fear is a voluntary choice for most of us, and it’s one of the most unproductive, unhealthy lifestyle choices a human being can make.

Which brings me to the point of this post. While it was inspired by some of the stuff I’ve witnessed related to Bitcoin and various people’s responses to it, it’s about much more than that. It’s about sharing some of the things I’ve learned over the years based on my own painful mistakes. I’ve found that it’s always better to be open-minded than stubborn, and that it’s always better to be a person of action as opposed to someone living in fear. Fear will bring nothing to you and those around you but misery and happiness. Concern is fine, but how you respond to the concern is what matters. Are you going to cower in a corner, or are you going to try to do something about it? Karma is action, and action is a huge part of being human.

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British Airways Cancels All Flights From London After Global IT Outage

British Airways canceled all flights from London’s Heathrow and Getwick airports scheduled before 6 pm, after a global computer system outage caused massive delays and left planes stuck on runways. Earlier on Saturday, there were reports of BA staff telling disgruntled passengers trying to get away for the Bank Holiday weekend that the company was under cyber attack but this was denied by the airline.

The airline said terminals at Heathrow and Gatwick had become extremely congested because of the IT failure and all BA flights scheduled before 1700 GMT had been canceled. he airline also advised passengers against coming to the airports as it would not be able to help them.

“Please do not come to the airports. We have experienced a major IT system failure that is causing very severe disruption to our flight operations worldwide,” the airline said in a statement.  “We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience this is causing our customers and we are working to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.”

Passengers who were already at the airports were angry with the resulting chaos: 

“Still on the tarmac at Leeds. #britishairways reckon Heathrow is so backed up we can’t set off. No way we’ll make our Vegas flight,” one passenger David Raine wrote on Twitter.

Another, journalist Martyn Kent, wrote: “Sat on plane at Heathrow for hour and a half now. @British_Airways Captain describes IT problem as ‘catastrophic’.”

Passenger Roshni Burt, who was flying from Heathrow to Bahrain with her young son, said there was no news about when her flight would depart.

“When we left the check-in area there were angry people, people getting frustrated that their flights were coming up or near to departure, people getting turned away … with BA staff basically saying ‘if you’ve not checked in online, you’ve missed your flight’,” she told Sky News.

The official Twitter account of Heathrow Airport, the busiest airport in Europe, confirmed the IT failure abd said it was working with BA.

Following initial reports that the ground halt was the result of a computer hacks, British Airways refuted media claims that the outage had been caused by a cyber attack, saying that there was no evidence to support that.

The problems, which passengers said were had affected flights across Britain, came on a particularly busy weekend with a public holiday on Monday and many children starting their school half-term breaks.

BA became the latest airline to be hit by computer problems. Last month Lufthansa and Air France suffered a global system outage which prevented them from boarding passengers. Passengers trying to catch planes in Britain on Saturday reported long delays at check-in desks and flights being held on runways.

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Merkel Furious With Trump After “Unprecedented” G-7 Failure To Reach Consensus On Climate Change

In the end it was not mean to be. As discussed on Friday, during Trump’s first G-7 summit, world leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and new French President Emmanuel Macron, had hoped to persuade the the US president to endorse the Paris Agreement climate pledge to fight global warming. By the end of the summit – held at a luxury hotel in Taormina, Sicily that was once a Dominican monastery and base for the Nazi air force during World War Two – they realized they had failed, as Trump “underscored his determination to break the global mold” by refusing to follow the Group of Seven line not only on global warming but also by resisting measures on trade.

Furthermore, in what was described as an “unprecedented step“, the final G-7 communique gave the U.S. its own section to say that it is “undergoing a review process” and is unable to join in the discussion, an official cited by Bloomberg said. As a result while the US will remain excluded from the final affirmation, the other six, call it the G-6, will recommit to the Paris Agreement on climate change, which Trump tweeted Saturday he’d come to a decision on next week.

Needless to say, Merkel who had hoped to leave the Saturday summit with the G-7 agenda endorsed by everyone, including Trump, was furious at the US president.

“The whole discussion about climate has been difficult, or rather very unsatisfactory”  German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters Saturday. “Here we have the situation that six members, or even seven if you want to add the EU, stand against one. That means there are no signals until now whether the U.S. will remain in the Paris Agreement or not. We have therefore not talked around it but made clear that we the six member states and the EU remain committed to the goals of the agreement.”

The unhappy German continued: “The fact that we have not been able to make progress here is of course a situation in which you have to say that there is no common support for an important international agreement. This Paris Agreement is not simply any old agreement, but it’s rather a core agreement.”

She concluded by noting the unprecedented breach of agreement within the ranks, perhaps a first in G-7 history “There is right now no agreement. But we have made very clear that we are not moving away from our positions.”

Moments later, the final declaration released a just as stunning statement, which said that the U.S. was “not in a position to join consensus” on climate change.

To be sure, its wasn’t just Merkel who was displeased with Trump. According to Politico, while he avoided any major gaffes or serious diplomatic breaches, Trump’s lack of rapport with European leaders raises serious questions about his ability to effectively team up with critical U.S. allies.

“Like when there’s a new strange kid in the class nobody likes,” said a senior EU official who was briefed on the closed NATO meetings in Brussels. “You behave civilly when teachers (media) watch but don’t spend time with him in private because he’s so different.”

* * *

Trump’s inability to integrate with European leaders aside, there was at least some G-7 concensus on trade, after government officials were said to have found an agreement after haggling over wording on protectionism and reciprocal benefits, Bloomberg reported. Technical negotiations had stretched until 3 a.m. in Taormina to try to reconcile Trump’s ‘America First’ approach with the other leaders’ commitment to open markets. The result is a reference to combating protectionism to be included in the final text, according to two of the officials. Still, said the third, the document in its current draft clearly falls back by comparison to earlier G-7 communiques.

The leaders “found a reasonable solution” on trade that commits to a rules-based system, Merkel said. “We want to make the WTO successful,” she said.

Speaking to reporters on the G-7’s trade decision, Merkel said “we had very tough discussions about trade. Here I think we have found a reasonable solution. We commit ourselves to a rules- based trade system. We want to make the WTO successful. We will together keep our markets open and will move against protectionism, but will at the same time fight against unfair trade practices. This is also in the German interest when I think about the question of steel.”

According to Bloomberg, the discussions, described by Merkel as “very intense” late on Friday, “underscore the Trump administration’s decision to break with the established order honed over decades. Trump told his fellow leaders on Friday that he had campaigned on a platform of protecting U.S. jobs and would act accordingly, according to the officials, all of whom asked not to be named discussing the private meetings.”

But the best indication of the hit globalization took over the past 48 horus, was the actual content of the final G-7 communique, which was just six pages long compared to 32 pages last year. While much was dropped from the final draft, the text will contain a passage on migration, which it refers to as “human mobility.” It includes a sentence which says that nations also have the right to protect their security, while observing human rights.

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Civil Religion and U.S. Foreign Policy: New at Reason

BookIn the June issue of Reason magazine, Daniel McCarthy critiques The Tragedy of U.S. Foreign Policy: How America’s Civil Religion Betrayed the National Interest, by Walter A. McDougall:

Never mind the First Amendment; the United States has an official religion after all. It’s a civil religion, and the deity’s role is to bestow blessings on the state. The “Supreme Architect,” “the Almighty Being,” “the Infinite Power,” and “the Being Who Regulates the Destiny of Nations” are just a few of the sobriquets that Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison gave to the nation’s nondenominational guardian spirit.

For some the civil religion might be mere symbolism; others might conflate it with Christianity. Either way, it helps give the nation a sense of purpose, or so historian Walter McDougall contends.

In The Tragedy of U.S. Foreign Policy, McDougall traces how changes in the American civil religion (or “ACR”) have shaped the country’s attitudes toward war and peace. From the founding until the Spanish-American War of 1898, what McDougall calls the “Classical ACR” (or “Neo-Classical ACR” after the Civil War) prevailed. It was a faith of national expansion on the North American continent, but it did not, in the words of John Quincy Adams, “go forth in search of monsters to destroy” overseas. A new faith took hold in the last decade of the 19th century: the “Progressive American Civil Religion,” which became an even more firmly entrenched “Neo-Progressive ACR” during the Cold War. This was a militant faith that conceived of the nation’s mission as being, in George W. Bush’s words, to “end tyranny in our world.” Today a third faith, the “Millennial ACR,” aspires to unite the world through a global economy and regime of universal rights. It too has roots in the Cold War, though McDougall identifies it primarily with presidents Clinton and Obama.

View this article.

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UK Terror Threat Level Lowered To “Severe” As Police Tear Down Terrorist Cell

Four days after UK Prime Minister Theresa May announced on Tuesday the nation’s terror threat level was raised to the highest possible, “Critical” level in response to the Manchester suicide bombing which killed 22 people, and resulted in British troops being deployed on the streets of London for the first time in a decade, on Saturday Theresa May said Britain had lowered its security threat level to “severe” following a number of arrests and significant activity by police investigating the suicide bomb attack. As a result the British soldiers who were deployed earlier in the week to assist police, would be withdrawn from Britain’s streets from midnight on Monday.

Earlier in the day, police hunting the terrorist network behind the suspected suicide bomber, Salman Abedi, said they had made two further arrests overnight as they closed in on other possible cell members. May said this meant that the independent body which sets the threat level had decided it should be lowered from its highest rating “critical”, which means an attack could be imminent, to “severe”. As a result, the UK’s threat assessment has now been returned to the level it was at prior to the Manchester attack, with no imminent attacks expected, although as May also added an attack is still “highly likely”.

“A significant amount of police activity has taken place over the last 24 hours and there are now 11 suspects in custody,” May said. “The public should be clear about what this means. A threat level of severe means an attack is highly likely. The country should remain vigilant.”

Elsewhere, Reuters reports, that UK police officers said they had used a controlled explosion to gain entry to an address in the north of the city where two men were detained on Saturday. Some hours later, police cordoned off a large area in the Moss Side area of south Manchester and houses were evacuated with a bomb disposal unit sent to the scene. A man working in a local shop, who declined to be named, told Reuters he saw three men being taken away from the address.

“As part of an ongoing search at a property in Moss Side an evacuation is currently being carried in the area,” police said in a statement.

 

On Friday, Britain’s most senior counter-terrorism officer said police were confident that they had made “immense” progress and had apprehended a “large part of the network”. However, extra armed officers will be on duty across the country with security stepped up at some 1,300 events over the long holiday weekend.

The scope of the response to the Manchester attack has been dramatic, with the Times newspaper reporting on Saturday that intelligence officers had identified 23,000 jihahist extremists living in Britain. Earlier this week a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters the security services were managing 500 active operations involving some 3,000 people who were thought to pose a threat.


An armed police officer at Manchester Piccadilly railway station

A concern for the UK, and perhaps explaining the reduction of the threat level, is that over the weekend there are a number of high-profile events including soccer cup finals in London and Glasgow, and the Great Manchester Run. However, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, the UK police chief for counter-terrorism, advised people to be vigilant but to “go out as you planned and enjoy yourselves”.

Meanwhile, the traditional blowback to these kinds of events has emerged, with Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable saying there had been a rise in reported hate crimes, from an average of 28 to 56 incidents on Wednesday even as the police and politicians praised communities in Manchester for their reaction to the bombing.  “We can’t directly link these to the events of Monday night and are continuing to monitor the situation,” he said.

Also on Friday, political campaigning for the June 8 national election which was suspended after the Manchester attack resumed with the bombing becoming a central feature. The opposition Labour Party, emboldened by a rise in opinion polls, argued that Britain’s foreign policy had increased the risk of attacks and criticized Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May for cutting spending on policing. May said Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was saying Britain was to blame for the bombing.

“I want to make one thing very clear to Jeremy Corbyn and to you, and it is that there can never, ever be an excuse for terrorism,” she said at the G-7 meeting in Sicily. A recent poll on Thursday put May’s Conservatives five points ahead of Labour suggesting a far tighter race than previously anticipated, sending the British pound tumbling..

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Adding Calorie Counts to Menus No Simple Feat: New at Reason

BurgerFood policy expert Baylen Linnekin weighs in on the latest complications with mandated calorie counts on restaurant menus and USA Today‘s breezy misassumption that it’s all so easy to implement:

This week, New York City—the first place in America to require chain restaurants to post calorie information on their menus—expanded the reach of its menu-labeling law.

The city is now “the first municipality to require grocery and convenience stores with more than 15 outlets nationwide to clearly display calorie counts for prepared foods and beverages and have additional nutritional information available upon request,” reports New York’s Fox 5. “The rules will apply to about 1,500 food retailers.”

This expansion is a microcosm of a larger, ongoing debate in Washington over the fate of federal menu-labeling rules.

View this article.

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NYC Mayor De Blasio Staffer Arrested On Child Pornography Charges

Content originally generated at iBankCoin.com

A 29 year old staffer for NYC mayor Bill De Blasio’s office has been arrested and charged with two felonies after police found a massive collection of child porn on his laptop, according to court documents. The NYPD’s investigation began March 29th when Jacob Schwartz, 29, handed over his laptop – on which over 3,000 images and 89 videos were discovered depicting sexual acts with children as young as 6 months old.

Schwartz – a computer programmer making $66k / year was also the president of the Manhattan Young Democrats – as well as VP of the NY State Young Democrats. When the NY Post reached the former organization for comment, they said they were “shocked” by the allegations against Schwartz – adding that he is “no longer a member of the board.”

Schwartz thought he was hot shit in Democrat circles, rubbing elbows with and promoting Hillary’s campaign manager Robby Mook.

 

Breitbart obtained a now-deleted biography of Schwartz from the Manhattan Young Democrats:

Jacob was born and raised in the heart of Greenwich Village, and was involved in political organizing from a young age. Some of his oldest memories are handing out leaflets for his father, as he campaigned for District Leader. More recently, he helped start the New Democratic Alliance in New York City, and, in 2012, worked for the Obama campaign as a Field Organizer in the Lehigh Valley. A graduate of Lehigh University with an M.S. in Energy Systems Engineering and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Jacob currently works for the New York City Department of Design and Construction on their Build It Back Hurricane Sandy recovery and resiliency program. He is also the founder and executive director of a climate education non-profit called Common Climate, and previously served as Issues Assembly and Policy Director for MYD.

Schwartz was charged with promoting a sexual performance by a child and possessing a sexual performance by a child under 16, both felonies.

 

Schwartz’s father is huge Democrat insider

Jacob Schwartz’s father is Arthur Schwartz, a prominent Manhattan attorney, community activist, and DNC operator. Schwartz served as council to Bernie Sanders during the 2016 election. He was also a delegate during Barack Obama’s 2008 run for president.

Schwartz has also represented SEIU, several unions, and served as general council to ACORN from March of 2009 to October 2010.

He also made a killing in NY real estate

Arthur Schwartz turned a 2003 investment of $499,000 into $20.89 million when he sold in 2014.

The elder Schwartz has called his son’s arrest “a personal tragedy,” and told the Post “He’s already in therapy for this.”

The younger Schwartz is out on $7500 bail.

 

And poor NY Mayor Bill De Blasio – the vocal Trump critic who headed up an anti-Trump protest in Columbus Circle, clogging up traffic, railed against Trump’s Immigration Executive Order – calling it ‘Simply Un-American,’ accused Trump of being the cause of Anti-Semitic threats (which turned out to be an Israeli guy). De Blasio also refused to assign a label of terrorism to a Sept. 2016 Manhattan bombing carried out by Afghani named Ahmad Kahn Rahimi which injured 29 people. Even though a note left on an unexploded pressure cooker referenced al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

So, a rising star NY Democrat was arrested on charges of pedophilia, and two of Trump’s most vocal New York critics on the left have been thoroughly dragged into the mud.

Boy was Hillary’s timing bad…

During Friday’s commencement address at Wellesley College, Hillary tried to smear those investigating high level pedophilia:


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Medal Of Honor Recipient Warns: “It’s Going To Come Here… Trump Must Release The Gates Of Hell” On Islamic State

Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,

With British Prime Minister Theresa May warning that another attack may be imminent, Medal of Honor Recipient Dakota Meyer says that it’s time to strike Islamic State strongholds without mercy, because sooner or later we could well witness suicide bombers detonating themselves in the middle of large crowds right here at home.

Arguing that President Obama, who awarded Meyer his Medal of Honor, was weak on ISIS and terrorism in general, he says President Trump should take a completely different strategy.

In short… it’s time to unleash the gates of hell…

I’ve been saying this is going to happen for a long time.

 

When is it coming here?

 

I think the only way you get this point across is that we release the gates of hell on them and we start making war so ugly that…their recruitment videos… it won’t be cool to join ISIS anymore.

 

And at some point we’re going to have to do that… this labeling of ‘it’s a lone wolf’ attack… or saying it’s not connected or this or that…

 

You can’t just ignore this problem because it’s going to come here…

 

The only thing I am optimistic about with this situation is that we have a President… think whatever you want about his politics…

 

At least we have a president that’s in place that’s not going to allow us to be the victims… you can guarantee he’s going to do whatever it’s going to take… no matter if it’s popular in the court of public opinion… he’s going to do what’s right to protect America…

Our guess?

President Trump was just warming up when he dropped this mother of all bombs on an ISIS complex in Afghanistan earlier this year:

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The Most Popular Books In History All Shared One Trait

Throughout history, people have turned to works of literature for guidance, entertainment, and education. Modern businesses aim to tell stories that leave a long-lasting impact as well, and should look to examples of historical success to influence how they create their own content.

Today’s infographic comes to us from Global English Editing, and it looks at 20 of the most popular books in the world. As Visual Capitalist's Jeff Desjardins notes, all of the books listed, even those published decades or centuries ago, have made an enduring impact on readers to this day. They have achieved this by stirring discussion and sparking debate wherever they are read.

Courtesy of: Visual Capitalist

CONTROVERSY: THE EVERGREEN THEME

One of the important traits shared by every book on this list is the controversy that has swirled around each of them. This can be seen across different time periods and genres.

People have questioned the identity and authorial authenticity of Homer and decried the upending of creationism proposed by Darwin. Even a children’s book like the modern bestselling series, Harry Potter, can be a magnet for discussion over what is morally right and wrong.

It is often the case the that most popular and enduring literary works will not only captivate, but also address controversial issues in such a way that people will be talking about them for generations.

LESSONS FROM HISTORY

The recent bestselling streak of George Orwell’s 1984, first published in 1950, is an interesting illustration of this trend.

The dystopian novel was banned upon its translation and release in the former USSR due to its implicit critique of Stalinist political ideology. By contrast, in the 1970s and 1980s, several American counties challenged 1984 on the grounds that it might promote communist ideals. In the 21st century, Orwell’s best-known work has been revisited by a new generation of readers as the American political climate continues to create new uncertainties about governance, the distortion of facts, and social control.

FOR BUSINESS CONTENT, BOLD WILL HOLD

The most popular books ever written can teach modern businesses a great deal about what it takes to make content that is evergreen, meaningful, and primed to engage their readers. Creating discussion is key in the age of the reactive “hot take” style of article. Your ability to stand out in the cultural, historical, or political context for having a point of view that many people find worthy of debating will give your work the staying power it needs.

Considering that within any given minute there are 2.4 million Google searches taking place and over 700,000 people logging into Facebook, this is no easy task. But whether it’s through a new product or via customer engagement, creating meaningful discussion is key to making a business’ voice heard through all the noise.

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OANN Releases Report On Seth Rich Murder, Raises Questions About Chinese Corruption

Via Disobedient Media

The San Diego based One American News Network has released a new report highlighting key elements of the mystery surrounding the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich. OANN cites a number of inconsistencies and lingering questions in the case, while also noting that Rich’s murder occurred in close proximity to the similarly strange death of UN official John Ashe. Ashe was found dead just days before he was set to testify against Clinton in relation to matters pertaining to a corruption case where Chinese billionaire Charlie Trie helped launder $1.2 million dollars as part of Chinese government efforts to influence Bill Clinton’s 1996 presidential election. Ashe’s death was originally reported as a heart attack, but the story changed after it emerged that the cause was in fact a crushed windpipe in what was labeled a “workout accident.” The full report can be viewed here:

On May 25th, one day before OANN’s report, a representative of the media company made a post on the online messageboard 4chan appealing for help locating information regarding the doctor who treated Seth Rich for gunshot injuries he sustained during the incident. Within minutes of the post, OANN’s website was taken offline in a Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack.

Screenshot taken on 5/26/2017 showing that OANN’s website was taken offline

The findings of the report offer fresh insights what is appearing to be a story of complex political corruption and Democratic National Committee (DNC) attempts to downplay the scandal. Disobedient Media has previously reported on the extensive ties that key players in the Seth Rich case have to the DNC, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Rose Law Firm, the law firm which was at the center of the 1990’s Whitewater Controversy.

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