Hacker News Reader

Comment by cormacrelf | Hacker News Reader

Do you just not care about anybody else in the world? We live in a society.

I am surprised at the political ideas on display in this thread. This isn’t even under the comment in which I described the influence of “techno-libertarian anarcho-capitalism” on the crypto community! If you are not part of a western democracy, of course you do not have to care, but if you are, then you should. (Moreover if you think war is bad, like that other commenter agreed before wondering how to erase the effect of sanction deterrents, you should also care.)

View on HN

>Do you just not care about anybody else in the world

Sure I do, however I also get to choose who I care about, and it definitely doesn't include people who make policies which are extraterritorially enforced on me.

>If you are not part of a western democracy, of course you do not have to care

What do you do when a "Western" "democracy" enforces their laws on you and all remaining solutions point you to services that are beholden to a "Western" "democracy".

They’re not extraterritorially enforced unless you’re talking about a blockade, so unless you’re a Cuban or Puerto Rican, you can’t complain. Most sanctions are just one nation deciding it prefers to lose your business than to lose its security agreements with its allies. If you find yourself unable to make a cross border deal, it’s because your country was unable to negotiate it with another. I have no intrinsic right to do business with anyone in the world as I see fit. Neither do you. I’m just okay with that because there are bigger goals than my own.

> What do you do when a "Western" "democracy" enforces their laws on you and all remaining solutions point you to services that are beholden to a "Western" "democracy".

Correct the aberrant behavior that caused your nation to get kicked out of the global trade system, or move to a nation that hasn't gone rogue. That's what the sanctions are meant to encourage. Bypassing the sanctions with clever math is just going to get the clever math outlawed; exerting international pressure to keep countries in line is far more important than your coinbase account.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com