←back to thread

El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender

(ticotimes.net)
927 points smallerfish | 7 comments | 04 Feb 25 00:00 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
Show context
starspangled ◴[04 Feb 25 00:51 UTC] No.42925817[source]▶
It's interesting and nice to see how progressive and creative El Salvador has been. Some failures are perfectly understandable when one is willing to try new things. Their approach to crime is another thing that comes to mind that was lambasted and ridiculed by the "international community" and "experts". Yet in the space of a single decade they went from murder capital of the world to safer than New Zealand (in terms of homicide rate), which is just staggering.

I love that they are innovating and experimenting and trying their own things, and don't let the stuffy pompous status quo hold them back.

replies(6): >>42925930 #>>42925950 #>>42926051 #>>42926054 #>>42928062 #>>42929030 #
1. the_af ◴[04 Feb 25 01:13 UTC] No.42926054[source]▶
Regardless of whether you think of them as successful or failed, I don't think you can see El Salvador's policies as "progressive".
replies(2): >>42926086 #>>42928123 #
2. influx ◴[04 Feb 25 01:16 UTC] No.42926086[source]▶
How is it "progressive" to allow public safety issues to disproportionately impact vulnerable populations?
replies(2): >>42930094 #>>42931717 #
3. aredox ◴[04 Feb 25 09:14 UTC] No.42930094[source]▶
Is Omelas "progressive"?
4. aredox ◴[04 Feb 25 09:21 UTC] No.42930140[source]▶
Bukele has emprisoned a large part of the population for the rest of their life in concentration camps.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250128-no-way-out-gr...

If he was killing them directly in gas chambers instead of letting them rot in prison, the population would be as safe, if not safer, forever.

Would that still be "progressive" for you?

Would you have supported Jonathan Swift's "Modest Proposal" too, at the time? Or sterilizing poor people? I mean, those are perfectly logical suggestions that would work, wouldn't they?

replies(1): >>42977179 #
5. ◴[04 Feb 25 12:55 UTC] No.42931717[source]▶
6. the_af ◴[04 Feb 25 12:57 UTC] No.42931738[source]▶
There are alternative paths one could take to address society's ills.

I'm saying Bukele's policies aren't progressive. Furthermore, he doesn't consider them progressive. His allies in the Latin American ultra right wing don't consider them progressive. "Progressive" to them is an insult.

7. next_xibalba ◴[07 Feb 25 20:34 UTC] No.42977179{3}[source]▶
These people have made the affirmative choice to join gangs that terrorize law abiding citizens. Their choke hold on El Salvador has prevented others from living safe, prosperous lives (not to mention the countless people they've killed). Removing them from society is progress. The amount of utils gained by the large majority far outweighs those lost by these criminals. And frankly, it's a false equivalence anyway bc they're, y'know, criminals.

> Would you have supported Jonathan Swift's "Modest Proposal" too, at the time? Or sterilizing poor people? I mean, those are perfectly logical suggestions that would work, wouldn't they?

You have erected a startling number of straw men in your response. I'll ignore them.

We should do things that both work and benefit society. We should not do things that don't work. Here's a short an non-exhaustive list of "progressive" things that don't work: restorative justice, tolerating crime, allowing the destruction of the commons by the mentally ill and addicted, allowing criminals to be free and wreck society due to legal technicalities, bureaucracy, and corruption.

And thus, as I wrote previously, the word "progressive" seems to have fully inverted. Things that enable or create progress are called regressive, while things that are actually regressive and destructure are called progressive.