This week Time launched their "Building a better future" NFT. The project was heavily promoted by social media influencer farokh.
Time Magazine is now owned by Marc Benoiff, Chairman and CEO of Salesforce.
Anyone who's been in tech for as long as I have knows that Marc Benoiff was for years, a right winger. He gave lotsa money to politicians and political campaigns that are directly associated with the climate catastrophe, governing a woman's body, the military industrial war complex, all kinds of other fucked up bs.
When Marc bought Time he dropped the Republican allegiance, called himself an Independent. He started giving more money to neo-liberals.
In 016 Benoiff gave money to Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy is a Trumper, is leading the charge to overthrow the United States government. He's also behind the draconian abortion laws in TX, GA and soon, FL.
But you don't have to be in tech for years to know this. It'd take you a couple minutes of Googling.
Time commissioned 40 artists to contribute pieces for the drop. Judging by the images alone, half of the artists pieces are progressive messaging - voting rights, equality, climate catastrophe, etc. Reading the artists statements, 10 more are progressive sounding: Here's one from Parin Heidari:
"I would like to see a world in which it doesn’t matter where you were born or what color your skin is, where all languages, cultures, and ethnicities are valued the same and peace is found across borders."
So Time has an overtly progressive drop. But Time's owner spent years fighting progressive causes. Say what?
I then joined farokh's Discord, starting pointing out the obvious. I started tweeting about it. Far as I could see, I was the only one.
I wasn't rude or abusive in the Discord. I just pointed out facts. I immediately got booted from farokh's Discord. So I got booted for dissent which a founding principle of Bitcoin.
Someone asked me if farokh was lying. For me, that isn't what I'm speaking out against. It's that he promoted a drop that's the antithesis of what most of the artists in the drop we're trying to convey. And. The drop is named "Building a better future". I think it's a stretch to think Republicans and neo-liberalism get us to anywhere near, a better future.
Someone asked me, "What does this have to do with this project"?
My mother was an activist. People have been led to believe, by interests that don't want them to vote, that their vote doesn't matter. Nothing could be further from the truth. We're a nation of laws, laws are made by elected officials.
I'm not an Obama fan boy. But I did travel to Chicago when he was elected in 08 to be there for such a historical time. I think in many ways he failed. But he nailed it when he said this:
Former President Barack Obama, speaking to an audience in Italy on Tuesday, urged citizens to participate in democracy and warned that “you get the politicians you deserve.” “People have a tendency to blame politicians when things don't work, but as I always tell people, you get the politicians you deserve,” Obama said, to loud applause. “And if you don't vote and you don't pay attention, you'll get policies that don't reflect your interest.”
Rephrased for us, you get the crypto you deserve. If we all don't participate, call balls and strikes, all that's going to happen in crypto is we'll build a better Wall Street. As Chris Remus says, what the fuck is the point?
For me, it made no sense for artists who say they care about the planet, human rights, voting rights, equality, and are against wars to participate in a drop from a company owned by a man who funded what they're against.
Time's NFT drop is art for ETH's sake. Nothing else.
