I had no reason to be nervous, everything was in order. They had seen me here before.

I pulled right up to the front door of the shop-- nothing to hide. I didn’t even glance at the security cameras, I had no reason to even be aware of them as I removed my sunglasses and went inside. There were two cash registers, and two employees. Always two.

The place had the usual smell of cheap, soapy-smelling incense, and the cashier was one of the friendly ones, bringing me my tobacco with a smile. I handed her my card so she could swipe it. I could faintly hear Aretha Franklin grooving about some Respect from a radio in the back, and I wanted to tap my foot, but didn't. If I tapped my foot, then I might be tempted to sing the upcoming 're, re, re re, re, re, re re-SPECT, jussa little bit...' I always liked that part of the song, as if "reereereeree" was a word of it's own, or as if Aretha had penned the tune after listening to a chorus of cicadas one summer's day.

Fiddling around with her card reader, the cashier asked, as innocently as she could, “What is ‘Bit... bitpay'?” As she handed the card back to me, I was excited that somebody had been daring enough to ask about the Bitpay card. Maybe I could even coherently explain it, and with a great thrill I prepared to lead her into the exciting world of cryptocurrency.

“Well, it’s loaded with bitcoin, which is a kind of digital currency, um...”

She stopped me there so that she could congratulate herself for accurately guessing ‘bitcoin’ in association with my Bitpay card, and then she cautiously allowed that she was already familiar with bitcoin, but had always associated it with ”The Dark Web.” She even lowered her voice to say it, giving the phrase an ominous tone. ”The Dark Web.”

[haunting diminished chord on pipe organ]

She laughed, and we all laughed with her, but I’ve never been to the Dark Web myself. I know that it is only mentioned in hushed tones, as if only criminals dared say the words aloud, and that I was now bringing that spooky element into her world in the form of a genuine VISA card.

I could easily hear the TV programming in her few words: 'bitcoin is the currency that dangerous criminals sneak around with to use in their illegal enterprises.' This is cultural conditioning at it's finest, teaching the population to demonize things that they don't understand based on scripts from the nightly TV programming.

Talking About Cultural Conditioning

I always enjoy the chance to expose the modern propaganda and programming techniques that are used on the population, and often people are receptive to those notions if I can present them quickly and neatly.

Here was somebody who was parroting a narrative that translates into an attack on bitcoin, expressing thoughts and ideas that seem to be based on a linguistic veneer that is splattered over our reality in thick coats, colored and crafted by diligent social engineers who fabricate the popular opinions that are spewed from the TV every day. It was time for an intervention.

While an attack on bitcoin somehow felt like an attack on me, I liked this cashier, so instead of defending myself, I offered her a question in the form of an answer to her cautious inquiry into the mysterious world of cryptocurrencies:

“You know how there are some things that are really good, but they are made to look bad?”

I wanted to add ‘you know, like weed’ but I didn’t want to talk like that in her shop. She knew exactly what I meant though, and delivered a delightfully facetious rant about how none of the various unspeakable things that an individual could have delivered to their home from the Dark Web could be useful or good in any way, etc.

The other employee chuckled at her animated and sarcastic sermon, and we all got the point, but I elaborated further into my main point, because I could see that a sort of 'guilt by association' thing had been fed into the public narrative in an attempt to demonize bitcoin, and I was determined to expose it right there in the shop.

Guilt By Association

I suggested that bitcoin is also under attack for other reasons, and that the currency is probably being made to look bad because it directly threatens the US dollar and the existing power structure, and so it was being publicly associated with the scariness of the Dark Web and it's apparent criminal reputation.

She got that too, in fact both employees were nodding now, and indeed, dusty light bulbs with forbidden switches happily flickered to life in the cashier's eyes. “It’s no surprise that the banks don't like it, bitcoin’s worth like 49 dollars, right?”

I had more enterprises to engage in that day, and other acts to commit before heading back to my compound, so I smiled on my way out of the shop. “Well, bitcoin is worth three or four thousand lately. Yep-- it’s moving right along!”

I put my glasses back on and got in the car. I couldn't help but think with a laugh that they were nodding at everything I said because they'd been trained to appease the bad guy in such situations where there was evidence of a criminal element involving someone in the store; 'Smile and nod, try to relax, and he will soon be gone, hopefully with no trouble.'

They didn't really think that I was a dangerous criminal, and I'm sure that it was actually refreshing for the cashier to be able to talk freely about bitcoin, even while pointing out the stigmas that have been associated with it along the way, and maybe she will now feel free to investigate the idea of cryptocurrency in general. Next time I see that cashier, she'll be ready to hear about Steemit, if she dares. I still had 'Reeree reeree-spect...' playing in my head as I drove off.

I wasn't doing anything wrong, and I left with no trouble. The ladies at the tobacco store had lived to tell about their encounter with me; the dark man from the web, who freely walked into their store using money that was possibly obtained in ways that are usually whispered about only in darkened alleys and on dark webs, or means that are lamented about from brightly lit jail cells by shady schemers and the usual questionable characters. Not only had I seemed at ease with the idea of embracing bitcoin, VISA had agreed with me by issuing such a thing as the bitpay card that I had so proudly whipped out. I do like when people ask about it.

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I actually get all of my cryptocurrency honestly right here on steemit, please upvote and resteem to help keep me from being forced into a life of internet crime

@therealpaul