The Economist 1988's Front Cover Foretelling a World Currency in 2018 - Is This True?
Recently I came across this image used by @dollarvigilante in his post The Globalist Plan To Blame Bitcoin for Biblical Level Collapse in 2018. First of all, I would like to say that I think the world is chaotic and messy enough, making it rather impossible to fall under anyone's control, especially 30 years in the making. The doomporn and globalist conspiracy narrative is fun and all, but I really think it should just fall under the tag "entertainment" to be honest.
Nothing against good entertainers, but I just have a beef when it comes to weak journalism that takes advantage of people's fears and insecurities. @dollarvigilante weaved a story with the usual conspiracy theory narrative to appeal to cognitive biases and mentioned "As always, I look for the clues directly from those who currently control the world for the answers. And I keep gravitating back to this Rothschild owned Economist magazine front cover from 1988" before dropping the image above.
I thought having the 2018 text on the phoenix's emblem was a little too coincidental. Anyone that can plan 30 years ahead and execute their globalist plans to the dot must be gods! So I did some magic internet research. No substantial source at all even with so many Youtubers and doom preppers eating up that image and fitting it into their neat conspiracy theories. Everything that I found, even Zero Hedge's article on it cites The Economist's publication on January 9, 1988, Vol. 306, pp 9-10, but the links only point to this 1998 article on The Economist which has nothing to do with the image above.
Even what seems to be the original source of reporting is sketchy as well. I know I shouldn't appeal to the authority of nice website URLs and aesthetics, but look at this "Socio-Economics History Blog" and tell me. There's nothing to be found!
Except this one, but I'm not even sure if it's the real thing since it's on a blog called "The Endtime Observer". I'll take it though since it's the only lead that looks different from the rest. There are also no such covers for The Economist magazines ranging from year 1980 - 1995 on eBay. So the question begs, why would anyone do this?
Easy, although I'm saying this without much research at all. The most backdated timestamp of the magazine cover only emerged back in 2013/2014. It's likely to be the work of 4chan trolls and Bitcoiners. It's a fact that 4chan trolls have been hard at work poisoning the well, feeding the minds of gullible information consumers on the Internet ever since it became a thing. The emotionally-sensitive are just too primed to fall for neatly-packaged stories that empower their own biased narratives all too often. So @dollarvigilante, please use the "entertainment" tag more liberally. I really enjoy that aspect of your shows, but I've never seen that tag used before.
Okay I'll go on a little bit more on a more lengthy rant here because I have some issues with some parts of the "truther" / "conspiracy-theorist" community. Pretty sure some do great work in exposing the injustices that might be going on, but seriously there's no greater appeal to authority than attempting to strengthen one's arguments by pointing at anything remotely close to confirming one's beliefs. Appeal to numerology and imagery comes to mind.
Plus for all the warnings of evil politicians and globalists trying to take over the world, has anyone ever noticed that 99% of us just don't give a shit? I wonder why the conspiracy-community is so obsessed with these people in places of power that they keep on talking about them, as if to give these people in places of power, more power? Something to sell I guess.
But here's a better form of power for the people: how about we just do our own thing, move on, and build something better for ourselves? Switch the channel. Rumour and gossip mongering is a huge waste of time.
So is the magazine cover the real deal? It doesn't matter. The world is too messy for any pre-planned collapse of the economy and it's impossible to predict what's going to happen in the future. So why am I ranting about this? I guess I just have a problem with all sorts of propaganda.. and not just what @dollarvigilante has been trying to sell.
If you're up for something that's better without all the boo-boo, but have guessed the emergence of Bitcoin since 1997 through analysis of technological progress and megapolitical shifts, check this book out - The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age. It's way more realistic and critical, in my opinion.
This is one of the best articles I have read in a while.
I am well aware of how fucked up the world is but also just as aware of how fucked up most of the "truthers" are as well. It so obvious how the gloom and doom scenario is used to make money and its so easy to just blame the corps or governments.
Yet its actually the PEOPLE that feed the corps and the governments.....So.....
The MAIN point here is the if we don't like something than its up to us to create something better. Even if thats just for our own life and not for the entire world. Complaining and blaming is the REAL problem.
That is why I dedicated my life 15 years ago to creating a life that I actually wanted to live to save my self from the pain, suffering and deep depression of living in a world I hated.
Now i have an amazing life that I love and have helped thousands of people improve their life while also saving the environment as a whole.
Really great article brother. Congrats.
Thanks for the kind words @quinneaker you've definitely got your part straightened out. It's going to be a slow process but people will change as more show examples and options of how life can be like. For one I like urban areas, so sustainable urban living is something I'm always looking into.
Yes I have found and proven that sustainable living is not only doable in urban environments but in many ways much better. I highly recommend it though choosing the "right urban environment" is key.
Just keep your thoughts and actions full steem ahead on the ideals you wish to live and so it shall be.
The world will do whatever it does.
Blessings Brother~*~
Thank you for looking into this. I had just found that cover and then I found your article next.
These predictions have been going around for hundreds of years. Nothing new.
Ha. People love a good scare story. And many profit off of these scare stories. Many perma bears speak of the market collapse over and over again. Eventually there is a correction and they are like I told so. I guess even a broken clock is right two times a day.
http://csat.au.af.mil/2025/volume3/vol3ch15.pdf
Here you have one :-) Note the URL.
Terence McKenna:
LOVE THIS QUOTE!
Wow didn't know there was such a quote from Terrence :) thank you
☺
Last Warning: Cryptocurrencies are part of the beast system - The End of Freedom
Excellent McKenna reference and highly appropriate. Thnx for sharing.
Very interesting quote.
What do you think about the following one? Do you think it's possible Terence McKenna may have been recruited by the authorities in exchange for them turning a blind eye regarding his hash smuggling operation?
He's talking about they as in the "aliens". ☺ Too many buzzwords in the video before the actual audio: "obviously", "clearly", "100%", " etc. He always joked about this. He said that in the '70 was broke and running from the police and then he discovered magic mushrooms and it gave him purpose and meaning. He started giving presentations, writting books and spreading the ideas he developed/received by using mushrooms. ☺
Think about this for a moment. Let's say Terence was recruted by whatevet agency. What was the point? To popularize the use of psychedelics to the general public? Because that's what he did. To promote illegal activities? Because that's what he did. To speak against war mongering assholes and control freak politicians and authorities? Because that's what he did. Terence had a very anarchic message. Also, the people that tried psychedelics know how the pyschedelic experience is freeing the mind from all the bullshit that these agencies and authorities fill us with.
Conspiracy minded people are so silly when it comes to certain topics. They fail to understand the use of methaphors and humour in this case. And sometimes they're just dumb.
The CIA and the army studied how they can use psychedelics for their own purposes but they stopped when they saw the results varied wildly from person to person. They couldn't control the outcome. Control freaks don't care about things they can't control the outcome of.
People who keep talking about MK-ULTRA and mind control through the use of psychedelics either they're bullshiting or they haven't tried psychedelics. It's impossible to control the psychedelic experience. Or so I've heard. ☺
If someone wants to talk about mind control through spreading lies/misinformation/propaganda using electronic mediums then yeah, I'm all for that. You know, misinformation like for example, conspiracy theories. ☺
Yes, that's about the argument of Jan Irvin. That the counterculture was encouraged and propagated to a certain point by such an entity as the CIA for the purpose of debasing the values of society. He would call ideas such as the one being put forth in The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross by John Allegro as weaponized anthropology. It's well known that the CIA has been involved in drug smuggling, in mind control experiments, and in the entertainment industry. So I don't see why thinking Mckenna getting off scot-free after being caught doing something illegal, while supposedly being a threat to the authorities, and then making ambiguous jokes about him being recruited by ''they'' (note that FBI is something like seven sentences closer to ''they'' than the word alien) could only mean that ''conspiracy-minded people'' are silly/dumb, for that the misinterpretation would solely fall on them. In this case, I think the responsibility of discombobulation rather falls on McKenna.
B.t.w., I forgot to mention that I don't think McKenna's ideas about the concept of a ''mother of all conspiracies'' (that's what it is because whether people like it or not conspiracies do exist) and the possibility of him having been entangled in some intelligence apparatus aren't mutually exclusive. Both make sense to me. :-)
I hadn't seen your three last paragraphs when I started answering you.
A predictable hyper-suggestibility outcome out of the use of a particular psychotomimetic substance supposedly does exist with the consumption of scopolamine:
This is how I first heard about it:
World's Scariest Drug (Documentary Exclusive)
I think psychedelics are like ''conspiracy theories'', you can't put them into a single block as all being the same without the risk of creating a straw man argument. So yes, I agree with some conspiracy theories probably being used as a disinformation tool to spread cognitive dissonance, and with some others fitting in the urban legend category, while the rest must be falling in line with the where there's smoke, there's fire idiom.
Scopolamine is not a psychedelic. It's a deliriant if used in high amount doses. Not the same thing.
Fair enough. According to Wikipedia:
Found on the CIA's website:
It can give hallucinations. As a psychoactive agent, it's in the same larger nomenclature of hallucinogen.
You're right, it is usually not classified as a psychedelic, nor as a dissociative, but rather as a deliriant:
Maybe I should have used the word drugs instead of psychedelics in my last paragraph.
Again on Wikipedia, the full scope of the drugs used in Project MKUltra seems rather vague:
Haha! Nice job getting ahead of fake news, man! I really like the effort you put into doing the research. All of the links are highly appreciated. I sincerely hope this reaches more eyes so that it could defuse some FUD that could spring from those conspiracies. It's one thing when it comes from someone that could be passed off as a nutjob, it's another thing if it comes from someone a lot of people listen to.
Get an Economist subscription. Read the article in their archive. The coin on the cover says 2018 because the scenario the Economist develops is «thirty years from now».
«THIRTY years from now, Americans, Japanese, Europeans, and people in many other rich countries, and some relatively poor ones will probably be paying for their shopping with the same currency. Prices will be quoted not in dollars, yen or D-marks but in, let’s say, the phoenix. The phoenix will be favoured by companies and shoppers because it will be more convenient than today’s national currencies, which by then will seem a quaint cause of much disruption to economic life in the last twentieth century.»
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-09/economist-get-ready-world-currency-2018
Do you think the Economist is a conspiracy magazine? Read it, it's not only about economy but also politics and science and wuite worthwile.
Get me a link. I've already mentioned in the article the zerohedge page doesn't point to the right article on theeconomist at all. Do you have a sub? I don't think they've any archive on the site before 1992.
Edit: I'm a reader on the economist btw. love their work.
Oh, you mean you want real evidence. LOL Like a link.
Yea I can accept links from the pre-blockchain era...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/THE-ECONOMIST-JANUARY-1988-Get-Ready-For-A-World-Currency/163315463216?hash=item26065c3430:g:Ue8AAOSwNWhbw7Ip:rk:1:pf:0 https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-6359751.html /=0
LOL chill out, man ;) I didn't name names, but I never meant to insinuate the Economist as a conspiracy magazine. Thirty years ago, I don't think fake news was even a thing. But anyway, yeah, I respect what the people at the Economist do and I never thought of them as spreading false information.
Nice balanced perspective. I appreciate that since I automatically lean towards the more sensational myself. Thanks.
Thanks for dropping by! Me too. Until someone else reminds me about my tendencies :)
Really like your effort :)
Best wishes for my asian friend
@kevinwong ☺☺☺☺
Let's all use the Internet and check the websites of The Council on Foreign Relations, Chatham House, Fabians. Do you think their work is random and chaotic? And they're not only around for 30 years.
Glad you researched this.. I've heard a lot of people mention the Economist 1988 cover and refer to Bitcoin, but it all seems sketchy to me
Well the best is to actually give a call to The Economist and confirm it, but with the lack of any alternative info on the net and on eBay auctions, I think it's safe to assume it's not legit.. but then again it might be true ;)
Conspiracy and propaganda is good business. I think most peddlers also do not totally believe in all they write but it's an emotional topic that taps into people's curiosity so it sells, probably next to sex. Considering that I have also fed into conspiracy a lot while a teen, I also feel Cryptos especially, Bitcoin is the closest thing to a One world currency (the so called NWO) but it's nothing to worry about in any way.
Even Keanu Reeves is saying bitcoin will defeat the NWO lol
Lol. I will only believe him because he was Neo in the matrix otherwise the way I see cryptos is that they bridge the fiat currency borders. Everybody, regardless of their country can hold cryptos and spend it worldwide while the local fiat works within national borders. Since bitcoin is like the coin that rules the others, it's technically a global currency now and currently bigger than the dollar. Once there is mainstream acceptance, then, it's all over. Just yesterday, I wanted to pay for Web hosting and my host accepts bitcoin now. Only thing is it is decentralized, but it's the people who hold the larger percentage of the limited supply that will Control the bitcoin economy (maybe they are with the NWO, who knows. Lol)
a global currency has been in existence for a long time.
it's called the dollar.
Lol @everittdmickey, always with on-point comments :)
thanx...I try.
Thanks for brining that to light ... been seeing this circulated around several social media sites including Instagram and Facebook and wonder the validity of it.