Cheap Thrills

Happy Sunday, everyone.

6:47 AM. Saturday morning. I opened Twitter and saw a 43-year-old in a Metallica t-shirt and sparkly sweatpants holding a stuffed llama, standing next to a model in a black dress with a high slit. Background: white Christmas tree, high-rise apartment.

Caption: "43 years old, no kids, crypto rich, smoking hot girlfriend. Tell me who's having a better Christmas than me".

My first thought: This dude is pathetic.

My second thought: Everyone needs to know how pathetic he is.

Twenty minutes later, I'd rage-scrolled through 47 angry replies, dissected Community Notes about his fake girlfriend, and mentally composed my own ratio attempt.

Then I realized: my “elephant” was driving.

This week in Bitcoin Wisdom: Why Bitcoin Twitter hijacks your brain, and how to take back control.

We're covering:

In "The Happiness Hypothesis" psychologist Jonathan Haidt describes your brain as an elephant (emotion) with a rider (logic) on top.

The elephant is massive, powerful, and runs on instinct. The rider is small, calculating, and tries to steer. Most of the time? The elephant goes wherever it wants.

Here's the problem: Bitcoin Twitter is an elephant buffet.

Every rage-farming post-yacht flexes, fake girlfriends, "crypto rich" bios-is designed to trigger your elephant. And once triggered, your elephant doesn't care about fundamentals, protocol upgrades, or your thesis.

It just wants to react. I mean, look at this idiot…

The elephant evolved over thousands of generations to prioritize three things:

Bitcoin and crypto Twitter exploit all three simultaneously.

Nick O'Neill's post is a masterclass: high-rise apartment Christmas (status), model in slit dress (inadequacy), "crypto rich" (tribal rage), "no kids" (moral judgment bait), Metallica shirt + sparkly pants + purple slippers + stuffed llama (easy ridicule).

Result: Over 11M impressions, 7,400 retweets, huge angry responses.

Your elephant saw bait. Your elephant took the bait. Mine did too.

Nick O'Neill got 11M people to give him their attention. He controlled them. He controlled my attention for 20 minutes on Saturday morning.

Morgan Housel said: "If you're not happy at a hundred thousand, you will not be happy at fifty times that”.

Nick O'Neill (apparently) has the wealth for the flex. But he still needs your validation. He needs 11M people to see it. He needs you to believe he's successful.

That's not wealth. That's addiction to external approval disguised as success.

And here's the irony: the people who don't see his posts are happier. Ignorance is bliss-because social media is fake. The model was hired. The "crypto rich" bio is exaggerated. The stuffed llama is definitely a prop. But 11M people saw it, got triggered, and made him relevant for a day on Twitter.

You can't unsee rage-farming once you've scrolled past it. But you can choose not to feed it.

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Your elephant makes emotional decisions. Your rider protects your future.

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As we covered in The 3 Second "No", humans are social creatures biologically programmed to engage, not ignore.

Three evolutionary reasons we can't scroll past:

Reciprocal altruism - Our brains evolved in tribes where engagement equals survival. Calling out frauds helped maintain group cohesion.

Negativity bias - Your brain prioritizes threats. A yacht flex registers as social threat ("he's cheating, I'm losing"), triggering fight response.

Moral outrage feels productive - Calling out grifters feels like community service. It's not. It's engagement for someone who hired a model for a photo.

Bitcoin Twitter amplifies everything. Tribal identity (Bitcoin vs "crypto"), portfolio stakes (his yacht up, your portfolio down), algorithmic boost (outrage spreads 2x faster).

Here's what makes rage-farming particularly insidious: the retreat to irony.

Post yacht photo. Gain 11M impressions. Harvest angry comments.

Then: "Relax guys, it's just a joke. Why the outrage?"

This is textbook gaslighting:

The creator gets attention (real), followers (real), monetization (real), deniability ("kidding!").

You lose time, emotional exhaustion, feeling stupid for "falling for it."

It's not that you can't take a joke. It's that weaponized irony is a (rather profitable) business model.

Here's another clear example from this week:

A Crypto account posted a Darth Vader meme of Michael Saylor with a red lightsaber. Headline: "RUMOUR - SAYLOR STRATEGY may be Forced to DUMP 650,000 BTC if $MSTR falls below mNAV."

367K views. 288 replies. People panicking in the comments.

The post included technical jargon (mNAV, 0.9x trigger), specific numbers (billions in BTC), and ended with: "REAL THREAT OR PURE FUD by JP MORGAN AGAIN?"

Bitcoin analyst Sani called him out: "How stupid are you?" Then explained why the claim was nonsense.

This is the playbook:

Your elephant sees "650,000 BTC DUMP" and freaks out. Your rider has to waste energy fact-checking obvious FUD.

The person who posted it? Got exactly what they wanted: your attention.

Additional feedback: What ragebait post got you this week? Hit me up at [email protected] (would love to hear your story).

Before engaging with ANY post, count to 3 and ask: "Does this help my portfolio?"

If the answer isn't an immediate yes → scroll past.

Why it works: Three seconds is how long your prefrontal cortex (logic) needs to override your amygdala (rage center).

Practical tip: Set an alarm labeled "Is this making me money?" Schedule it 3x daily.

My Saturday: Saw Christmas photo → Felt rage → Counted to 3 → Asked the question → No → Scrolled.

Total damage: 10 seconds (instead of 20 minutes like I fell victim to).

Mute anyone whose content consistently triggers your elephant.

Why mute instead of block?

Blocking is vindictive. It says "I hate you so much I need to prevent you from seeing my posts". That's ego talking.

Muting is strategic. It says "You don't exist in my world." No emotion. No revenge. Just removal.

I learned this from Lyn Alden: "Mute is for your feed. Block is for your ego".

Who I've muted this month:

Nick O'Neill doesn't know I muted him. He doesn't care. I don't care that he doesn't care.

Result: Feed quality dramatically improved. Emotional energy preserved.

Nick O'Neill will post another flex next week. Different prop, different model, same dopamine chase.

Your elephant will want to react. Mine will too.

The elephant isn't the enemy. The people feeding it are.

Morgan Housel was right: “If you're not happy at a hundred thousand, you will not be happy at fifty times that”.

The strongest revenge isn't a reply. It's building something so good you forget he exists.

Don't feed the elephant.

Just stay humble and keep stacking.

- @Publius

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