This week, PayPal threatened to impose a $2,500 penalty - per incident - for anyone spreading “misinformation”. A payment processor taking your money because they disagree with what you say. Let that sink in. After a huge backlash, PayPal claimed it was an error. We all know that’s a lie. It was a test to see what they can get away with.

Alexandros Marinos @alexandrosM

We tripped, fell, banged our heads on the keyboard, typing perfectly spelled words into the user agreement. Then as we were trying to get up, we put our hands on the desk, accidentally pressing the "Enter" button, which sent the new version to every user. Crazy day, bro.

Disclose.tv @disclosetv

JUST IN - PayPal spox on $2,500 fine: "An AUP notice recently went out in error that included incorrect information. PayPal is not fining people for misinformation and this language was never intended to be inserted in our policy... We’re sorry for the confusion this has caused."

9:11 PM ∙ Oct 8, 2022

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PayPal’s attempt to censor and steal is the latest in a long string of examples that reinforce why we need a parallel economy. Now. We thought it was worth revisiting this article from earlier this spring.

Think about your life in the last month. Did you go to the grocery store? Communicate with friends online? Drive your car? Visit the doctor? Go on a trip? These are normal activities that we expect as part of our everyday lives.  

What if you suddenly couldn’t do those things anymore? That might seem like a stretch, but what if?  

A Glimpse of Our Possible Future 

The Netflix series Black Mirror “explores a twisted, high-tech near-future where humanity's greatest innovations and darkest instincts collide”.  

In 2016, an episode called Nosedive explored a dystopian future where your rating determines your social status and quality of life.  

You can rate anyone and they can rate you. Friends, family, the guy at the coffee shop. Everyone. Even people on the street can see your rating using their smartphone’s facial recognition feature.  

The main character, Lacie, is trying to increase her rating from 4.2 to 4.5. She needs that score to afford a luxury apartment. Unfortunately, a string of events leads people to rate Lacie negatively, which causes her rating to fall below 4.2. Things snowball from there.  

While traveling to an important wedding to restore her social status, Lacie has a flight cancelled and can’t rebook because her rating is too low. When Lacie argues, she’s penalized and her rating drops further. Lacie is only allowed to rent an old electric car, which she cannot recharge, so she ends up stranded on the side of the road.  

Lacie is picked up by an outcast trucker (rating 1.4) who tells the story of her husband being denied cancer treatments because his score was too low.  

Lacie is disinvited from the wedding due to her low score, at which point she completely unravels. She shows up at the wedding anyways – drunk - and causes a scene, threatening others with a knife. The guests further downrate Lacie, causing her score to drop below 1 star – resulting in her arrest. The episode ends with Lacie in jail.  

Sadly, this dystopian future is fast approaching. Unfortunately, in some places, it’s already here.  

Waking Up To Reality

We’re already seeing a disturbing trend across the US, Canada, and Europe. Lost jobs, lost access to banking, restricted travel, denial of health care, and more. It’s even worse in China.

But this doesn’t have to end like a Black Mirror episode. Our lives are a Choose Your Own Adventure situation. We get to write the script for our future.  

The answer is building a parallel economy of companies in key industries. Financial services, communications, and media are great places to start. The hard part is convincing enough people that this is a huge priority before it’s too late.  

The Future Is Already Happening 

It’s easy to ignore things that are outside of our personal experience. They seem alarmist or like conspiracy theories. But what about when others are already experiencing that thing you’re dismissing? It usually means that thing is coming your way faster than you think.  

In China, a version of Black Mirror is already playing out. Over a billion people who already lack many basic freedoms risk losing the rest. It’s called the “social credit” system and it’s a trial run for what the elites would like to roll out globally.  

As described in Business Insider:

Like private credit scores, a person's social score can move up and down depending on their behavior.  

The exact methodology is a secret — but examples of infractions include bad driving, smoking in non-smoking zones, buying too many video games, and posting fake news online, specifically about terrorist attacks or airport security. 

Other potential punishable offenses include spending too long playing video games, wasting money on frivolous purchases, and posting on social media.

What happens if you make too many infractions according to the government? For starters, you can lose access to education, jobs, high- speed internet, and even have your dog taken away.   

And while it’s been seemingly harder to get data about the system since COVID started, the Guardian reported that: 

According to the National Public Credit Information Centre, Chinese courts banned would-be travellers from buying flights 17.5 million times by the end of 2018. Citizens placed on black lists for social credit offences were prevented from buying train tickets 5.5 million times. The report released last week said: “Once discredited, limited everywhere”. 

And this was before the program rolled out nationwide. Those numbers are likely substantially higher now.  

From The Screen To Real Life 

It hits home when you hear about the individual stories of people affected by this system. As reported in Wired: 

Liu Hu is a journalist in China, writing about censorship and government corruption. Because of his work, Liu has been arrested and fined — and blacklisted. Liu found he was named on a List of Dishonest Persons Subject to Enforcement by the Supreme People's Court as "not qualified" to buy a plane ticket, and banned from travelling some train lines, buying property, or taking out a loan. 

"There was no file, no police warrant, no official advance notification. They just cut me off from the things I was once entitled to," he told The Globe and Mail. "What's really scary is there's nothing you can do about it. You can report to no one. You are stuck in the middle of nowhere." 

How chilling is that? Stuck in the middle of nowhere. Just like Lacie in that so-called science fiction show. 

But we already knew that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was an authoritarian regime. Since we live in a democracy, that could never happen here. Right?  

Right? Anyone?  

You Just Participated in the Perfect Rehearsal 

Recently, you were part of a big rehearsal for a play produced by the elites. It’s called The Great Reset. 

Three years ago, it would have been tough to persuade anyone that you could suddenly be outcasted from your normal life. Then COVID happened and our normal lives vanished.  

The elites told us whether we could go to work, where we could eat, whether we could keep our business open, whether we could go to the gym, and where we were allowed to travel.  

That transition happened in a couple months. Empty schools, empty streets, empty restaurants, empty churches. And we all just went along with it.  

Politicians made decisions that shut our world down. And then, Big Tech elites joined in by shutting down one of the few things we had left – the ability to communicate with each other freely.  

At the same time, some businesses started suspending people from their platforms and denying certain services. Why?

First, COVID was the excuse. Then, controversial views about the 2020 Presidential election was the excuse. Then, protesting those previous excuses was the excuse. We wonder what the next excuse will be.

Real People With Real Stories 

There are so many examples. We’ll review just a few. Remember that each of these examples is a real person with a real story. Their experiences range from being insulted and inconvenienced, to having their lives become “stuck in the middle of nowhere”.  

Example #1 - Robert Malone: The doctor who helped invent the technology used in COVID vaccines was banned from Twitter for discussing mandates and vaccine effectiveness.

Example #2 – Michelle Malkin: A political commentator and author was banned from using Airbnb for speaking at a conference for a controversial organization. To take guilt by association a step further, Airbnb suspended Malkin’s husband too.   

Michelle Malkin @michellemalkin

I’ve been #bannedbyairbnb (along with my husband!) as retaliation for my free speech and #AmericaFirst journalism. It’s insane & un-American - and I could use your help fighting back. Stay tuned. unz.com/mmalkin/why-ai… #michellefightsairbnb @Airbnb

5:15 PM ∙ Feb 2, 2022

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Example #3 – Dan and Tanner Donaldson: A father was barred from offering a kidney transplant to his son due to a private hospital’s rules about vaccine status.  

Example #4 - Freedom Convoy: The peer fundraising platform GoFundMe seized $10 million in donations for the “freedom convoy” of Canadian truckers peacefully protesting COVID mandates in their country.  

Benny @bennyjohnson

BREAKING: GoFundMe takes down truckers' $10 million freedom convoy fundraiser, calling peaceful protest an 'occupation'

thepostmillennial.comBREAKING: GoFundMe takes down truckers’ $10 million freedom convoy fundraiser, calling peaceful protest an ‘occupation’Prior to being taken down, the Freedom Convoy raised over $10 million in donations....

12:36 AM ∙ Feb 5, 2022

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Example #5 – Lt. General Michael Flynn: JPMorgan Chase closed the credit card accounts of this former White House National Security Advisor citing “reputational risks”. After a big uproar, they reversed their decisions and tried to say it was a mistake. (It wasn’t. It was a trial run.) 

Some of these people are fighting for truth as they see it. Some are fighting for their jobs and freedom. Some are even fighting for their lives.  

It’s worth emphasizing that in each of the above examples, the actions were taken by private companies – not authoritarian governments like the CCP.

Often, the culprits were Silicon Valley elites who run Big Tech companies and much of the tech startup ecosystem. It’s their own version of social credit. As noted in Fast Company: 

The most disturbing attribute of a social credit system is not that it’s invasive, but that it’s extralegal. Crimes are punished outside the legal system, which means no presumption of innocence, no legal representation, no judge, no jury, and often no appeal. . . . Unlike China’s government policy, the social credit system emerging in the U.S. is enforced by private companies. If the public objects to how these laws are enforced, it can’t elect new rule-makers. 

Under The Great Reset, corporations and governments will work together. This makes the system even harder to resist once it’s fully rolled out - unless we have alternatives.

Let’s Build Things 

In the eyes of the elites, this whole rehearsal for a society they completely control went quite well. But the problem for them is that we now see what’s happening.  

As the saying goes, “If you’re going to shoot the king, don’t miss.” In this situation we are the kings. The elites missed. This is our chance to turn the tables and own the future.   

Dave Rubin @RubinReport

There is no rationalizing with the Woke. They’re here to destroy everything, and to their credit are doing it quite well. There is only one thing for rest of us to do: build new things. It’s why I started @OnLocals and why we merged w @rumblevideo. Keep going @JeremyDBoreing.

Daily Wire @realDailyWire

Co-CEO @JeremyDBoreing announces @realDailyWire's next big project to counter woke Hollywood: "Today I'm proud to tell you that we will be launching Daily Wire Kids." https://t.co/PccnRkDx0J

1:48 PM ∙ Mar 31, 2022

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If we want a life where free people can stay free, we have to build a parallel economy. One where we can work, communicate, shop, bank, receive medical care, and travel without fear it could all be taken away. It will take time and money, but it’s worth the wait and cost.  

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today.  

Let’s get building. This is the way.  

God bless and God bless America,

-Jeff and Luke