First of all, great write up!

Now, to stay on topic, you're not the only one who thinks like this, most Bitcoiners do, specially older Bitcoiners (older in the sense that they have been longer), newbies usually follow narratives and the crowd, but they eventually stop.

What's happening today in Bitcoin is really strange to see, hard times are coming but that doesn't mean it's all over, more and more the contrarian thinking about this cult mentality that people have developed around Bitcoin is disappearing because everyone is seeing the cracks, Bitcoin is many things, but this wave of idiocy will also pass, and in the end Bitcoin will survive, just not the way anyone is expecting it to.

I think that the Saifedeanean discourse of "settlement layer and hard money" wont fly forever, because Bitcoin needs to, and will evolve, but it's up to you what you decide to believe of expect.

I think that Bitcoin will perform great for a long time, but that it will evolve into BCash technically (not the other way around), but in the meantime, just expect the ride to be fucking crazy, and to not get any more nuanced anytime soon.