Ignorance + fear of the unknown

Haha yeah, I thought about genuine ignorance, but surely these journalists do at least a small amount of research before writing similar articles day after day... but "willful ignorance", hadn't thought of that!

What I don't understand is why so many on this forum have personally attached their egos to a form of currency; I realize that a lot of members have a personal stake in the success of bitcoin due to their holdings, but it's important to understand that what's happening now is a speculation boom and nothing more. Just because 1 bitcoin is valued at over $300 at this time of writing doesn't mean that it's "hit mainstream" or "gain acceptance". There is a still a long ways to go until bitcoin becomes an accepted form of currency to the masses, and there's a good chance that it will never happen and in a few years, bitcoins will have a market cap 1% of the current value. Bottom line: nobody knows yet!

Market writers and economists should look at bitcoin with a skeptical eye; it's their job to dissect and critique things of this nature. It's easy to identify that the current speculation boom is similar to other bubbles of the past... even pog collecting. I remember when pogs were hot items and some of the more collectible ones could fetch hundreds of dollars. Don't take offense to that. Nobody ever anticipated that pogs would be worth $350 EACH, but it's important to note that bitcoins themselves could go the way of pogs in a few years and we'll all look back on this and laugh. There's a long ways to go still.

All that said, I would love if bitcoins gain widespread acceptance and skyrocket in price, because I'll be rich and you can call me a bitcoin hater all you want. I won't care a bit. But just don't let yourselves get caught in "bull fever" and start believing your own bullshit. There's a lot of that going around lately.

I think it's simple, because they know it's a threat to their system, the state, the state manipulated media and that can be scary. I'm waiting for the youtube complications of them looking like fools.

I agree with most of this, however I think that there is a difference between being skeptical about Bitcoin, and totally ignoring the valid advantages of the system/calling the whole thing a joke without scrutinising it properly.

There are many intelligent articles written in other publications (eg this one in the Telegraph, a conservative leaning UK broadsheet newspaper http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/liamhalligan/10438565/Dont-laugh-Bitcoin-is-making-a-serious-point.html), which examine both sides of the argument.

Sources like BI and ZDnet tend to just rubbish Bitcoin without acknowledging the possible benefits, that's why I think they are biased, and it may be in their interest for the experiment to fail.