I've spent a lot of time recently looking at NZ sovereign citizen material and actually hadn't come across this before.
It is by far the most accessible and complete introduction to this stuff that I've seen.
I still struggle to understand how people go from "normal" to accepting this stuff, but I tend to assume there's a few smaller steps in between. Just as they don't tell you about Xenu and the volcanos when you walk into a Scientology centre for a personality test.
I am a social worker and I used to work at a family violence organisation. One of my fellow workers started telling me all about this stuff where you are declared dead the day you're born and you need to take back your name and then they can;t control you, which REALLY worried me because this person was helping others. They don't work there anymore though (and neither do I). Is that this stuff because it was fucking scary.
Hilarious slide: "Stop voting, signing petitions, protesting (complaining that you don't like the way you are governed contracts you into consenting that are you are in fact governed"
These people are lunatics. The irony is missed on them all.
Yep, same old Conspiracy Theory shite that's been around for many years. Lots of fun ideas and memes and slides about berth - v- birth, NZ as a company, etc etc etc ad nauseum. All slides and memes backed up by..... Zero. Just repetition, which was Goebbels propoganda approach. Exactly like brainwashing, appealing to people unable to rationalise for themselves, and because they have read it all, they think they've studied something. And they believe it because it gives them a big ego boost thinking they know stuff no one else does. This stuff is OLD. My stepfather was deeply into this many years ago and it made him so terrified he refused to even have a bank account. He died terrified, and convinced he was enslaved, whereas his own fears of 'conforming' kept him terrified and alienated from his family to the very end. What a farking waste of energy, time , and life. 😢
It really is a shitshow to watch. Part of me is tempted to jump on a train and go witness the insanity in person (think of the people-watching stories I’d bring home!). While I respect the right to protest, and could even offer a degree of respect to a group of people protesting against Govt mandates (at least it’s a semi-definable cause and yes, a lot of kiwis are a bit tired of mandates), this truly resembles a gathering of extreme views, ranging from Qanon to anti-vax, outright Covid denial to banning 1080, climate change to farmers rights….and on and on it goes. The police have already announced its impossible to open up a dialogue to find resolution as there are simply too many causes being protested.
An article by Jack Tame made the news this morning and one line summed up the madness:
“1 News reporter Kristin Hall was told she would be executed by a woman holding a sign saying "Love is the answer".”
I certainly hope this is over soon, and in a peaceful way, but I do believe a good portion of this gathering are all too willing to martyr themselves in order to have the opposite happen.
Feb 13, 2022·edited Feb 13, 2022Liked by David Farrier
Interestingly enough, the legal academic literature has begun studying these Sovereign Citizen style practices and has theorised them as being akin to a form of ritual magic. In legal circles, these kinds of claims are called 'Organized Pseudolegal Commercial Arguments' (OPCA).
They've been around for quite a while and were a factor in the 1992 Ruby Ridge domestic terrorism incident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Ridge. In fact, the FBI currently considers Sovereign Citizen groups to be the biggest domestic terrorism threat in the USA since the nature of their claims have significant potential to justify violence towards law enforcement.
I know of a “freedom fighter” in my home town who spews out this gobbledegook to our long-suffering cops on a regular basis 🤦🏻♀️ I really feel for them, having to deal with this self-righteous nonsense.
Wowsers this is some crackpot writing. Just like the protesters, delusional. My work is right next to Parliament and I refuse to go in, I don’t need to be harassed on the streets and “told how to be free”. Weather is going to be typical Wellies wind and rain this weekend so hopefully it blows them away.
Feb 13, 2022·edited Feb 13, 2022Liked by David Farrier
Reading more through that document, it would appear to have been collated by a guy from Tairua in that from around page 88 onwards, it contains details from 2020 through 2021 about him failing to pay a $2725.00 fine for not having valid vehicle registration, and his hand-written responses to NZTA and the Thames-Coromandel District Council, and then court documents from his appearance in the Thames District Court where he refused to accept the Court's jurisdiction or admit his identity and was held in contempt.
I've opted not to name him. It would appear he derailed his life over thinking he didn't have to for pay vehicle registration. Before then he appears to have just been running a general contracting business since 2003.
It's somewhat fascinating and amusing to read from a safe distance but it must be so confusing and annoying for government and court employees who get these kind of bizarre written and in-person responses from someone who you have to interact with in some official capacity.
Having all manner of strange legal theories quoted at you and peculiar ritual behaviour with seals and thumbprints and 'magic phrases' from someone living in a different reality to you. The Judge didn't know what to make of it all.
A lot of these higher profile Sovereign Citizens like Brett Power of Counterspin Media seem to be heading down the Querulant pathway with their specious legal claims https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Querulant
I don't think I can handle looking through the whole presentation, too much crazy! Unfortunately, 3 (not close) friends of mine have headed to Wellington to join the protest, sigh. I don't see them that often but I think they're just anti-mandate and haven't gone completely crazy.....yet. However they do seem to think that there are way more people in NZ supporting them than there actually are. There was a quote from Kelvyn Alp in the news saying something like "we need more people to come to Parliament and join the protest, let's make it a million!". Umm...there are only 5 million people in the whole country, Kelvyn 🤦♀️
It kinda feels like we have two universes colliding…. The actual world and the insane world these brainwashed conspiracy theorists are trying to live in… After the parliament protestors stuck leaflets to their cars, trying to invoke the laws of admiralty, I read the act it referred to - I’m not a lawyer but it’s pretty damn specific that it applies to boats and planes, I don’t get how people can think they’ve found some previously hidden loophole… I kinda have to question whether they’re venturing into psychotic delusion territory…??
This stuff is an eerie echo of the Pai Marire movement, founded in 1862. Its adherents believed that shouting "Pai marire, hau hau" while going into battle would protect them from European bullets. Sadly, things didn't end well for these folks although the power of their belief made them fearsome warriors.
I've spent a lot of time recently looking at NZ sovereign citizen material and actually hadn't come across this before.
It is by far the most accessible and complete introduction to this stuff that I've seen.
I still struggle to understand how people go from "normal" to accepting this stuff, but I tend to assume there's a few smaller steps in between. Just as they don't tell you about Xenu and the volcanos when you walk into a Scientology centre for a personality test.
The powerpoint reads like it was written by someone who was on a real bender using super powered Coromandel dak.
I am a social worker and I used to work at a family violence organisation. One of my fellow workers started telling me all about this stuff where you are declared dead the day you're born and you need to take back your name and then they can;t control you, which REALLY worried me because this person was helping others. They don't work there anymore though (and neither do I). Is that this stuff because it was fucking scary.
Hilarious slide: "Stop voting, signing petitions, protesting (complaining that you don't like the way you are governed contracts you into consenting that are you are in fact governed"
These people are lunatics. The irony is missed on them all.
Yep, same old Conspiracy Theory shite that's been around for many years. Lots of fun ideas and memes and slides about berth - v- birth, NZ as a company, etc etc etc ad nauseum. All slides and memes backed up by..... Zero. Just repetition, which was Goebbels propoganda approach. Exactly like brainwashing, appealing to people unable to rationalise for themselves, and because they have read it all, they think they've studied something. And they believe it because it gives them a big ego boost thinking they know stuff no one else does. This stuff is OLD. My stepfather was deeply into this many years ago and it made him so terrified he refused to even have a bank account. He died terrified, and convinced he was enslaved, whereas his own fears of 'conforming' kept him terrified and alienated from his family to the very end. What a farking waste of energy, time , and life. 😢
It really is a shitshow to watch. Part of me is tempted to jump on a train and go witness the insanity in person (think of the people-watching stories I’d bring home!). While I respect the right to protest, and could even offer a degree of respect to a group of people protesting against Govt mandates (at least it’s a semi-definable cause and yes, a lot of kiwis are a bit tired of mandates), this truly resembles a gathering of extreme views, ranging from Qanon to anti-vax, outright Covid denial to banning 1080, climate change to farmers rights….and on and on it goes. The police have already announced its impossible to open up a dialogue to find resolution as there are simply too many causes being protested.
An article by Jack Tame made the news this morning and one line summed up the madness:
“1 News reporter Kristin Hall was told she would be executed by a woman holding a sign saying "Love is the answer".”
I certainly hope this is over soon, and in a peaceful way, but I do believe a good portion of this gathering are all too willing to martyr themselves in order to have the opposite happen.
MADELEINE IS MY FICTIONOUS NAME.
You know what's fictionous? That word.
Interestingly enough, the legal academic literature has begun studying these Sovereign Citizen style practices and has theorised them as being akin to a form of ritual magic. In legal circles, these kinds of claims are called 'Organized Pseudolegal Commercial Arguments' (OPCA).
https://albertalawreview.com/index.php/ALR/article/view/2485/2470
They've been around for quite a while and were a factor in the 1992 Ruby Ridge domestic terrorism incident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Ridge. In fact, the FBI currently considers Sovereign Citizen groups to be the biggest domestic terrorism threat in the USA since the nature of their claims have significant potential to justify violence towards law enforcement.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7513757/
I guess it should come as no surprise that the Sovereign Citizen movement has had quite a resurgence in response to the COVID pandemic.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/coronavirus-causes-rise-in-sovereign-citizens-movement/46HPSORTOTVH44272VJOLDR3PE/
I know of a “freedom fighter” in my home town who spews out this gobbledegook to our long-suffering cops on a regular basis 🤦🏻♀️ I really feel for them, having to deal with this self-righteous nonsense.
Slide 50 "Statues" is defined as laws and then the picture is "Statutes" - that's pretty gold.
Wowsers this is some crackpot writing. Just like the protesters, delusional. My work is right next to Parliament and I refuse to go in, I don’t need to be harassed on the streets and “told how to be free”. Weather is going to be typical Wellies wind and rain this weekend so hopefully it blows them away.
Reading more through that document, it would appear to have been collated by a guy from Tairua in that from around page 88 onwards, it contains details from 2020 through 2021 about him failing to pay a $2725.00 fine for not having valid vehicle registration, and his hand-written responses to NZTA and the Thames-Coromandel District Council, and then court documents from his appearance in the Thames District Court where he refused to accept the Court's jurisdiction or admit his identity and was held in contempt.
I've opted not to name him. It would appear he derailed his life over thinking he didn't have to for pay vehicle registration. Before then he appears to have just been running a general contracting business since 2003.
It's somewhat fascinating and amusing to read from a safe distance but it must be so confusing and annoying for government and court employees who get these kind of bizarre written and in-person responses from someone who you have to interact with in some official capacity.
Having all manner of strange legal theories quoted at you and peculiar ritual behaviour with seals and thumbprints and 'magic phrases' from someone living in a different reality to you. The Judge didn't know what to make of it all.
I note that the collator subsequently mentions the use of section 38 of the Mental Health Act. I wonder if that has actually happened here since I can imagine someone assessing this as delusional ideation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delusional_disorder specifically persecutory delusions with the attendant paranoia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecutory_delusion
A lot of these higher profile Sovereign Citizens like Brett Power of Counterspin Media seem to be heading down the Querulant pathway with their specious legal claims https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Querulant
I don't think I can handle looking through the whole presentation, too much crazy! Unfortunately, 3 (not close) friends of mine have headed to Wellington to join the protest, sigh. I don't see them that often but I think they're just anti-mandate and haven't gone completely crazy.....yet. However they do seem to think that there are way more people in NZ supporting them than there actually are. There was a quote from Kelvyn Alp in the news saying something like "we need more people to come to Parliament and join the protest, let's make it a million!". Umm...there are only 5 million people in the whole country, Kelvyn 🤦♀️
I want those 15 minutes back.
It kinda feels like we have two universes colliding…. The actual world and the insane world these brainwashed conspiracy theorists are trying to live in… After the parliament protestors stuck leaflets to their cars, trying to invoke the laws of admiralty, I read the act it referred to - I’m not a lawyer but it’s pretty damn specific that it applies to boats and planes, I don’t get how people can think they’ve found some previously hidden loophole… I kinda have to question whether they’re venturing into psychotic delusion territory…??
This stuff is an eerie echo of the Pai Marire movement, founded in 1862. Its adherents believed that shouting "Pai marire, hau hau" while going into battle would protect them from European bullets. Sadly, things didn't end well for these folks although the power of their belief made them fearsome warriors.