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.
It's like peeking directly into their brains and I love it. I also imagine a darkened school room with a projector, a room full of adults at desks furiously scribbling notes...
I suspect the main step between "normal" and accepting this stuff, is fear. There will be *something* each of them is deeply afraid of, something that the conspiracy grifters hook them in with. For one of my family members who has fallen down the rabbit hole, it's fear of their children being hurt.
And because fear often isn't rational, everything else irrational that follows can quite happily sit there getting embedded in their brain, because it's sitting on that deep foundation of fear.
You're right. Sovereign Citizen stuff is pretty far up the conspiracism scale.
To get to this place, there are usually other psychological issues or a conspiratorial predisposition that have been lurking in the background and slowly building over a long time.
Sometimes it sits largely latent until some sudden life traumas overwhelm their psychological defenses and push people over the edge into conspiratorial free-fall.
Like a pandemic or losing your job or relationship.
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.
Yeah, that's exactly what this is. 203 slides of it. Sorry a colleague has gone down this path - especially sad considering they work with people who - due to their circumstances - may be prone to these ideas themselves.
Yeah I had a look through the slides. Holy fucking fruitcakes, Batman. And yeah, I am hoping she doesn't work with vulnerable people any more. She was such a lovely person, but then she started spouting this shit and it was awful. Since I have moved to the library there are less fruitcakes. Except at Christmas.
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.
If I was in NZ right now I would love to wade in. Also part of me is very glad I am very far away. And yeah - those conflicting messages really help sum up the brain worms down there.
I have wondered, do you think there is something to the fact that typically, Americans on each side may be a bit louder in their responses against one another? There are also just a shit ton more of us. For example, I see tons of anti-vaxx reports on protestors in the news with NZ (and personally, know some who are....my partner's cousin thinks spoons will stick to him if he is vaccinated and only 140K people will survive this pandemic and re-populate the world) but the overall vaccination rates are very, very high in NZ. I feel like many Kiwis just ignore or block those who have gone down the rabbit hole.
Yeah, it's a good question, and I'm just not sure. We are generally more sane here, for sure - but I'd love to see stats of anti mandate beliefs in the US vs NZ. I don't imagine it's too far off, in terms of population. As for NZers attitudes - you're right, we're really good at ignoring for the most part (media reaction aside)
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.
Did you ever write about Cargo Cults, David? I did my PhD in Papua New Guinea on an island that was part of it, and they've utterly fascinated me ever since! And I just couldn't look at the powerpoint slides, the spelling and word art is too much, not to mention the delusional content...
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.
Not bound by “statues” made me laugh out loud and I instantly had an image of a marble statue trying to grab people. I confess it coloured my attitude towards the rest of it. Couldn’t bring myself to trawl through the whole thing once I started noticing all the errors.
The grammar nazi in me shuddered and twitched at "your" for "you're", as it always does! I imagine it would be a screaming mess if I read through the slides.
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.
100% re the weather! I work a few streets away and have friends that work right by the protests and everyone is looking forward to them trying to survive a few days of full on Welly weather :D
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
Finally, there is the Ag Action Gatherings which reportedly split off from the Advance NZ Party, original home of Billy TK and Claire Deeks of Voices for Viruses fame. They've currently targeting farming groups sympathetic to Groundswell rhetoric with 'Living Man' Sovereign Citizen conspiracy material. https://aag.org.nz/blog/resources/living-man/
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 🤦♀️
They are a very loud minority. Sorry some of your buddies have gotten sucked in. That makes for some strange conversation. They are lucky (I mean this) to have a sane friend. People like you will be a potential way out for them. Stay calm, ask lots of questions to the point where they start to hear how unhinged they sound.
I did the same as you and Anyaj....I really couldn't stop but I also didn't have a desire to go back after the first rabbit hole. Why do they always have such massive grammatical and spelling errors? Just because grammar and spelling aren't your thing, doesn't make you someone who isn't smart, but it just feels like someone who put this much time into something might at least try to proofread?
Omg I just spent the last 2 hours reading it and googling some of the utter crap in it! I think my fav parts were the role plays and the multiple court documents proving that he just keeps losing/getting convicted hahahahahahaha
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…??
Lots of the slides make sense if you read the link. For example "The contemporary sovereign belief system is based on a decades-old conspiracy theory. Sovereigns believe that the American government set up by the founding fathers, under a common-law legal system, was secretly replaced. They think the replacement government swapped common law for admiralty law, which is the law of the sea and international commerce."
Also this bit (the slides say something about your name in capital letters): "Sovereigns citizens believe the evidence for their theory is found on the birth certificate itself. Since most certificates use all capital letters to spell out a baby’s name, JOHN DOE, for example, is actually the name of the corporate shell identity, also called a “straw man,” while John Doe is the baby’s “real,” flesh-and-blood name. As the child grows older, most of his legal documents will utilize capital letters, which means that his state-issued driver's license, his marriage license, his car registration, his criminal court records, his cable TV bill and his correspondence from the IRS all will pertain to his corporate shell identity, not his real, sovereign identity."
So, yeah. These people are just deluded - and basing their belief system on some crackpot conspiracy theory out of the good old USA.
I couldn’t quite work out if it was referring to pre civil war etc… I think the oldest American judicial reference I saw was 1832 (no idea if that’s pre or post US civil war) and then yes, def other references to who knows where! It’s like thirty people were stoned and reading different legal things and then vomited them into a PowerPoint lol
I definitely struggled to find out what point it was trying to make at all. It was very "The Crown" centric and then very based around the IRS/US citizens. I mean, I know these aren't logical but this was just like what in the actual eff?
In the past, a bunch of this kind of stuff has been sold as a grift as courses or seminars where you pay to learn how to send a letter to the IRS (or IRD) with the 'magic phrases' that will mean you won't have to pay tax any more. The 'magic phrases' that mean the police can't arrest you is the same idea, just on a slightly smaller scale.
Of course, none of this has ever worked but have fun trying to sue the grifters when it doesn't and the IRS/IRD is after you. Trying to opt out of the tax and legal system doesn't exactly endear you to the police or the courts.
It's similar to how the Nigerian authorities aren't that sympathetic to 419 scams victims either: "So you were willing to steal from and defraud our country and got stolen from instead and now you want our help?"
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.
It's like peeking directly into their brains and I love it. I also imagine a darkened school room with a projector, a room full of adults at desks furiously scribbling notes...
I suspect the main step between "normal" and accepting this stuff, is fear. There will be *something* each of them is deeply afraid of, something that the conspiracy grifters hook them in with. For one of my family members who has fallen down the rabbit hole, it's fear of their children being hurt.
And because fear often isn't rational, everything else irrational that follows can quite happily sit there getting embedded in their brain, because it's sitting on that deep foundation of fear.
That's my non-expert reckons anyway.
You're right. Sovereign Citizen stuff is pretty far up the conspiracism scale.
To get to this place, there are usually other psychological issues or a conspiratorial predisposition that have been lurking in the background and slowly building over a long time.
Sometimes it sits largely latent until some sudden life traumas overwhelm their psychological defenses and push people over the edge into conspiratorial free-fall.
Like a pandemic or losing your job or relationship.
So sovereign citizen is basically magical thinking on steroids'? Do I have that right?
Yes. With a high dose of 'need for personal specialness' to help the medicine go down.
The powerpoint reads like it was written by someone who was on a real bender using super powered Coromandel dak.
Feels like a lot of meth involved, too. It's hectic as all hell.
I kind of felt like that paperclip from Word was attempting to play Settlers of Catan.
HA!
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.
Yeah, that's exactly what this is. 203 slides of it. Sorry a colleague has gone down this path - especially sad considering they work with people who - due to their circumstances - may be prone to these ideas themselves.
Yeah I had a look through the slides. Holy fucking fruitcakes, Batman. And yeah, I am hoping she doesn't work with vulnerable people any more. She was such a lovely person, but then she started spouting this shit and it was awful. Since I have moved to the library there are less fruitcakes. Except at Christmas.
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. 😢
I think you nailed it: A huge waste of time and life. I'm so sorry for your stepfather, and those who had to deal with him.
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.
If I was in NZ right now I would love to wade in. Also part of me is very glad I am very far away. And yeah - those conflicting messages really help sum up the brain worms down there.
I have wondered, do you think there is something to the fact that typically, Americans on each side may be a bit louder in their responses against one another? There are also just a shit ton more of us. For example, I see tons of anti-vaxx reports on protestors in the news with NZ (and personally, know some who are....my partner's cousin thinks spoons will stick to him if he is vaccinated and only 140K people will survive this pandemic and re-populate the world) but the overall vaccination rates are very, very high in NZ. I feel like many Kiwis just ignore or block those who have gone down the rabbit hole.
Yeah, it's a good question, and I'm just not sure. We are generally more sane here, for sure - but I'd love to see stats of anti mandate beliefs in the US vs NZ. I don't imagine it's too far off, in terms of population. As for NZers attitudes - you're right, we're really good at ignoring for the most part (media reaction aside)
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 really like that that first essay took me down a cargo cult wormhole. As usual - thanks!
Did you ever write about Cargo Cults, David? I did my PhD in Papua New Guinea on an island that was part of it, and they've utterly fascinated me ever since! And I just couldn't look at the powerpoint slides, the spelling and word art is too much, not to mention the delusional content...
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.
It's hard to hear. Just because it's utterly meaningless. So much energy put into make-believe.
Slide 50 "Statues" is defined as laws and then the picture is "Statutes" - that's pretty gold.
Not bound by “statues” made me laugh out loud and I instantly had an image of a marble statue trying to grab people. I confess it coloured my attitude towards the rest of it. Couldn’t bring myself to trawl through the whole thing once I started noticing all the errors.
The grammar nazi in me shuddered and twitched at "your" for "you're", as it always does! I imagine it would be a screaming mess if I read through the slides.
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.
100% re the weather! I work a few streets away and have friends that work right by the protests and everyone is looking forward to them trying to survive a few days of full on Welly weather :D
Raining pretty solidly now.
Gale force southerlies expected tomorrow, to add to the rain. Heh heh.
Sorry you are having to deal with all that directly, Tenille. It's a lot.
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
Hrmm... It seems there are other examples of this 'Living Man' Sovereign Citizens stuff circulating in NZ.
Here is another court case with a 'living man' claiming the court had no jurisdiction over him.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/sovereign-citizen-who-shuns-nz-laws-prosecuted-for-driving-without-a-drivers-licence/CQ7TMEWRHL2IVNLIRAHUGHL6OE/
A website for another 'living man' with very similar content to the document.
http://www.michaelsonofheinz.n.nu/
Finally, there is the Ag Action Gatherings which reportedly split off from the Advance NZ Party, original home of Billy TK and Claire Deeks of Voices for Viruses fame. They've currently targeting farming groups sympathetic to Groundswell rhetoric with 'Living Man' Sovereign Citizen conspiracy material. https://aag.org.nz/blog/resources/living-man/
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 🤦♀️
They are a very loud minority. Sorry some of your buddies have gotten sucked in. That makes for some strange conversation. They are lucky (I mean this) to have a sane friend. People like you will be a potential way out for them. Stay calm, ask lots of questions to the point where they start to hear how unhinged they sound.
I want those 15 minutes back.
Hahahahah I warned you!! Still.... 15 minutes ain't bad. I am a slow reader - it took me much longer, and my curiosity kept me going..
I did the same as you and Anyaj....I really couldn't stop but I also didn't have a desire to go back after the first rabbit hole. Why do they always have such massive grammatical and spelling errors? Just because grammar and spelling aren't your thing, doesn't make you someone who isn't smart, but it just feels like someone who put this much time into something might at least try to proofread?
You did warn me! And that was just flicking through. I don't think I could stomach trying to actually read and comprehend all of that. 😂
Omg I just spent the last 2 hours reading it and googling some of the utter crap in it! I think my fav parts were the role plays and the multiple court documents proving that he just keeps losing/getting convicted hahahahahahaha
You did what I did. Hard to stop. My condolences to your time lost!
The rabbit holes available to us....
I lasted less than 2 minutes. I want them back too!
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…??
That's an old conspiracy theory coming from some sovereign citizens movements in the USA. See https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/sovereign-citizens-movement
Lots of the slides make sense if you read the link. For example "The contemporary sovereign belief system is based on a decades-old conspiracy theory. Sovereigns believe that the American government set up by the founding fathers, under a common-law legal system, was secretly replaced. They think the replacement government swapped common law for admiralty law, which is the law of the sea and international commerce."
Also this bit (the slides say something about your name in capital letters): "Sovereigns citizens believe the evidence for their theory is found on the birth certificate itself. Since most certificates use all capital letters to spell out a baby’s name, JOHN DOE, for example, is actually the name of the corporate shell identity, also called a “straw man,” while John Doe is the baby’s “real,” flesh-and-blood name. As the child grows older, most of his legal documents will utilize capital letters, which means that his state-issued driver's license, his marriage license, his car registration, his criminal court records, his cable TV bill and his correspondence from the IRS all will pertain to his corporate shell identity, not his real, sovereign identity."
So, yeah. These people are just deluded - and basing their belief system on some crackpot conspiracy theory out of the good old USA.
That explains a lot! The whole way through its full of American bits and pieces -um, wrong country!
Does it? These slides jump all over the place. The first half or so talk about the Crown quite a bit and that certainly isn't over just one country.
I couldn’t quite work out if it was referring to pre civil war etc… I think the oldest American judicial reference I saw was 1832 (no idea if that’s pre or post US civil war) and then yes, def other references to who knows where! It’s like thirty people were stoned and reading different legal things and then vomited them into a PowerPoint lol
I definitely struggled to find out what point it was trying to make at all. It was very "The Crown" centric and then very based around the IRS/US citizens. I mean, I know these aren't logical but this was just like what in the actual eff?
Thanks for this Mauricio - it was all just to exhausting to go into. And you're right, A - it's two worlds colliding. Which is very chaotic.
Yes, it's quite the mismash. Lots of US Sovereign Citizen/Tax protester content https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_protester_conspiracy_arguments mixed in with UK and NZ cultural references. And some trippy spiritual references too. Wild!
In the past, a bunch of this kind of stuff has been sold as a grift as courses or seminars where you pay to learn how to send a letter to the IRS (or IRD) with the 'magic phrases' that will mean you won't have to pay tax any more. The 'magic phrases' that mean the police can't arrest you is the same idea, just on a slightly smaller scale.
Of course, none of this has ever worked but have fun trying to sue the grifters when it doesn't and the IRS/IRD is after you. Trying to opt out of the tax and legal system doesn't exactly endear you to the police or the courts.
It's similar to how the Nigerian authorities aren't that sympathetic to 419 scams victims either: "So you were willing to steal from and defraud our country and got stolen from instead and now you want our help?"
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.