Sovereign Citizens, QAnons, Cookers and Similar

[Irrev-Black]

"Nooooooo! Noooooo! I don't believe in Tax Offices!"

"Operating outside the tax and regulatory systems is not a victimless crime, and can have serious impacts," a spokeswoman said.

"'Sovereign citizen' type claims promoted by some that somehow you can opt out of the tax system, or that the ATO does not have legal standing, have been repeatedly debunked, and are likely to lead to significant penalties,"

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-08/ ... /103578948

[pipbarber]

"Nooooooo! Noooooo! I don't believe in Tax Offices!"

"Operating outside the tax and regulatory systems is not a victimless crime, and can have serious impacts," a spokeswoman said.

"'Sovereign citizen' type claims promoted by some that somehow you can opt out of the tax system, or that the ATO does not have legal standing, have been repeatedly debunked, and are likely to lead to significant penalties,"

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-08/ ... /103578948

Do they 'believe' in the ATO when they get a tax return? Or is it just if they owe tax?

I'm kind of annoyed that there are people marketing this bullshit (and probably for their own financial gain) and that will lead people down the hole of not paying a tax bill or not submitting returns that owe tax. And of course they'll get away with it for a year or two or three and then the ATO will send out that letter requiring all missing tax returns to be submitted and all amounts owing to be paid and the ATO don't really fuck around if you're being an ass about it - they'll issue a fine and dock your future income, or just take you straight to court for asset seizure.

They're a menace these sovcit bullshitters. They're going to lead vulnerable people into a hellish legal and financial nightmare. It's totally unethical.

[joele]

Interesting documentary on Netflix just released, drawing a line from 4chan to Jan 6th.. Which isn't so hard considering we all know Q started on 4chan. I love how simply they explain the prophetic messages by Q on 4chan linking to trumps posts (they simply doctored the date on the posts to make them prophetic, ).

Was an enjoyable watch even though it really was a rather depressing story of trolls and the damage their online "lulz" had in the real world.

Also brought back some memories of those early COS protests that did seem to be a good thing back in the day. I do also recall the forum arguments back then between the two factions of anonymous (which is briefly covered in this show), those that wanted to do the 'ethical protests' (like the Scientology ones and later occupy) and those that felt they just wanted to be anti social (and felt anonymous had been hijacked by "moral f$#s").

From edgy in-jokes in bad taste to self-righteous mobilization against bad actors that gave rise to hacktivist groups like Anonymous, The Antisocial Network creates a detailed retrospective of how the web began spilling into real life, and the emotional forces behind it. The subjects display self-awareness, but the editing by Jones, Drew Blatman, Devin Concannon, and David Osit fills in the gaps between their cringing. It weaves each thread together with archival footage, old 4chan posts, and even news stories about the site's antics, in order to immediately, rhythmically, and amusingly connect these individual perspectives to their wider ripple effects. Sometimes a joke is just a joke, but sometimes it dovetails into a group Sieg Heil at an anime convention.

The Antisocial Network is a two-way mirror of discomfort: The viewer flinches at images that are barely 10 to 15 years old while the interviewees express embarrassment at their tacit or active participation in chan culture. However, the saga is made digestible through some eye-popping, often abstract animated sequences. These begin with individuals at their computers, but slowly morph in imaginative ways, as Sims-like cartoon people don V for Vendetta masks (à la Anonymous) but remain tethered, by dark tendrils, to a digital dimension just beyond reach. It’s as though they’re doing the bidding of collective "big tech" by stoking outrage and fear.

Both algorithms and people take center stage, often at the same time, as the movie skips rapidly forward through the years. But The Antisocial Network never divorces itself from the United States' political trajectory: From GamerGate to Trumpism to QAnon and beyond, each modern online movement with broader implications finds itself not just mentioned, but linked to one another – the same beast in different forms.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technolo ... r-BB1l9ldU

[Irrev-Black]

Grauniad says local councils plagued by 5G/Chemtrail obsessives.

From its Melbourne headquarters, My Place has created about 180 Facebook groups, including about 50 for Queensland communities, promoting sovereign citizen messaging and conspiracy theories about 5G, chemtrails, fluoride, wind turbines and smart cities.

In one Queensland Facebook group, Bergwerf further details his plan:

We are transitioning … into our own realms of self governance and building. Eventually that will be a private members association that will trade and barter our services and labour to support each other. We will be SELF GOVERNED.

Last month’s Queensland local elections may not have offered an obvious path to that goal but Guardian Australia has identified My Place groups campaigning for various candidates. One explicitly shared some of the beliefs laid out by Bergwerf while others have distanced themselves from the controversial movement.

Bergwerf is an admin of most of the Queensland Facebook groups, which commonly operate as loose collectives of individuals with similar views on certain issues. My Place charges users $60 a year for a separate community hub, which has a smaller membership.

On the Sunshine Coast, Camillo Primavera ran an unsuccessful bid for division 10.

In Facebook posts Primavera – who attracted headlines for interrupting councillors with questions from the gallery in 2023 – echoes Bergwerf, laying out his vision to establish a “My Place Sunshine Coast Council” running parallel to the actual council.

Primavera tells Guardian Australia that members of the local My Place group assisted his campaign by dropping flyers in letterboxes and handing out how-to-vote cards on polling day.

He confirms that he shares My Place’s beliefs about sovereignty, 5G and fluoride but rejects the notion that the group is made up of conspiracy theorists.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... ons-ntwnfb

[stylofone]

Grauniad says local councils plagued by 5G/Chemtrail obsessives.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... ons-ntwnfb

This sort of thing bothers me. When it was spreading in Victoria I looked for signs of it here, and couldn't see any. I just had another look, and yes, people are showing up at Eurobodalla Council Q & A sessions.

One community member came with a printed document for each councillor from an organisation accusing councils of illegalities.

Another community member said she has been battling with fluoride in her water since 2007 and wanted councillors to help her fight the government to stop.

The conversation continued with multiple community members concerned over privacy issues with data collection and the smart cities project.

[stylofone]

Monbiot at his best. The cognitive dissonance is channeled into a kind of wounded victimhood.

The wind suddenly seemed to go out of him.

“I think I’ve had enough, mate, honest to God. I really have. I’ve had a long day … I’ve been in the hospital with my friend for the last week and a half … And to be honest, I love you dearly, I really do, I’m not pulling out because I feel threatened by you … I just – I can’t do this.”

He seemed so dismayed and outraged that I began to wonder whether I was persecuting him. Was I being too harsh towards this confused and flailing man? Can you be too harsh towards someone who spreads vicious antisemitic lies and seeks to justify stalking? I still felt both pity and anger towards him, but by then these sensations had been joined by another: contamination. I felt as if I needed a shower.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... y-theorist

[pipbarber]

Monbiot at his best. The cognitive dissonance is channeled into a kind of wounded victimhood.

The wind suddenly seemed to go out of him.

“I think I’ve had enough, mate, honest to God. I really have. I’ve had a long day … I’ve been in the hospital with my friend for the last week and a half … And to be honest, I love you dearly, I really do, I’m not pulling out because I feel threatened by you … I just – I can’t do this.”

He seemed so dismayed and outraged that I began to wonder whether I was persecuting him. Was I being too harsh towards this confused and flailing man? Can you be too harsh towards someone who spreads vicious antisemitic lies and seeks to justify stalking? I still felt both pity and anger towards him, but by then these sensations had been joined by another: contamination. I felt as if I needed a shower.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... y-theorist

I was going to post this myself. Yes, good work George.

Two things caught my eye. Firstly, how weird it is that conspiracy peddlers don't seem the slightest bit interested in actual conspiracies, such as Cambridge analytical or the Panama papers. And the second i've grappled with myself without being able to come up with a neat formula. These people often have the right feelings, but all the wrong facts. They can see that everything is going to shit and their prospects diminishing and they want societal change, except they think the best way to do that is to eradicate our reptilian overlords (or whatever). Anyway, looks like an extract from an upcoming book that might be worth reading.

[joele]

ROFLMAO, so true..

An extraordinary aspect of this issue is that there’s so little overlap between conspiracy fantasists and conspiracy theorists. Those who believe unevidenced stories about hidden cabals and secret machinations tend to display no interest in well-documented stories about hidden cabals and secret machinations.

I wonder if it is because they think this secret cabal directs everything, so seemingly a real conspiracy like Cambridge Analytica (as pip mentioned) really can't happen without the direction/knowledge of the overlords. i.e. If lots of different groups of people have all their own individual conspiratorial activity for money or power that kind of ruins their grand narrative (of one small group controlling everything) which mostly comes back to some derivative of the protocols of the elders of zion. I.M.E.

EDIT - I was listening to the BBC podcast linked off that article (below), all very familiar and disturbing.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001mt3q

[stylofone]

I wonder if it is because they think this secret cabal directs everything, so seemingly a real conspiracy like Cambridge Analytica (as pip mentioned) really can't happen without the direction/knowledge of the overlords.

I get a bit ranty about surveillance capitalism and silicone valley oligarchs because I hate them so much. I sometimes wonder if "normal" people think I'm a bit of conspiracy nut. But then I think of things like the Australian government's current fights with Meta over news, and xitter over violent videos. These are examples of real overlords who have successfully executed a plan for world domination. They are now above the law, out of reach of government control, but still intimately involved in our lives. And yet the "sheeple" (to borrow a cooker word) continue to use facebook, xitter and all the rest.

[joele]

I get a bit ranty about surveillance capitalism and silicone valley oligarchs because I hate them so much. I sometimes wonder if "normal" people think I'm a bit of conspiracy nut.

100%

I was complaining about google, facebook etc maybe 6 years or so ago to my extended family (it was just as the Cambridge Analytica scandal was breaking), though I quit google maybe 5 years before that. Even the Cambridge Analytica story produced a response like I was a ranting conspiracy nut. Was surreal, lot's of "I have nothing to hide so don't care what they know/track about me". I was trying to explain how knowledge is power and the data fed to C.A. for example (but also held by these tech companies in general) creates a huge power dynamic imbalance between users and these groups.. It didn't work, who cares, I was crazy..

But then I think of things like the Australian government's current fights with Meta over news, and xitter over violent videos. These are examples of real overlords who have successfully executed a plan for world domination. They are now above the law, out of reach of government control, but still intimately involved in our lives. And yet the "sheeple" (to borrow a cooker word) continue to use facebook, xitter and all the rest.

I think a lot of these issues have become near mainstream, I say near as they have the press coverage etc but a lot of people still choose to ignore it.