Originally published at: SovCits vs Police: Unseen Bodycam Footage Reveals Shocking Encounters
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I read Wikipedia’s description of things that Sovereign Citizens believe and now my brain hurts.
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It’s hard to match the Flat Earthers for aggressive stupidity, but SovCits are making a good run at it.
I look forward to their disappointment in the courtroom when their incantation of “Tubal Cain” doesn’t result in immediate acquittal. Then it’s on to an appeal based on the fringe on the flag.
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… one of the most painful forms of contraception
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How did this movement ever take off? Has trying to pull this Sovereign Citizen shit ever worked for anyone? People believe in lots of things that don’t actually work, from prayer to homeopathic medicine, but there’s usually at least some random chance involved that allows them to give credit to their belief if things turn out all right. Sovereign Citizenship seems guaranteed to fail every single time.
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I believe in the principle of complete disregard of state authority. Easier to beg forgiveness than to request permission. However, state violence is real and debating cops never works out well, outside of court.
Kill the cop in your brain, but be polite to the one in your face.
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Not exactly, but people like the Ammon Bundy clan have got away with enough sovereign-citizen-adjacent nonsense that it’s probably helped feed some of these rubes’ delusions.
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The SPLC has a good history.
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It’s been around for 50 years or so, but you can thank the internet for scaling it.
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Try this One Weird Trick to get laughed out of court and into a jail cell!
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The officers find a gun in the car, which the SovCit contends isn’t a weapon since he didn’t brandish it, apparently a rule in the SovCit belief system.
Cop: “Get out of the car.”
SovCit: “This is not a car because I am not presently driving it.”
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Thanks for that. Looks like when they are successful, it’s thanks to a paper-and-legalese version of the Gish gallop that’s not worth anybody’s time and effort to sort through. I guess it also explains the popularity, as it seems to be a disgusting mish-mash of everything vile- gun worship, Q-Anon, ultra right-wing Christian cults, white supremacy, scam artists, anti-vaxxers, and just plain being a contrarian asshole to everyone around them for attention. It’s really got it all.
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A lot of people say stuff like that until their personal property rights are threatened.
But try crashing at their house without permission and they’ll usually declare private ownership (evidenced by a state-issued deed or legally binding lease), call the cops (enforcing law via state-sanctioned violence) or threaten you personally (because interpersonal acts of violence are better, somehow?)
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I look forward to owning property some day.
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So you do acknowledge the authority of the state?
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Oh, I could never do that.
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I find it curious that they “don’t believe in the government” but also threaten to sue, in the courts run by the government.
Also, I can’t hear SovCit without thinking of
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You may joke but there are SovCits who believe that if they are not using their vehicle for commercial purposes they are not “driving” but “travelling”, and therefore do not need driving licences or licence plates.
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I’m starting to thing that because evolution is not a linear process some of these goofs are actually de-evolving. Or maybe dropped on their heads too many times.
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