The King of Germany Will Accept Your Bank Deposits Now
May 21, 2020 4:22 PM Subscribe
Perhaps this needs a "micronations" tag?
posted by acb at 5:19 PM on May 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by acb at 5:19 PM on May 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
Reichsbürger movement
(apologies if that's referenced in the article; I can't read it because it's behind a paywall I'd prefer not to circumvent)
posted by Slothrup at 5:32 PM on May 21, 2020
(apologies if that's referenced in the article; I can't read it because it's behind a paywall I'd prefer not to circumvent)
posted by Slothrup at 5:32 PM on May 21, 2020
I wonder if sovereign citizens are or have been friendly with these people. Their language, tactics, and beliefs are so remarkably similar. But then, it could be convergent evolution for white men who feel owed something by life.
posted by Countess Elena at 5:36 PM on May 21, 2020 [9 favorites]
posted by Countess Elena at 5:36 PM on May 21, 2020 [9 favorites]
I always find it kinda interesting to hear about non US based conspiracy theories. When it isn't super horrifying I mean.
posted by gryftir at 5:37 PM on May 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by gryftir at 5:37 PM on May 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
He talks about... how a cabal of shadowy elites, including Rockefellers and Orthodox Jews, spread Covid-19 to boost drug profits
I know that version of Germany. I believe that Germans will deny it the opportunity to exist again.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 5:50 PM on May 21, 2020 [10 favorites]
I know that version of Germany. I believe that Germans will deny it the opportunity to exist again.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 5:50 PM on May 21, 2020 [10 favorites]
I wonder if watching these guys getting owned by the Polizei is as satisfying as watching our sovcits getting clowned in US courts.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 7:36 PM on May 21, 2020
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 7:36 PM on May 21, 2020
How utterly bizarre. Fascinating reas, although how it will end...?
posted by davidmsc at 10:24 PM on May 21, 2020
posted by davidmsc at 10:24 PM on May 21, 2020
they’re products of the digital age of unreason
And how. The tl/dr is that he gets away with it!
I mean, that part is hard to deal with. He keeps the car, keeps the wife, keeps his I’ll-gotten gains (presumably). It’s all kind of surprising/shocking and lightly dispiriting. Also, guy sounds like a dick.
posted by From Bklyn at 1:22 AM on May 22, 2020 [1 favorite]
And how. The tl/dr is that he gets away with it!
I mean, that part is hard to deal with. He keeps the car, keeps the wife, keeps his I’ll-gotten gains (presumably). It’s all kind of surprising/shocking and lightly dispiriting. Also, guy sounds like a dick.
posted by From Bklyn at 1:22 AM on May 22, 2020 [1 favorite]
I find it oddly comforting that other countries are also dealing with their own versions of sovereign citizens/QAnons/conspiracy whatevers.
American exceptionalism is also the idea that if America isn't the best, then it must be the worst. But really people are all quite alike around the world, for better and for worse.
posted by dmh at 2:30 AM on May 22, 2020 [10 favorites]
American exceptionalism is also the idea that if America isn't the best, then it must be the worst. But really people are all quite alike around the world, for better and for worse.
posted by dmh at 2:30 AM on May 22, 2020 [10 favorites]
I DR'ed the fuck out when the whole antisemitic cabal thing showed up.
We have someone similar in Canada who claims that, because the king's reign was revoked by 25 barons in 2001 as per the letter of Magna Carta, he has the right to never pay taxes and legally give the Nazi salute to the war memorial in his home town in rural Saskatchewan.
It would be rather sad if there weren't the threat of violence behind it.
posted by scruss at 5:47 AM on May 22, 2020 [1 favorite]
We have someone similar in Canada who claims that, because the king's reign was revoked by 25 barons in 2001 as per the letter of Magna Carta, he has the right to never pay taxes and legally give the Nazi salute to the war memorial in his home town in rural Saskatchewan.
It would be rather sad if there weren't the threat of violence behind it.
posted by scruss at 5:47 AM on May 22, 2020 [1 favorite]
Yeah, I got to the antisemitic bit and thought, yuck. I prefer my fake monarchs to charmingly eccentric rather than just racist (though given he was a while man in the 19th century, Norton was probably racist).
Maybe I should just take over. I'd be a good king - I know all about how to steal people's estates through wardship, enclose the foreshores and keep lots of mistresses.
posted by jb at 8:05 AM on May 22, 2020 [3 favorites]
Maybe I should just take over. I'd be a good king - I know all about how to steal people's estates through wardship, enclose the foreshores and keep lots of mistresses.
posted by jb at 8:05 AM on May 22, 2020 [3 favorites]
I would find this hilarious if I didn't now understand how dangerous people like this can actually be.
posted by slogger at 8:38 AM on May 22, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by slogger at 8:38 AM on May 22, 2020 [2 favorites]
But then, it could be convergent evolution for white men who feel owed something by life.
Maybe, but it seems short sighted (among other things) to assume only white men are followers. For example, there's the Moorish sovereigns / Washitaw nation, the Sovereign Squamish Government in Canada, and according to the SLPC, SovCits, "many of whom are African American".
posted by MikeKD at 8:59 AM on May 22, 2020 [2 favorites]
Maybe, but it seems short sighted (among other things) to assume only white men are followers. For example, there's the Moorish sovereigns / Washitaw nation, the Sovereign Squamish Government in Canada, and according to the SLPC, SovCits, "many of whom are African American".
posted by MikeKD at 8:59 AM on May 22, 2020 [2 favorites]
I do not know what was in the man's heart- but apparently the peerless Emperor Norton would try to stop anti-Chinese riots. "During the 1860s and 1870s, there were occasional anti-Chinese demonstrations in the poorer districts of San Francisco, and riots took place, sometimes resulting in fatalities. During one incident, Norton allegedly positioned himself between the rioters and their Chinese targets; with a bowed head, he started reciting the Lord's Prayer repeatedly until the rioters dispersed without incident.[41]" There's a reason that man is so beloved in my hometown even today.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 9:04 AM on May 22, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 9:04 AM on May 22, 2020 [7 favorites]
He talks about how he healed an ex-girlfriend who was abused as a child by Satanists, using only his hands.
my brain has at least 15 sirens going off right now. I have to admit I laughed at the flag - an inverted germany flag with a bleach-dyed sun on it.
posted by FirstMateKate at 9:29 AM on May 22, 2020
my brain has at least 15 sirens going off right now. I have to admit I laughed at the flag - an inverted germany flag with a bleach-dyed sun on it.
posted by FirstMateKate at 9:29 AM on May 22, 2020
Maybe, but it seems short sighted (among other things) to assume only white men are followers ...
Absolutely. My parents had some issues with sovcits who were African American and claiming their authority from another Indian tribe. I can't recall the name now, but it was a Southern tribe that I think is not now federally recognized or with a considerable population. Back during the recession, there was a vacant house next door, and they appropriated it on their own authority, along with some of my folks' lawn tools. This was all sorted out quickly and without any violence, to my knowledge, and the lawn tools were recovered. However, that "to my knowledge" is a pretty wide gap, and I feel a lot more sympathy for them than I did at the time.
posted by Countess Elena at 9:44 AM on May 22, 2020
Absolutely. My parents had some issues with sovcits who were African American and claiming their authority from another Indian tribe. I can't recall the name now, but it was a Southern tribe that I think is not now federally recognized or with a considerable population. Back during the recession, there was a vacant house next door, and they appropriated it on their own authority, along with some of my folks' lawn tools. This was all sorted out quickly and without any violence, to my knowledge, and the lawn tools were recovered. However, that "to my knowledge" is a pretty wide gap, and I feel a lot more sympathy for them than I did at the time.
posted by Countess Elena at 9:44 AM on May 22, 2020
Hmmm "archived version" gives me a warning in Firefox and if I proceed anyway ("I understand the risk) I get a dead page.
posted by stevil at 11:37 AM on May 22, 2020
posted by stevil at 11:37 AM on May 22, 2020
Norton also took offense at the hanging of John Brown, so probably less racist than average for a white man of his time, for the limited amount that is worth.
posted by tavella at 12:06 PM on May 22, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by tavella at 12:06 PM on May 22, 2020 [3 favorites]
Interesting how this isn't described straight up as a cult. The word shows up a few times in the piece, but it really gives off modern cult vibes. NXIVM-ish, with the many self-improvement seminars, insistence on the leader's genius, followers impoverishing themselves.
posted by doctornemo at 12:18 PM on May 22, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by doctornemo at 12:18 PM on May 22, 2020 [3 favorites]
It's always depressing to see Christian antisemitism continue, but even worse to glimpse it in Germany.
posted by doctornemo at 12:18 PM on May 22, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by doctornemo at 12:18 PM on May 22, 2020 [2 favorites]
It looks like, in the Covfefecene, the Dumb Mean Hicks haven't only taken over conspiracy theory/secret histories (which, before 9/11 or so, was more wacky stuff about UFOs and the Hollow Earth and such), but also now micronations. Where once we had the likes of Sealand or Lower Hutt Province, we now have this.
posted by acb at 12:56 PM on May 22, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by acb at 12:56 PM on May 22, 2020 [4 favorites]
+1 for Covfefecene, would click again.
posted by sneebler at 1:20 PM on May 22, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by sneebler at 1:20 PM on May 22, 2020 [1 favorite]
(sorry didn't mean to disparage Norton, I just didn't know either way and was trying to pre-empt any milkshake-ducking. I'm very happy to be reverse milkshake-ducked.)
posted by jb at 1:48 PM on May 22, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by jb at 1:48 PM on May 22, 2020 [1 favorite]
That Sovereign Squamish link is, well, something else(TM)
posted by Windopaene at 2:13 PM on May 22, 2020
posted by Windopaene at 2:13 PM on May 22, 2020
isn't there a group in Canada that believes as long as they live in boats on a lake they don't have to pay taxes?
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 2:59 PM on May 22, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 2:59 PM on May 22, 2020 [1 favorite]
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I'll be sending this to my BIL in Germany immediately.
posted by none of these will bring disaster at 5:15 PM on May 21, 2020 [12 favorites]