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Does it seem to anyone else that the person behind these billboards is likely to have mental health issues? I worry that this sort of media attention will have

Does it seem to anyone else that the person behind these billboards is likely to have mental health issues? I worry that this sort of media attention will have a spectacularly negative effect on them.

stevetrewick 10y ago
Yes. I ran into a bunch of FoL/SC types when I used to run in libertarian circles and my impression of the ones who take it seriously was that they are vulnerable people in a shit load of trouble. By the time you are trying to turn bailiffs and cops away from your door by chanting some weird mantra based on a profound misconstruction of some dusty old legal principle or other and uploading it to YouTube while your life burns to the ground around you, it's not really a question of if you have MH issues, rather one of whether they were the chicken or the egg. Agree totally with DanBC up thread, people who get into this hardcore do themselves permanent and irreparable harm. Shattered credit records, home repossessions and jail time are all on the cards. Kids. Don't try this at home.
GunlogAlm 10y ago
Yes. Reading the associated site (http://legalnamefraud.com/ http://legalnamefraud.com/) I'm confident whoever is behind the billboards is mentally ill, or certainly very deluded. I feel sorry for them. I'd be very interested in learning who funded this.
- jasiek 10y ago
  I think it's an advertising campaign, completely unrelated to the movement, which just piggybacks on it to get people's attention.
fit2rule 10y ago
Does it bother anyone else that whenever someone comes up with a strange or weird, non-mainstream idea, their mental health is immediately called into question? Just out and out say it: you're bigoted against the strange idea that this person is presenting. Just because people don't live like you do, doesn't mean they are mentally ill. Seriously, this "oh, mental illness" trope is really a drag. Please, whenever you consider "oh, mental illness" as a way of writing off someones opinion, check yourself. Not everybody agrees with the ideals proposed by the mental-health cult that currently has the West in its grip ..
- spatulon 10y ago
  The idea being presented is obviously nonsense. I don't mention their mental health as an attempt to discredit their idea; the idea itself is not credible enough to be worth arguing about. It's not the idea that made me question their mental health. It's the sheer incoherency of their presentation, e.g. on their website (http://legalnamefraud.com/ http://legalnamefraud.com/). The style strikes me as the written equivalent of a schizophrenic person standing on a street corner shouting inanities at passersby. You wouldn't want to have a shouting match with that person on the street and draw a crowd around them, and I don't think we should do the same here.
  - fit2rule 10y ago
    I'm not at all defending these peoples opinions - just pointing out the unwarranted hatred they attract as a result of having an idea that is not mainstream/not supported by establishment politics. The speed and ease with which someones' mental health is called into question is just as alarming and .. frankly .. disturbing, as the idea that we are not subjects of the States in which we dwell. "That person is mentally ill" is the clarion call of establishment doublethink, and I put anyone who uses it as a means of justifying their bigotry against anti-establishment thought in the same bin as the loonies who think they can change their name to get out of a parking ticket .. Alas, its quite acceptable behaviour to call into question someones mental health if they propose an idea non-mainstream/aligned with establishment ideals. I think this, in itself, is a more destructive social response which, unfortunately, doesn't require expensive billboards to propagate throughout society ..
    - Frondo 10y ago
      It's not establishment double-think, and that claim itself is rather silly. I'm quite sympathetic to claims that we're too quick to dismiss people with mental illness, but when it comes to people living their lives in harmful ways based on delusions (which is common in the sovereign citizen movement), I'm all in for calling it mental illness, or something like that. People can believe whatever nutty things they want, I say, but once they put themselves (or loved ones, or whatever) in harm's way based on those beliefs, and don't change them when consequently harmed, well, what else do you want to call it? Delusional stupidity?

stevetrewick 10y ago

Yes. I ran into a bunch of FoL/SC types when I used to run in libertarian circles and my impression of the ones who take it seriously was that they are vulnerable people in a shit load of trouble. By the time you are trying to turn bailiffs and cops away from your door by chanting some weird mantra based on a profound misconstruction of some dusty old legal principle or other and uploading it to YouTube while your life burns to the ground around you, it's not really a question of if you have MH issues, rather one of whether they were the chicken or the egg. Agree totally with DanBC up thread, people who get into this hardcore do themselves permanent and irreparable harm. Shattered credit records, home repossessions and jail time are all on the cards. Kids. Don't try this at home.

GunlogAlm 10y ago

Yes. Reading the associated site (http://legalnamefraud.com/ http://legalnamefraud.com/) I'm confident whoever is behind the billboards is mentally ill, or certainly very deluded. I feel sorry for them. I'd be very interested in learning who funded this.

jasiek 10y ago
I think it's an advertising campaign, completely unrelated to the movement, which just piggybacks on it to get people's attention.

fit2rule 10y ago

Does it bother anyone else that whenever someone comes up with a strange or weird, non-mainstream idea, their mental health is immediately called into question? Just out and out say it: you're bigoted against the strange idea that this person is presenting. Just because people don't live like you do, doesn't mean they are mentally ill. Seriously, this "oh, mental illness" trope is really a drag. Please, whenever you consider "oh, mental illness" as a way of writing off someones opinion, check yourself. Not everybody agrees with the ideals proposed by the mental-health cult that currently has the West in its grip ..

spatulon 10y ago
The idea being presented is obviously nonsense. I don't mention their mental health as an attempt to discredit their idea; the idea itself is not credible enough to be worth arguing about. It's not the idea that made me question their mental health. It's the sheer incoherency of their presentation, e.g. on their website (http://legalnamefraud.com/ http://legalnamefraud.com/). The style strikes me as the written equivalent of a schizophrenic person standing on a street corner shouting inanities at passersby. You wouldn't want to have a shouting match with that person on the street and draw a crowd around them, and I don't think we should do the same here.
- fit2rule 10y ago
  I'm not at all defending these peoples opinions - just pointing out the unwarranted hatred they attract as a result of having an idea that is not mainstream/not supported by establishment politics. The speed and ease with which someones' mental health is called into question is just as alarming and .. frankly .. disturbing, as the idea that we are not subjects of the States in which we dwell. "That person is mentally ill" is the clarion call of establishment doublethink, and I put anyone who uses it as a means of justifying their bigotry against anti-establishment thought in the same bin as the loonies who think they can change their name to get out of a parking ticket .. Alas, its quite acceptable behaviour to call into question someones mental health if they propose an idea non-mainstream/aligned with establishment ideals. I think this, in itself, is a more destructive social response which, unfortunately, doesn't require expensive billboards to propagate throughout society ..
  - Frondo 10y ago
    It's not establishment double-think, and that claim itself is rather silly. I'm quite sympathetic to claims that we're too quick to dismiss people with mental illness, but when it comes to people living their lives in harmful ways based on delusions (which is common in the sovereign citizen movement), I'm all in for calling it mental illness, or something like that. People can believe whatever nutty things they want, I say, but once they put themselves (or loved ones, or whatever) in harm's way based on those beliefs, and don't change them when consequently harmed, well, what else do you want to call it? Delusional stupidity?