Here I am, stuck in the middle with you. I was astonished to find that my tea party prepper brother and new age sister shared the same anti-science, anti-government beliefs. Yes, the tea party brother owns a ton of guns while my new age sister does not. But both share the same world view that government is hacking our brains, whether it’s Bill Gates and vaccines or a pandemic hoax designed to frighten the masses into conformity. Both reject science and quote vague conspiracy theories ranging from the obscure to the downright laughable. Here’s thing: my tea party anti-government prepping brother has earned his living as a computer programmer employed by state government while my new age sister studies medicine with federally backed student loans. Neither lacked education or critical thinking skills before they joined the unholy alliance of “sovereign citizenship”.
On the far right, “sovereign citizens” like Ammon Bundy trample legal rights, public heath and the Constitution while claiming the government has no authority over them. On the far left, the anti-vaxxers claim that public health and the law have no authority over them to . Both claim to get their direction and their authority straight from a higher power, society be damned: God on the far right and the Universe on the far left. Both engage in magical thinking, God or the Universe bestows blessings and curses depending on their will and whims.
Both engage in a re-writing of language, bending it beyond the breaking point of history and human comprehension. Both believe that opinion and conspiracy trumps actual data and science. Both think that it is their “right” to reject objective data in favor of their personal experiences. Both believe that sinners and saints exist to usher in an age more suited to their liking.
While I am appalled at the anti-science, anti-law, anti-language, anti-history confluence in American society, I am equally struck by the fact that the “sovereign citizens” of the far left don’t vote. While their far right counterparts and compatriots do in droves. . The people on the far left to which I refer prefer to meditate on the state of the world. These are the same modern city dwelling “ sovereign citizens” who ostensibly reject capitalism while sitting in their urban home streaming Netflix, ordering off Amazon and eating at Panera Bread. They and their “sovereign citizen” counterparts can’t spare the time fs to look up the definition of anarchy let alone provide an informed understand of it. Neither has studied enough human history to get beyond first level talking points or anything resembling a thoughtful review or discussion of systems of government.
So I’m back to where I started, clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right. Here I am.