Help these two women, captured in a nightmare for having the audacity to leave the USA at five years of age and thinking they could live happily ever after in Canada, only to be betrayed by both countries!
Does five years of innocence deserve a life of being hounded by Uncle Sam with threats of fines and imprisonment? Should any US person who lives outside of the USA be threatened like these two five year olds are?
If you don’t think so, please donate at: Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty
Where do I collect the reward?
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They look like hardened criminals.
Of course these fortunate citizens of God’s greatest country on earth have to pay their fair share! They’ll get on their knees in gratitude when ISIS takes over Canada just like in Yemen and they’re evacuated by the good graces of the US governm— uh. Oh, wait…
@ Barbara. You are far too optimistic. If Obama doesn’t evacuate “US persons” in Yemen, how come you expect him to evacuate us in Canada? The Russians maybe but then you would have to cross Alaska first. No, that’s not a good option either! Submarines off the BC shores!
“Evacuated”. Hmmm…that word conjures an image of a giant vacuum cleaner in my mind. Only its not our heroines that will be evacuated. It will be their money! The US doesn’t really care about the people; it just wants the cash.
I like the idea of juxtaposing the images of our young selves with the strange consequences were are reaping here in (for some of us) middle age, but please, can we not compare ourselves to slaves in 1860? or Jews in 1940? Those were some people with honest-to-goodness existential problems (governments that were literally, not figuratively, enslaving and murdering them), and tying our financial woes to those historical images makes us look insensitive at best, crackpot at worst. (See: Godwin’s Law)
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@PYYJ,
I didn’t see any reference to “slaves in 1860” or “Jews in 1940” in this post.
Neither were “Nazis or Hitler” mentioned, which is a requirement for the “Godwin’s Law” which you are suggesting this post is an example of.
What was your point again?
Well, on the one hand finding examples is trivially easy, like
here,
here (I love that he starts by saying “stop making comparisons to Nazis!” and then goes on to elaborate the FACTA star idea),
here (“Nazi style exit taxes”),
here (straight-up, no chaser).
On the other hand, my search turned up the fact that my concerns have already been thoroughly discussed and basically rejected, so, hey, Brock is what it is, I can accept that and read around the naughty bits.
WANTED: For Ginny and Gwenny — a successful lawsuit
WANTED: Anything that will highlight our cause … like a couple of clever wanted posters
WANTED: Dead AND Alive — Schrödinger’s Cat (a cute wanted poster I spotted awhile ago)
The following is the reply I posted to PYYJ`s concerns at Sandbox:
Here are the definitions of slave from the Oxford Dictionary:
(Especially in the past) a person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them: he killed the natives or turned them into slaves
More example sentences Synonyms
1.1A person who works very hard without proper remuneration or appreciation: by the time I was ten, I had become her slave, doing all the housework
More example sentences Synonyms
1.2A person who is excessively dependent upon or controlled by something: the poorest people of the world are slaves to the banks she was no slave to fashion
More example sentences
1.3A device, or part of one, directly controlled by another: [as modifier]: a slave cassette deck Compare with master1.
I would say Ginny and Gwen (and the rest of us) are èxcessively controlled by the USA, US Treasury, FINCeen, IRS and Congress.
In addition, the US is claiming Ginny and Gwen (and the rest of us) as their property for tax purposes.
For those reasons, I think the use of the term tax slave is appropriate.
@PYYJ, Those examples (links) you give as support to what concerns you, have nothing to do with this particular post though.
Anyone reading your criticism, naturally assumed you were admonishing the content of this particular post regarding Gwen and Ginny. Are you now saying that was not the source of your concern? Did the phrase “tax slave” as used in this post bother you? – that is the only reference I could find to any of: “slaves in 1860, Jews in 1940, Nazis, or Hitler” in this post.
@Dreamer, apparently I am a more sensitive soul than you, since the the “wanted poster” graphical presentation seems like a clear reference to antecedent events. However, as noted above, since everyone else here seems “OK” with this kind of rhetoric, I will take the bad with the good and end my thread here.
OK, last one on the thread (sorry): the posters would be just as effective (IMO) and less potentially alienating to sensitive souls like myself, if they were about “Fugitive Tax Criminals”, which juxtaposed with the cute kids they were when they originally went “on the lam” and fled the jurisdiction, is still a pretty cool poster.
To force someone to do physical labour for you is a type of slavery.
To force someone to give you money that they have already earned from the fruits of their labour, is also a type of slavery – it may be one step less direct (i.e. electronic money created from physical labour), but the principle is the same.
I partially agree with PYYJ. I have no problem with these posters, because they are so clearly satirical. I do take issue with comparisons to the plight of Jews in Nazi Germany. The recent post featuring a Berthold Brecht quotation did bother me, but I didn’t say anything. Yes, we’re talking about money, invasion of privacy and human rights. But none of us is in physical danger due to the IRS. So, please, restrain those Nazis-are-coming-to-get-us references.
It’s easy for all of us to become so caught up in this issue as to lose sight of how others perceive the situation. it’s all in the intent of what we say. Satire is about intentionally exaggerating a situation in order to make a point. Thus, a satirical poster about tax slaves is a extremely different than a somber angry post comparing US citizens abroad to actual bonded slaves, which is of course nonsense (Blaze’s definition notwithstanding). That overused Hitler movie excerpt with the subtitles about FATCA is hilarious. But anyone seriously comparing our situation to minorities under the Nazis is way out of line, and harms the credibility of the entire message.
My two (US) cents (more than I ever intend to pay in US taxes).
There are many forms of slavery and involuntary servitude, CBT is one of them.
@Barbara
“But none of us is in physical danger due to the IRS.”
When one is at risk of being arrested and dragged to federal court for paying (higher) taxes in one’s country of resident, and then thrown in prison for a pseudo-crime, causing unnecessary psychological damage…??? This is why many of us are simply unwilling to return to the States to visit family. Fear for no real reason… a sickening public policy pursued by America.
Canada has a 250 year history of acting as a place of refuge for Americans looking for a better life– Loyalists, runaway slaves, and Vietnam “draft dodgers” come to mind. With FATCA, US expats are no longer offered a new life in Canada– the Harper government has demonstrated that we are second class Canadians (“American persons in Canada”) and that the US Marshall can still reach across the border and seize our private financial information and threaten us and our assets.
I love the “Wanted” poster. I appreciate both the satire and the humour. And, I think the pictures are adorable!
@Duality: OK, I get it. Yes, we are all in danger of prison. We all feel persecuted by the US. That’s real. I share the same paranoia as you and everyone else. That’s what led me to IBS. But if we really want to influence people to both join our side of the argument and change the laws, we have to be acutely aware of how the message is presented. And I strongly agree with PYYJ that comparisons to the Nazis are way beyond the line of credibility and good taste. And comparisons to slavery can be deemed offensive to people who are descended from slaves. We are not subject to lashings, lynching or hanging for not filing FBARs. It may be very cathartic for each of us to claim we’re as victimized as plantation slaves or Polish Jews in the 1940s (from whom I am descended, by the way). I make the same frustrated comments to my husband, in private. But that isn’t going to win points in a real debate with someone who doesn’t yet fully grasp the issues.
Let’s choose our metaphors carefully, and when we want to make shrill comparisons, make sure they are presented as clever satire. Such as these posters.
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@PYYJ
Brock is much more than the references to the posts/discussions about the Jews in Germany and the slaves in the US. To ignore the larger side is to miss entirely, why we are here.
I have had Jewish people tell me they are not offended by the references to Hitler etc. I personally find that a little hard to understand but mention it because one cannot assume that every Jewish person or family member who had ancestors who were slaves (who would have more of a “right” if you will, to be offended and expect consideration) would find the viewpoint upsetting. Sometimes that sort of assumption reflects more on the person who is making the assumption. That is to say that a judgment is being projected that may or may not, be a correct assessment of the assumption. Most recognize a parallel of the loss of rights issue (and that is the point of using a strong symbol such as Hitler, or the situation of slaves in the 1860s etc). I believe most of us understand there is a difference.
I wrote a post concerning a relationship between our situation and that of slaves in America. I wonder if you find this offensive? I would hope not as it is not presented in an inflammatory way but draws specific parallels.
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2014/12/31/is-an-american-a-piece-of-u-s-property/
Perhaps a safer analogy would be the internment of Japanese Americans during the Second World War. This something done by the US government in living memory. A whole sub-population of Americans was victimised in response to popular hysteria. In time, Americans came to realise what they had done was very wrong and apologies were made. But in 1942 most Americans felt it was righteous because they failed to think carefully about what they were doing.
What happened to Japanese Americans is far far worse than our current predicament. But the analogy is less emotive than Nazis or slaves and actually more instructive.
@Johnson: well on one hand, yes, I agree Japanese American internment is a better analogy, and tried exploring it in detail a while ago:
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2013/02/19/foreign-asset-reporting-before-fbar-and-fatca-loyalty-questionnaires-for-world-war-ii-japanese-american-internees/
Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be less emotive or much safer. I took commenters’ suggestion to try my hand at writing for publication, produced a cut-down & less bombastic version of that post, and asked a college classmate who works at a small magazine to take a look. Both he and I are of Asian background; neither of us are Japanese American or have relatives who are. But, to make a long story short, he’s no longer speaking to me and apparently denounced me to one of our mutual friends in rather colourful terms (“whitewashed sellout” and “tax-evading Tea Party nutcase” were two of the milder ones).