Cross-Posted from GwEvil at Isaac Brock Society. Wanted: Ginny and Gwenny – Runaway Tax Slaves.
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 years old are?
If you don’t think so, please donate at: Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty
Ginny & Gwenny Wanted by @USTreasury @IRSnews & #Congress
http://t.co/gcCfv660TN Left USA @ age 5–64 & 48 yrs ago. Help them stopfatca.ca.
@USTreasury @IRSnews Do Ginny & Gwenny look like tax cheats?
http://t.co/gcCfv660TN Y do u want 2 #FATCA them? Help http://t.co/7eaVXA4g5W
RT @LynneBlaze: @USTreasury @IRSnews Do Ginny & Gwenny look like tax cheats?
http://t.co/gcCfv660TN Y do u want 2 #FATCA them? Help http://…
IMO this bit is in questionable taste, not entirely surprising at Brock, a little more surprising here. Drawing a line between our unfortunate but non-fatal condition and that of actual slaves is a bridge too far.
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
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.
Perhaps I misunderstood, and I apologize if I did, but I thought one of the reasons the Maple Sandbox exists as a separate concern from Brock was because the rhetoric at Brock can get so… intemperate? over-wrought? and so a more accessible and less potentially alienating source of information was required. I certainly found the posts here more authoritative and reassuring during my “oh god” months, and I imagine the rhetorical calm was a part of that.
@PYYJ. You are not incorrect about the reasons Sandbox was established and you do not need to apologize.
However, I do not see this thread as intemperate or overwrought rhetoric.
Instead, I saw it as highlighting the total absurdity of this entire situation. It was originally posted by one of the two brave women who are publicly risking so much for all of us to shed some sanity and light-hearted fun on this nightmare.
As I said in my tweet to U.S. treasury, do Ginny and Gwenny look like tax cheats?
Perhaps I am too close to the lawsuit, Sandbox and this thread to be able to fully comprehend your concern. Is it around the use of the word slave or is it something else in the post?
I will ask Outraged Canadian, who is the co-founder and co-administrator of Maple Sandbox, for an objective opinion on this. If she thinks this thread violates Sandbox standards, I will remove it.
I am glad you found calm and reassurance here. I hope you will continue to do so.
RT @LynneBlaze: @USTreasury @IRSnews Do Ginny & Gwenny look like tax cheats?
http://t.co/gcCfv660TN Y do u want 2 #FATCA them? Help http://…
RT @LynneBlaze: Ginny & Gwenny Wanted by @USTreasury @IRSnews & #Congress
http://t.co/gcCfv660TN Left USA @ age 5–64 & 48 yrs ago. Help t…
RT @LynneBlaze: @USTreasury @IRSnews Do Ginny & Gwenny look like tax cheats?
http://t.co/gcCfv660TN Y do u want 2 #FATCA them? Help http://…
RT @LynneBlaze: @USTreasury @IRSnews Do Ginny & Gwenny look like tax cheats?
http://t.co/gcCfv660TN Y do u want 2 #FATCA them? Help http://…
@Lynne and PYYJ
I just had to voice my support for both Maple Sandbox and Brock. It’s true they are two different approaches with Maple Sandbox emphasizing more playing nice. On the other hand, the US government and IRS do not play nice so we all have a right to voice our opinions. I appreciate the Runaway Tax Slaves post on both sites. The pictures are charming as well. Since renouncing, I hope to now be a free former slave.
@Lynne, it’s “slave”, or more precisely “runaway slave”, which draws a pretty direct referential line to the Fugitive Slave Act, which is to say actual slaves, not metaphorical slaves, or “I feel like a…” slave, but real, honest to goodness historical slaves who have descendants who might fairly wonder just who the heck we think we are, equating our relatively recent and merely financial woes with the couple centuries of full bore oppression visited upon the their kin.
Thank you for explaing your concern.
I think this is a case where I hope we can agree to disagree. I like the poster. I do not think it compares Ginny and Gwenny to historical slaves.I do not think it violates Sandbox rules.
I also do not think the current situation with the IRS is merely financial woes. However, I agree it is not comparable to the atrocities of true slavehood.
Perhaps the word criminals would have been better because that is one term that Congress, IRS, US Treasury and many others have have used to describe us. In fact, someone (Roy Berg perhaps) was quick to point out after the lawsuit was filed that Ginny and Gwenny are committing a criminal act by willfully refusing to comply with IRS.
Then, of course, there are the accusations of being traitors, tax cheats, drug traffickers, money launderers, terrorist financers, etc.
I think the images of Ginny and Gwenny are a wonderful way to depict the absurdity of all of this. Ginny and Gwenny are risking everything for us. We need to focus on helping them.
I hope you will continue to participate here and I hope you will not let this disagreement stop your involvement.
FATCA imposes psychological, emotional and economic slavery on those who are presumed to be US persons. It is a form of extraterritorial oppression. There are many forms of slavery. I don’t think any one claimed this to be physical slavery (although potential US jail time is a possibility). This does not merely affect the victims financially. It goes way beyond that. I wait to see what other comments are made about this.
RT @LynneBlaze: @USTreasury @IRSnews Do Ginny & Gwenny look like tax cheats?
http://t.co/gcCfv660TN Y do u want 2 #FATCA them? Help http://…
@PYYJ, I see your concern, but I truly don’t believe that anyone was trying to make light of what happened (and continues to happen in some countries) of truly enslaved people.
I personally wouldn’t use this parallel, but I didn’t find it offensive, nor did I think anyone meant it to be offensive.
Many of the people affected by this have made references to feeling like a slave, in the sense that the US seems to think they own you (in regards to finances) for life. Now, maybe people wouldn’t if they had ever been enslaved, or known people who had been, but it is a very common usage now.
I’m sorry to hear that you were offended by it, but it has become a very broadly used word now, and IMHO the previous connotation has been softened.