Category: Social Media

GGconversations: The Difference Between Being Partisan And Being Political

6/18/2020

Governor General Julie Payette has
launched a video series where Her
Excellency discusses different issues
related to the current pandemic. It is
always good to see Her Majesty's
representatives taking the initiative in
performing their role. The video series
began in May and has covered science,
art, entrepreneurship, and other topics.

Some of the videos go into topics that we might call political.
And that is fine. The Crown is permitted, even encouraged, to
be political. Sadly, there seems to be a misconception that to
be non-partisan requires a vow of silence.

This is not the case. The Crown provides a vital role when it
brings a light to forgotten or neglected issues. Political parties
can do this as well but almost inevitably the issue will become
partisan by association. Only the Crown can act within the
government to look at, and sometimes even address,
problems without a partisan wrestling match breaking out.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

In Aftermath of New Zealand Attack r/monarchism Bans Those From 'Radicalizing' Subreddits

3/16/2019

The tragedy that struck New Zealand on March 15th has
focused many minds on the threat posed by radicalized
individuals. The responses have varied as people try to come
to grip with how to prevent these sorts of acts of violence in
the future.

This has led many to analyze the shooter's manifesto for some
clue as to how he was radicalized. The shooter actually laid
out how his political beliefs changed over time:

"No, when I was young I was a communist, then an anarchist and finally a
libertarian before coming to be an eco-fascist."

r/monarchism (which has in recent months been subject
to brigading from members of both communist and anarchist
subreddits, with such raids often including threats of violence
and discriminatory remarks towards others) has decided to
bring down the banhammer on any user that comes from
subreddits ascribing to the ideologies that led to the shooter's
radicalization. The mods have made only one exception to this
'New Zealand Rule':

"If you are coming here from such a sub in good faith, wishing to abandon the
ideology that caused such a tragedy in favor of one which offers social stability and
lawful order, please make this clear in your fist post here or be sure to include a
disavowal of these hate groups in your appeal to the mods."

Analysis

While the killing of Her Majesty's New Zealand subjects
should be met with a firm response I'm not sure this ban is
the right one. r/monarchism's former policy was to welcome
anyone who was willing to debate in good faith:

"Can I say I'm opposed to monarchy? Yes, but you should elaborate on it and
keep it relevant to the discussion. Commenting on an articles about a monarch
dying with "one step closer to a republic" will get you banned (for more than one
reason), but commenting that you do not think monarchy is better because
[reasons] is allowed. However, saying a monarch is a monarch ergo he is bad is
not an actual reason, it's a bias and is not allowed."

And with each instance of brigading we did get a few people
who were curious about what we believed. Did it make up for
all the headaches that came along with being brigaded?
Perhaps not. But those were some of the more interesting
conversations to have. And it is those people who this rule
change will effect, not those who intend to cause trouble.

A second concern is that a person can be radicalized by just
about anything. While this shooter's path to radicalization
was through a set of ideologies that are largely unfriendly to
monarchism, that may not be the case in the future. What is
the subreddit to do if a shooter motivated by Catholicism or
Russian Orthodoxy shows up? Fairness would dictate that
either this rule would have to go or half the subreddit's
membership would.

Finally, the requirement to disavow the proscribed ideologies
risks catching others in the same net. The main ones in this
case would be anarcho-monarchists, but potentially also
distributionists. Neither are particularly common but
their potential exclusion narrows the range of debate. If only
by a small amount.

I honestly don't think the rule change will be all that effective
or durable enough to remain in force permanently.

Full Disclosure: I am a mid-ranking mod of r/monarchism.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Mutual Respec- Oh Shiny!

12/25/2018

The Queen's annual Christmas message has been released.
It covered several topics but a big one was the need for mutual
respect between people and the corrosive effect tribalism can have. It talked about the good the Commonwealth Games do
in bringing diverse peoples together to emphasize shared
values. It even included a small joke about her age. What it
did not talk about was poverty or any topics close to poverty.

But some easily distracted people couldn't take their eyes off
the S & P Erard Grand Piano. This is perhaps understandable
because it is beautiful:

Photo Credit: Royal Collection Trust

But this also being the age of social media someone had to be
the voice of complaint. Her Majesty was called 'out of
touch' and 'a rich person scolding poor people'. Never mind
that the piano dates from 1856 and is literally older than
Canada is. Never mind that the Queen and the rest of the
Royal Family continue to give their time and money to many
charitable causes (including reducing poverty). And certainly
never mind that the Queen was addressing probably the most
troubling trend of recent history. The social media mob hath
spoken. And as is the case with these things someone on
social media has to take things a step further and move from
disagreement to outright falsehood:

And so a timely reminder about faith, hope and love (for your
fellow man) was derailed because people can't get over a big
piano. Sometimes I wonder about humanity's capacity to
actually attempt what Her Majesty, in her own small way, is
advocating. Then again, the other theme the Queen touched
on was that despite humanity's great propensity for good it
also has the capacity for evil.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Culprits Behind Recent Monarchist Group Vandalism Identified and Dealt With

12/19/2018

The recent case of a monarchist group on Facebook being
the victim of hacking has been solved. In a statement posted
to their page by the admins they state that three members have been removed from the group. Their names are Ms.
Stazija Zikanovic (former admin), Mr. Nićifor Damjanović
(former admin), & Mr. Duje Jerkovic.

Ms. Stazija Zikanovic was the admin who was 'hacked' but
lies about her current involvement in several organizations
and past threats issued by her has ruined the credibility of her
story. Ms. Zikanovic previously claimed to be a member
leader of the Kingdom of Serbia Association, part of the Privy
Council of the Serbian Royal Family and Councilwoman of the
city of Belgrade.

Suspicion about the hacking claim led the admins to seek the assistance of Mr. Mario Majstorović, who is President of the
Kingdom of Serbia Association and member of the Privy
Council of the Serbian Royal House. He confirmed that she
had no association with either group.

Mr. Nićifor Damjanović and Mr. Duje Jerkovic were removed
for vouching for Ms. Stazija Zikanovic, having their positions
safeguarded by her threats, and making threats of their own.
It is now believed that Ms. Stazija Zikanovic carried out the
membership purge of her own accord.

The investigation has been concluded and the group is in the
process of repairing the damage caused by this incident. The
group has so far regained 100 of the members that were lost
in the purge late last week.

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

Monarchist Group Hacked On Facebook Soldiers On

12/16/2018

On December 13th the Monarchists
Facebook page was the victim of
vandalism after an Admin's account
was compromised. The attack lasted
from 6AM EST until 8AM EST.

During that time group members along with their posts were
deleted at a rate of 10 members per minute. The culprit did
stop to take a breather between 6:30 and 6:45 which limited
the damage slightly. Before the attack the group stood at
5,075 members and after the attack membership had been
reduced to around 4,500. The attacks ceased when
another admin noticed the alarming behavior of the hacked
admin and started countermanding the culprit's actions.

Group admin Aria David believes he has unblocked everyone effected but notes that "We can unblock people, but they must
actually reapply in order for us to restore them. Admins and
mods only have the power to re-add people to the group with
whom we are personally friends with. And even that I have
found is difficult because due to Facebook updating certain
features. It seems the block list has not easily accessible
anymore. Thus I have to through the log and manually undo
the action of that member being blocked in order for them to
regain entry. It's something that I hope Facebook will resolve
very soon, because it couldn't have come at a worse time."

When asked about what could have motivated the attack Mr.
David noted that the group has grown substantially over the
last few years and many consider it now the premier English-
speaking monarchist group on Facebook. Mr. David also
noted that "I have steered this group and the movement in
the direction of stripping away all of the misperceptions
about monarchy that drive people away from it. I and my
colleagues have eliminated bigotries and intolerances that
have held the movement in the past. We have become the
central meeting point for co-patriots across the world who
are able to now communicate and effect change in countries
like Romania, Iran and even Brazil and Russia."

This is the first such attack perpetrated against the group and
added security measures are currently being considered.
However, the announcement made shortly after the attack
that new admin roles would be added was planned for some
time and is unrelated to it.

As for suspects Mr. David has confirmed that they do have
some suspected individuals and groups but nothing concrete
at the present time. He is at least somewhat convinced it
wasn't a virus of some kind due to how it responded to the
presence of another admin. Mr. David states that, "We intend
to hire either Facebook and or a third party tech team to look
into this matter...If we can determine who the culprit is, I
will press my legal rights the maximum. They virtually
raped my colleague's profile with hate messages and death
threats and they proceeded to savage my group."

The admins are still working to restore deleted accounts at the
present time (a process that could take weeks). The group
members appear to be in good spirits and are taking this
setback in stride. As a Canadian monarchist I would offer a
few words encouragement. Back in 2015 Her Majesty quoting
John 1:5 said "The light shines in the darkness and the
darkness has not overcome it." Monarchists cannot be run
off so easily. This effort to scatter us has failed. The damage
will be repaired and we will continue to speak out about the
many failures of republicanism.

In a statement released by Mr. David he promises that "My
continued pursuit of the truth of this matter is not going to
end until I'm satisfied. I have been admin to this group for
nearly five years, and I have worked too hard to let it be
destroyed like this. So, in the words of Margaret Thatcher,
"...I do not negotiate with THUGS!" And in the spirit of
Japanese monarchy "Heaven does not forgive treachery..."
and neither do I."

Loyally Yours,
A Kisaragi Colour

GGconversations: The Difference Between Being Partisan And Being Political

In Aftermath of New Zealand Attack r/monarchism Bans Those From 'Radicalizing' Subreddits

Analysis

Mutual Respec- Oh Shiny!

Culprits Behind Recent Monarchist Group Vandalism Identified and Dealt With

Monarchist Group Hacked On Facebook Soldiers On

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