Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2013 November 23

Welcome to the Wikipedia Humanities Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

November 23

Former sovereign citizens

I've been looking for testimonials (just stories about their experiences, why they left, &c.) from people who were formerly involved in "sovereign citizen" or "freeman on the land" movements but haven't been able to find any. Are there any such people? --superioridad ^(discusión) 09:06, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

I googled "former sovereign citizens" and the only thing that seems to come up is the ones who have been incarcerated. Considering the nature of these characters, if I decided to stop calling myself a "sovereign citizen" I don't think I would advertise it. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 13:59, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

I tried the search strings "why I am no longer" and "my life as a" and "memoirs of a" + various iterations of tax rebel, sovereign citizen, etc. I haven't read these results so I don't know if they are ex or not, but have a look at Memoirs of a tax resistor, Why I am no longer a libertarian, Autobiography of a Catholic Anarchist and this book: Confessions of a Radical Tax Protestor: An Inside Expose of the Tax Resistance Movement. 184.147.136.249 (talk) 14:44, 24 November 2013 (UTC)

That first link, at the very least, is not a "former" tax protestor. He just doesn't have much of anything now. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:45, 24 November 2013 (UTC)

Also, there's a dilemma: If you consider yourself sovereign, i.e. that you answer only to yourself, doesn't that get compromised if you "join" something? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:47, 24 November 2013 (UTC)

I imagine this is one of your jokes, but it falls flat; there's no reason joining an organization should conflict with individual "sovereignty". It's not like "anarchist leader"; one can join an organization without becoming subservient to it. It is not necessary to come up with a quip for every question on the boards. --jpgordon^{::==( o )} 17:37, 26 November 2013 (UTC)

Sunni Muslims into Shi'a Muslims

Are Persian Muslims the only Muslims who were formerly Sunni and became Shi'a due to a policy of an empire or dynasty like Safavids? What about Azeris, Lurs, Gilakis, Mazandarani, and Qashqais? Were they Sunni Muslims before Shi'a Muslims? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.53.229.80 (talk) 16:37, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

What about Fatimid Egypt? The ruling dynasty at least was Shia, and when the Ayyubids conquered it, it needed to be Sunni-ized again, although it seems unlikely that the general population was entirely Shia. Adam Bishop (talk) 21:25, 24 November 2013 (UTC)

I only want to know Azeris, Lurs, Gilakis, Mazandarani and Qashqais. That's it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.89.43.75 (talk) 18:26, 25 November 2013 (UTC)

Missing in article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_College,_Colombo

Missing in article on Royal College http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_College,_Colombo

Wendell W Solomons Researcher in strategic geopolitical, economic and social forecasting

Number of websites using articles - 102,000 https://www.google.ca/#q=+-facebook+%22wendell+w+solomons%22

Joined school in 1955 Royal College Hostel photograph Row 2: Wendell Solomons http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lkawgw/rcpa01.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 103.21.166.13 (talk) 21:13, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

Please raise this matter at Talk:Royal College, Colombo. Thank you. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 02:16, 24 November 2013 (UTC)