Heya, looking into the particulars of how I was raised and recently came across the proper term for it. I’m on a mission to connect with others in similar circumstances, mostly so that the struggles are known and to give confidence to those being silent about it. Just getting my voice out there, talk can ama about the experience!
My folks weren't SovCit, but they were cult-ish Christian. I was raised Christian, with a side of mental illness. I still don't like Halloween, because we weren't allowed to celebrate. In contrast, my kids dressed up in costumes and trick-or-treated every possible year. I'm 52 years old. To this day, I'm still working to shake it off.
I don't have a question, sorry. Hang in there.
How has being raised in a SovCit household affected you?
There’s been tremendous psychological and social impacts on my life, not to mention sailing into my 20s in clear-cut poverty bc I had no ability to get a head start. If you’d like more detailed info, you’d have to narrow down the question 😅
Were both your parents SovCits? And are you still in contact with them?
How have you found work without an education?
Oh and I have a decent adult relationship with my dad, we’re more friends than anything tho bc he still believes a lot of the crap that he used to. Mom… I’m only still in contact with her bc she’s raising my little sister still
Laughably, neither of my parents were SovCits, they just thought that I should be. Don’t get me wrong, mom still lived like one, but dad was just a hippie carpenter with no legal rights to me (no birth record, no legal father). And as far as work without an education, I’ve been winging it on my life experience. Which translates to childcare and cooking haha
Hippie carpenter. No legal dad. Is your dad named Jesus by chance?
What was the process of birth certificate / ssn / driver’s license like for you?
Dude it was ALOT. A year of phone calls and getting THE most confused professionals on the phone. The head of the department of health and records for WA state said I’d have to get married and apply as an immigrant in 7 years (bc no documents within 5 yrs of birth). So, one paternity test, two affidavits, the original copy of my dads birth certificate and a way too late (I was 24) signature in a bible from him as well (lol I bought a bible and a pen on eBay from the year I was born), oh and a student ID card I acquired through connections (The ladies at the college had compassion for my situation). With all of that, I got a passport and passport card (that’s important, bc it acts like a photo ID). Took all of the above to the SSID office and PLEADED with him about my circumstances.
When did you realize your parents were nuts?
That came in phases. I was 16 when I realized mom wasn’t doing normal mom stuff, and I had to fill in for my younger siblings. The whole reality of it didn’t hit until after I moved out and into my first bfs place. I had NO CLUE the social requirements of regular life, and struggled with ideation for years. It got better after I taught myself to drive tho 😅
Did the state know about you? Did they follow any of the home school requirements?
My experience visiting Washington is that when you have kids out and about during the school day, people assume you are a religious home schooler.
No and also no, mom lied on census reports and kept me at home most of the time. I got to go out shopping/errands with her on weekends and summer days
I know a lot of kids that were homeschooled because we homeschooled ours. Some were pretty wacky.
You seem to have recovered.
Don’t let that fool you, I’ve unfortunately become a master at pretending to be fine. But the feeling that I don’t belong anywhere, doing anything never goes away
We all do a lot of pretending.
When my daughter went to Central Washington for college she stopped telling people she was homeschooled because of the assumption about her. She told people she dropped out of highschool instead.
I’ve heard that a lot, but the pretending is different. Idk how to explain this, but I don’t feel like part of the human race. Most of my life I was told and believed everyone were actual demons/aliens. I smile, and I seem relaxed because I can talk very well (disassociating helps), but I am constantly fighting my own mind and attempting to puppet my body to go unnoticed as an anomaly, I’ve even learned to answer questions In ways that don’t actually answer it.
If they weren't connected to the mainstream sov-cit culture, are there movements they were into? Such as any wacky media like Coast to Coast AM or Alex Jones/ info wars or phenomenons like any militia/ survival groups or hippie leaning movements like Rainbow Gathering or Zendiks or far out lefty politics like Lyndon LeRouche?
Dad is more maintain conspiracy theorist/hippie (= much easier to get along with), so he does delve into some stuff. I honestly can’t mentally handle too many of his theories/rants, but I have heard him reference Alex jones a lot in the past. Mom’s theories are based mostly on her own messiah complex. She pulls from so many deferent beliefs and theories, if you laid it all out it wouldn’t make sense from any perspective.
Thanks. It's interesting how there's so many different avenues to these ideas but also how lots of it is also just delusional self rightousnes. Do they have any other odd ball hobbies or interests like writing, art, music, tinkering, or hoarding weird stuff, etc?
Were you born in the US?
If so, did you go to school? When did you get a social security #?
Yes I was, in WA. State, no, to this day I’ve never attended a class, and I got my SSID when I was 25
Are you working on a GED?
Thankfully I already got that, I’m 29 now for reference, but I got that at 26
Your situation sounds very simile to that of the Oathkeepers founder, Stewart Rhodes' son, Dakota. Are you familiar with him at all?
I think I know who you’re talking about, I saw a small clip a few years back where he was on the news for an interview I think? I was still recovering from the brainwashing at the time, so I was actively avoiding information that would break my reality lol
Congratulations on getting out and making a life for yourself - that could not have been easy but you made it out. Go you!
I Often hear or see reference to legal cases or statutes,etc. can you give me any that you know or use? An example something about maritime law?
Unfortunately not, my mom didn’t know ANY relevant laws about what she did. since then tho, I have educated myself on the legal consequences of her behavior had she been exposed at any point, and it’s NOT pretty.
Could talk about what, exactly your parents believed and why they believed it?
Yeah, my dad is simple/basic mainstream conspiracy theorist with some new-age spiritual beliefs centered around alternate dimensions, altered history, demonic presences and aliens. Mom is all of the above, but centered around her own messiah complex. TBH, I’ve been trying to make sense of it all and understand why she did what she did, and I think It started out with her believing she was psychic and truly thinking her dreams were reality/premonitions, devolving into a self-made religion based on her being a mother. Also tho, she’s socially awkward and has majoooor trust issues. Her kids were kinda a fill-in for all the relationships (platonic and otherwise) that she couldn’t make work. (Sorry for the psychological profiling mum 🙏)
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