I'm getting very close to deciding he's actually a very well done parody. In the last 24 hours we've had:
In which a spoof children's TV episode is assumed to have been representative of material routinely broadcast
even though it clearly could never have been acceptable for general viewing. Then:
Here he's complaining that a police officer only got a fine and 'management advice' over parking badly while on official duty, and links to
a news article which clearly explains that they were treated in the same way as a member of the public. He argues that they should have received points on their licence, but fails to explain why this should happen when it seems to be a simple parking offence which could never result in someone's licence being endorsed (there are specific circumstances when bad parking can result in more than a fine but they would not appear to apply here). One can only wonder if he has, perhaps, himself had a
recent encounter with the police for a more serious motoring offence which resulted in him receiving both a significant fine and also having his licence endorsed.
And now we have a very strange
Facebook post:
Shaun Cassidy wrote:
i want to buy a tower block, and rehouse all our homeless, give them the aid they need to get off hards drugs, cannabis is okay in my book. and most importantly show them, that, people do care.
Which seems a pleasant enough dream to have, but then he continues:
Shaun Cassidy wrote:If people in salford want to see homeless off the streets and into a warm home, with food clothes and warmth, please do something in your local community too.
It's as if he equates dreaming that he's housed a block of homeless people with actually having done so. If only it were that simple.
None of this really compares with the video, which veers wildly from his hopes of becoming Prime Minister (or possibly king), explaining that 9/11 was a set up because if aviation fuel could melt steel it couldn't be used to fuel aircraft because they're made of steel and would melt too, that he doesn't believe in labelling people unless they're Jewish, that no-one ever gets any return from their taxes because he saw a pot hole in the road, and
won't somebody think of the children. And apparently he can roar like a lion, too.
Plus, of course, all the usual freeman ideology about lawful/illegal, the fact birth certificates have a number on them makes them a financial instrument because bonds have numbers on them and the same number can only ever be used for one purpose, some very confused talk about Statutory Instruments (which he seems to think is synonymous with 'Acts of Parliament'). He also covered some of his own more specialised subjects, including the fact that Queen Elizabeth II apparently 'was abdicated' for failing to honour her coronation oath which appears to involve everything related to government that happened since the 70s (or possibly 50s) being revoked, Dallas style.
He also mentioned that he was recently fined £500 ($760USD/$1000CAD), which we might expect to be the end result of his video explaining how you don't need to tax your car, though this isn't made explicitly clear. He also explains that he's on £200 a fortnight ($300USD/$400CAD), which suggests that his various ventures (CEO, Producer, CG Artist, Developer, Multitalented Dyslexic) aren't going as well as they might. He doesn't mention where this money comes from but it is a mite unusual to be paid fortnightly, though Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) are both paid this way. ESA would be £204.30 a fortnight for someone who is unable to work due to a disability. To suggest that this is the source of his income is, I stress, highly speculative, and there are other explanations for him receiving this small sum paid fortnightly. Being self employed or working part time are both possible and would seem to be more in keeping with his obsession with the return he's getting for his taxes which, while not non-existent, have a significantly lower impact for the unwaged.
I find myself quite disturbed by his lack of self awareness when he proudly declares that he 'won't wear labels' holding his jacket open to demonstrate this and displaying a camouflage shirt complete with 'Military Police' badge. Together with the self conscious - and repeated - adjustment of his beret (with military style cap badge) through the video I'm left wondering how he can not see both of these items as very conspicuous labels.
While the wearing of a hat, heavy jacket and gloves throughout, despite the domestic indoor setting, may suggest an attempt to economise on heating (in which case he has my sympathy having been in similar situations myself), the style of the gloves makes we wonder if they are motor cycle gloves or army or police surplus as they appear to have some sort of protective material across the back and are, perhaps, not being worn for their thermal qualities alone. If I remember correctly, they also featured in an earlier video taken in warmer times. Of course, if Mr Cassidy is disabled they may fill a functional role which should be considered, though the hat and the shirt are harder to explain unless any disability extends beyond the physical.
Together with the posturing and strange slips of accent, the overall effect is overpowering and raises the question: is it possible to create such a video and not realise the combined effect that is being produced? Is he really a Walter Mitty character who genuinely believes himself - and the rest of the world - to be badly wronged and out on a mission to set it all to right, movie style? Or is he just winding us all up? I'm really not sure if we should be invoking
Poe's Law or
Formosa's Law here.