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I guess this is the correct place to post this question. There is a young guy I know through work, I have only known him for a couple of months. (I am not going to get into his nationality here to keep this thread on track). Anyway, he is in the process of changing his name from a very American name to one from his "native country". The new name will not have a first or last name, just one name (like Cher). I asked him about the reason for changing it, and he said "Because I more closely associate myself with my heritage, which is Kurdish, not with the name that was given to me by my Mother and Father."
That, in itself, seemed odd to me, but it gets stranger from there. He is VERY militant and is anti everything. He refuses to have a new Social Security number with his new name, and will not have a driver's license (although he will continue to drive). He says the Government has no authority to require him to have any documentation of his existance and he does not want to be controlled by anyone. I had to ask about that, and he said his new "nationality" does not require him to have any record of his existance. He has notified the HR Dept at work that he will not provide them with a new SS number or any other documentation once he has his new name.
Finally, the other day he was sending certified letters to various departments of the Internal Revenue service, telling them he wants them to provide proof that they are allowed to collect income taxes. I kinda got into a discussion with him on the sanity of him doing that, and he said they are an illegal operation and something about the money they collect going to King George, not America.
We asked him how he expects to drive without a license and he said "If you research it, you are only required to have a driver's license if you drive for work, and I do no drive for work." He said he has been stopped by the police and demands to see their authority to make him have a driver's license, and he says they always let him go .
No one I know seems very concerned about this guy, but he is out there. He is not an unpleasant person, but when you start asking him questions he becomes very radical and says he knows what he is doing.
Follow the lead of your fellow co-workers and do not concern yourself with this guy. Yes, he is out there.
Besides he will not be employed at your place of business very long. Once he refuses to give HR a new SS number with his new name, out he goes.
It sounds more like a mental problem than anything else. You can't talk sense into someone with that kind of issue.
I image he'll run into some issues with not having the proper documentation for his new name...with no ID, how do you cash a check, or go to the doctor? If he won't give HR documentation for his new name, they'll probably have to issue his checks, insurance ID cards, etc. in his old name. For that matter, if he doesn't think anyone has any right to ask for documentation of his existence, he's probably not going to court to change his name, which might be why he won't provide any paperwork for the new name.
If the police let him go when he wants them to prove their authority to make him have a license, that's because they don't want to spend their whole shift dealing with someone with mental issues. One day he'll run into a cop with nothing better to do than prove it to him.
I would stay far away from him. Don't poke the bear and engage him in conversations that you know are hot button topics. If he's borderline paranoid delusional, then you could set him off.
Thanks for all the suggestions. It is really bizarre. On one hand, he is a quiet, nice young guy who is really easy to get along with (and pretty intelligent), but he harbors this deep anti everything dislike for anything that has authority attached to it.
A perfect example is, a customer of ours got a ticket for $250 for leaving his car sitting in the fire lane while he shopped. He went up to the customer and said " You didn't sign anything so they can't make you pay it, and besides, make them show you where they have the authority to tell you where you can park." The customer looked at him as if he had two heads.
One thing that has crossed my mind is, whenever we hear about some non Muslim person who has, for some reason, become radicalized and joined some group like ISIS, we all wonder how that could happen. How could any young person start thinking that way ? I sort of feel I have gotten a glimpse into that world. Here is an otherwise normal young man whose ideas are from another planet. Very odd.
Thanks for all the suggestions. It is really bizarre. On one hand, he is a quiet, nice young guy who is really easy to get along with (and pretty intelligent), but he harbors this deep anti everything dislike for anything that has authority attached to it.
A perfect example is, a customer of ours got a ticket for $250 for leaving his car sitting in the fire lane while he shopped. He went up to the customer and said " You didn't sign anything so they can't make you pay it, and besides, make them show you where they have the authority to tell you where you can park." The customer looked at him as if he had two heads.
One thing that has crossed my mind is, whenever we hear about some non Muslim person who have, for some reason, become radialized and joined some group like ISIS, we all wonder how that could happen. How could any young person start thinking that way ? I sort of feel I have gotten a glimpse into that world. Here is an otherwise normal young man whose ideas are from another planet. Very odd.
His ideas are no different than many who have come before him and his ideas are not from another planet they just do not fall within society's acceptable range of normal.
To you and the others on this thread he is *not normal, mentally ill, etc*.
To him you and the others on this thread are *not normal, mentally, etc*.
Who gets to decide who is right?
PS ~~ If you did not want to slant the thread you probably should not have mentioned Kurdish. So much for keeping nationality out of things.
I had a friend the is manic-depressive..........he was a lot like your friend.
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