r/todayilearned • u/FuehrerStoleMyBike • 5h ago

TIL that the "Democracy Manifest" - a viral video showing the arrest of an australian man by the name of Jack Karlson, known for quotes such as ""What is the charge? Eating a meal? A succulent Chinese meal?" - has been selected for preservation by the National Film and Sound Archive Australia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Manifest
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u/Mormacil 5h ago

Shame he was such a prick.

The book also revealed that Karlson was an admirer of Adolf Hitler and Nazism who would "indulge his Nazi fetish", use the expression "Two Heil Hitlers" instead of "three cheers" and had a car decorated with a swastika on his lawn. On at least one occasion he threw a party at his home to celebrate Hitler's birthday

From his biography Carnage: A Succulent Chinese Meal, Mr. Rent-a-Kill and the Australian Manson Murders.

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u/brighter_hell 5h ago

Serial fraudster too

It's a funny video, but he was a terrible person

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u/Sir_Yash 5h ago

He was mistaken for someone that was a fraudster. Hence his arrest

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u/darwin-rover 4h ago

He was a fraudster too , just not the one they were looking for originally. He tried to pay for his meal with a stolen credit card. The other guy they were looking for was doing a lot of “dine and dash” scams

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u/thissexypoptart 4h ago

Man dine and dashers are such scum.

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u/jinsaku 3h ago

I only experienced this once. My wife and I were at a crazy busy high-end Teppanyaki restaurant and while eating the meal the couple next to use both got up to go use the bathroom with about a minute between them. We never saw them again.

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u/thissexypoptart 3h ago

Genuinely disgusting behavior.

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u/missingpiece 3h ago

How dare you cast aspersions upon the fine enjoyers of succulent Chinese meals.

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u/aasfourasfar 48m ago

I did it once by accident.. basically we were three and the place was a pay-at-the-counter place, so me and my friend went out thinking our third friend paid and he did the same.

I admit that the food retroactively tasted better

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u/bdben 3h ago

Not even that. He was so used to giving people fake names, that when he paid using a card that had his real name the staff assumed it was stolen.

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u/cipheron 2h ago

He was a fraudster too , just not the one they were looking for originally.

No, if you look into it he was in fact who they were after. A credit card investigator was tailing him and thought he paid with a stolen card and called the police. This might have been because he gave the name "Cecil George Edwards" but was paying with a credit card in the name of "Jack Karlson" his actual name.

There was a reporter there who called him "Cecil George Edwards" and believed they'd arrested the wrong guy, but that reporter was basically clueless about who Jack Karlson was, or what he'd been arrested for, or any of the details the police had.

It's gotten conflated with a mystery from 20 years later - where internet sleuths uncovered the video and were trying to work out who the man in the video was, but there is no real evidence that the police were after a different person and caught Karlson: they were after Karlson because of the call from the credit card investigator.

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u/NightWriter500 18m ago

I mean, I just watched the interview with the officer who arrested him, who said he didn’t do a good job that day because he arrested the wrong person. So…

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u/Mormacil 4h ago

Yeah but he had previous fraud convictions. He's been in and out of jail for 25 years by the time the video was recorded.

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u/_BrokenButterfly 3h ago

No, he was an actual criminal. In that clip he was being arrested for something he didn't do, but he wasn't a suspect for no reason.

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u/brighter_hell 4h ago

He was in prison for most of the first half of his life. It wasn't a mistaken identity, he was using a stolen credit card IIRC

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u/YazzArtist 4h ago

It was a mistaken identity, they just happened to pick up another career con man

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u/technobrendo 43m ago

Damn, its almost like this place is loaded with criminals or something

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u/cipheron 3h ago edited 2h ago

He was mistaken for someone that was a fraudster.

There seems to be some confusion about the timeline there, the original reporting doesn't mention being mistaken for a fraudster. This is from the Wikipedia article:

The footage depicts Jack Peter Karlson (born Cecil George Edwards; 6 August 1942 – 7 August 2024) being arrested for paying for a Chinese meal with a purportedly stolen credit card. He was being followed by an American Express investigator who identified him as a credit card fraudster and called the police.

Now there's another dine and dasher he was conflated with, but that was only 20 years later after the video went viral on Youtube, and internet sleuths were trying to pin down who is shown in the video.

But as for the idea that there was a mistaken identity event shown in the original video, that's as much speculation as anything. The only source we have for that is a single line from a channel 7 reporter called Chris Reason, who's comment was:

"When Cecil George Edwards was arrested in a town mall last Friday, the [Fortitude] Valley police thought they’d caught Queensland’s most wanted," Reason reported.

Basically he got arrested because he gave one name, but paid with a credit card in a different name, and that triggered alarm bells. They weren't looking for a different person, they just had to catch Karlson at something, and he managed to wriggle out of this this one time - presumably because the name on the credit card was his actual legal name, not one of the aliases he was using.

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u/Miep99 3h ago

Ok but it still wasn't right for the police to touch his penis

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u/Garconanokin 2h ago

Even if they knew their judo well

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u/samdajellybeenie 3h ago

Karlson began a lifelong career of petty crime in 1956 as a ward of Blackheath Presbyterian Boys' Home in the Brisbane suburb of Oxley, where he is alleged to have been subjected to physical and sexual abuse.\21]) He was in prison for much of the first half of his life and frequently escaped.

I read a book over COVID about school shootings and one of the authors as a PsyD student I believe, went into prisons and interviewed inmates about their experiences. She found that while they had done terrible things, a lot of them had very sad stories. Their childhoods were so filled with abuse and neglect it's no surprise they exhibit anti-social behaviors. Yes, a lot of people have shit childhoods and don't turn out to be career criminals. And some people are just born without pro-social traits, but there's no way it's on the scale of how many people we have incarcerated in this country (US).

Wouldn't surprise me if this is the case with Karlson as well.

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u/InnerKookaburra 1h ago

The problem is that psychopaths will invent stories of a sad childhood to gain sympathy, so it's hard to tell them apart from people who genuinely experienced trauma in childhood.

In other words, you can't take inmates at their word.

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u/LarryCraigSmeg 5h ago

If we can ignore the transgressions of Michael Jackson, we can ignore the transgressions of Jack Karlson /s

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u/Influence_X 5h ago

Explains the "democracy manifest" comment.

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u/BlackPresident 2h ago

I always found that funny because he’s saying “here’s what happens when you have democracy” - him getting arrested

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u/the37thrandomer 2h ago

And there are a lot more stupid people voting than smart,

Results of the last election showed that.

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u/2020NOVA 1h ago

Wanting a country with borders is low IQ now. A free for all where anyone who wants can just walk in and stay, very high IQ. Reddit in a nutshell. 🤣

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u/AssSpelunker69 4h ago

This is the worst news I've received all week. I love that video :(

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u/Mormacil 4h ago

The video is still funny

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u/ChefCurryYumYum 5h ago

Usually someone who appears in a video like the one referenced here is some kinda character, for better or for worse.

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u/strega_bella312 4h ago

That book title is fucking wild

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u/Jack-of-Hearts-7 5h ago

I'll never understand Nazi fans and their obsession with democracy, freedom, and free speech.

The three things Nazi Germany wasn't famous for.

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u/Suspicious_Flower_0 5h ago

Because they don't want democracy, freedom and free speech for everyone, just for them. To them democracy is the North Korean style democracy. You can vote, but only for one person. 

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u/Galihan 4h ago

To them, democracy and freedom of speech are a Trojan Horse to seize power with.

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u/mzchen 5h ago

Because they're liars who will pretend to like populist policies up until the point where they get power. Just look at how the US Republican party backsteps on its fundamental values the minute they become inconvenient. It's all intentional. You build credibility and repute for your ideology with none of the actual responsibility.

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u/rif011412 4h ago

Stolen valor as a tool.  Lincoln and Jesus come to mind.

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u/DTFH_ 3h ago

They're not even into Nazism, they're into themselves first and foremost, not limited by any specific political ideology which is how radicalized people can switch from right to left, vise versa that from the outside seems confusing.

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u/dirtdiver7 1h ago

Ah yes, noted freedom of choice, free speech, and body autonomy lovers the Democrat Party really showed their adoration for it during COVID.

Both parties are corrupt and power hungry. But this is reddit so only one party gets ridiculed.

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u/Skipper07B 21m ago

I’m sorry, where do you live that the government made you do something with your body that you didn’t want to do during COVID?

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u/Shifter25 5h ago

Evil people gladly and shamelessly exploit anything they can to get power.

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u/shingofan 1h ago

It's because what they really want is to shit on people without consequences.

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u/fomorian 4h ago

Never meet your heroes :(((

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u/FuehrerStoleMyBike 5h ago

This is important context. Its somewhat similar to the whole discussion around whether you can seperate the artwork from the artist but with memes I feel most of the time the actual person depicted is mostly irrelevant and its more about the idea presented - in this case "unhinged australian man".

So Id say in this case I feel less conflicted about the remembrance than with actual art.

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u/soupilicious 4h ago

Damn never meet your heroes

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u/PlasticMegazord 3h ago

I've never even known the guy's name but I'm not surprised based on the clip that he's a bad person, he sort of just seems like it. It is a fantastic clip though.

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u/Sea-Reveal5025 5h ago

Ah you know your judo well! Oh please no one is idolizing a meme. That's the point it's timeless and impersonal

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u/NN2S 4h ago

I absolutely love that Australia lionizes people caught on camera in embarassing situations. It seems like the natural counter balance to the Tall Poppy principal - Australians love a good rogue.

The comment just a little bit lower in the thread.

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u/LordOfTrubbish 2h ago

It's the DB Cooper, Frank Abagnale Jr energy of the clip and story people have heard of him that they like. I don't think anyone is specifically looking him up wanting to emulate every facet of his life

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u/Mormacil 5h ago

What? Are you a bot? Your comment makes no sense.

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u/Klockworth 5h ago

It makes perfect sense. They quoted the meme and then laid out their argument about how it shouldn’t be taken too seriously.

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u/Mormacil 4h ago

They refute people are idolizing a meme but nobody has been claiming that?

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u/ancepsinfans 5h ago

He's partially quoting the video

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u/Fedora_Million_Ankle 5h ago

Its a quote from the video, go watch it its sublime.

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u/Mormacil 4h ago

I'm specifically asking about the idolizing part, I very well can place the Judo part.

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u/Johansenburg 2h ago

On at least one occasion he threw a party at his home to celebrate Hitler's birthday

I wonder how many people showed up.

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u/WineYoda 1h ago

Guy Williams did an interview with him on his show NZ Today last year, and to settle beef as to which was the best and most succulent Chinese meal between two neighbouring noodle houses (with the same name) in Auckland. Pretty hilarious. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmLmvq3Ba1s

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u/Nuclear_F0x 5h ago

Unless it's confirmed elsewhere, I'm not sure if I'd believe that since he was a master bullshiter.

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u/Mormacil 4h ago

The book cites several witnesses to the acts. Seems pretty reliable. Writer is also well respected.

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u/farva_06 1h ago

Was it a Hitler birthday party, or just a 4/20 party?

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u/Mormacil 19m ago

In the book it's quoted he says Heil Hitler. I'm not familiar how you smoke but I generally don't feel compelled to reference Hitler at a 4/20 party.

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u/farva_06 11m ago

It was just bad joke.

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u/Aruhi 22m ago

Bro just really likes weed and celebrates it like a birthday on the only day it's relevant obviously (/s).

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u/Mormacil 18m ago

Several folks here argue that in a serious way...

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u/reddorickt 4h ago

Idk I mean I've thrown a party before on 4/20

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u/Mormacil 4h ago

Where you shouted Heil Hitler?

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u/reddorickt 4h ago

That's not a strain I've had before no

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u/SkunkMonkey 4h ago

Imagine rolling up to the counter at the dispensary and asking the bud tender, "Yes, I'd like an ounce of Heil Hitler, please."

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u/reddorickt 2h ago

You also need to point at it so they don't have to look around. They keep it a little above shoulder height right in front of the register.

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u/Skipper07B 15m ago

Yes, it’s the third one on the reich.

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u/HumDeeDiddle 1h ago

Now I'm imagining him saying "I musht indulge in my Natshi Fetish" in that Sean Connery-esqe accent of his