“Zed,” also known as “The Zen Priest,” was one of the originators of the Men Going Their Own Way “philosophy” and is treated as a wise elder by many longtime MRAs.
WF Price of The Spearhead described a compilation of Zed’s writings as “really quite profound as well as a great read” and used to give it out as a bonus for everyone who signed up for his email newsletter. Paul Elam of A Voice for Men laid it on a bit thicker, saying of the man he described as both a mentor and a friend:
[H]is writings have taken him to iconic status in the minds of many men who have been at this for a while, this writer included. This has happened despite the fact that he has eschewed the path of self promotion and opted to speak from behind the persona of an archetype, maybe because of it. Either way, he has wielded a sharp sword from his underworld den, and worn the uniform of a warrior in the battle for sanity between men and women … .
So what kind of fellow is this Zed?
Well, as I learned from a recent thread over on MGTOWforums.com, where he is officially an “elite member,” he’s the sort of person who thinks you should’t bother to save a four-year-old girl from drowning, because then she’ll grow up into a woman, and most of them are just terrible.
The regulars on the forums there were discussing the case of Michael Patterson, a Georgia man who was paralyzed after diving into a creek to rescue a four-year-old girl from drowning, and who has now died after several weeks in the hospital.
While a few suggested that Patterson was a hero, others made clear they wouldn’t have done the same thing themselves. 0kool put it like this:
i know i would never save an adult CUNT….and i know that as sure as i breathe air. however, i would be hard pressed to save a female child knowing what she might have the potential to do in the future. My hat’s off to the guy. Let’s hope his death isn’t in vain and the child doesn’t become a CUNT piece of shit!
Zed, that grand underground warrior for gender sanity, that icon of the Men’s Rights movement, argued the same thing in slightly more restrained prose. In one comment, he warned of the dire possibility that the seemingly innocent little girl you save could grow up to be
another Amanda Marcunt, or Jessica Valenti, or Betty Friedan? Do we think it is worth a man giving his own life to save the life of a woman who will spend it being totally destructive?
In another, he raised the specter of an even more hated figure, at least amongst MGTOWers and MRAs:
Given the evidence around me, it does appear far more likely that a girl will grow up to be another Sharon Osborne – who thinks it is “fantastic” when a woman cuts off the penis of her husband, or the audience of women who cheered that statement – than a woman who contributes much, even to her own family.
I really can’t think of any woman in the public light who the world would be much worse off without.
When a female is in trouble, if I don’t know her, I don’t see her.
This is the kind of timeless wisdom that makes you an icon in the Men’s Rights movement, I guess.
NOTE: Thanks to @taylerlp on Twitter for the tip.
EDITED TO ADD: When I wrote this post, there were 13 or so comments in the MGTOWforums thread; there are considerably more now, including a number from MGTOWers who say they WOULD try to save a little girl. But Zed only doubles down on his position.
Other possibilities why someone might have answered like that on a survey: Raised Catholic, but getting out of it, but haven’t completely severed ties yet; raised in a different tradition, converting to Catholicism, but haven’t been baptized or confirmed yet. Catholic + atheist/agnostic/deist etc. could mean still actively part of a Catholic church but don’t really believe its teachings.
BigMomma – hmm, sounds like the one I had in Edinburgh mightn’t have been bad after all. Uber-peppery lamb mince is just how I’d describe it. That’s sad … I’d hoped it would be more interesting. Oh well, I’ll know not to try it again if the opportunity arises.
Heheh now I have a song “And a good haggis these days is hard to find, a good haaaagis, the lasting kind … ” (apologies to Feargal Sharkey).
“running through my head” was supposed to be the end of that sentence.
Haggis is a type of sausage. It’s famous more because the ingredients seem strange than because it’s far outside the ordinary. I like mexican chorizo too, and the ingredients of that are just as, “icky”.
@pecunium, yeah, things like haggis and black pudding are present in many cultures. For reason, people get fixated on haggis and black pudding as icky, but similar products in France or Spain are considered rustic, yet rediscovered/sophisticated
I was curious to eat it because it’s so famous and people make such a fuss about it – but hell, like pecunium said, it’s just sausage.
Another thing I tried in Edinburgh and will never eat again: gammon steak. I like salt on my meat, but gawd, that was too much!
BREAKING BREAKING
The cat featured on Adult Cat Finder has been identified as one Anime Lillipuss, whose webshow “Kitten on a Keyboard” clearly indicates that she is under the age of feline consent. Adult Cat Finder is running an underage kitten ring!
did someone mention gammon
BigMomma, your link broke! 🙁
katz – noooooooooo
Will try again…am posting from my android phone and the mobile platform makes me brain moosh when trying to post links.
did someone mention gammon
Blood sausage (what black pudding is, for the uninitiated) seems to exist in tons of European cultures, so I’m not sure why people find it so shocking. I don’t like it much, but in terms of shock value I think the kind of soups that you pour blood into so that they end up looking, well, bloody have it beat by miles.
Ye gods, never heard of those soups!
After too many drinks, the morning after, I have enjoyed a black pudding on a floury roll with brown sauce. I also have eaten it in posh restaurants. Overall, I quite like it. I am fairly open minded about food. Except insects.
Sorry! Edit before typing needed. I shouldn’t gave implied that not liking black pudding is close minded, people can like what they want. I meant that I will eat a lot of stuff other people have thought icky. Sorry for bring offensive.
Omigosh, BigMomma, that’s the only sketch I remember from that series! Always makes me laugh cos, well, bland food for me. Steak and kidney pie, YUM! 😀
I wasn’t offended by that. I’m not open minded about food, at least if it’s going to have the slightest hint of hot. 🙂
Yeah, “blodpudding” (literally: Blood pudding) is a really common dish in Sweden. In the southernmost parts of Sweden, where Husband’s family comes from, they also have a traditional dish called “svartsoppa (literally: black soup) which is mostly a mix of broth, red wine and lots of blood from either a goose or a pig, boiled together with various spices.
But really, when you think of it, it’s weird to consider blood (or intestines for that matter, which some people also dislike) any more disgusting than muscles. It’s all bodyparts. (And this isn’t me trying to convince you to become vegan… I was never bothered myself by the mere thought that it’s bodyparts, since I grew up in the countryside and saw animals being chopped to pieces and made food off since I was little. I became vegan for ethical reasons, not disgust reasons. But I do think it’s a bit funny when people happily eat muscles, that also contain blood btw, but feel nauseated by the thought of consuming pure blood or various intestines.)
Yeah, I don’t really see why a rare steak is acceptable but blood sausage is gross, and I suspect the answer something to do with perceptions of which foods are associated with which classes. I dislike all foods with lots of blood in them because I don’t like that sort of iron-like tang that they tend to have, and in the case of the blood soups I don’t like what it does to the texture either. But in terms of gross, eh, people eat much weirder stuff than that. I’ve eaten raw kibbeh and liked it. Won’t eat it here because I don’t trust the freshness of the lamb, but it’s not the taste I’m objecting to (kibbeh is so heavily spiced you can’t taste the meat much anyway), it’s just a food safety concern.
Also there’s a restaurant here that serves chicken tartare, and imo that’s more “icky” than stuff like blood sausage because raw chicken has a really slimy texture, but people don’t seem to have the same “ew!” reaction to it, if they refuse to try it then it’s purely out of concern about salmonella.
I wouldn’t eat chicken tartare any more than steak tartare – I like my meat cooked!
I would guess there’s lots of classism in the muscle/good, internal organs/bad thoughts, if you go back a bit. Plus, pet food now uses the innards, the offal, so maybe there’s another distinction thrown in.
I wonder if the thought of intestines/bowels/shit is what puts people off at all?
I’ve cleaned out plenty of dead animals’ innards. Two things I would not eat: brains and eyes. (I better hope I don’t become a zombie, I could be in trouble.)
When mad cow disease hit the news in the UK I felt kind of vindicated in my complete refusal to eat brains. I really don’t like internal organs, but I don’t think it’s a snob thing, I think it’s a texture issue. I’m sure there’s some subconscious stuff going on there too though.
Yes, brains don’t strike me as a texture I’d want to try, though I daresay that’d change depending on the cooking. I think of raw brains, the sort I’ve washed down sinks, and ewwww!
Sausages, well, they’re just like minced meat, really.
And Australian Scots understand this! My pipe band’s annual Christmas party featured barbecued haggis. And copious amounts of beer, and whisky by the plastic cup. All very Scottish-yet-Aussie.
Barbecued haggis, I love that idea! (Just as an idea, I’ve no wish to eat it.)