“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.
I’m a little confused as to how exactly writing “help” on paintings is supposed to persuade the courts to change their policies about child custody. Even by MRA standards F4J are a bit peculiar – everything they do comes across as the activist equivalent of a non sequitur.
If you think Louis’s putting fried brains on your pizza, think again!
Bleh, I gotta go do grocery shopping. My legs do not like this idea.
bluaregen thinks GWW isn’t a bad orator? Troll, please.
blauregen: how could you have known about the men’s rights movement for centuries? Are you undead?
Cassandra – maybe the courts will change the rules to add “anyone who vandalises major artworks and national treasures loses custody automatically, because too stupid to breathe”?
I didn’t realize I still had that link in the sidebar; it’s gone now. I need to do some more updating.
Thanks David!
Thanks!! Less Hugo is more better.
In the future, we will all be able to pitch in a few bucks from our nyms on this site and send a pizza-copter directly to Argenti within a matter of minutes.
Why isn’t the future here yet?
It’s just such terrible PR. Why would they think that defacing artwork would make the public more inclined to support their cause? Is it a really passive form of terrorism or do they honestly think people are going to go “well, I thought they were a bit goofy before, but then I saw that photo glued to the big painting and decided that anyone who’d do that is clearly an excellent parent whose rights have been cruelly torn from him, much like the can of spraypaint the security guards took off him”?
I’m just kinda lulzing about blauregan crediting knowledge about male sexual assault to MRAs. But then, I had orion a few days ago. So far, the MRAs I have met have been the OPPOSITE of helpful about my sexual abuse history. I’m just convenient to point to when they want something to go on about and not actually DO anything.
Also, Jesus Christ guys, the past week has been BIZARRE. For weeks, nobody was interested in my writeathon, and now I’ve sold seven stories, just got asked about commissioning ANOTHER, and I just cleaned a guy’s house. Money everywhere! (By my standards, I mean. It means I can pay my $100 in rent for July.)
Well, to be fair, apparently he has a time machine so maybe he discovered an embryonic form of F4J in ancient Venice that was already hard at work on fighting the unfair divorce laws that hadn’t been written yet.
Oh, Orion’s back claiming to be your muse btw.
@hellkell: No, tired. It should have been decades. 🙂
@Ally S: No, what I find objectionable is her misleading representation of historical events, which I attribute to bad research and bad sources. As examples: The historian she recommended in her speech to the libertarians is a David Irving-fan and writes about zionist conspiracies, her link of feminism to marxism certainly has an appeal for her audience but paints a wrong picture, because, while many second wavers indeed were close to the socialist movement and applied marxist analysis, they weren’t especially concerned with classical marxist themes, and her portrayal of the White Feather Girls during WW1 as a feminist movement.because of Emmeline Pankhurst is nearly funny, given that their greatest supporter was head of Britain’s Anti-Suffrage League at that time and that the WSPU split over the question of whether they should support the war efforts.
As for her opinions: She is entitled to them. I disagree with her.
LBT — I’ve been reading Raige, M.D. and Thomas’s MST’ing of Zombie Lover between swearing sessions. Not sure which is worse, that horror, or excel.
@blauregen
“As for her opinions: She is entitled to them. I disagree with her.”
No one is not entitled to hir opinion, so that saying is meaningless. And it’s quite fair to question her motives and sincerity when she explicitly spews abuse apologia in response to an article that emphatically supports domestic violence. Especially since she herself claims to be supportive of abused men.
Of course, the fact that she said that doesn’t automatically make everything she says false (she is wrong, but for different reasons), but it’s certainly not something that should be ignored.
Random, but can I get my neighbor evicted for playing nu-metal? If I have to listen to one more Slipknot song…
Nu-metal? Rats, I just threw-up a little in my mouth.
I suppose it could be worse, at least he hasn’t broken out the Papa Roach yet.
If we’re going to have cats in the sidebar, we must have this in the sidebar:
http://adultcatfinder.com/
RE: Argenti
Oh, Orion’s back claiming to be your muse btw.
…I think this is possibly the most offensive thing anyone has ever said regarding me. Congratulations, Orion. You’re my ‘muse’ in the same way Piers Anthony and Fifty Shades of Bears was. (Gag.) (No, seriously, MUSE? Don’t flatter yourself, orion.)
Glad you’re enjoying the MSTs, by the way! (And the story that got commissioned was a Thomas story! After thirteen years, Infinity Smashed is actually making me money!)
@Kittehserf: I saw when sexual assault against men, as well as men as victims of domestic violence became widely discussed topics, and as far as I can see, this only happened after the controversy they stirred up. And while the gender-equality of DV is dubious, due to problems with the CTS, DV against men is not insignificant and was hardly mentioned before
I don’t really expect any concrete projects from AVFM or similar sites. They are helpful in making people aware of existing problems. I don’t agree with Warren Farrel either, but his books and activism helped to start discussions, that may have been existed in feminist circles, but were hardly visible to the general public.
LBT, if you ever want me to commission a story from you… let me know ^.^
RE: blauregan
this only happened after the controversy they stirred up.
Proof, please. Because the MRAs certainly did nothing for ME.
RE: SittieKitty
I’m generally always open for art or writing commissions. (Though this week is blocked off. Between getting Bodily Reconstruction printed, catching up on bonus sketches, and planning an anniversary camping trip, I’m BOOKED.)
blauregen, that is a very sad attempt to rewrite history.