“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.
LBT — “And the story that got commissioned was a Thomas story! After thirteen years, Infinity Smashed is actually making me money!”
Ya think I don’t know that? 😛 (Totally worth it, now get Biff printed for me! [please and thank you])
And I told troll Orion that you’re writing one of you long-standing couples and their healthy loving relationship. And I picked which one (well, sorta, but I get muse status before he does!)
FTR, we’ve got a non-troll Orion (Anderson) around as well.
Also, I’m finishing up the gender section of the data! Then the sexy bits, then I deal with how to display the disability data, the ethnicity, then the blasted politics and religion sections.
And then FREEZE PEACH!!
LBT, sounds good, I’ll remember 🙂
Even if trollorion was in the queue for muse status (which he isn’t), he’d be waaaay back behind everyone who suggested prompts for LBT’s writeathon.
Okay, WordPress is being really weird now. I just did a new blog post* and it suggested Marvin Humes as a tag. After thinking “Who the fuck is Marvin Humes” and looking him up … I’m left asking “How the fuck does WordPress come to the conclusion that a collection of four pics of my husband, with or without cats and clothes, has anything to do with some boy band member I’ve never heard of, let alone ever mentioned?”
*wot, me spamming? How dare you sirrah!
@blauregen:
Re: White Feather movement: imagining that as a feminist movement because women were recruited to hand out the feathers is a pretty much universal MRA belief. Seriously, have you read this blog at all? It is not just GWW.
Also, you’re wrong about feminism, MRA and male sexual assault. I speak as a woman who has a very close male loved one who suffered sexual assault in the US Army. He’s a proud feminist and has looked into MRA, dismissing it because he felt they did not represent him and did not respect women. He supports groups like RAINN and local sexual assault hotlines, which advocate for and support victims regardless of gender.
The MRA has done fuck all in drawing awareness to these issues. If anything, they harm men by advocating strict gender roles and a narrow view of masculinity. In addition, by focusing as they do on nonexistent problems (like the supposed bias in divorce courts, even though reams of evidence prove that is not actually a thing) they undermine their credibility, so if they do hit on a legitimate cause their very association with it harms it. They are a cancer, and anyone who truly cares about men should not associate with them.
I should have added that my post is US-centric, at least re: divorce courts. I have only a vague idea of where blauregen is and no idea how divorce courts function there…but I’m also not really willing to believe that they’re biased towards women without evidence. In all of the countries I’m familiar with, women lose out in divorce overall.
Cuz you mentioned buttocks? I have idea in other words!
Things I just said to my screen “I have no idea what question this number is”…while trying to number a question…
It’s “no response”! Not re noponse, not ne rosponse…I officially have a case of the sillies.
Gah, “buttocks” bringing up suggestion of boy band members: pukeworthy!
(Well, to me, anyway. Gimme an actual adult, kthkz.)
Heheh as long as your screen didn’t answer you. “I’m sorry,
DaveI’m afraid I can’t do that.”AK — I hadn’t seen your posts when I posted my brain drain ones, sorry for your loved one. The first half of this is obviously not news to you, but oh hey, things feminists care about! The second half is ask pecunium if you or he want resources, I know it’s one of his pet peeves being retired military and all (as for where he is…*shrugs* idfk)
Lol! I cannot wait to get to “Dave’s not here, except for X% of the time”.
And I was joking. In any case, most people who talk about boy band butts are talking about how they look in jeans, and are teenagers themselves. So not really creepy, just teenage weirdness.
Oh, I didn’t think you said anything creepy at all, I was laughing ‘cos I’m so long past finding teenagers sexually attractive.
… Come to think of it I never have. The boys at school, ewwwwww!
It’s a good thing the hero was Dave and the computer Hal, not the other way around, ‘cos then there’d be some really weird 2001 quotes around here. 😀
LBT — oh gods, as if whatever the fuck this is with the zombies wasn’t bad enough…
“M.D.: Hey, I have to flash someone every week, or they revoke my girl membership.”
Now THAT is terrifying. I’m going to take that as M.D. revoking her girl membership XD
Hi, I can’t sleep, so I’m blogging. Anyone up? I’m probably going to try sleeping again soon.
I’m here! I replied to your email a little while back. 🙂
No worries Argenti, I don’t mind silliness even if you had seen my post first. 😉 And thanks for you suggestion. We’re pretty good support-wise, my loved one was honorably discharged about 8 years ago and in the meantime we’ve worked with our local VA hospital to create sexual assault survivors’ support groups and other resources, and in the process we’ve established plenty of support. I really appreciate the concern and suggestion though. 🙂
And I’m glad you mentioned that it’s a thing feminists care about…my first draft of the post included that, but then I edited it out because I didn’t want to seem like I was beating blauregen over the head with “That’s feminism!” …but you’re right, it is totally feminism!
Oh, will look at email. I have one cat purring on me, and one cat drooling on me. I think they like when I’m a night owl.
@cloudiah, I’m up but I’m about to go to bed. I really need to sleep, I literally haven’t slept in 36+ hours due to an all-night rescue mission I went on last night, but now I’m at a point where I’m so tired I need to sleep but I can’t. I’m really going to try now though, because seriously I need sleep.
Wow. Wishing death upon the children of a whole subset of people requires extra effort. That kind of hatred is hard work (well I imagine it is for most healthy people). You have to really have to obsess about it.
Truly frightening.
I was about to ask how many cats were sitting on you right now! 😀
Go to sleep AK!!! I’ve been there. I’ve been doing the visiting sick friends thing all day, and since I have a shit ton of sick friends that is actually continued to tomorrow. Which is (a) great because I love seeing my friends and (b) sucky because I don’t want my friends to be sick.
2013 sucks (so far). Cancer and heart attacks suck.
Totally still awake. Totally just finished the bits about gender, sexuality and relationships. Totally do not want to do anymore anything. Actually, that’s wrong, I want to eat some of these reese’s cups but they’re all melty.
Someone help me here, David okay’ed me doing the data presentation as a (very nifty) interactive infographic, which means far less formal wording than I’m used to. Just writing out the questions isn’t really going to work, but idk, do these two strike anyone else as rude or anything like that?
Like “do you consider yourself to be…[cis // trans* // neither // other]” isn’t a heading, and that lead in doesn’t work as a title for a “click here to see the data” infographic, cuz, you know, WTF IS THE DATA ABOUT?!
So currently it says “Are you cis, or not?” (Because I have Simple and Clean stuck in my head, don’t ask) and that sounds weird. Or maybe I just need a break? Heeeeeelp?
Simple and Clean —
http://youtu.be/caecgVhvM1U
Because somehow my favorite game is an RPG by Square and fucking Disney. Idk, maybe I just like hitting shadows with keys…
Oh, my other iffy question is “what is your gender?” But on further thought that seems appropriate enough.
Whee, I just found my old drawings of Vlad! Now to scan them at long last.