Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

The Zizians transgender cult

39 replies

CheeseFromTheNorth · 16/02/2025 07:07

Interesting read.

Manhunt underway after ‘death cult’ linked to six fatalities

www.thetimes.com/article/d2847ecd-cd5d-4794-b3c3-51ec3a4cfa3d?shareToken=2e4adf511798b9b9ce2ee43cf043c856

The Zizians transgender cult
The Zizians transgender cult
OP posts:
ArabellaScott · 16/02/2025 07:21

Times is using the pronouns stipulated by the accused.

They're all men, as far as I'm aware.

user3827 · 16/02/2025 08:24

Wtf. Is there any left wing media coverage on this?

Hoardasurass · 16/02/2025 08:30

ArabellaScott · 16/02/2025 07:21

Times is using the pronouns stipulated by the accused.

They're all men, as far as I'm aware.

I believe that there is 1 actual woman involved in the attack on the police in vermont

ArabellaScott · 16/02/2025 08:54

Hoardasurass · 16/02/2025 08:30

I believe that there is 1 actual woman involved in the attack on the police in vermont

Thanks. It's all quite hard to discern, worsened by the media's use of incorrect pronouns.

UnhappyAndYouKnowIt · 16/02/2025 09:48

I think it's inevitable that groups like this will emerge in the US. It's easy to access guns and the atmosphere of fear has been ramped up by executive orders. I have a trans relative in the states and their social media posts read like they are fully expecting to be forced into concentration camps.

When groups of people connected by a belief feel persecuted and that right is on their side, you can end up with an "it's us or them" mentality. I think it could easily become more than an isolated cult.

popefully · 16/02/2025 10:49

Bay Area local press
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/new-details-bay-area-zizians-death-cult-20165754.php

The access to guns in America never fails to shock me.

FlowchartRequired · 16/02/2025 11:10

https://www.thedistancemag.com/p/all-aboard-the-transgender-death

'Jack Amadeus ‘Ziz’ LaSota wanted to save the world, and he also hated paying rent, so he hatched a perfect plan. In 2017, he convinced some friends to help him buy the Caleb, a 94-foot tugboat, and sail her to the San Francisco Bay area. His plan was to live ‘anchor-out,’ away from shore, rent-free, “escaping the burdens of society” while they pondered the saving of the planet, according to the Chronicle.'

FlowchartRequired · 16/02/2025 11:21

Hoardasurass · 16/02/2025 08:30

I believe that there is 1 actual woman involved in the attack on the police in vermont

Yes, Teresa "Milo" Youngblut (xe/xem/xyrs) is female according to Andy Ngo.

Llamasarellovely · 16/02/2025 11:37

UnhappyAndYouKnowIt · 16/02/2025 09:48

I think it's inevitable that groups like this will emerge in the US. It's easy to access guns and the atmosphere of fear has been ramped up by executive orders. I have a trans relative in the states and their social media posts read like they are fully expecting to be forced into concentration camps.

When groups of people connected by a belief feel persecuted and that right is on their side, you can end up with an "it's us or them" mentality. I think it could easily become more than an isolated cult.

I think it's Wesley Yang who's been warning of a trans Jonestown. Or not so much warning, as saying, this is what happens with cults, no one could say it was a surprise if something like that happened.

Porkproducts · 16/02/2025 11:49

Very interesting thread on The Farms about these guys. They've done a lot of research. I can't link obviously but it's worth having a search for.

FlowchartRequired · 16/02/2025 12:06

Porkproducts · 16/02/2025 11:49

Very interesting thread on The Farms about these guys. They've done a lot of research. I can't link obviously but it's worth having a search for.

Thanks for that. On that thread, they think that Michelle Jacqueline "Jamie" Zajko is also female.

StickItInTheFamilyAlbum · 16/02/2025 17:47

CheeseFromTheNorth · 16/02/2025 07:07

Interesting read.

Manhunt underway after ‘death cult’ linked to six fatalities

www.thetimes.com/article/d2847ecd-cd5d-4794-b3c3-51ec3a4cfa3d?shareToken=2e4adf511798b9b9ce2ee43cf043c856

archive version in case the share token lapses: https://archive.is/wip/HmARx

They have been described as a radical “death cult” of pseudo-intellectuals with tech knowledge from Berkeley. Some members reportedly worked at Google and Nasa.

The group’s apparent leader, Jack Amadeus “Ziz” LaSota, 34, and three followers remain on the run, police said. Three other members have been arrested on murder charges.

Interesting accompanying 2023 mugshot of LaSota.

FlowchartRequired · 16/02/2025 18:12

This unfortunately refers to Ziz as 'her' throughout - Ziz is male - but it is still an interesting article about the Zizians and what the cult believes.

https://archive.ph/oH9ua

The thread about the Zizians on the Farms (thanks to Coo Coo Bird for the quote below) has this explanation of terms which might also be helpful. There is a lot of information on there which I cannot post here, but I do recommend reading the first post on the Farms thread (easy to find by searching for 'Zizians' on that website).

"Rationalism - In theory, rationalism is the view that reason is the most important source of knowledge, as opposed to faith or experience. In practice, this means self important nerds acting like they know everything already because they got high SAT scores. The Bay Area and Silicon Valley is full of rationalist cults, especially concerning AI, which they believe will bring about the Singularity.

Effective Altruism (EA) - A belief that it's mathematically more beneficial to amass large sums of money to donate to ending poverty than to volunteer to help people in person. In other words, it's an excuse to pursue money and power "for the good of mankind". See: Sam Bankman-Fried.

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (HPMOR) - The Bible for rationalists is Eliezer Yudkowsky's fanfiction retelling Harry Potter using rationalism. Other "essential rationalist literature" includes Luminosity, a Twilight fanfic, and Friendship is Optimal, a My Little Pony fanfic. The only 'original' work of rationalist literature seems to be Worm, which is an edgy capeshit webnovel.
Infohazard - Sometimes called "cognitohazard". As rationalists define it, information that is considered dangerous enough to drive someone insane. This is used as a cope for how many rationalists commit suicide: "We're not mentally ill, we just deal with knowledge too dangerous for ordinary mortals!" and an excuse to censor/obscure information.

Roko's Basilisk - The concept that a superintelligence will punish people who did not contribute to its existence by making a hyperrealistic simulation of them and torturing them. Just a lamer Pascal's Wager.

Singleton - The concept of a single intelligence ruling the world, usually an AI. Rationalists believe their research will determine if the Singleton will make the world Computer Heaven or Computer Hell.

The Singularity - The technological singularity is a hypothetical future where computer intelligence grows uncontrollable and changes humanity forever, possibly even destroying it. The Rapture for nerds."

JonesBeach · 18/02/2025 11:41

This YouTuber has put together a timeline on the bizarre and horrendous events around this cult which are convoluted to say the least!

Fallingdownhouse · 18/02/2025 14:07

Blocked and Reported did an episode on this on 8 Feb. Jessie talked to Tracing Woodgrains about the whole sorry mess. Interesting listen.

Chersfrozenface · 18/02/2025 14:26

So the Baader-Meinhiof Gang of our era in terms of profile, with even battier "philosophical' embellishments.

UtopiaPlanitia · 18/02/2025 15:41

Deleted duplicate post

UtopiaPlanitia · 18/02/2025 15:55

JonesBeach · 18/02/2025 11:41

This YouTuber has put together a timeline on the bizarre and horrendous events around this cult which are convoluted to say the least!

Some good points made at the end of that video regarding media coverage (and lack thereof) of this group of people.

QAOPspaceman · 18/02/2025 15:59

Fallingdownhouse beat me to it but there’s a good Blocked & Reported podcast episode which has a wealth of background detail on the Zizian origins

FlowchartRequired · 18/02/2025 21:36

On another thread it was stated that Ziz has been arrested. The Farms had this archive about the arrest, so I thought that I would share it here.

archive.ph/wT1uB

Ereshkigalangcleg · 19/02/2025 10:32

This is also a good true crime podcast, very clear on all the connections.

https://www.youtube.com/live/3xXysTrATno?si=AbNPD-9jLfcFIZZT

Hoardasurass · 28/02/2025 08:12

Share token for the telegraphs take on this cult.

https://telegraph.co.uk/gift/ee7aadd1056adae5

HootyMcBoobs · 28/02/2025 12:32

Related to this, Youtube true crime channel "That Chapter" has very recently covered this case, and referred to the killers as "she" and "her" all the way through with their female names.

The comments section is interesting, usually people fawn over Mike (the narrator) but he's really taking some heat in the comments section.

He hasn't responded.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 28/02/2025 12:52

As I mentioned, the woman (Griselda?) who did the one I posted made an effort to she/her but kept forgetting.