Zizians.

So I was having a terrible mental health day.

Soon, I'll start moving out (as of this writing I have already began). Once again I am dismantling my life, separating my things from a former lover's. I know that going through our record collection is going to destroy me.

I'm telling myself all this negative shit. Which I won't elaborate here, because this entry is already a downer. But if you had to break up and move out, you know the deal already.

So I've latched onto something else that's even more depressing.

Unfortunately, it's about the Zizians.

Honestly, all you need to know about this group can be read here: https://zizians.info/ . Below is just my rambling as I take psychic damage from knowing this shit, and subject you to splash damage. Hop down to "Reflection" to skip it.

We doin' this? OK.

Like most folx I heard about a particular border patrol shooting but I'm American, shootings happen all the time, "thoughts and prayers" says the media, and honestly it was probably lost in the deluge of Bad Terrible Shit I'm hit with on the daily. But scrolling for podcasts to listen to, a title jumped out at me.

How Harry Potter Fanfic Inspired a Death Cult

kicks off a two-part (four, if you go by Youtube) session from Behind the Bastards. And I felt the dread of my Fanfiction Dot Net past and thought to myself: "It CANNOT be that one fanfic where Potter is a douchebag intellectual or something and where I cribbed one of my verbal stims?!"

It fucking was.

Harry Fucking Potter Fanfic started some cult bullshit. Written by a Rationalist. Back then, it was a hoot; I thought it was fucking funny. I stumbled upon this wildness on TVTropes or some shit and filed the whole thing away as the joke it is. And sure enough, years later, it's still a fucking joke... but a dangerous one.

People have committed suicide. People have been murdered. People died. And I now consider it as dangerous as Scientology and not the laughing matter I assumed it was. I mean, I'll still dunk on them online but... yeah.

I summed up the Zizians' cult as a "vegan ai tech brain death cult" in a glib-sized throwaway comment on Mastodon, as you do, and I had to explain myself.

Well, I did. Some highlights:

• animals suffer and we shouldn't add to it (valid), but...
• if you're not vegan you should be punished by AI (not valid),
• speaking of, they were obsessed with Roko's Basilisk (Pascal's Wager for clankers)...
• something about Star Wars Sith lords or something,
• tech brain nonsense,
• cult stuff, and
• are the embodiment of the 4-box meme where the third box cheerily declares "MURDER IS OKAY!"

And that's before you get into the problems (modern) Rationality already has– more cult dynamics (esp. the parts where they prey on vulnerable people and destroy their self-esteem), obsession with logic and whether someone is "Valuable" enough... to the point where, if you aren't, you should just do us all a favor and get demonetized on YouTube. I mean, to be blunt, to just kill yourself.

...yeah.

There's something I want to underline as we ruminate on this:

@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com Sometimes I feel like we really do a disservice to groups by summing up their history as "The one thing that got them in the news."...

@timorl@social.wuatek.is I think the disservice is not even to the groups, but to us. ... I feel similarly about Zizians – this is a very weird and catchy story, but the main damage of the core part of the Rationalist movement is probably in their contributions to the current fascist takeover.

...

It always starts with One Little Thing, doesn't it? That fucking fanfic was a nothingburger in my own life, but it turned out to be so much more in others.

...fucking hell...

Reflection

"I do not know why I latched onto this" is a fucking lie. We all know why. It's like a train wreck and I can't look away. Misery attracts misery and this is the most miserable thing I've read in a long time.

Not to mention... the rage I feel for the people that lost their lives because of this bullshit, and the people that were swindled into this bullshit ideology. I fucking hate AI/LLM/tech brain anything at this point, and I am two shakes away from a crusade that'd make a "that's how my character would act" DnD Paladin take notes.

It's further crystallizing a worry I have for my friend, who has tech brain tendencies (I say lovingly) and is currently obsessed with that AI music thing and I feel like I have to watch him for AI psychosis. I'll be sure to keep him away from boats or setting foot in California.

It's reinforcing my stance that this tech brain ai/llm worship is evil, someone nuke Silicon Valley and these predatory assholes from orbit, it is the only way to be sure.

It's reminding me that no one is immune to this sort of thing. If I had taken Rationality seriously (and actually liked Harry Potter as more than a passive shrug) or more entrenched into the tech industry... hell, if I was just in a very bad place and wanting to belong somewhere, something everyone wants...

I very well could've been having blog beef threatening to kill people before they kill me.

Just.

Please, y'all. We have to take care of each other.

And I'm going to find more healthier things to spend thought cycles on. After I close this bookmark about the Final Fantasy House. No, the other bookmark. And watch this dramatization based on those events.

...

Again: fucking hell.

I can't say shit about true crime fans now, because apparently I go into deep dives about cults on the regular.

Let me go pick up a new Switch game or something.

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DO NOT MESS WITH TIME