In January 2025, the “death cult” of Mz. Ziz LaSota burst across our screens. We were at first titillated— we love a cult yarn, love to see women in traditionally male roles, & were gratified to see some action in the sleepy queer news columns— beyond, y’know, the usual grim reports of reactionaries & rights-rescindment!
The more we read, however… the more we were forced to walk back our expectations that this would be a “cult” story in any way, shape, or form that we had ever heard of.
This story is, as we say, long & twisted; & perhaps that’s one reason why news reports tend to abbreviate it into a punchy “death cult” romp. It’s a shame they do, tho; bc the (so far as we can tell) true story is strange, shocking, scandalous, & full of sinister figures whom the news entirely overlooks. Hearts are broken, dreams are dashed, friends are made— & there’s even a declaration of WAR or two thrown in for good measure.
Cultiness abounds— fear not! Yet it doesn’t come from the sources you’d expect. Along the way, we scrutinize the life & ~notorious~ writings of our central figure, Mz. Ziz: is she, as news reports will claim, a mesmeric cray-cray demon aflame w/ bloodlust? If so, what could have made her this way? If not, where did such a notion come from in the first place?
The stakes, we’re afraid to say, are not low. At the time of this writing, Mz. Ziz & five of her friends are behind bars, awaiting trial. The press has spent months happily dragging them over the coals. We wrote Strange New Vegan Death Cult Murders w/ these unhappy facts in mind. We won't pretend that we have exonerated Ziz & friends, but we have, over the course of this endeavor, grown to see them as real, live human beings— not as unknowable monsters.
We’re awfully happy you’re here. We hope you’re in the mood for a peculiar tale. On that note, let’s turn our gaze to California— Berkeley, 2015– & meet the funny little group which is at the center of our story. Let’s Meet the Rationalists.