Thanks for putting this short eulogy together. You said everything I wanted to say but more. I do hope you go to the funeral.
In those early years there was remarkably little to choose from if one wanted coherent right-wing thought. Of course there were swarms of vapid pseudo-conservative mouthpieces who agreed with Fox News. Then there was the supposedly dissident space, pretty much anything on Zerohedge, which was guys operating as KGB/CIA frontmen, whose mission was to black-pill into oblivion any resistance.
ZMan was a refreshing outlier and a trailblazer. His blog was what the internet could be and should have been, a little outpost of thought and communion accessible from anywhere in the world. We thought it would last forever, but like the man who ran it behind the scenes, it was only a spark that brightened our lives for a moment and then went out.
We shouldn't despair at this. Now we must carry the flame. As you say it will be in different ways than ZMan did, as the times are changing, but the duty remains. His example of diligence and honesty should inspire us. May God rest his soul.
Am a Z-man fan myself for many years. He put me onto your blog in early 2020. WRT heart attack and atherosclerosis, such is not always symptomatic. Was on my back last Feb with a massive MI with no co-morbidities—especially arterial blockage—being detected. Loose (soft) plaque was the cause. Calcified plaque blockage can be lived with—even treated perhaps as is claimed by some.
Luckily the trauma center in town was an hour away, paramedics arrived in 5 minutes. Time is everything. Z-man living remotely may have had little time and resources available for emergency treatment. In my case, I was out of the ICU and discharged in a couple of days. Seemingly none the worse for the experience.
Life is not fair, it just is. Here I sit at the end of life (70+) with nothing much left of merit to contribute. I only live to consume. Whereas Z-man was just hitting his stride and had so much more to give…. He will be missed.
Thanks for sharing this, Compsci - I'm glad that you made it. Yes, Zman living remotely (and alone, except for his cats) may have contributed to this outcome, although it seems that his brother (?) also died young at 60. I agree with you that he will be missed. We're all here with our own unique life journey and experiences, and I'm sure that you have valuable stuff to contribute, whatever it is - that's a question for your intuition...
'Here I sit at the end of life (70+) with nothing much left of merit to contribute'
Who told you that? Defeatist nonsense. If you do not produce content yourself, then aid and encourage those who do, as you did with Z. Others of quality exist. Find them. Dissidence to the Woke-Fem Politburo did not pass away with z.
You were a major part of z's page. Be a major part of something else, somewhere else. When we are given talents, we are expected to utilize them. You have many.
Unfortunately, The Zman seems irreplaceable. Because while there are some who can match his insight, virtually none of them can match his prolific output. Even when one has no other responsibility but to write, it's still very difficult to match it (with that level of insight). It seemed almost superhuman.
I agree with you - his prodigious output set a standard that will not readily be replaced. And it wasn’t just his writing, but the community he regularly brought together with hundreds of comments on each post (and I see that you commented on his last one)…
Another thought came to me after my first comment was toward Z-man and his more recent postings on Substack. I sensed in his brief Substack appearance that what we saw—as opposed to his daily blog posts—was a bit about Z-man, the person. His musings on his new homestead and the work he did and how he looked upon the land.
I think in retrospect that Z-man was perhaps rediscovering that which is truly important—man and his relationship to nature and self reliance. That will stay with me as his final lesson to his followers. Politics are ephemeral, Nature eternal.
I doubt there will be anyone at his funeral who relates to him as you did. I believe you would find it sad and disappointing. Enjoyed this essay! Were we both to go to the funeral what more could you say? Besides making the point I don't know either of you ;)
Right, that's about the Church of St. Michael the Archangel, not Lawrence Auster? If you both share a love of that church then of course, you should try to attend! If the following is true for Yates (according to Auden), what for us small-fry?
I can't speak for him, you, of course. For me. I want no funeral. I don't want that memory to replace any other that one might have of me. Of course, if my family wants to get together, then they should. If someone reads what I write I cannot ask for anymore. I would not want someone to spend time at my funeral when they could be reading others who share our common interests.
But for him it was his last afternoon as himself,
An afternoon of nurses and rumours;
The provinces of his body revolted,
The squares of his mind were empty,
Silence invaded the suburbs,
The current of his feeling failed; he became his admirers.
Now he is scattered among a hundred cities
And wholly given over to unfamiliar affections,
To find his happiness in another kind of wood
And be punished under a foreign code of conscience.
Jeez, I noticed the lack of a Friday show and just thought "Huh Zman's finally getting lazy". I really admired his ability to put out quality content by himself five days a week, and his tolerance for dissenting viewpoints in the comment section. In a realm dominated by clout chasing sociopaths Zman was one of the few good people just putting his thoughts out into the world, and the internet is a poorer place having lost him.
As far as any conspiracies are concerned, he was a heavyset middle aged man living alone who didn't care for diets. Not being around other people is magic but the inability to get help is a real danger. Plus his audience was mainly dissident Gen Xers, it seems like Mossad would be hunting Nick Fuentes before they'd bother with Z.
Tho others knew him much better, z seemed to adopt stoicism as pertains to dissenting comments. Remarkable equilibrium and aplomb. It made his comments section absolutely electric, his lack of hovering and banhammering.
V. different from many other sites with their local-lord personality cults, who squeal at the slightest disagreement.
I'm not that surprised he died rather young. He once wrote (not sure when, a couple of years ago) he ate two dozen eggs a week. I don't think he was kidding. Where he got this bizarre idea I don't know. He also hated rich people, cops and personal grocery bags.
He was a strange combination of Karl Marx, or maybe Sinclair Lewis, meets Beavis and Butthead. He was hilarious live blogging the absurdity of televised political debates. And he did deadpan comic riffs on blacks without the slightest rancor. Maybe even with affection. That takes guts and skill. He certainly was a wide open window into a particular type of American. I won't wish him God speed becaue he was an atheist, but I'll miss his appraisal of the human comedy.
Not that I’m a doctor but there’s real differences between a heart attack and cardiac arrest. He was in the cardiac arrest zone age-wise. If that happened and no one was there to call for help, it’s basically instant black out and an inability to ask for help.
This is a lovely and succinct eulogy. Thank you. The thing I will miss most about Zman was he brought refreshing, different and often profound insights into developments as they unfolded. It is a rare ability to analyze recent events and to offer a unique immediate perspective. I didn't always agree with Zman but he never failed to make me at least question my own perceptions and assumptions.
“What passes as "Junghian" is the work of many exegetes who were more or less faithful to their guru.”
Yes, Jung himself commented on this phenomenon, where his therapist followers treated him like a guru. Here’s what he said about it:
"My grandfather, Carl Gustav Jung, founded a home for mentally retarded children. Now I am founding another one (the Zurich Institute for training psychoanalysts), for mentally retarded adults."
He repeatedly emphasizes in Liber Novus that his route is not anyone else’s route, and he said not to follow him. Our individuation process is unique to each of us based on our own life mission — one can’t fulfill it by copying anyone else.
Thanks for putting this short eulogy together. You said everything I wanted to say but more. I do hope you go to the funeral.
In those early years there was remarkably little to choose from if one wanted coherent right-wing thought. Of course there were swarms of vapid pseudo-conservative mouthpieces who agreed with Fox News. Then there was the supposedly dissident space, pretty much anything on Zerohedge, which was guys operating as KGB/CIA frontmen, whose mission was to black-pill into oblivion any resistance.
ZMan was a refreshing outlier and a trailblazer. His blog was what the internet could be and should have been, a little outpost of thought and communion accessible from anywhere in the world. We thought it would last forever, but like the man who ran it behind the scenes, it was only a spark that brightened our lives for a moment and then went out.
We shouldn't despair at this. Now we must carry the flame. As you say it will be in different ways than ZMan did, as the times are changing, but the duty remains. His example of diligence and honesty should inspire us. May God rest his soul.
Great comment, Joseph. I agree with you - may God rest his soul.
At least he got his escape from Lagos. Rest in peace Z Man. I will miss you.
Am a Z-man fan myself for many years. He put me onto your blog in early 2020. WRT heart attack and atherosclerosis, such is not always symptomatic. Was on my back last Feb with a massive MI with no co-morbidities—especially arterial blockage—being detected. Loose (soft) plaque was the cause. Calcified plaque blockage can be lived with—even treated perhaps as is claimed by some.
Luckily the trauma center in town was an hour away, paramedics arrived in 5 minutes. Time is everything. Z-man living remotely may have had little time and resources available for emergency treatment. In my case, I was out of the ICU and discharged in a couple of days. Seemingly none the worse for the experience.
Life is not fair, it just is. Here I sit at the end of life (70+) with nothing much left of merit to contribute. I only live to consume. Whereas Z-man was just hitting his stride and had so much more to give…. He will be missed.
Thanks for sharing this, Compsci - I'm glad that you made it. Yes, Zman living remotely (and alone, except for his cats) may have contributed to this outcome, although it seems that his brother (?) also died young at 60. I agree with you that he will be missed. We're all here with our own unique life journey and experiences, and I'm sure that you have valuable stuff to contribute, whatever it is - that's a question for your intuition...
I read your comment and found it insightful. Just thought you should know.
'Here I sit at the end of life (70+) with nothing much left of merit to contribute'
Who told you that? Defeatist nonsense. If you do not produce content yourself, then aid and encourage those who do, as you did with Z. Others of quality exist. Find them. Dissidence to the Woke-Fem Politburo did not pass away with z.
You were a major part of z's page. Be a major part of something else, somewhere else. When we are given talents, we are expected to utilize them. You have many.
Unfortunately, The Zman seems irreplaceable. Because while there are some who can match his insight, virtually none of them can match his prolific output. Even when one has no other responsibility but to write, it's still very difficult to match it (with that level of insight). It seemed almost superhuman.
I agree with you - his prodigious output set a standard that will not readily be replaced. And it wasn’t just his writing, but the community he regularly brought together with hundreds of comments on each post (and I see that you commented on his last one)…
Thanks for this. May God rest his soul.
Another thought came to me after my first comment was toward Z-man and his more recent postings on Substack. I sensed in his brief Substack appearance that what we saw—as opposed to his daily blog posts—was a bit about Z-man, the person. His musings on his new homestead and the work he did and how he looked upon the land.
I think in retrospect that Z-man was perhaps rediscovering that which is truly important—man and his relationship to nature and self reliance. That will stay with me as his final lesson to his followers. Politics are ephemeral, Nature eternal.
I doubt there will be anyone at his funeral who relates to him as you did. I believe you would find it sad and disappointing. Enjoyed this essay! Were we both to go to the funeral what more could you say? Besides making the point I don't know either of you ;)
Thanks Max, I wouldn't go unless it was public and there were a lot of others going - this is what happened with Lawrence Auster's funeral: http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/024384.html
Right, that's about the Church of St. Michael the Archangel, not Lawrence Auster? If you both share a love of that church then of course, you should try to attend! If the following is true for Yates (according to Auden), what for us small-fry?
I can't speak for him, you, of course. For me. I want no funeral. I don't want that memory to replace any other that one might have of me. Of course, if my family wants to get together, then they should. If someone reads what I write I cannot ask for anymore. I would not want someone to spend time at my funeral when they could be reading others who share our common interests.
But for him it was his last afternoon as himself,
An afternoon of nurses and rumours;
The provinces of his body revolted,
The squares of his mind were empty,
Silence invaded the suburbs,
The current of his feeling failed; he became his admirers.
Now he is scattered among a hundred cities
And wholly given over to unfamiliar affections,
To find his happiness in another kind of wood
And be punished under a foreign code of conscience.
The words of a dead man
Are modified in the guts of the living.
Jeez, I noticed the lack of a Friday show and just thought "Huh Zman's finally getting lazy". I really admired his ability to put out quality content by himself five days a week, and his tolerance for dissenting viewpoints in the comment section. In a realm dominated by clout chasing sociopaths Zman was one of the few good people just putting his thoughts out into the world, and the internet is a poorer place having lost him.
As far as any conspiracies are concerned, he was a heavyset middle aged man living alone who didn't care for diets. Not being around other people is magic but the inability to get help is a real danger. Plus his audience was mainly dissident Gen Xers, it seems like Mossad would be hunting Nick Fuentes before they'd bother with Z.
Tho others knew him much better, z seemed to adopt stoicism as pertains to dissenting comments. Remarkable equilibrium and aplomb. It made his comments section absolutely electric, his lack of hovering and banhammering.
V. different from many other sites with their local-lord personality cults, who squeal at the slightest disagreement.
or iatrogenic interference, the opacity around death itself now mirrors our epistemological condition: nothing is trusted; everything is suspect.
That’s very possible I’m dealing with it right now. From one day to the next, I don’t know if it’s gonna be a stroke or a heart attack.
I never got the VAX there is something in my blood though since 2022
When I read, he was 58 that’s the first thing I thought.
I’m 57
"Once democrats get in Substack will come under attack. Besides every institution eventually becomes converged"
The litmus test for any online platform is Holocaust revisionism.
I'm not that surprised he died rather young. He once wrote (not sure when, a couple of years ago) he ate two dozen eggs a week. I don't think he was kidding. Where he got this bizarre idea I don't know. He also hated rich people, cops and personal grocery bags.
He was a strange combination of Karl Marx, or maybe Sinclair Lewis, meets Beavis and Butthead. He was hilarious live blogging the absurdity of televised political debates. And he did deadpan comic riffs on blacks without the slightest rancor. Maybe even with affection. That takes guts and skill. He certainly was a wide open window into a particular type of American. I won't wish him God speed becaue he was an atheist, but I'll miss his appraisal of the human comedy.
Not that I’m a doctor but there’s real differences between a heart attack and cardiac arrest. He was in the cardiac arrest zone age-wise. If that happened and no one was there to call for help, it’s basically instant black out and an inability to ask for help.
May merciful judgement be upon him. Rest in peace.
This is a lovely and succinct eulogy. Thank you. The thing I will miss most about Zman was he brought refreshing, different and often profound insights into developments as they unfolded. It is a rare ability to analyze recent events and to offer a unique immediate perspective. I didn't always agree with Zman but he never failed to make me at least question my own perceptions and assumptions.
RIP, friend.
Please follow https://x.com/FriendsOfZman , there will be a funeral
in Berkeley Springs WV late next week for those who want to pay respects.
Like you, I eventually outgrew Z-man’s ideological view. Still, it’s sad to hear of his early passing. Nice tribute by you. Well done.
Hi Neo,
I think you give too much credit to Jung.
Yeah, he'd many intuitions, but presented them in a clumsy and cumbersome manner.
What passes as "Junghian" is the work of many exegetes who were more or less faithfull to their guru.
This said, I agree, the Way is absolutely personal, you must build your own description of the world.
And the good thing is: there's not only one valid, and none of them needs to be certificated by some authority.
I think a good resume of Aquarius is: no hierarchy.
That seems good enough, but we must cope with the fact that, behind the lofty ideals, Aquarius is quite inhuman...
“What passes as "Junghian" is the work of many exegetes who were more or less faithful to their guru.”
Yes, Jung himself commented on this phenomenon, where his therapist followers treated him like a guru. Here’s what he said about it:
"My grandfather, Carl Gustav Jung, founded a home for mentally retarded children. Now I am founding another one (the Zurich Institute for training psychoanalysts), for mentally retarded adults."
https://www.reddit.com/r/Jung/comments/1ljn9ob/jung_hated_jungians/
He repeatedly emphasizes in Liber Novus that his route is not anyone else’s route, and he said not to follow him. Our individuation process is unique to each of us based on our own life mission — one can’t fulfill it by copying anyone else.
Liber Novus is the so called Red Book or another I'm not aware of ?
Yes
Odd, I didn't know I had it...
Will give a try...
'I think a good resume of Aquarius is: no hierarchy.'
The eternal Leftist dream. Never realized, except in someone else's blood.