A cult expert lifted the veil on the “Zizian” fringe group that is linked to the Vermont U.S. Border Patrol agent shooting.
The “Zizians” are named for a 34-year-old computer engineer, Jack Amadeus LaSota, who goes by the nickname “Ziz,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle. LaSota, who is transgender, goes by female pronouns and created the group of vegan activists, the outlet reported.
The group, which began on the West Coast, was launched into the national spotlight after the killing of U.S. Border Patrol Agent David “Chris” Maland in Vermont on Jan. 20.
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Maland was involved in a shootout with German national Felix “Ophelia” Bauckholt and University of Washington student Teresa “Milo” Consuelo Youngblut near the U.S. border with Canada.
“The registered owner of the vehicle, Felix Bauckholt, a citizen of Germany, appeared to have an expired visa in a Department of Homeland Security database. Youngblut was driving the Prius, and Bauckholt was the lone passenger in the Prius,” court documents previously obtained by Fox News said.
“He spoke with two of the Border Patrol Agents involved in the incident. They described that both Bauckholt and Youngblut possessed firearms and that Youngblut drew and fired a handgun toward at least one of the uniformed Border Patrol Agents without warning when outside the driver’s side of the Prius,” documents said.
Bauckholt and Maland were killed in the exchange of gunfire. Youngblut was injured and charged with using a deadly weapon while assaulting a United States Border Patrol agent, and using and discharging a firearm during and in relation to that assault.
Youngblut’s “associations with other individuals suspected of violent acts also warrants caution,” federal prosecutors said in court records. They also said the guns used in the shootout are connected to a person of interest in a double homicide in Pennsylvania, which is part of a web of violence allegedly tied to the “Zizians.”
“Law enforcement officials are investigating six deaths linked to associates of LaSota,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The group exhibits cult behavior, according to Dar Dixon, an actor and the podcast host of “The Art of Being Dar,” who shared his cult expertise with Fox News Digital.
“The thing that I noticed about this ‘Zizian’ cult is that it hits all the major points that will set somebody up to be involved in it. You’ve got transgender human beings, all right? You’re dealing with sexuality. You’re dealing with sexual identity, and you’re dealing with sex. Anytime you do all those things, you’ve already got someone, as they say, by the tight and curlies,” he said.
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“The second thing is they were on a restrictive diet. In this case, they were vegan,” he said. “So when you start to mix in the sexual aspect, then with a restrictive diet, now what you’re doing is behavior control.”
Referencing cult expert Steven Hassan’s BITE Model of Authoritarian Control, Dixon discussed how cults emotionally control their members.
“I’m sure there was a lot of sleep deprivation going on also, which affects your thoughts, which affects your emotions, which also affects your behavior and your ability to take in and process information,” he said.
“This is part of the emotional control. You’re never allowed to feel your feelings or to discuss your feelings. If you don’t step in line with the party line, you’re immediately reprimanded, sometimes severely, either verbally or physically, or you’re shunned.”
“So the culmination of sexual identity, food restriction, sleep restriction, and emotional restriction, well, now I’ve got you,” he said. “I own you. And I can take you any direction I want to take you now.”
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