On “Zeitgeist,” the Movie
I won’t post the movie Zeitgeist here, as others who have have unintentionally attracted people who appear from their comments to be more unstable than those who call us "AR nutters" for simply not wanting to be hypocrites. (The film has three parts: a debunking of Christianity, 9/11 was an inside job, and "the elite" who run the world plan to completely control us, through one government and the microchips that will be inside us.)
I finally saw the movie, and I see an AR parallel.
I haven’t done the research necessary, but I would have no problem believing that the 9/11 attacks were an inside job. And after having written a dozen books on, more or less, money (and our banking institutions), I have NO problem believing that a small number of wealthy bankers are indeed conspiring to rule the world. They’ve been doing that already for quite some time.
As for Christianity, I saw a handful of factual errors and I see nothing wrong with any religion being derivative. I don’t think there’s anything nefarious about that. We humans seem to need to believe in a story, and in my mind, one’s as good as the next and I don’t see harm in believing or not believing. (It’s what you do in the name of belief that worries me.)
The problems with the film, for me, revolve around the lack of sources. Tell me who’s talking, when the quote is from, and what the original context was. Don’t just cut and paste images and quotes juxtaposed to send the ominous message of your choice. How gullible do you think I am?
There are some facts in the film, to be sure, but the presentation, combined with the material I know is not true, makes me doubt the rest of the material and question the motivation and intention of the filmmaker. If you are so proud of the facts and timeline you have uncovered, and so certain that what you present is true, you come out from behind the curtain. You encourage transparency and accountability.
The filmmaker has done exactly what s/he accuses the architects of American life (and Christianity) of doing: attempting to manipulate the masses while remaining invisible. I’m happy to entertain your ideas, but when you don’t present them in an honest way, I’m just as skeptical of you as I was of your topic before your particular conspiracy theory.
With regard to animals, I think of the way we are manipulated as children to believe the lies of a country led by corporations raising us to be good little consumers and dominators of all that is nonhuman. The message of this film is similar, but paradoxically it looks like exactly what it’s trying to reveal.
I can certainly see your points here, Mary. The information is presented in a very vaccuous manner. I found the following information on the Zeitgeist website. I assume you've already seen it, as you do reference the site in your posting. However, I thought I would put it out there anyway.
I personally thought the film was extremely thought-provoking which, from what I can tell, was the filmmakers main point in creating this film.
Here is what the website says, in part:
"For example, some information contained in Part 1 and Part 3, specifically, is not obtained by simple keyword searches on the Internet. You have to dig deeper. For instance, very often people who look up "Horus" or "The Federal Reserve" on the Internet
draw their conclusions from very general or biased sources. Online encyclopedias or text book Encyclopedias often do not contain the information contained in Zeitgeist. However, if one takes
the time to read the sources provided, they will find that what is being presented is based on documented evidence. Any corrections, clarifications & further points regarding the film are found on the Clarifications page. Non-Profit DVDs / Free Video Downloads are available through the Downloads page.
That being said, It is my hope that people will not take what is said
in the film as the truth, but find out for themselves, for truth is not told, it is realized."
If you click this link, you can access all of the sources used for the film: http://zeitgeistmovie.com/sources.htm
Colleen,
This is certainly a thought-provoking film that I couldn't stop watching. If DURING THE FILM we saw all of the sources and their dates and contexts, I probably wouldn't have felt so propaganda-ed. The way it is made is classic propaganda. It's almost a caricature of itself, in that respect. Regarding the Federal Reserve, Rockefeller, Aldrich and Morgan, I have little doubt that the film is correct. And I don't need to see a single source. And I have never felt satisfied with 9/11 explanations, particularly regarding the buildings coming down.
As far as Christianity goes, whenever I hear someone sound like they don't know what the Immaculate Conception is (NOT the conception of Jesus), I immediately wonder about the rest of what they say. I have no problem with the connection between ancient Egypt/astronomy/astrology and Christianity, I guess I just don't get why it's such a big deal.
One of my favorite quotes in Michael Moore's "Sicko," is when some American ex-pats are in a French bistro chatting, and they say that the difference between life here and in France, politically, is that Americans are afraid of the government, but the French government is afraid of the people. Somehow, we have to motivate Americans to change the way they think and act and vote, and become a force the government should be afraid of. It would be great if Zeitgeist could be part of that motivation. I just think it could have been done differently so more people would take it seriously.
Wow! The quote you reference from "Sicko" was one of the most memorable parts of that film for me as well. It's a really powerful statement and it says a lot about why our country is the way it is.
That aside, I agree that the movie does come across as propaganda. I'm curious to know more about the intentions/motivations of the filmmaker in putting it together. Perhaps he chose to present the information in this way for a particular reason?? Perhaps in seeing it in this propaganda style of format the viewer is supposed to make the parallel/connection that most mainstream information is presented in this way, which is why each one of us is responsible for digging deeper and not taking things at face value. That each of us is responsible for coming up with our own truth.
Do you have any thoughts on this?
I have no idea what the motivation was, but I do find it a bit suspect that it sort of coincides with the Ron Paul phenomenon. Google Ron Paul and Zeitgeist movie and see what happens.
I see him in the part about the Federal Reserve more than anything. Maybe it's just another sign that people in America are waking up and beginning to pay attention. This country certainly does need a big shake-up (as opposed to a shakedown, which we get all the time). If Zeitgeist can be part of that shake-up, as long as people do their own research and make their own decisions, it's all good, as far as I'm concerned.