“Zeitgeist: The Movie” makes fringe fashionable again
Ah, the Internet – a wonderful creation that allows unsound information to be spread to millions of gullible users. “Zeitgeist: The Movie” is the latest piece of flashy drivel to capture the imaginations of stupid people everywhere. Available to watch for free, the film is making its way across the Internet faster than you can say “nonsense on stilts.” In fact, today is apparently “Zeitgeist Day”; the movie is being screened all around the world, including on campus. Here’s part of the Zeitgeist Day manifesto, as lifted from the website:
The greatest fraud of our time is the social conditioning that leads us as individuals to operate out of our own personal self-interest and nothing more. Material, poverty, war, genocide, manipulation, crime and corruption are the results. The removal of the grand illusion known as “separation” is the true ‘activism,’ as everything else is a mere result of the consequential ‘elitism’ inherent in the need for self-perpetuation. [Blah, blah blah. Corporatism, religion.] The revolution is now.
The film is a hodgepodge of various conspiracy theories divided into three parts – Christianity, 9/11 and the international banking system. These parts that are ostensibly connected in an “everything’s connected” kind of way, but since I couldn’t make heads or tails of the “big message,” I’ll address each part separately.
Part one: the greatest story ever told
The first part of the movie is a ham-fisted critique of Christianity. The filmmaker smugly lets us ignorant viewers in on the “big lie” of modern religion; he claims (brace yourself) that it’s nothing but myths exploited for power and money. His “shocking” evidence is that many other cultures had stories similar to Jesus – a god born of a virgin who is killed and resurrected after three day. No, really? You don’t say! Why, it’s almost as if ancient myths share common themes and symbols. If only there were a field of study to properly investigate, or shall we say “compare,” the connections between various mythologies.
The filmmaker couches all of this in astrological nonsense, saying that Jesus and his dopplegangers were actually complex allegories for the astrological calendar. For example, he claims that the cross was a pagan symbol for the astrological calendar, traditionally with the sun at its center. In all of the early icons of Jesus, a halo/cross is shown directly behind his head; Jesus is the son (or “sun”) of God. And on and on and on.
It’s all very impressive until you start to think about the enormous amount of selective thinking that must have gone into it. For example, I could cherry pick Bible verses (Gen. 6:1-4) and other cultural whatnot all day long supporting the theory that the human race was seeded by powerful aliens. See? Now all I need is an air of superiority and some flashy editing, and I’ll be golden!
Oh, and his claims also might be a bit more impressive if, y’know, a bunch of other people hadn’t already said them 200 years earlier.
Part two: all the world’s a stage
Moving on from The Da Vinci Code, I mean “part one,” the film veers into 9/11 conspiracy mongering. Controlled demolition, inside job, yadda yadda yadda. Hey, did you know that if you fold a $20 bill just right it looks like the World Trade Centers on fire? Whoa! Seriously, though, this has been debunked thoroughly enough that I don’t want to waste any more space on it.
Part three: don’t mind the men behind the curtain
When part three of the film begins, a “please fasten tin-foil helmet” light should turn on. It’s all here – New World Order, the Fed, the IRS, international banking. It’s all tied together by electronic banking conspiracy. This is the kind of stuff that goes over well in the backwoods of Idaho.
OC Publisher Guy Simmons and I were talking in the office one day, and we decided that the fundamental problem with conspiracy theories like this is that they give the government too much credit. Conspiracies assume that that the government is not only incredibly smart but incredibly efficient. Call me crazy, but I just can’t accept that a governing body that spends months investigating baseball steroid use has also been organizing a complex, centuries-long plan to take over the world in its spare time.
This all wouldn’t be so egregious, except that the movie relies heavily on unsourced material. TV news clips flash on the screen; from where? Who knows? Audio clips of people talking pop out of nowhere; who are they? Beats me. The film’s website has a list of sources, but it’s skimpy and incomplete. The revolution may be now, but it wouldn’t fly as a Writing 122 paper.
Dude, IT’S NOT ABOUT FRIEDMAN or any other economists! Forgive the caps, but seriously, get off the conspiracy kick for a minute. Klein’s video isn’t about the economists themselves or any convoluted conspiracies, it’s about the principle of “economic shock treatment” and how it is used by politicians. It’s an observation of how traumatic events (that aren’t intentionally caused) create an uncritical moment in time that is used by political leaders (and quick acting corporations) to take actions that wouldn’t be (and arguably shouldn’t be) approved by democratic processes.
I’d really like to know what you (or any Commentators, past or present) think about THAT.
The Economic Hit Man angle and BS trade policies are an interesting subject as well, but it’d probably be best to save that dialog for another post.
Boobie wrote:
Who cares if Friedman himself was an authoritarian or not?
Both movies are about his ideas in action. The idea that a small group of people can influence the majority of people in a democracy to act against their interests by capitalizing on the panic induced by traumatic events.
Zeitgeist is idiotic conspiracy, to hell with it. What about Friedman
No, Zeitgeist tards like Paul because he would dismantle the IRS, the fed, NAFTA and all the other institutions bringing about the New World Order. Conversely, Paul tards like Zeitgeist because it feeds into their goldbuggery.
Maybe I’m missing the obvious, but I don’t really see the connection between Ron Paul and Zeitgeist. Is it because he’d undo the BS that has been put into place by shock doctrine or what? Could you spell it out for me MB?
Just please don’t tell me that he’s another Jesus figure…
Who cares if Friedman himself was an authoritarian or not?
Both movies are about his ideas in action. The idea that a small group of people can influence the majority of people in a democracy to act against their interests by capitalizing on the panic induced by traumatic events.
Zeitgeist is idiotic conspiracy, to hell with it. What about Friedman’s ideas in action? Argentina is just a small part of that question. Are we happy about economic shock treatment?
Well, the latter, obviously. However, my criticism was that the filmmaker used an enormous amount of selective thinking in his analysis. Did you ever notice that no one can interpret Nostradamus’ prophecies until after the fact? As they say, hindsight is 20/20.
I’m surprised the Pacifica forum didn’t screen this.
While I agree with most of your points I have to disagree with your lambasting of Jesus being a metaphor for the sun. What’s harder to believe: Ancient myths are metaphors for astronomy or all these zombie people really existed?
Naomi Klein? Boo!
Friedman advocated capitalism in Argentina because he thought it was a check on despotic power, not because he was in cahoots with Pinochet. You can argue about the results Friedman’s ideas in action, but it’s a pretty big stretch to say that he was in any way authoritarian.
It’s totally the Illuminati, that should be obvious. Seriously, has anybody ever seen footage of the plane that hit the Pentagon? And the liquid metal, come on man, there’s no other explanation. The puppet masters have gotten careless, we don’t yet see their hands, but we can see the strings!
Yeah, whatever. Zeitgeist is a great movie, if a little over the top. Not only is it good for drinking games, but the basic points in the last part have merit as well. Check out the more plausible version of the argument here. It’s all about your boy Friedman, you should love it!
Tyler, this is your least convincing disguise of all time.
GRIM GNARLICON GROWS WEARY OF PEASANTS WHO CANNOT USE “YOUR” AND “YOU’RE” CORRECTLY. GRIM GNARLICON WILL REVEL IN THEIR (NOT “THEY’RE” OR “THERE”) SLOW, PITIFUL DEATHS AT THE HANDS OF THE NORSEMAN HORDES.
HAIL SATAN. AND PROPER GRAMMAR.
Maturity. It can only be accomplished by whining about a bloggers comments on a conspiracy film using AIM chatter. M.B. if you wish to get your points across i suggest something other than acronyms and telling people to google search. zeitgest is controversial only to be controversial, It’s a conspiracy movie for christ’s sakes. Sorry if we don’t take the non issues seirously
YSSAI
thats AIM lingo for You Sound Stupid Arguing Immaturity
um, like i said, I agreed with you that most of Zeitgeist was a piece of garbage if you read the above post. There are some key issues in the last part that i found legitimate when I first watched it months ago. If anything I was criticizing your writing and how immature you presented yourself, but then again, i guess I’m just a critic when it’s all said and done. 🙂
It’s kind of ironic that you would call my criticisms of a poorly founded, conspiracy theory movie “biased and one sided as a whole.” (Besides the fact that it was a movie review). Gee, what does that sound like? Oh, right. “Zeitgeist: The Movie.”
By the way, I’m not a fan of the Patriot Act or the Military Commission Act either. The difference, though, is that I don’t think they were engineered by a group of shape-shifting reptiles from the fourth dimension who’ve been manipulating history since the dawn of time.
“It seems that you 3 haven
Hey way to use the same clip art in every single issue i’ve ever seen in my five years at the architecture school here. When did you have somebody photoshop in the foam and color the kool aid man in yellow, 1997?
How about actually discussing some important topics or actually making a valid point. Or if you’re trying to acheive humor, i might suggest you try something other than talk about alcohol, yeah all of your readers drink it, that doens’t mean we think it’s funny everytime you point that out.
You’re publication is in dire need of substance. It’s no wonder nobody takes conservatives seriously on this campus.
“Facts?”
“I’m pretty sure you’re talking to the wrong publication”
“l-o-l”
Your right. I am talking to the wrong publication. Pure idiocy is written by the OC. l-o-l
He would never. The Mexicans coming up north are too big of a threat for him to off himself now.
Hasn’t Lou Dobbs eaten himself yet?
Facts?
I’m pretty sure you’re talking to the wrong publication.
l-o-l
I agree with some of what CJ said in his/her unimportant piece of writing (biased and one sided as a whole). Part 1 involving the similarities of Christianity and other religions, which i can easily say that i agree with CJ even though he/she wrote rather immaturely and unprofessionally about it. Part 2 involving 9/11 conspiracy which, if you do your research, not a whole lot of the population of the country is in agreement with the 9/11 commission report. Because of that, Conspiracy theories are developed, i don’t disagree with that. And that is all i’m going to say on that. Part 3 is rather disturbing in itself. It seems that you 3 (Ossie, Sakaki, and CJ) haven’t payed attention to whats been going on in this country for the past 6 years. You 3 need to google and read the following:
USA Patriot act: You have to be a complete idiot to not know what this act is about.
H.R. 1955: in the senate approval stages and once approved and signed into law by the President, your freedom of speech as you know it will be gone. (this was not in Zeitgeist due to the time period this bill was introduced).
Military Commission Act of 2007. Destroyed Habeas Corpus. (this one is a must read)
The news clips in the last part were mainly CNN ones (which displayed CNN on the screen when they were being shown) Lou Dobbs did the one about NAFTA open borders policy and Mr. Dobbs is no stranger in the media world. Both Mr Dobbs Media piece, and the other one about the Amero in Zeitgeist are both on U-Tube. It seems to me that the OC doesn’t have anyone qualified enough to evaluate something controversial like Zeitgeist. All CJ did was arrogantly write something without doing some background fact checking and it is very easy to spot with what i read.
OMFG = Oh My #*cking God. You don’t know what Rofl is? ok.
ROFL = Rolls on Floor Laughing.
As far as the whole drink thing, I don’t drink (alcohol) lol (which is laugh out loud if you don’t know what that is). If thats not what CJ was implying to as drink please enlighten me? Just for giggles i goggled drink and got the same result as most of the population does when the the word drink pops up in a sentence they’re reading.
M.B: Sorry if you’re having a problem understanding the whole ‘drink’ reference; it seems like you’re a Homer outside of a No-Homer club.
Although, I am confused as well; what does ‘Rofl’ mean?
Well, thats a rather pathetic view of people who have differences of opinion, but ok..
Conspiracy theories generally elicit the call of “Drink”, usually of hard liquor, in order to actually enjoy the full effect.
OK, then what were you referring to when you quoted “Um, drink?” Don’t be an idiot and back yourself into a corner, what were you referring to?
No, that wasn’t my reference, although I think a tall, double-shot North American Union sounds delicious.
Actually I was drinking a latte if that was your reference.
Um, drink?
Rofl. Enjoy your NAU and Amero CJ.