In conversation with my brother (a real conspiracy aficionado) on the subject of Dawkins, he explicitly recommended I watch the film. So I did.
Zeitgeist is a movie produced by Peter Joseph and was published online for free in June 2007. Amongst other things the film suggests that the 'terrorist attacks' of 9/11 and the London bombings were 'inside jobs', perpetrated by the US and UK governments in order to engender fear and division amongst their respective societies and as excuses to execute aggressive 'defensive' military operations that would essentially only benefit a few of the super-rich and most influential.
The film also suggests that the Christian story of Jesus Christ is an adaptation of earlier Egyptian and pagan beliefs based on the sun and its movement through the heavens.
The third conspiracy covered in the film is one where the developed world is controlled by international banking cartels. This is probably the most difficult conspiracy of the trilogy for me to understand, perhaps because I have such a poor grasp of economics.
Wikipedia entry.
Official Website.
The 9/11 claim might seem outrageous, but I have long suspected it to be true. Zeitgeist seems to offer the casual viewer a reasonable amount of anecdotal evidence to support this conspiracy.
Unfortunately most of the film appears just that, anecdotal. The website is more useful for references, sources and a great interactive transcript feature. This lack of immediate referencing is a symptom of the film medium and leads me to question whether the film simply functions as a draw to these online materials, in which case perhaps they should be paid more attention and at least given more presence on the website. The website should really share equally the overall goal of the film.
In conversation with one of my more left-wing friends, he expressed his concern, without even having seen the film, that it is blatantly preaching to the converted, in that it will mostly be watched by atheists, socialists, anarchists, simple alternative-types and other free-thinkers. He described how the film would be hailed as a great success but still fail to change anything. It has more of a solidifying role rather than an affecting one.
Certainly in part one of the film, 'The Greatest Story Ever Told', there has been a massive subsequent ideological battle between atheists and Christians. This kind of dialectic 'clash' has been shown by Edward de Bono to be counterproductive in the way that it encourages each ideology to become more and more rigid as each side attempts to defend itself and attack its aggressor rather than working co-operatively to discover a superior solution.
The film takes advantage of the immersive video medium to excite powerful emotional reactions to subjects that can only truly be considered with a clear head and through logical explosion of the various facts and statistics. Joseph's cause would, in my opinion, be far better served if his reasearch and findings were instead published in a book by a reputable publisher, or at least in further depth on the website. In that way, the end-user can digest the facts and tease out the truth for themselves in a passive, logical manner, rather than being bombarded by frank, horrifying and enraging images of war and human suffering.
If you watch the above response to Zeitgeist by one of Joseph's consultants, Acharya S, you will notice an immediate contrast in tone. It feels as though you are being advised by an expert. Had Zeitgeist been produced in this more objective, less biased manner I'm sure I would have more respect for it.
On first viewing I found the film quite depressing. It seems nihilistic and leaves you with an empty feeling of powerlessness. Railing from this and desperately clutching at my remaining sense of meaning I read on Peter Joseph's comments in the 'Q&A' section of the website and found this more uplifting little summary:
How life got here is an understanding that is irrelevant, for odds are, life is energy and has always existed, and does not end. What we do in life through understanding life's processes is the true philosophy and the faster people stop looking to some invisible power that doesn't exist for guidance, judgement and afterlife, the faster "heaven" will dawn on the planet earth. The true guidance comes from within, for we are nature itself. We are all brother and sister and we are symbiotically related to all other life forms in the most literal and profound ways. We are God. Period. There is no Evil and no Good- these are false notions based on biased ideals from a very primitive time in our evolution. The fact is we are one family living on the planet in harmony with nature, and religion serves ONLY the perpetuation of division and hatred. Also, the idea that the human race needs religion to be "moral" is absolutely absurd. We are not simply "guilty" or have perpetual "Sin" as certain religions would like you to believe. We are perfect. The reason the world is such a disaster is not because of some innate human flaw. It is a disaster because separatist, racist institutions like Religion, Nationalism and thus Politics, continue to corrupt each generation with the same age old value systems, designed only for social subservience and the perpetuation of the status quo.
To summarize my thoughts; I honestly think that any document such as Zeitgeist is beneficial in many ways but especially in how they advocate a serious re-evaluation of certain world views that you might have previously taken for granted. This is an important safeguard against state-induced thoughtlessness and political tyranny. Unfortunately Zeitgeist grasses-up these three institutions but leaves the viewers with the job of judging whether the tales are true. In order to decide whether to believe Peter Joseph, viewers are inclined to do his research for themselves, and this is a major failing of his 'documentary'. Overall, a very important social document that makes excellent use of the viral medium and the internet. I recommend it to everybody.
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