Zeitgeist - Can the Truth Hurt That Much?

I was recently introduced to Zeitgeist, Zeitgeist Addendum and The Venus Project. Here are the two documentaries:

Zeitgeist: The Movie
Zeitgeist Addendum

Before I start, I want to point out that I'm by no means an expert in any of the topics discussed in the documentary, I'm just sharing my two cents, using critical thinking and my opinion of what human nature amounts to.

I suggest you watch the videos first, although they're both very long (about two hours each), the summary below doesn't go into enough depth for you to fully feel the weight of their message.

Zeitgeist (ZG) is a documentary claiming to reveal the truth about the world we live in. According to them, Christianity was literally copied from pagan myths that existed centuries prior, 9/11 was an inside job, the Federal Reserve Bank of America uses a system based on debt (debt begets debt) and has been secretly pushing their own agenda (being responsible for our involvement in World War I, II and the Vietnam War amongst other things).

Zeitgeist Addendum (ZG-A, the sequel), goes into detail about how the Federal Reserve works, denounces money and profit as being the root of all evil and corruption. This leads the documentary to introduce the Venus Project, an economic system that replaces our monetary system with a resource-based economy, commonly and equally owned by all, technology will be advanced enough to eliminate the need for jobs, and by the creation of such abundance of basically everything, there will be no need for money, and hence corruption, poverty, wars, etc. will be relics of the past.

Mind you, I'm by no means a fan of the current establishment. As you may have already noticed, I spent many of my teenage years trying to specifically not have to take part of this fucked up society we live in. At that young and dangerously naive age, I was positive that money was corruptive and the root of all evil. I yearned for a world that had no monetary system, where no one had to work, and we could all enjoy life as we so chose.

I yearned for a utopia.

And so I refused to play by society's rules, got my ass handed to me for seven years, and have now been housetrained to be a well-behaved, listening pet.

But as I walked down this path I chose, and with some influence from Ayn Rand, I've come to realize that money is in no way responsible for anything in this world. Money doesn't corrupt. Money doesn't start wars. Money doesn't do anything but facilitate trade by allowing us to carry paper rather than something of value. And what's of value? Precious stones, gold, jewelry, which are all heavy and difficult to transport.

So if it isn't money that corrupts, what does? Power, pure and simple. Money buys power, but even without money, the concept of power exists. Power comes into play in any social interaction between two or more people. The dream of global equality is but a myth, hell, we're not even born with equal strength, intelligence, height, etc.

And it's this difference amongst all of us, that creates social classes, racism, hate, prejudice. By default, humans are not all equal. We should all have equal human rights, yes, but that still doesn't make two different people equal in every other respect. And because of this, it's survival of the fittest, as it's always been. The strong will bully the weak, and what is that but a power play?

The Venus Project (TVP) is actually a very interesting concept. Here's the pitch. If we can abolish the monetary system, thus overthrowing the modern day emperors by rendering their weapon of choice inefficient, if we can then invest all of our time on the advancement of technology and replace our energy sources with renewable clean energy, if we can convince the global population that money is evil and change is necessary, if we can convince that same five billion people to agree on the same solution, if we can create technology that will get rid of 90% of jobs (without killing us Matrix-style), and if we can get to a point where everything we would need is in such abundance that we can't fathom wanting anything more, then yes, we have a utopia.

That's a lot of ifs though. I can barely get a group of ten of my friends to agree on what restaurant to go to, let alone getting five billion strangers to be agreeable.

ZG-A does say at the end that the first step to achieving this is by reforming our mentality. I completely agree. I also think it's theoretically an impossibility. Even if 1% of the population doesn't agree to TVP, they'll fuck it up for everyone else. So TVP fails right there, unless they get rid of the opposition. Then, are they really any different from the corrupt coporatocracy that they're trying to depose?

On another note, let's say Jacque Fresco (TVP creator) were to be in charge right now. Well, for one that's contradictory to his vision since everyone's equal. But let's assume he can have his way. Technology isn't advanced enough to support his system, and technology--according to him--is stifled by the monetary system, meaning the abolition of money is a necessary first step before technology can progress.

I'm actually unclear as to how Fresco plans to make the transition from the monetary system to a resource-based economy, so I'll stfu now, kthx.

And I reiterate, I don't necessarily believe that money is the problem. The Federal Reserve employs a method called fractional reserve banking, and some believe that it eventually creates an unstable economy, with more debt than currency in circulation.

This system is used globally. If it is true that the system will fail at the end, maybe it's the banking system that's flawed, rather than the concept of money.

Overall, both movies present good material, very thought-provoking, but also misleading. I'm also not overly fond of their choice of methods, it felt very much like propaganda, evoking powerful emotions, ripening us for manipulation, the juxtaposition of violent images, and certain conclusions that they were "logically" led to seemed stretched, and rather than being persuasive, it almost felt forced upon us.

But who's to say that you shouldn't fight fire with fire? Corporations own the media, their propaganda is just more subtle. Their use of quotes is effective, but sometimes seems to be taken completely out of context, which has very little relevance if that's the case.

Take it all with a grain of salt. I took bits and pieces of what seemed genuine, what seemed to make sense, not sure how much it helped or not but it's kept me occupied mentally for a few hours.

Enjoy. Or don't. But above all else, think.