Zeitgeist and Zeitgeist II: Addendum - Interesting documentaries by Peter Joseph
Zeitgeist is a documentary by Peter Joseph, about the modern day society and everything that is wrong with it. And according to Peter Joseph there is an awful lot wrong with the world today. Zeitgeist was released in 2007. It started out as a series of three different documentaries, but then they pasted them all together. The first part is about religion, the second part about 9/11 and the last part about the economic system in the US. There is also a second film, called Zeitgeist II: Addendum, released in 2008. This is more about economics, declining resources, and sketches a picture of an ideal world, as designed by the Venus Project.
The first part of the first film is about religion. Peter Joseph gives a lot of facts and history about the origin of religion, and points out a lot of similarities between different religions. I really like the informational part, but the film maker also expresses his opinion a lot, and makes bad and unnecessary jokes about the stupidity of religion. Sure you can express your opinion, but keep it civilised and reasonable, don't just go throwing mud in every direction. I am not religious, but I was still slightly offended.
The second part deals with 9/11 and gives us a lot of conspiracy theories. The film maker claims to have prove the US government was actually behind this attack. I disagree with this. A lot of facts and stories he gives us, do prove there is a lot of doubt and speculation around these events, but I do not think he gives us concrete prove the government is behind it. It does prove there are a lot of thing unknown, and I do believe the government is secretive about it. But the fact that the government does not share all their findings surrounding the attacks, does not automatically mean they did it.
The third part explains the how the Federal Reserve Bank works, and points out the flaws in the US money system. He thinks this is a bad system and will create a lot of problems for the US in the near future. I think in this part he really has a point, and a lot of economists agree with him too.
The second film, Zeitgeist II: Addendum is mostly about the modern economy. He discusses how the whole world and economy is about power and money. He shows how big corporations exploit poor countries and its people. He also talks about the destructiveness of big corporations and the way the economic system works to destroy nature and take advantage of people. I think ... has a point with a lot of his critical viewpoints on modern day society and economics. There is a lot of corruption, and powerful companies tend to destroy people or nature.
Then he interviews two people from the Venus Project. They propose a world without money, where people just do things for each other because they want to, and exchange products and services for products and services. According to them this system would be the closest to a utopia the human world could get. Everyone would be able to do what they liked and develop themselves to their highest potential. People would develop advanced technology to counteract the problem of finite resources, like renewable energy for example. I personally do not believe a world like that is possible, because it is very difficult to change the system of the whole world. And in the end, most people will always choose what is best for themselves, and not necessarily what is best for the greater good.
So overall, I thought the films were interesting and educative, however sometimes a bit over the top. I did not like the tone of the documentarist, who often made fun of religion and its followers, and the stupidity of normal people. I thought this was often quite mean, condescending and unnecessary. I also disagree with a lot of the opinions of the documentary maker. Like the fact that the US government itself is behind 9/11, or the ideal world the Venus Project would like to see. If you watch this I think you have to question everything, and not just believe everything Peter Joseph says. Although he certainly makes some good points, sometimes the conspiracy theories drown them out.
Visit the Zeitgeist websites if you want to know more:
