Web Skeptic
So far we have shown numerous factual discrepancies in this movie. This is not to say there is not merit to the general thesis that those in power can and will abuse their authority. There are countless examples of that throughout history.
In the final part of the film, we find agreement in many of the conclusions, even though many of the examples are untrue or exaggerated.
Analayis of claims
Zeitgeist
September 11th was the jumpstart for what is now an accelerating agenda by the ruthless elite. … The patriot act, homeland security, the military tribunals act and other legislations, are all completely and entirely designed to destroy your civil liberties and limit your ability to fight back against what is coming. Currently in the United states unannounced to most brainwashed Americans, you home can be searched without a warrant, with you being home… you can in turn be arrested with no charges revealed to you; detain indefinitely with no access to a lawyer and legally tortured… all under the suspicion that you might be a terrorist.
Mostly True Though some of the particulars are a bit exagerated, it is clear that the events of 9/11 were used to drive a number of political agendas including the passing of laws restricting civil liberties.
Zeitgeist
If you need a painted picture of what is happening in the country, let’s recognize how history repeats itself. In Feb 1933, Hitler staged a false flag attack, burning down his own German parliament building the Reichstag and blamed it on communist terrorists. Within the next few weeks he passed the Enabling Act, which completely eradicated the German constitution destroying people’s liberties. He then let a series of preemptive wars all justified to the German people as necessary to maintaining homeland security.
Mostly True Though the exact cause of the burning of the parliament building was never determined, it was clear that the Nazi party quickly capitalized on the event with the rapid passing of the legislation described.
Zeitgeist
The people in power go out of their way to make sure you are perpetually mislead and manipulated.
True It is fairly standard procedure for those in power to control the message to persuade to their point of view.
Zeitgeist
The majorities perception of reality, especially in the political arena is not there own. It I shrewdly imposed up them, without them even knowing it.
Web Skeptic: Probably exaggerated but nonetheless, this is an important concept that our perceptions beyond our personal experiences is filtered through those that control the message.
But this doesn't mean that people with an alternate view have a more accurate perception of reality.
"Zeitgeist the movie" is a prime example of substituting one reality with another reality. Unfortuntely rather than 'shining a light of truth', it further obfiscates the issues by perpetuating unfounded myths.
Zeitgeist
For example, the public at large actually believe the invasion of Iraq is going badly, as sectarian violence doesn’t seem to stop. What the public fails to see, is that the destabilization of Iraq is exactly what the people behind the government want.
Web skeptic: This is an example of conspiracy thinking where there is no 'unplanned' events, that it is all part of a master plan.
A careful analysis of the circumstances regarding things going badly in Iraq would indicate this was the result of incompetance of political leadership. Conspiracy thinkers might say it was orchestrated only to appear that way.
Zeitgeist
This war is to be sustained, so the region can be divided up, domination of the oil maintained, continual profits reaped for the defense contractors and most importantly, permanent military bases established to be used as a launching pad against other oil bearing, non-conforming countries, such as Iran and Syria.
Web Skeptic: While it is not logical or evident from known facts that the Iraq war was planned to be a fiasco, it would be logical to assume that there will be a number of parties looking to capitalize on events.
But that is the nature of all events, and of free enterprise. An open democratic society should be continually vigilant and guard against misdeeds.
Zeitgeist
For further implication that the civil war and destabilization is purely intentional, in 2005 2 elite British SAS officers were arrested by Iraq police after being caught driving around in their car shooting at civilians, while dressed up as Arabs. After being arrested and taken to a jail in Basra, the British army immediately requested the release of these men. When the Basra government refused- British tanks came in and physically broke out the men from the Basra prison.
Partly True The arrest of two undercover SAS officers in Basra is confirmed.
The story that these men were killing Iraqi civilians and emulating militant car bombings was came from Iranian radio, then Al Jazeera and then picked up numerous conspiracy-oriented sites
The story reported by western journalists did not find evidence of those allegations. Neither did the Iragi government find any cause of misdeeds by the SAS agents. [1]
Zeitgiest
In 2005 an arrangement between Canada, Mexico and the United States was made. This arrangement, unannounced to the public, unregulated by congress, merges the United States, Canada and Mexico into one entity, erasing all borders. It’s called the North American Union and you might want to ask yourself why you have never heard of this….This isn’t some trade agreement, it is a total removal of soverienty from these countries …
Mostly False There is no treaty or arrangement that would merge the three countries.
It is true that the countries have often discussed ways to improve trade and relations. The possibility of great ties of North American countries to various degrees has been explored in many academic forums. But there is no evidence of any formal agreement or arrangement to make it happen. [2]
** Zeitgeist
…(it) will also result in a completely new currency called the Amero. ‘ I think the one thing that people who are dollars based need to focus on is the Amero, that’s the thing no one is talking about that I think is going to have a big impact on everybody’s life in Canada, the US and Mexico. The Amero is the proposed new currency for the North American Community, which is being developed right now between Canada the US and Mexico to make a borderless community much like the EU and the Dollar, the Canadian dollars and the Mexican Peso will be replaced by the Amero.’
True …that the Amero was proposed as a North American counterpart to the Euro
False …that any North American government is seriously thinking about it [3]
Zeitgeist
["We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent."-Paul Warburg, Council on Foreign Relations / Architect of the Federal Reserve System]
Partly True …however the quote is attributed to James Warburg in 1950, 18 years after the death of his father, Paul Warburg [4]
Zeitgeist
[ "We are grateful to the Washington Post, the New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost 40 years……..It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto determination practiced in past centuries.- David Rockefeller, Council on Foreign Relations ]
Undetermined Though frequently repeated by many NWO conspiracy site, scholars have not been able to verify it was actually said. [5] At first blush, it seems like a perhaps an attempt at humor.
Zeitgeist
This is Aaron Russo, a filmmaker and former Politician. To his left is Nicholas Rockefeller of the infamous Rockefeller banking and business dynasty… After maintaining a close friendship with Nicholas Rockefeller, Aaron eventually ended the relationship, appalled by what he had learn about the Rockefellers and their ambitions….We became friends and he began to divulge a lot of things to me, so he said to me one night, he said “[there’s going to be an event, Aaron…] and out of that event [we are going to go into Afghanistan] so we can run pipelines from the Caspian Sea, [ we are gong to go into Iraq ] to take the oil and establish a base in the middle east …
The first 2 they have accomplished, Chavez they didn’t accomplish. And he said, “You are going to see guys going into caves looking for…(laugh) looking for people they are never going to find. (laugh)” He was laughing about the fact that you have this war on Terror… and there is no real enemy. He was talking about how “[ by having this war on terror you can never win it] because it is an eternal war [ so you can always keep taking peoples liberties away]”. and I said how are you gong to convince people that this war is real and he said “by the media…[the media can convince everybody that its real.]”
… You know- they create the Federal Reserve in 1913 through lies…
They create 911… which was another lie. Through 911, then you are fighting a war on terror and all the sudden you go into Iraq… which was another lie… and now they are going to do Iran. > …
i would say to him, “[what are you doing this for?] What’s the point of this thing? You have all the money in the world you would ever want- you have all the power…you’re hurting people… it’s not a good thing.” And he would say “ What do you care about the people for? Take care of yourself and take care of your family” I said “ So what are the ultimate goals here” He said, “[The ultimate goal is to get everyone in this world chipped with an RFID chip.] And have all money be on those chips and have everything on those chips…and if anyone wants to protest what we do or violate what we want, we can just turn off their chips”.’
True The interview with Aaron Russo is real.
False Nicholas Rockefeller is not part of the "infamous Rockefeller" dynasty. He just happens to have the same last name.
Undermined…whether these conversations actually transpired
So is Aaron Russo a reliable source? Not really. Russo is a known promoter in conspiracy theory. He made a movie called "America: Freedom to Fascism" that declares as facts a number of easily disproved conspirary theories. These are also reiterated at his web site. (Ref: [http://www.freedomtofascism.com/])
Zeitgeist
That’s right – micro chipped.
Misleading… seque into…
In 2005, congress under the pretense of immigration control and the so called war on terrorism, passed the Real ID act, under which it is projected by May 2008, you will be required to carry around a Federal Identification card which includes on it a scannable bar code with your personal information.
Mostly True … except the part where you will have to be required to carry around a Federal ID. The law calls for Drivers Licenses and official IDs to meet a Federal Standard. A Federally Approved ID will be required for certain Fed services. But not having an ID would not be considered a crime.
At the time the movie was made, the deadline date for states to update their drivers licenses pr Federal Standards was indeed May 2008. As of this writing, the deadline is now 2011.
Zeitgeist
However this barcode is only an intermediary step, before the card is equipped with a VeriChip RFID tracking Module,…
Probable RFID is becoming more common. That VeriChip would supply them is probably a wild guess as VeriChip is just one supplier of many.
Zeitgeist
…which will use radio frequencies to track your every move on the planet.
False These RFID chips used in cards are non-powered passive RFID. Passive RFID has a very short detection range; at best several inches for a rice grain size chip. They cannot transmit your every move anywhere on the planet.
Zeitgeist
If this sounds foreign to you, please note that the RFID tracking chip is already in all new American passports.
True
Zeitgeist
And the final step is the implanted chip, which many people have already been manipulated into accepting under different pretenses.
Speculative There is no law, and no known proposal in congress for a law, that calls for all citizens to be microchipped.
Zeitgeist
…(theories and predictions)
Reflections from Web Skeptic
This movie has an incredible number of mistruths. The lack of any semblence of fact-checking makes it very easy to dismiss this movie as just more 'tin hat' thinking from the fringe.
And though Web Skeptic has little regard for the truthfulness of this movie (or lack there of), we do not believe the overarching themes should be so easily dismissed:
- Part 1: This section might have succeeded as a exercise in comparative religions and origins. Instead, it's clearly anti-Christian rhetoric and astrological leanings undermines any sense of objectivity that this subject deserves
- Part 2: This section could have been more effective had it focused on the proven deceptions following 9/11. Instead it choose some of the more extreme and easily disproved views.
- Part 3: This section might have succeeded had it just focused on the real historical record of robber barons and power abuse, than easily disproved allegations of regarding the Federal Reserve and banking. It is perhaps one of the biggest disappointments. Governments manipulating public opinion, especially in times of war, is a very real threat. This film could have proved that thesis by just using common knowledge and mainstream media. Instead, by continuing to rely on disinformative sources, it becomes too easy to dismiss this very important thesis.
In short, this movie does a disservice to society. In a world of real problems and threats, this leads the viewer down an pseudo-intellectual wild-goose chase, and can lead to cynism over legitimate claims of abuse of power.
IHowever we would like to remind the reader that disproving points in this movie does not vindicate the parties mentioned in all things, just these particular points. We encourage all citizens to continue to be skeptical of all media messages and demand the best from our leaders.
