Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
1st TZM Townhall Meeting
The Zeitgeist Town Hall Report
Yep, it's me!
Things got a bit HOT (118° F) and hectic since the Zeitgeist Town Hall Ustream broadcast, so it’s taken me a little while to get back but here I am now. Get those dancing shoes on for that happy dance! It’s going to be a workout dancing all the way through this one!
Here are a few of my thoughts on The Zeitgeist Town Hall meeting. I must admit that I was a bit disappointed in the Town Hall meeting. As much as I agree with the Zeitgeist Movement to awaken people, educate, and introduce as many people as you can to the idea of a Resource Based Economy (RBE), it appeared to me that the speakers were just reiterating the same stuff that has been said since 2009 or so. I was hoping to hear some plans on the next step! At this point they are still talking about gathering people together and explaining what the movement is about and how an RBE could/would work, which is all well and good…but…I just can’t help but wonder when is the movement going to start another branch (or something) where people are actually building and moving forward into action, SHOW how things will work, and lead by example?
When I asked about this in the chat room, saying I was “hoping to hear about plans to move forward”, and, “what do people do now?”, and questions of that type, I was told I should join a chapter and get involved, I should grow a hydroponic garden, and I should find like minded people to help the ideas grow. Once again, all well and good, but isn’t finding those that don’t think the same way, the ones we should also be talking to? Wouldn’t they be the people we would need to hear their ideas from and gather all the information we could about ALL people, not just the ones that think like we do? It could just be me bringing in my expectations, which I know I shouldn’t do, but I tend to do that from time to time.
I can see why a lot of people are beginning to understand the rumbling and ripples from many that are saying that The Zeitgeist Movement is a cult, even though I don’t view them as such. I see them as a group of people trying to change the world, with their hearts and minds in the right place, but are having trouble executing the ideas. I also see people wanting and needing a RBE so badly that they are willing to do anything and give up everything to help move The Zeitgeist Movement and a RBE forward. Makes me think of those people that believed in the May 21, 2011 “Rapture” that gave away everything because they were so certain that was going to happen, or the Heaven’s Gate people that “jumped on” the Hale-Bopp comet to take them “home” and to the next level, and on and on throughout history. Hmmmm…maybe they are a cult?? I digress.
I’m having trouble seeing this work at this time due to the fact that many family members can’t get along, so how can we expect everyone in the world to get along and pull together long enough to get this going? I’m keeping my fingers crossed, of course, that I live long enough to see a better world that works for all, but I don’t think I’ll see the reality of it. (The dreamer is still alive inside of me…right along side the realist). I am one of the people that WANT to see a RBE work! I am one of the people that want humanity to survive. I am one of the people that has been spreading the idea. I am one of the people that seeks knowledge on this (and many subjects) and shares it. I am one of the people that understand how an RBE could work. I am one of the people that can visualize what life would be like in the RBE. But…I am one of the people, that has that sinking feeling that I won’t see it happen. I am one of the people that will cling to the hope for all of humanity to finally be freed…
I am beginning to think this is just another cycle for humans. The cycle of seeing what is wrong and trying to right it. People that mean well and are trying to change the world for the greater good of all, cycle, which usually means change of some sort is on the way. I’ve seen this before in MY lifetime time. It seems to me to be a repeat of the 1960’s/1970’s with better clothes (oh wait…I really miss my bell bottoms), with different clothes. I’m seeing a pattern in the history of humanity where people try over and over again to free humanity, but it doesn’t seem to ever be a reality. Who really is in charge of humanity’s advancements? If it is all of humanity that is in charge of our own destiny, then what are we waiting for? Why haven’t we changed to follow the technology that will allow us a free life…a life free from monetary restraints and give the necessities along with the education for an easier and freer life to all of humanity? Who, what, or why were advancements of people like Nikola Tesla blocked? For financial gains? And if it was really for the money in the pocket of people like J.P. Morgan, then why didn’t/haven’t the people stood up to the rapists of the resources for profit and demanded the resources for all?
I’ve asked many of these questions for a lifetime now, with my main puzzlement being, how did a few people get to claim stake to ALL the resources, right down to the water falling from the sky? And WHY did the people agree to these actions? What happened in humanity’s beginnings where this was done? I have many many questions on this subject with a few ideas for the answers, but, will I ever really know the answers? I hope so, but thinking it might not be probable in my lifetime. What if we really were created to be a slave race for others out of this world? Many, many theories and thoughts in my head about all the puzzle pieces. Now to find that puzzle board and fit all the pieces together in it!
I could go on and on with this subject and dance all around it, but I’d need better dancing shoes! Maybe I will visit the topic again one day. It’s a HUGE subject with many parts and the Zeitgeist Movement is one small spoke in the wheel that keeps turning. Oh no…I just had a thought…we ARE hampsters on a wheel!!!!…or not…
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
VTV hijacks the Zeitgeist Movement Facebook page
For some time there has been debate that the movement should switch to a system with no authority figures, no moderators, and no structure or hierarchy. This episode proves the science suggests that is not a wise idea.http://www.youtube.com/watch…
Sunday, June 12, 2011
A Brief History of Zeitgeist
June 12th, 2011 by Albert McIlhenny Posted in Zeitgeist
The film Zeitgeist has received millions of hits on Youtube and spawned two other films and an entire movement. It has become the object of much controversy with its conspiratorial views of religion, politics, economics, and the 9/11 attacks. It presented crackpot ideas under an attractive facade and produced a “shockumentary” that mobilized a new generation of conspiracy theorists. So where did this stuff come from anyway?
Peter Joseph Merola was a filmmaker and marimba player who, like many young artsy types, adopted some really off the wall theories of the world. Within that subculture, conspiracy theories about the evil world of commercial enterprise as well as other aspects of mainstream life are not an unusual thing. For his part, Merola had somehow come across the crackpot conspiracy theorist and con artist Jordan Maxwell and was apparently hooked to his particular brand of snake oil.
Jordan Maxwell was born Russell Pine prior to deriving his new name from the “Jordanus Maximus” mentioned in occultist Madame Blavatsky’s Isis Unveiled. He went on to prove himself an adept publicist of various crackpot religious ideas from a century ago by the likes of Blavatsky, Gerald Massey, Godfrey Higgins, and others. He weaved these occult ideas with politico-religious conspiracy theories and combined them with etymologies of his own invention to form an overarching view of the world ruled by a joint cabal that included the Freemasons, the Rosicrucians, the Catholic Church, every major corporation, the CIA, and the United Nations among others. I’m not sure if he ever implicated the Girl Scouts but who knows what he thought they might put into those cookies.
When Merola, then going under the name “Peter J” (and later under “Peter Joseph”) released the initial version of Zeitgeist, he stated in an interview with Jeff Rense that Jordan Maxwell was the lifeblood of the film and that it was basically a walk through his work – particularly parts 1 and 3. What young Peter didn’t know was that Maxwell’s ideas were basically nuts – many were culled from nineteenth century occultists and his etymologies were often based on modern English rather than the languages used at the time such as Hebrew, Greek, and Egyptian. Did he really think “horizon” came from “Horus is risen.”? Certainly, the film became an early laughfest for those familiar with ancient religions but still many with their own reasons for disliking Christianity made it their own.
Maxwell was himself a rather odd bird. He had a business for awhile that sold videos of his lectures and his fakery certainly seemed to con some Hollywood types. He appeared on a few senstationalistic television programs as an “expert” and had many fooled. He also, along with his tapes, sold instructions on how to avoid paying income taxes legally and international driver’s permits. Suffice to say, he never took his own advice on the taxes and was promoting ideas then common among conspiracy theorists; as for the permits, he was indicted by the Federal Trade Commission and a judgment against him issued. Yet this guy was the lifeblood of Zeitgeist and someone Peter Joseph Merola admired. So much for discernment with this guy.
Of course, little of this mattered for those who would be his core audience. A generation raised on Oliver Stone films were ripe for this sort of nonsense and Zeitgeist became an overnight internet sensation. For those with any real background in the topics covered in the film, the whole effort was bogus from start to finish. Soon enough, as the film gained more and more exposure, the critiques began and the result wasn’t pretty. The first part in particular, dealing with religion, was quite laughable and soon Merola was faced with the task of revising his film to avoid the most dunderheaded errors.
It appears that for this end he called in D. M. Murdock (aka “Acharya S”), another conspiracy theorist, to assist in certain aspects of Part 1 of the final cut version. Of course, her work was little better than Maxwell’s and she relied on similar crackpot sources as well as scholars a century or more out of date. She, like Maxwell, seemed oblivious to the rather late development of zodiacal astrology which made the entire astrotheological framework untenable. Similarly, the supposed parallels were far less than met the eye and many were manufactured out of whole cloth.
More recently, Merola and Murdock have revised their thesis yet again in their newer source guide by merely redefining certain words such as “crucifixion” to have a broader meaning than before. Now they claim any deity pictured with its hands in the air was “crucified.” Of course, all of this is nonsense since 1) their original sources never understood it this way and 2) their whole theory has the crucifixion as part of a death and resurrection sequence. Since raising the roof hardly qualifes as fatal (was Richard Nixon a crucfied sun god?), so flaccid a defininiton of “crucified” falls apart on its own.
Meanwhile, Merola had found a new hero to stand behind in the person of Buckminster Fuller wannabe Jacques Fresco and his ideas about a resource based economy. I will save the details on this schema for another date but let us just say it is more of the same utopian collectivist nonsense theorized by those who do not understand human nature. It’s vision of technocracy appeals mostly to former Trekkies since it rather resembles the vision of the Federation. Of course, history tells us these schemas always end up like something closer to the Borg.
Merola loved Fresco’s ideas – at least those that could generate good soundbites – and used it as a basis for his film Zeitgeist: Addendum. He founded The Zeitgeist Movment as an advocacy group for Fresco’s plans as outlined in The Venus Project. He generated more attention for Fresco in a few months than Fresco could in his entire lifetime. He also made a followup film Zeitgeist: Moving Forward and chapters of the movement were founded in many cities. Jordan Maxwell was never mentioned again.
Recently, there has been a falling out between the two. Fresco attempted to finance his own film through his new followers and Merola appeared to take umbrage at being upstaged. Fresco then went on to show his appreciation for all of Merola’s hard work by stating Merola didn’t know anything and from there the catfight ensued. The two movements are no longer on speaking terms but Merola’s half is left as an advocacy group for nothing in particular. Furthermore, the excitement he was once able to generate for events has all but evaportated and it appears his following is dwindling to a hardcore group.
So what will happen next? Merola has announced a new film by the end of next year but by then who will be left to care? His first film, an embarassment of conspiracy theory crackpottery, is still by far his most popular product. Yet the problems go deeper than the direction to the man himself. Peter Joseph Merola is certainly an articulate fellow with a good speaking voice who can be quite engaging. However, when challenged he has a history of rather immature outbursts as he retreats within a coccoon of those who take his every word as gospel. He has jumped on the bandwagon of some questionable figures and touted their work as “the answer.” Jordan Maxwell certainly was not and Jacques Fresco doesn’t want to be Merola’s answer. Perhaps he will hitch his wagon to someone new or maybe become the answer himself. But by then, will anyone care?
For further information on the details of the soap opera that calls itself the Zeitgeist Movement, see the following blogs devoted to critiquing Peter Joseph Merola’s utopian dream:
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
A Critique of 'The Spirit Level'
Records show that in countries with greater equality - more patents are filed "which challenges the age ole notion that competitive/stratified societies are somehow more creative and inventive." - Pj Merola, activist/author of #thenewhumanrightsmovement
— Shakir 🙂 (@QwertyShakir) November 12, 2020
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Zeitgeist: Beyond The Pale (Abandoned Project)
This defiantly critical work will compare the social norms and established practices of contemporary society to the largely ignored benchmark of our scientific reality, illuminating the growing, detrimental separation between rational, objective and progressive thought and the traditional practices and presumptions which continue to dominate our societal operations today.
The focus will be on culturally dominant value systems, beliefs and institutions, with the challenge proposed: Are your values and beliefs sustainable? Are the deeply held, conditioned beliefs and reinforced patterns of behavior common today actually serving to advance our societies? Or are these beliefs holding back and even corrupting the human species to an extent that might lead to our extinction?
Zeitgeist: Beyond The Pale, as the title suggests, will move beyond taboo and social inhibition in form. It will hold nothing sacred except the interest to consider that dynamic alignment with nature itself in the hope that our values and practices can be adapted to what actually "works", exploring the evolutionary baggage which perpetuates the ongoing patterns of war, imbalance, division, greed, abuse and other characteristics of modern society that many today often just accept as "givens" for the human condition. * As with the prior film works, this independent production will continue the Free Distribution Model for maximum exposure. Public DVD Torrents; Free Online Posting; Free/Open Public Screenings; Open DVD Copying Permissions are staples of The Zeitgeist Film Series awareness campaign. Theatrical launch release data pending.
Looking Forward 2.0
Written by award-winning author Pat McCord with the cooperation of The Venus Project, The Rings of Venus creates the world of the future as envisioned by Jacque Fresco. The book is an adventure and science fiction novel for young adults (with just a touch of romance). Not just for kids, the book invites adults who already love Fresco’s philosophy and designs to experience life in the city and to consider issues that could threaten an innovative community like Venus. The Rings of Venus includes twelve stunning graphics by Jacque Fresco.
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