Zeitgeist: Addendum - Thumbs up or down?

[H Roark]

I finished watching Zeitgeist a couple days ago after I read Michael Nystrom's review, which he pulled down a couple hours later. I have to admit that it was thought provoking and compelling, but in the end offered the wrong solution.

The first half of the movie which dealt primarily with economics was excellent, except for the fact that it attacks the free market. The creator, Peter Joseph wrongly equates MANAGED TRADE with free trade. Under real free trade, there would be no exclusive trade agreements amongst nations therefore if a country wanted to protect a certain industry from competition they could do so.

I would recommend watching Addendum even just for the section on Economic Hit Men and the interview with John Perkins. This gives the viewer a good perspective on the economic arsenal the U.S. has at its disposal in terms of subjecting other nations to their whim of commercial interests.

The 2nd half of the movie is total crap. It asserts that human nature is completely shaped by environment; you could have a whole movie just on that single issue! I disagree with the premise Zeitgeist makes that if nobody had to work that they would voluntarily be productive HAH! Zeitgeist also suggests that the only solution is to not have a monetary system at all but to adopt a resource based economy under a single world government with NO LAWS!

Don't worry this film isn't all about economics, after all it wouldn't be a Zeitgeist film unless Peter Joseph injected his brand of new-age spirituality. Apparently we have to loss all attachment to religion, culture and national identity to attain the utopia envisioned in the film.

I think Peter Joseph is a smart guy, but that he feels he has to one-up the Ron Paul crowd by offering a solution that is sooo far out and counter to our message. Whats ironic is that the Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeitgeist:_Addendum) for Addendum says


The film includes conspiracy theories regarding the Federal Reserve System in the United States, the CIA, Corporate America and others, concluding the advocation of a libertarian movement called the Venus Project, created by social engineer Jacque Fresco.

Could not be any further from the truth.

[mport1]

The first one was really dumb so I have no interest in watching the new thing.

[coyote_sprit]

I agree with some of it but a lot of it is way off. So I'm neutral and will therefore null vote.

[devil21]

Any video that exposes how fraudulent our financial system is gets good marks in my book.

[Vet_from_cali]

Any video that exposes how fraudulent our financial system is gets good marks in my book.

pretttyyyyyyyyyyy much.

[Conza88]

Any video that exposes how fraudulent our financial system is gets good marks in my book.

Any video that attacks profit, capitalism, money and free markets as evil doesn't get good marks in my book.

Everything was strawman roughly.... "the US is the most capitalized country of earth.... it also has the most prison population"... Blaming capitalism for fascism....

It's whole FED section; it's section on interest is amazingly wrong... And no I'm not just saying that.. go search this forum for Zeitgeist Addendum... Schiff has a comic book that enlightens really well.

After all that, if NEVER mentions the upcoming collapse is because of the Central Bank.

It says getting Ron Paul elected will do shit all....

The movies a piece of crap fantasy land... mockumentary if anything (for those that have been sucked by it)

[devil21]

Any video that attacks profit, capitalism, money and free markets as evil doesn't get good marks in my book.

Everything was strawman roughly.... "the US is the most capitalized country of earth.... it also has the most prison population"... Blaming capitalism for fascism....

It's whole FED section; it's section on interest is amazingly wrong... And no I'm not just saying that.. go search this forum for Zeitgeist Addendum... Schiff has a comic book that enlightens really well.

After all that, if NEVER mentions the upcoming collapse is because of the Central Bank.

It says getting Ron Paul elected will do shit all....

The movies a piece of crap fantasy land... mockumentary if anything (for those that have been sucked by it)

Ive watched both movies. I don't agree with everything it said either. But the first step to understanding any of what's going on is to understand how our financial system works and how fraudulent it is. 90% of Americans (and the rest of the world too) has no clue about even the basics. Any video that exposes the house of cards gets good marks in my book. The rest of the video is just opinion and that's all subjective. The fraud of the system is factual.

[Conza88]

Ive watched both movies. I don't agree with everything it said either. But the first step to understanding any of what's going on is to understand how our financial system works and how fraudulent it is. 90% of Americans (and the rest of the world too) has no clue about even the basics. Any video that exposes the house of cards gets good marks in my book. The rest of the video is just opinion and that's all subjective. The fraud of the system is factual.

I've watched both as well. Got the first on hard drive... but watching this second one, makes me want to go back & re-watch the first... cus I must have missed something completely; or.. they've used the success of the first to drive this crap down everyone's throats.

There is a lot of factual stuff in there, in terms of the FED part... most of it is correct.. what I dislike is in between these truths, they lace massive fallacies... and it's repetitious throughout the whole thing.... profit is bad.... interest is bad... free markets are bad... money is bad... capitalism is bad..... free markets are bad....

And I wouldn't mind that... if they were legitimate criticisms. But they aren't. They are strawmen... false labeling etc... it's an esoteric agenda against all we've stood for...

This even goes without mentioning the Ron Paul part.... do you think they could have possibly done the whole; "Ron Paul wouldn't change anything" "Don't even bother" "Reject the political system" tirade, if they didn't mention him earlier?

People would be like...... wait, WTF that was out of no-where... it preaches NO hope like you wouldn't believe, just give up - 'transcend into enlightenment' 'give up your wordly possessions'... it's communism speil of the promised land if I ever heard it... but they OMIT all that stuff, they don't do details in the movie.

And for the ass clowns that want me to go read the supposed essay, I will. When you read "What has government done to our Money?" since it completely destroys the whole no money notion in the film....

Basically, the film goes onto attack the system.... with a fair few false labels... but instead of going, ok fiat money is bad... why? It goes ALL money is bad... (Karl Marx said the same thing) :rolleyes: It fails to understand the sheer basic fundamental concept of what money actually is.. a means of exchange.. There is also the unsaid abolition of property... who controls the means of production? Well they attack capitalism, so surely they don't mean private ownership... SO then you have PUBLIC ownership? SOCIALISM. Abolition of property - Thank Karl Marx for that too... :rolleyes:

All they refer to money is; as debt and fiat... That's bad... yeah, we've been arguing that for the last 100 years. Just because you get a rotten apple, doesn't mean all apples are rotten.. :)

[AutoDas]

The first one was so full of holes like any good conspiracy video that I won't even bother with the sequel from reading these reviews.

[dannno]

The first one was so full of holes like any good conspiracy video that I won't even bother with the sequel from reading these reviews.

There were no holes in the first video, you're making that up. You think that some historical pretend story that happens to be contradictory to the historical pretend story they presented creates a "hole" ?? Laughable.


Addendum is about a Utopian dream, it is incomplete and not substantive. I would still recommend watching it, just remember that the free market and a free society is the only way we will ever get anywhere good in this world.. If a free society leads to technology that creates abundance and currency becomes obsolete and we can focus on managing our resources, then that is AWESOME.. but it won't come about without a free society and an honest method of exchange. If Addendum had emphasized that, then I would give it a big thumbs up.

[devil21]

The first one was so full of holes like any good conspiracy video that I won't even bother with the sequel from reading these reviews.

The second one is very different than the first. Addendum doesn't have much conspiracy theory stuff at all. It starts as a description of our financial system then segues into the maker's vision for how to achieve "World Peace and Prosperity" or some such utopian goal.

[Lovecraftian4Paul]

I can't decide. The first part about the Federal Reserve is pure gold, beautifully designed, and informative to just about the worst sheeple still in dreamland...but the rest of the movie...well...

[Conza88]

Addendum is about a Utopian dream, it is incomplete and not substantive. I would still recommend watching it, just remember that the free market and a free society is the only way we will ever get anywhere good in this world.. If a free society leads to technology that creates abundance and currency becomes obsolete and we can focus on managing our resources, then that is AWESOME.. but it won't come about without a free society and an honest method of exchange. If Addendum had emphasized that, then I would give it a big thumbs up.

Yes precisely. But it didn't emphasize that because it has a totally different and more nefarious agenda.

[lucius]

"In practice, effective propaganda is 95 percent true. The originator hopes that the remaining, vital 5 percent, hidden by a thick coat of obvious truths, will be swallowed by the addressee, Credibility is a sine qua non of propaganda's acceptance."

'Black Propaganda in the Second World War' by Stanley Newcourt-Nowodworski (ISBN: 075094207X)

[Conza88]

"In practice, effective propaganda is 95 percent true. The originator hopes that the remaining, vital 5 percent, hidden by a thick coat of obvious truths, will be swallowed by the addressee, Credibility is a sine qua non of propaganda's acceptance."

- Newcourt - Nowodworski, Stanley. "Black Propaganda"

:eek: Great quote.

I'm gonna look up the topic now. :D

[nullvalu]

The first 30 minutes are good, after that it becomes total crap.

[youngbuck]

Both were so bad I couldn't finish either. The new one was slightly better than the first from what I saw, but there were very dangerous ideas being thrown out. A lot of anti-free-market propaganda, etc.

THUMBS DOWN!

[DamianTV]

Any video that exposes how fraudulent our financial system is gets good marks in my book.

+1
voted good.

2nd half, I dont know. I've never lived in a utopian society and as I went to a typical public school, wouldnt know the first thing about how to create a truly utopian society. I dont think anyone does either.

However, there was a lot of contrast from the first half of the video which left me saying to myself over and over again "how could I possibly let our leaders get away with this" and "what have we done" to at least a feeling of hope, that the world can survive this crisis and come out better than ever. I dont think the 2nd half really deserves that much praise, but for an ultimate goal of a utopian world, I think that really should be everyones ultimate goal. Now, how do we get there? Our first step would be to get RP into office, but realistically I think we all know its just not going to happen. Maybe the very first step should be to desensitize people to the idea that "those paultards" might not be so moonbatty as we originally thought, then we can educate them by at least showing the first half of the video.

Last section of the last video, what can we do? They specifically cited Bank of America, and two others (forgot) as the biggest finanical firms. Dont borrow from them, if you work for them, quit, etc. Not sure that will work either. Washington DC is just a pit of vipers now. Killing one and another will just pop right up to take its place.

I dont even know where to begin to, as an individual, get this country moving in the right direction, but Im pretty sure that the end of the video, with regards to boycotting B of A just wont work...

[Agora]

worth watching (to sharpen the senses ; )

[FindLiberty]

The first 30 minutes are good, after that it becomes total crap.

I gave it a TU for the first half. (yet too dramatic in places and too dramatic and LONG/SLOW for the intro)

The rest of it is TD, crap fershur.

[RonPaulalways]

I thought it had a terrible prescription and therefore I gave it a thumbs down, but I must confess I enjoyed some of its parts and appeals to emotion.

[Neil Desmond]

I would just like to see some test cities tried out. If they're successful they'll prove the concept, or perhaps they'll provide some insight into how to improve our existing society and what we need before we're ready for such a thing.

[Sola_Fide]

Dont't waste your time with Zeitgeist.

[paulbot24]

I thought the first one explains fiat currency very well but the answer to cronyism and fiat is not that bizarre socialists in white-robes nightmare they called the Venus Project.

[devil21]

Any video that exposes how fraudulent our financial system is gets good marks in my book.

As true today as it was in 2008. Not often I see my own old posts ;)

[anaconda]

I thought the centrally planned economy was laughably bad. What did they call it? Something like a "resource based economy?" Seems like there would be bread lines, massive corruption, black markets, and little entrepreneurship. Maybe I missed something. I gave up on it after about 15 minutes of the resource bases economy explanation.

I watched Thrive a couple of months ago and that was the first time I'd seen one of these films with a new age look and feel with a fully libertarian message.

UPDATE: Oops! Sorry..my comments are regarding "Zeitgeist Moving Forward." Not "Zeitgeist: Addendum."

[LibertyEagle]

As true today as it was in 2008. Not often I see my own old posts ;)

It gives the wrong solutions. That ain't a good thing.