Zeitgeist Addendum (2008) review
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Controversial, this one, as was to be expected. The Google PR of 7 for the movie's website goes to prove that it got many people talking, regardless of the angle each takes on it. And that kind of distribution is always a sign of success. Here are some potentially useful points of view on it.
Failure of epistemology
And when that fails, one finds oneself within the impossibility of actually knowing anything. I won't extensively discuss the sources of such failure, I'm just going to say that the world (and society) we live in right now is one that tried its very best to ensure that nothing is to be known or trusted by anyone. And succeeded in that enterprise, at least regarding certain sensitive areas. The means employed to achieve this effect are actually very simple, and they've been around since the dawn of propaganda. Simply put, certain views and opinions are systematically rendered invalid (or laughable or propagandist - see the irony here) prior to any valid and thorough judgement. Judgement itself is systematically discouraged in favour of blind beliefs in systems and individuals, beliefs that are no less primitive than any primitive form of worship.
Therefore, flooded with all this contradictory information coming from so many sources of sometimes questionable authority, one must begin by assuming that nothing can actually be known on certain matters. This implies that any theory may hold its own validity, as long as it is functional within immediate reality, which is to say that ideas that are simply not true may apppear true for a determined period of time, within a certain context, as long as they are thoroughly and artificially spread and maintained. Who is to say that they are not true? This is the catch: no one can. The only theory-proof "thing" (no better word for it) is reality itself, that crude continuum that does not care about our truths. And the only defense one particular individual has against being lied to over and over again is one's own common sense. Sure, common sense is not to be expected out of most humans. Actually, the ancient bona mens ("good mind") is a much better expression to use here.
Given the above, this is how Zeitgeist Addendum (and the likes of it, for that matter) should be regarded: through your own common sense filters, while also using that sense in thoroughly assessing reality's angle on the matter: is this feasible? Is it more than a well crafted conspiracy story? Does it fit within reality? Does it have at least the same weight as the model it opposes? Is it reality?
Zeitgeist Addendum
It's definitely a movie worth watching, even more so than its predecessor. If you're reading this, I assume you saw it, and know that its main manifesto regards the monetary system that world's economy is currently based upon, and the thesis that the monetary economical model is not sustainable, artificial, non beneficial for most individuals (to the extent that it generates and maintains the modern form of slavery), and therefore invalid. They oppose the model of resource based economy. My common sense tells me they're right, with strong support from the part of immediate reality.
Unless you benefit greatly from the current order of the world or you're, indeed, beyond any hope of you thinking for yourself, you should (common) sense that things are not alright (to keep this in a general area that is safe for my purpose in this discussion). Regardless the media flood, the artificial glamour you see all the time on anything that has a price tag or the relative physical comfort you live in, you must definitely be aware, even on a basic level, of the things the current world order has brought about: there are extremes such as elites and people dying of starvation; there is war and unnecessary death; there are millenia long problems not yet addressed and solved; there is way too much misery in the world. Can't see that, using a common sense approach to the immediate reality? Well, stop reading, keep on dreaming. Or choose to wake up.
Critique
It's funny, yet expected, how all of the critics of Zeitgeist Addendum's ideas are people who benefit or hope to someday benefit from the current system and order of things. This is a positive thing, as it adds credibility to the movie. Also, a lot of the Zeitgeist praisers, besides being unhappy with the status quo, obviously, are just that: people that are dissatisfied with the current state simply because they happen to exist at the wrong end of the system, folks who would readily turn into fierce critics if they belonged or hoped to belong to the elite. This is a bad thing, as it is one of the main phenomena that discredits the beginnings of all great ideas and movements. In view of the first section, the only entity entitled to take a critical approach here is your very own common sense. Everything not passing this test should not be trusted. That is why I couldn't care less about most opinions on Zeitgeist Addendum. Got my own, and as you have been continuously hinted, it's a favourable one. Get one yourself.
Feasibility
It all sounds beautiful and enlightening and uplifting, but is it feasible, and, most importantly, will I live to see it?
Nope, you probably won't. But it is feasible, I would even dare say that this model or variations of it, including those less radical, involving remnants of a classic monetary system is the only way. Unfortunately, the ideas spread by Addendum are so far ahead of their time it becomes really difficult to judge their potential. The movie skips the destruction part almost entirely, barely suggesting it and even implying it could be avoided. It can't and will occur - that you might catch within your lifespan.
Hope?
Certainly. I would love to live in such a world, which is not an utopia, nor is it some sort of mindless uniformization of the human race (according to the Zeitgeist theorists, read their docs). Would you not live in a world free of war and famine? In a place where "every human could be happy"? If you wouldn't you're probably sicker than you think.
As for the technology part, which plays one of the most important roles in building such a new world, it is probably the most feasible and hope raising part. Once efforts are diverted back from weaponry to the areas they should focus on.
In the end, it is all that simple: do you want a better world for yourself and your descendants? If so, get inspired by Zeitgeist Addendum. And, along the way, make sure you're not just becoming victim of a new breed of sectarianism and try avoiding inventing new, useless and potentially more dangerous gods.
See this movie, especially since it's free and can be watched online entirely, on Google Video.
See you on Z-day?
movies • New World Order • recommendations
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