Skeptic Project

"I am familiar with many conspiracy theories, but hadn't delved into the Zeitgeist stuff too much... my older son seemed to have gotten sucked into it and I believe it was what led him to desert the Army a couple of years ago and disappear "off the grid". I haven't heard from him since."

Damn, man. As a father my heart goes out to you.

Welcome! We encourage you to

1. log into the zeitgeist forums at www.thezeitgeistmovement.com
2. take the mandatory quiz using the answers found here: aaronmhatch.com/zeitgeist.html
3. ask them why they hand out DVDs for a movie that has nothing to do with the movement
4. come back here after being banned.

That's all there is to know about Zeitgeist.

Welcome, I hope you'll enjoy it here. I'm sorry to hear about your son, but that just highlights the importance of doing our best to try and debunk all of these theories.

The Zeitgeist movie to me is a fear monger piece, when I met the people within TZM I stuck out like a sore thumb surrounded by conspiracy theorist. To me the Zeitgeist movie was laughable with fear monger aspects and the only part that stood out to me was the automation aspect of the venus project, hence why I came upon TZM in thinking I may find someone that is interested in automation as well. I have never really had a interest in any CT in my life but from TZM I now know to what extent CT's affect individuals even some educated individuals... I've met a individual who upon watching zeitgeist cult movie quit his job and dedicated a year of his time to TZM until he snapped out of it... I'm just a bit disturbed that TZM/TVP has taken on a identifiable cult mentality imposed from the top EX: Peter Merola, Fresco, and going right down to it's members.

I suppose I never really knew what type of a impact a fear monger piece like Zeitgeist I and II had upon people until I came across the Zeitgeist movement. I am sorry to hear that about your son.

That's pretty fucked up if this is just some Zeitgeister way to spam a link by tugging on parental heartstrings.

But it wouldn't shock me.

Matt & Aaron --

Huh?

Nothing, Brett; just paranoia.

I take it that trolls have come in doing this very thing before then?

Welcome, idragosani.

That's awful about your son. Too often we here treat debunking CTs as a hobby, something kind of fun and amusing to keep mental skills sharp and to encourage reasoned thinking, but once in a while we are reminded that CTs have a dreadful negative impact on real people like your son, and this shit can ruin lives and destroy families.

I'm reminded of a guy I knew a couple of years ago. Smart kid, great personality, athletic, good potential, good future, but he got hooked on the alien/New Age/NESARA type CTs and they totally took over his life. One night one of the websites he followed announced that benevolent aliens would be invading the Earth that night to rescue us from the "dark forces," and Noah got a sleeping bag and slept on the roof of his house that night because he wanted to be the first to greet the aliens. When the landing didn't happen he was devastated.

Eventually his interest in alien CTs led him down the David Icke path. We were friends and I was trying to help him, but he totally disconnected from me when I told him David Icke was a raving anti-Semitic nutbar. This kid decided not to go to college because what was the point if aliens were going to invade anyway. I don't know what happened to him but I doubt it was anything good.

CTs aren't true, but the phenomenon of CTs is very real and it can have a terrible effect on people. I hope your son comes back from the dark side.

Just to add my $0.02 on the ZM trolling thing, I agree that it's a bad idea to troll their forums. There's nothing to be gained by doing that and all you'll end up with is depression that so many of those kids have gone so far down the rabbit hole. (Read my "Zeitgeist fatigue" post).

Ok, I didn't want to get into this, as I hate to have to defend CT's on this, but I think the responses are a little off. And I also disagree. Ultimately it is up to the individual in most of these cases.

To blame TZM or CT's for people going nuts is a little irresponsible. Ultimately we're adults and individuals, and with all do respect to idragosani(welcome to CS btw) you can't hold them accountable here, or CT's in general if your friend/family member/neighbor is an adult and especially an educated one. It's no different then the old cliche "Religion is evil" or "communism" or "capitalism" or whatever ideology people profess.

I use to think the same way about ten years ago after my mother passed away. I use to be a bitter and rabid atheist and would get upset and blame everyone else, especially religion. I started taking shit like Christopher Hitchens writing as gospel.

Then I actually grew up and started reading more and realized that he (and everyone) is full of shit. Everyone has an opinion, and everyone has their own ideology, and thoughts on how things should be, and some make something of it(by being a leader or professing their chosen ideology) because ultimately it comes down to people wanting to control other people, or people wanting others to buy into their shit, or just plain old people wanting others to think like they do.

People are the problem here. People should be held accountable as individuals.

Anyone of us here, who knows the difference between right and wrong should know better. If we were all to read Mein Kampf, I'm betting everyone here would say, "Yeah, that Hitler guy is a loon." However, if just one of us decided that it was brilliant, and started spewing hate and forming a Neo Nazi group? Well then that person is a fucking nut, plain and simple. And I wouldn't blame the book, I'd blame the idiot who actually bought into it.

Zeitgeist is a movie. A shitty one, that's filled with lies, holes and propaganda. It's no different then any pro or anti ideology film out there. And if you buy into it without doing your own research, then that's you're own fault.

Ultimately, idragosani, I'm very sorry to hear about your son. As a father it would break my heart, if my son had done the same. But you have to be strong and do your best to reach out. It's good to vent, but holding a vendetta and blaming TZM isn't going to bring your son back to you, or make you feel better. You seem like a down to earth guy, and educated. And if your son is anything like you, then I'm sure ultimately he'll come back. A family member's love for their kin is stronger then any ideology.

Genogza loses due to Ad Hitlerum.

Next.

>>Genogza loses due to Ad Hitlerum.

Next.<<

Bah... Touche! Bad example by me :)

idragosani,

Completely understandable. I wasn't trying to say you were doing so, was just trying to keep you from going down that rabbit hole. Leave that to the Captain, Muertos and some of the others, who have done an incredible job putting the time and effort into obliterating the fallacies of said films and rhetoric.

On another note, I have to agree with Ed. The time will come when your son will see that there's some serious logic holes in the path he's taken. Ultimately he'll see the world isn't really "The Matrix" that TZM and others alike portray it as.

This is why my blog exists as well, I started it to point out the insanity of that place.

I hope your son gets in touch with you soon and everything is well with you both.