Zeitgeist Movie Analysis

There was a moment in life that I can remember that was consequential in my view of the world. I moved from just accepting the world as I was told it was to truly questioning things and arriving at my own conclusions. Before the film Zeitgeist I generally accepted what authority figures in my life had said and the way they described the world to work. But after the film I began to question what I had been told and the assumptions I had made. The film helped to make me a more critical minded person.
My view of this film's conclusion about the events it lays out is that it is not a reasonable conclusion when held up against scrutiny. The film though still served an important function in my life. It questioned many things I had always

taken for granted and this line of thinking helped spur me on to to be a more questioning person. I feel better able to listen to different ideas and determine what is credible and generally more open minded to new ideas and ways of thinking.
The questioning attitude the film but on me influenced the person I have become today. Much of the way I have come to see the world started with this questioning spirit acquired through my viewing of Zeitgeist. This film was about a conspiracy of elite people who exercise control over the United States government and use that control for there nefarious purposes across the globe. The film is divided into the segments that include religion, economics, and the terrorist attacks against the United States on September eleventh. Using these three areas the film lays out it's cause for this supreme ruling elite.
It opens with a doubting attitude towards the legitimacy of religion and pacifically the christian religion. During the first segment you are presented with many points that seem to disclaim christianity. They claim that Jesus the man never existed and try to present how the christian bible and thus the religion, is just a re-interpretation of the Egyptian book of the dead.
After they present the Christian faith as a reworking of what the Egyptians believed in the book of the dead, they tie in some other aspects as well. For example, how much money is generated off of religion and the idea that religion is a control mechanism used by this ruling elite.
This area of the movie began a search in my personal life about what I believe about God and religion.

As I began to question what had been taught to me and truly approach the subject from a critical standpoint I found that I did not necessarily agree with what I had been told to accepted about religion. The film was also was the first time I had seen major ideas I hold challenged and thus made me realize the need to examine the many competing opinions out there and many ways of looking at the same subject. With this recognition I found a need to be open to new ideas and evaluate what I believe because honestly considering new information can change who you are. This recognition helped leads to more tolerance in my opinion. When you consider the different perspectives out there it helps you better understand why people think the way they do which leads to empathy and the recognition that your view on things is not inescapably correct, just a way of thinking that can be just as valid as another. This approach eventually led me to become a agnostic which I do not consider to be a minor shift in opinion and can be traced back to the idea of being skeptical about things you have accepted as truth or fact in your life and a willingness to consider competing opinions honestly and

objectively.
The next portion of the film is about how the United States government is controlled by a ruling elite who want to only enrich themselves regardless of the consequences for society. It starts with the attack on the World Trade centers's twin towers. The film then proceeds to claim that the attack was actually orchestrated by the United States government in a false-flag operation to get the country into war in the Middle East. It goes through giving various details that seem to disprove the official account of what happened in the 9/11 Commission's report. Then a few different experts are interviewed as well as citing of work done by experts that seem conflict with the official account given. One doctor from a leading university is cited as disagreeing with the story the government gave and saying that this must have been a inside job to have been able to executed and bring the towers down. There is also a professor emeritus that is interviewed and goes on the record saying that thermite had been used and citing other things, for instance that no steel framed building has ever collapsed do to fire. Many other points are offered to help build the case for disproving what the official account said happened on September, 11.
Then the claim is made that the U.S. Government is behind many of the terrorist attacks against it's own country. That terrorist groups like Al Qaeda are actually fiction created by the government to scare it's populace. Why would you commit a terrorist attack on your own people? tell them fictitious terrorist groups are trying to harm us? So that way the government can violate civil liberties of it's people and make excuses for them to engage in military expeditions across the world. The film proposes the ultimate goal of the United States Government is to have a totalitarian state. All of this of course being driven by this elite ruling class comprised of the wealthiest people in the world including bankers and corporations. You are led to believe through there wealth and control over capital, they have almost total control over the power in many country's including the U.S.
This steered me to to eventually become more engaged in political life. Before watching this I paid little attention civic activity and did not follow politics’s any meaningful way. My questioning of the nature of the government and it's role in society was sparked by this. My attention was brought to how are government is influenced by special interest groups and the ways in which government can be influenced by outside forces who want favors. Having a better understanding of the working of the political system which I arrived at have better prepared me to contribute to civic life. The questing of the government raised by this movie eventually led me to reflect on the role of government in society as well. All of this together has led to my holding of a more liberal view of how government should fulfill it's responsibility to it's citizens.
The final segment of the film addresses a claim that the economic system is rigged and controlled by the elite ruling class. The instrument of power they use over the economy as stated by the film is the federal reserve. It is stated that the federal reserve is actually in existence to transfer wealth out of the hands of the vast majority and to this elite ruling class. You are offered some points for consideration such as all money that enters the U.S. Economy is loaned by the Federal Reserve and must be repaid plus interest. So where does the money come from to pay the interest if all the money that is created must be payed back plus interest? No place, that's the point the only place to acquire the money to repay the loan is the standing wealth of the people such as homes and cars. In this way it is proposed that wealth is being transferred from ordinary people to the elite ruling class. Leading to the idea that there will always be economic downturns because all the money in the economy is owed back to the Federal Reserve and interest on that money. So when it comes time to pay all the money is returned to the Federal Reserve and then people lose homes and cars as well as other sources of wealth to repay the interest on the money the Federal Reserve loaned.
The ideas put in this segment of the video contributed to my current understanding of how the financial system works. My interest in economic theory and the way government should conduct itself in the private sector can be followed back to here where I was first challenge about the way I understood economics to work.
The viewing of this film ended up being a consequential moment in my life and a learning experience. Though today I reject the conceptions put forth by this production it was still a learning experience. The film by challenging many beliefs I had got me to began questioning the world as I understood it. This in turn led to a more critical mind set and thus a better filter to help me decide what information I wish to consider when making up my world view. It guided me to the value of considering competing values equally and helping to recognize that there isn't necessarily a wrong way and a right way of doing things, but just different ways of joining about the same task.