Spirit of the Age

I've written a bit about 9/11 conspiracy theories, but not for a long time. What I wrote before is on my log of old "Grinnell Plan" posts, here and here. Most of it has to do with the excellent site, Cooperative Research, and some talk about what actually makes a "conspiracy".

But, such an important topic we can hardly allow to lie dormant.

(let's just be clear, the topic is not whether or not the American government is complacent in the deaths that occurred on 9/11/2001, but to what extent they are responsible. The former is as close to fact as exists in this world.)

I've been watching a pretty excellently produced film today, entitled Zeitgeist.

It's range is pretty broad; it begins by discussing some theories about the origin of the myth of the messiah known as Jesus. Some of these are more interesting than others; some, like the basis of many religions on astrology and astronomy, are pretty interesting and cool. Others, like the assigning of blame for the rise of the belief in Jesus on an effort to manipulate the world, are a bit more directed towards the goal of the film.

(Sure, the messiah myth is not necessarily completely based on fact, but the messiah concept is nothing new, and Jesus just happened to be the one that stuck. I just think the rise of Christianity is a bit more nuanced than that.)

But, the point of beginning with this, is to show that there is a lot of history that is ignored (such as the similarities between the Jesus messiah and many other similar figures in cultures around the world) in the effort to maintain a consistent myth that just so happens to keep the big guys in charge.

Then, we start learning about more recent history, that those other than Religious Studies folk may be interesting. And so begins a great recounting of most of the facts that draw heavy suspicion to the "myth of 9/11", and in addition, recounts the history of the American economic and political system in manipulating public opinion in order to get what it wants.

Besides being the best produced video on the subject I have ever seen, it is also one of the best in content, depicted facts, and not falling into rhetoric about new world orders and brave new worlds. On the website, (contained in the link above), there is the promise of an interactive transcript, which will be posted "soon" that will contain links from the facts mentioned in the film to source materials and further readings, which I am very excited to see, because that level of detail and accuracy to sources in often by-passed in videos of this kind.

The video has been viewed on Google video over 3 million times since June, which I think is a testament to its watchability and its accessibility to those who are not typical conspiracy researchers. Actually, it reminded me a lot of the Koyaanisqatsi trilogy, in particular the last film of the three, for it's artful blending of music and images (especially the beginning overture). If only you added to the trilogy a good collection of narrative quotations and factual evidence, you would have this film.

Anyway, the film is two hours long, and I highly recommend it. Regardless of what you "believe" about the story of the world and our lives as told to us, you should do what the creators of the film suggest; look at the contradicting evidence that shows that the official story is anything but true, and then go out, and find out the truth for yourself.