Skeptic Project

Of course all the 9/11 footage in Peter Merola's movie he took personally because he was there he knows the truth just like Casey!

From that trailer alone, I already spotted some distortions..."You have to create problems to create profit", "2 million people are in private prisons", and "monetary paradigm killing human beings." I wonder if Peter is going to ignore recent financial data showing the recession coming to an end summer of last year and current economic growth? It appears that Zeitgeist 3 is going to continue the doomsday economic collapse theme with recycled Venus Project material and blank slate theory material.

Alton wrote: "2 million people are in private prisons"

Just to be fair, the claim in the trailer was that there were about 2 million people incarcerated in the United States today and that MANY of them are in private prisons, with the implication being that private groups are looking to imprison as many people as possible to turn a profit. My point was that the implied argument here is disingenous because only about 4.3% of prisoners are in private prisons. Furthermore, the leading question would be "so if there are private prisons, and they want prisoners, does this mean they have some power over sentencing as well?

Personally, I suspect that Z3 will be full of statements such as this. With claims like this they aren't exactly wrong, but they also aren't exactly right. Will we see a return of hardcore conspiracy theories? I think not. What we will see is a prime example of a third-rate intellect producing a fourth-rate movie that is careful never to expose the precise details of its claims or allusions. This operates upon the audience in much the same way that "War on Terror" does- it sounds menacing and important, but we're not exactly sure what it is. Hits on the Zeitgeist Movement Website may go up, but once people uncover the Conspiracy side of the movement, it will recieve remarkable levels of ridicule.

P.S. Can someone help me out with the block-quote format?

@Falkner

I think a lot of people know that the Zeitgeist movement is a conspiracy movement.

Brenton wrote:

Oh please Alton lets at least have some integrity. The financial situation is one thing that it's clear is not getting better. It's absolutely silly to suggest that we are on the better side of a short-term crash.

Please, let's not ignore facts to believe that the financial situation is totally bad. The GDP was up 3.2% in the first quarter of this year in the U.S., and consumer spending also boosted. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/30/us-gdp-up-32-percent-in-f_n_558286.html

Moreover, unemployment claims are declining with job claims rising. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101007/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/us_economy</p>

These are signs of things being positive to an extent. Not perfect, but at least the recession is over, no collapse is occurring, and the unemployment rate is no longer a double digit percentage like the 4th quarter of last year. http://www.tradingeconomics.com/Economics/Unemployment-Rate.aspx?Symbol=USD

The number of Americans at present on Government benefits is around - and those numbers don't appear to be reversing, in-fact they're at record levels:

WASHINGTON — Government anti-poverty programs that have grown to meet the needs of recession victims now serve a record one in six Americans and are continuing to expand.

More than 50 million Americans are on Medicaid, the federal-state program aimed principally at the poor, a survey of state data by USA TODAY shows. That's up at least 17% since the recession began in December 2007.

Yes, due to recent waves of many people losing jobs, this dependency on these programs will increase for the time being, but that still does not suggest that overall there are no economic growth occuring and no increase in the number of jobs being available. http://www.moneynews.com/Economy/Job-Openings-Increase-Second/2010/10/07/id/372923</p>

Even looking at the living standards of poor people in America, they are still well off compared to poor people in many other countries. As for the liquidity and quantitative easing statements, economic growth does not rely on the amount of credit the Fed has available alone, but on successes of businesses, new markets being created, more jobs being available, and consumer spending. So even if the Fed increase the supply of money, this don't mean anything if people can't afford this money, and no new jobs are being available, and people aren't purchasing consumables. So with this recent sign of things getting a little better, this isn't due to just the Fed increasing the money supply.

@Falkner...After listening to the trailer again, I agree. My mistake on adding to the distortion.

@Kepp

Yes, quantitative easy also includes buying up current financial debts, bonds, and assets to minimize inflation. However, it can be a risk for even more inflation and economic turmoil if improperly used or if there are still increases in defaults with loan portfolios banks own while sitting on extra cash.

As far as job creation goes I'd assume more service sector jobs in that I mean fast food jobs are begin created in correlation more jobs or created because of it. Unsure if those are the type of jobs one wants but I suppose it is job creation.

Okay I watched it.

My thoughts:

1) Fuck Merola, I will never quit smoking.
2) If money is bad why does he play the market?
3) Using the MLK quote was a dirty move and Merola should be ashamed of himself.
4) Our current system is more "wasteful" than any current system? Really? What sort of waste are we talking about? The sort of waste that a pimp crib in NYC while people live in cardboard boxes falls under?
5) Fresco's stupid rant about diseases makes no sense. Some diseases have been mostly, and in some cases totally, eradicated. They no longer plague humanity, yet the CDC is still going strong.
6) I hate Fresco.
7) There is a distinct difference between "jail" and "prison." Johnny Zeitgeist who goes to "jail" for that sack of weed is not going to meet up with Johnny Gangbanger. I for one want Johnny Gangbanger to stay in the state pen because I don't want him to stab me. Amazingly enough, I don't want him to stab Johnny Zeitgeister either. Even though he probably deserves it.
8) Still harping on the same old tired tabula rasa bullshit. Big ole yawn.
9) I'm pretty sure a tornado is a bigger threat to my survival than a commercial for Nike shoes.
10) Who are all these people talking? I recognize Fresco and his bunny Roxanne, but these other voices could be the cardboard box dwellers mentioned earlier for all I know.

All in all its a self indulgent piece of bullshit and Merola doesn't do a damn thing for poor people but exploit them using free bandwidth from Google and YouTube.

I suspect that you'll find it harder to find anything blatantly fallacious in Z3 solely because PJ knows that you are going to tear the latest movie a new asshole. That is my prediction anyway. It is what I would do if I had a sackful of critics. You are doing the service of keeping him sharp.

That made me lol.

Also funny that VTV thinks it's more important to get a christian truther on his show who thinks TVP is a satanic-technocratic nightmare, than to like...air somebody who has anything critical to say that's based on evidence.

@TeeZedem I suppose but that also means he can no longer be fueled by conspiracy theories which will drop the popularity way way down. I still am thinking Peter Merola will manage to put conspiracy theories in his movie mixing it in with money.

@Matt LOL

Merola don't agree with you. He knows the conspiracy angle is the carrot on the stick. Without it, most of y'all would have just joined your local socialist party.

A RBE wouldn't work, but I do understand why that's the only thing worth hanging onto.

I just find it funny that Peter Merola would go to such great lengths just so conspiracy science can't really debunk it.... I really still think it can be debunked such things as "vague statements" or "speculation" can be debunked in a way but I'm not looking to debunk something that doesn't need debunked in the first place. Without conspiracy theories Z3 will not be getting the hit needed. I still think he will incorporate conspiracy theories with money.

@TeeZedem

>>TeeZedem says: @ Billl, he had me at RBE. It's a good idea, it doesn't need dressing up with conspiracy theory.<<

RBE is bullshit. He will need to add in conspiracy theories as to why RBE is a better idea and that's where he will fail.