Conspiracy Theories: Zeitgeist
I’ve not always been interested in conspiracy theories, primarily because discussions about them have always left me feeling uneasy, or as if I have been doing something wrong.
As I read a blog entry by my cousin, Jeff Milner, a few days ago. He mentions an documentary called Zeitgeist and how it asks some important questions about the history of religion, September 11th, 2001 and other things. I actually only saw portions of the first two parts (there are three total).
I have to admit that what it talked about continued my feeling uneasy about certain aspects of what it mentions. In particular, regarding religion. The video indicates that there have many figures in history, with different names, that have similar characteristics of the Savior Jesus Christ. Now I have to say, I don’t feel that what they are presenting is not presented without bias, but I also have to underscore the faith required to comprehend and follow in faith the Savior of the world and seek out confirmation to answers to questions that seem difficult to understand. I won’t claim that I know everything, but I will say that I have received answers to prayers and that I’ve felt led and guided in certain areas of my life. I use my faith to believe in the one and only individual that we can receive eternal salvation from (this isn’t commentary on other religions or philosophies of living). I also believe in the Prophets of ancient times as well as those today. I know the Prophet Joseph Smith restored the Gospel of Jesus Christ to this earth. I have felt the confirming feeling of warmth and spiritual guidance in this direction.
Also on this documentary they talk about September 11th, 2001 and the many theories that brought about the terrorist attacks on the United States and what happened during the time. I don’t claim to fully understand what happened that day and if there is information that we don’t understand. I hope that anyone responsible for lives lost that day that they will be fully accountable for their decisions. I mourn those losses and admit that New York City looks different without the WTC Twin Towers there. The work that is being done now is moving along but it is also sad to see. Marlene and I went to NYC in November and we passed by and took pictures (unfortunately part of the pictures that were lost with the harddrive formating mistake mentioned earlier on the blog).
Here are a few sites to read more about these topics.
On the LDS or Mormon church: www.mormons.org or www.lds.org.
Memorial site to 9/11/2001: http://www.september-11th.us/
Documentary "Zeitgeist": http://zeitgeistmovie.com/
<p><span style="margin: 0px auto; display: block; width: 425px;"> <embed width="425" height="350" flashvars="docId=5547481422995115331&playerMode=simple&hl=en" wmode="transparent" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" allowscriptaccess="never" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://widgets.vodpod.com/w/video_embed/ExternalVideo.469100"></embed> <span style="float: left;"><a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5547481422995115331">from video.google.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: 10px; float: right;">
Finishing up the commentary about conspiracy theories, I continue to feel that finding out truth is important and using as many means to understand things is important, but I also feel that sometimes we can get overboard and lose sight of the importance of what our purpose in life is about.
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January 22nd, 2008 at 7:40 pm
In my opinion, the movie Zeitgeist is more entertainment than even infotainment. It’s designed purely to cut against “common knowledge” and does so in a flagrant and disrespectful way.
The first section, that compares Jesus with many other gods is so full of holes a quick perusal of wikipedia clearly shows little or no similarities between Jesus and all of the examples shown.
You’d have to be pretty cynical to fall for the belief that the US government was behind the September 11th attacks. Though I do think it there are questions that have yet to be answered, like what happened to building 7 and what was with the other reported explosions. I watched CNN all day that day and clearly remember the reports of people saying their heard other explosions happening.
Also suspicious was the fact that after all the planes were grounded, a plane carrying Osama’s immediate family was allowed to leave the United States. This fact wasn’t even mentioned in the film.
As for the richest people running the world? Well we don’t need a conspiracy theory to tell us what we already know.
(Just kidding.)
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:17 am
Jeff, thanks for the comment. The movie was entertaining but the movie’s website and others make it seem as though it is infotainment and necessary for anyone in the world to truly understand what is happening in this world.
January 24th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
I consider the likes of FOX News and other sensationalist news outlets to be “infotainment”. It’s a derogatory term (at least from my perspective), and I’d say that this movie considers itself above that—that it’s designed mostly to inform and not so much for silly entertainment value.
By the way, here is the code you need to embed the video. You might need to turn WYSIWYG editing off, or use the insert code button.
<embed style="width:450px; height:367px;" id="VideoPlayback" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=5547481422995115331&hl=en-CA" flashvars=""> </embed>