Zeitgeist, the film: What do you think?

[Lyserg Zeroz]

video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7619379823675726232#

My class and I were introduced to this film by our philosophy teacher.
It talks about some pretty serious stuff, and my problem is that I don't really know if I can believe what it says. I don't really care about the whole religion bit, I already knew all those things and even more facts that I'm pretty sure they also knew but omitted 'cause it woulda go against what they said in the film. I care more about the whole conspiracy theories of the 9-11 and the bankers stuff.
Now, I don't live in the USA and I know almost nothing about its history. I have no way of knowing if this film is telling the whole truth, and I need someone with some knowledge about this kind of stuff to tell me what he/she thinks about this so I can at least begin to make my own conclusions.
And so, I hope that you, the pogotribe, can tell me what do you think about this film. Is it crap? Is it all truth? Do I just ignore it? Is it just interesting but nothing worthy of a real discussion? Please tell me what do you think and why.

[Philosoraptor]

Conspiracy theories like the ones presented in Zeitgeist are nonsense. Don't trouble yourself too much with them.

[bombmaniac]

conspiracy theory BS

[Lyserg Zeroz]

Is not that I trouble myself too much. Is just that I find this an interesting subject, but the lack of knowledge about it doesn't let me have my own conclusions, and I can't just accept what Zeitgeist is telling me.
So that is why I ask you not only to tell me your opinion on the film, but I also ask you to tell me why you think the way you do, so I can put myself in your place and in the place of the movie and see which one I find the most likely to hold the precious truth.
But yeah, I also think that most of this is nonsense and that they are telling just made-up theories with no real foundation, is just that I have no real reason to jump to this conclusion.

[stephen5000]

I saw this movie a couple years ago. It seemed pretty convincing at the time, but I think that's just what its good at: seeming convincing without having any substance or grounding in fact.

Even after putting it through the skeptical grinder, I still thought that the commentary on Christianity had merit, but I guess that just shows my bias against religion, as I found out later (from Skeptic magazine) that this part was rubbish as well.

[kernoll]

I watched Zeitgeist few years ago and i actually belived in it for a while. But after some time I stopped care about this because i am from Europe so conspiracy about US goverment doesnt really bother me. Not because i dont think it can influence me but because i dont think i can change anything about it...

[bleabot]

Even the religious stuff in this movie is ridiculous. At least that bit has some grounding, but not nearly enough to justify what they're saying. 1 + 1 = 7 for these people.

Zeitgeist 2 talks about the economy and how ridiculous it is to have monetary goals, a national bank, and a monetary economy. I enjoy their points, but their solution is too extreme and unrealistic to have any standing. It's like socialism...great on paper, awful in practice.

[Gafro]

Even though there is a lot of truth in the film's facts, the conclusions it draws are far-fetched. The "failures of NORAD" argument is exactly the opposite way round to how it should be, for example. Much of the Jesus stuff is likewise, but there are some valid points.

[Lyserg Zeroz]

Well, thanks for the responses.
I think now I can make my own conclusions feeling more confident about them.
They start making too extreme assumptions near the end, and some points seem more like fallacies or are too easy to counter, that and more makes the rest of the movie lose credibility (which they really need when talking about that kind of stuff).