Zeitgeist: Addendum

Zeitgeist: Addendum
Directed by	Peter Joseph
Produced by	Peter Joseph
Music by	Peter Joseph
Editing by	Peter Joseph
Distributed by	GMP LLC
Release date(s)	October, 2008
Running time	123 min
Language	English

Zeitgeist: Addendum, is a 2008 documentary film produced and directed by Peter Joseph, and a sequel to the 2007 film Zeitgeist: The Movie.^[1][2] Zeitgeist: Addendum is itself followed by the 2011 film Zeitgeist: Moving Forward.^[3]

Synopsis

The film begins and ends with excerpts from a speech by Jiddu Krishnamurti. The remainder of the film is narrated by Peter Joseph and divided into four parts,^[4] each prefaced by an on-screen quotation from a notable scholar: Krishnamurti, John Adams, Bernard Lietaer, and Thomas Paine, respectively.

Part I

Part One states that money is the most corrosive societal tradition and explains the monetary system and its policies in the United States through the fractional reserve banking system as illustrated in the book, "Modern Money Mechanics". In clarifying, Part One explains how money creation as an exchange between the government and the central bank (Federal Reserve in the U.S.), creates a perpetual cycle of interest and inflation, summarizing that money and debt are necessarily correlated and increasing.

Part II

Part Two shares an interview with John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hitman, who explains his own role in the facilitatiion of subjugation of Latin American economies by multinational corporations, including the United States government's involvement in the overthrow and installation of various Latin American heads-of-state. Perkins asserts that the there are three steps required to conquer the target nation:

1. Arranging loans that will be impossible to repay,
2. Using the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or World Bank to force the host nation to renegotiate the debt through agreements that result in currency devaluation, resources being made available at a low cost, selling of public services to foreign corporations, support in foreign conflicts, etc. When these steps fail, the second measure taken is to overthrow the government, through assassinations, staged protests, and bribery. The history of Guatemala, Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela, and the Shah in Iran, are used as asserted examples of economic subjugation.
3. As a last resort, the military is sent to topple regimes, and Iraq is shown as one of these cases.

Part III

Part Three introduces Jacque Fresco and The Venus Project, and asserts a need to move away from the current socioeconomic paradigms. Fresco states that free market enterprise and capitalism do not promote efficiency, abundance nor human progress, but rather they instead encourage artificial creation of scarcity to maximize profits, encourage suboptimal technological development in order to maintain cyclical consumption, put the interest of people second to monetary gain, and engage in the production of pollution, as well as other forms of environmental degradation to lower operating costs.

Fresco states that capitalism perpetuates the conditions it claims to address, as problems are only solved if there is money to be made and if more money can be made by propagating the problem rather than solving it, the problem will be propagated.

Part IV

Part Four explores the idea that all major social problems are ultimately the result of wide-scale ignorance concerning the two concepts of emergence and symbiosis—an ignorance maintained by the political, monetary, and religious institutions. This fourth part maintains a cosmopolitan attitude, and states that human societies are part of an interdependent universe. It suggests several means of social change, largely via non-violent boycotting and educating, in order to oppose rigid social institutions.

The film concludes in a sequence depicting actors as members of the fast-paced modern world suddenly stopping in their everyday activities and letting go of various symbolic items of corporate, religious, and materialistic significance.

"Therefore we need to expose this financial failure for what it is, using this weakness to our advantage. Here are some suggestions [slightly paraphrased]:

1. Boycott Citibank, JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America, the most powerful controllers in the corrupt Federal Reserve System. Expose the banking fraud. Move your money, credit cards or mortgages to other banks. If you own stock in them, sell it. If you work for them, quit. This gesture will express contempt for the powers behind the private banking cartel known as the Federal Reserve, and it will create awareness about the fraud of the banking system itself.

2. Boycott the news networks (CNN, ABC, NBC, Fox, etc.) and visit the emerging independent news agencies on the internet for your information. With four corporations owning all the news media outlets, objective information is impossible. The true beauty of the internet is that the establishment has been losing control because of this free flow of information. We must protect the internet at all times, as it is truly our savior right now.

3. Boycott the military. Don't ever allow yourself, your family, or anyone you know to join the military. This is an obsolete institution now used exclusively for maintaining an establishment that is no longer relevant. US soldiers work for US corporations, not the people. Propaganda forces us to believe that war is natural and the military is an honorable institution. Well, if war is natural, why are there eighteen suicides every day by veterans who have post-traumatic stress disorder? If our military men and women are so honored, why is it that twenty-five percent of the American homeless population are veterans?

4. Boycott the energy corporations. If you live in a detached house, get off the grid. Investigate every means of making your home self-sustainable with clean energy. Solar, wind and other renewable energies are now affordable consumer realities. Considering the never-ending rising cost of traditional energies, it will likely be a cheaper investment over time. If you drive, get the smallest car you can and consider using one of the many conversion technologies that can enable your car to be a hybrid, electric, or run on anything other than establishment fuels.

5. Reject the political system. The illusion of democracy is an insult to our intelligence. In a monetary system, there is no such thing as a true democracy, and there never was. We have two political parties owned by the same set of corporate lobbyists. They are placed in their positions by the corporations, with popularity artificially projected by their media. In a system of inherent corruption, the change of personnel every couple of years has very little relevance. Instead of pretending that the political game has any true meaning, focus your energy on how to transcend this failed system.

6. Create critical mass. Join the movement. Go to our website and help us create the largest mass movement for social change the world has ever seen. We must mobilize and educate everyone about the inherent corruption of our current world system, along with the only true sustainable solution declaring all the natural resources on the planet as common heritage to all people, while informing everyone as to the true state of technology, and how we can all be free if the world works together rather than fights.

"The choice lies with you. You can continue to be a slave to the financial system and watch the continuous wars, depression, and injustice across the globe, while placating yourself with vain entertainment and materialistic garbage. Or, you can focus your energy on true, meaningful, lasting, holistic change, which actually has the realistic ability to support and free all humans, with no one left behind."

Reception

The New York Times reported that Peter Joseph describes the mission of his movement as "the application of the scientific method for social change”, and that his films Zeitgeist, the Movie (2007) and Zeitgeist: Addendum (2008) have been watched by 50 million people around the world. They also noted that while the former was famous for its alleging that the attacks of September 11 were an inside job, the second film "was all but empty of such conspiratorial notions, directing its rhetoric and high production values toward posing a replacement for the evils of the banking system and a perilous economy of scarcity and debt."^[2]

See also

• Peter Joseph
• Zeitgeist: The Movie
• The Venus Project
• Zeitgeist: Moving Forward
• E. A. Wallis Budge

References

1. ^ Bill Stamets (February 15, 2011). "Art-house films: ‘Marwencol,’ ‘Zeitgeist’". Chicago Sun-Times. http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/movies/3245249-421/hogancamp-marwencol-zeitgeist-dolls-films.html?print=true. Retrieved March 7, 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Alan Feuer (March 16, 2009). "They’ve Seen the Future and Dislike the Present". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/nyregion/17zeitgeist.html. Retrieved March 7, 2011. 
3. ^ Bruce Wilson (January 26, 2011). "Zeitgeist: Moving Forward – Movie Hits the Internet". US News Source. http://www.usnewssource.com/headlines/zeitgeist-moving-forward-movie-hits-the-internet_148126.html. Retrieved March 7, 2011. 
4. ^ Zeitgeist: Addendum at the Sarasota – Manatee Hebraic Roots Forum, accessed January 31, 2011

External links

• Zeitgeist: Addendum at the Internet Movie Database