Zeitgeist
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Zeitgeist - Movie Clarifications
Peter Joseph (creator of Zeitgeist) believes that I'm mentally ill because I disagree with him. You can read all about it on his forums (linked from this forum post), with a blog-based rebuttal here. You better not disagree with him, or you'll be labeled insane next. Perhaps I'm crazy for pointing out his forum post?
As with the Movie Statement page, I found a Clarifications page which attempts to explain away minor problems with the film's claims. These are the clarifications on the web site, as of January 26, 2008. This page, however, has since been removed from the Zeitgeist, the movie's web site.
15:25-15:27
The December 25th birthday denoted to Jesus Christ, as stated by the narration, is not written in the Bible, although it is practiced traditionally. However, this date, known in the Pagan world for the birth of the 'Sun God' at the Winter Solstice, is in fact implied by the astronomical symbolism during the birth sequence.
More on this point is addressed in the Interactive Transcript.
As I noted in my discussion of Part I - Jesus and Connection to Other Gods, the birth date of Jesus was not mentioned in the Bible, and in the Bible it actually hints that he was born in spring time. This date is practiced traditionally because around 300 AD the Roman Catholic Church made December 25th the official birth date in order to ease the transition from paganism to Christianity for ancient Romans. Prior to that, for nearly 300 years, many different dates were celebrated as Jesus Christ's birthday, in Rome one of the more popular dates was January 6th. I also discussed in the Horus and "Other Gods and Goddesses" sections of Part I that none of the other gods were born on December 25th. So, not only is the original claim in the movie incorrect, but the clarification is incorrect as well, and really doesn't explain anything different than the movie did.
53:56-53:59
The text reads:
["Collapse Characteristics of World T. Center 1, 2 & 7 fit the
Controlled Demolition Model Exactly"]
-WTC 7 fits the C.D. model exactly, however Towers 1 and 2 were, in fact,
EXPLOSIONS rather than implosions. The means of the demolition of Towers 1 and 2
would be considered "unconventional". The free fall speed; collapse
"into its own footprint" and other such goals of controlled
demolition, are however confluent.
That is mighty convenient, this among other excuses/theories are debunked thoroughly in the It Looked Like a Controlled Demolition section of the 9/11 article.
1:04:09 -1:04:16
The video here is of the Madrid Bombings of 2004, not the London Bombings of
2005.
It is used as a creative expression and example.
I wonder how often they do that in this movie, that is just pass off one clip for something help, and hope no one notices. I imagine this was added here because someone did notice (or multiple people).
1:09:22- 1:11:05
These extracts from the JFK speech entitled "The President and the
Press" from April 27, 1961, are used as a dramatized introduction to Part 3, and are not exactly in context
with the original intent of JFK's speech. Though President Kennedy does indeed address the peril of
secrecy, denouncing "secret societies", "secret oaths" and "secret
proceedings" in his statements, the latter section is related to his views on Communism and not these societies.
Interesting, I would have to comment here as I did above about the Madrid Bombings clip.
1:17:14-1:17:20:
The narration states regarding W.Wilson and the Federal Reserve Act:
"Years Later Woodrow Wilson wrote in regret..."
- The notion of "years later" is incorrect. The quote is taken from his book "The New Freedom" and it was written the same year he signed the Federal Reserve Act.
As I discussed, even though it is mentioned in his book, the quote originally comes from a speech he made in his presidential campaign.
1:23:35 -1:23:38
There are 2 errors stated in the narration, one computational, the other technical.
1) It should say: (correction in italics) "Roughly 25% of the average worker's income is taken via this tax"
[According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average US salary is about $36,000
which translates to a 25% Federal Income Tax. * 35% is the high tax bracket ]
2) This 25% is not a flat tax against the entire income of that single person for the year.
Rather, the tax is "graduated". In other words, it is a generalization to say "25% is taxed", where as there are 2 tax rate brackets under this one, and income is taxed based on each bracket combined, in a graduated manner. Consequently, the statement "you work 3 months out of the year..." is not accurate as it would be less than that in light of the "graduated" nature.
I believe they fixed this error in the final version of the film.
1:27.35-1:27:40:
There is a statement error in the narration. It should say: (correction in italics)
-"J.D. Rockefeller made 200 million dollars off of it [WWI]. That's about 1.9 Billion by today's standards"
[It was stated as "1.9 Trillion", which was misspoken and intended to have been read "Billion", not "Trillion".
Note: Based on the Consumer Price Index (not the GDP used initially), this conversion can also be figured
at about 3 Billion dollars]
This one as well as above.