The film opens with animated abstract visualizations, film and stock footage, a cartoon and audio quotes. The latter include part of a speech by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoché about spirituality, followed by a series of musically synchronized clips of war and explosions culminating with the September 11 attacks. This is followed by a sequence of clips showing war casualties. The film's title screen is displayed, and Jordan Maxwell's Inner World of the Occult is quoted, which criticizes the honesty of religious institutions, governments, and banking cartels which are alleged to "have misled [the people] away from the true and divine presence in the universe." The film's introduction ends with a portion of the late comedian George Carlin's monologue on religion accompanied by an animated cartoon.
part I
Part I, entitled "The Greatest Story Ever Told," questions religions as being god-given stories, arguing that the Christian religion specifically is mainly derived from other religions, astronomical facts, astrological myths and traditions, which in turn were derived from or shared elements with others. In furtherance of the myth hypothesis, this part argues that the historical is a literary and astrological hybrid, nurtured politically in the interest of control.
This section was based on a variety of writers and film makers, including the 19th century poet and amateur Egyptologist Gerald Massey, the mythologist Joseph Campbell and the D.M Murdock (Acharya S), who has published a companion guide.[8][9]
Horus, an Egyptian Sun God, is introduced as having a number of attributes similar to that of many of the religious deities which came after him, including but not limited to Attis, Dionysus, Mithra and Christ; these attributes are alleged to include a virgin birth on December 25, twelve disciples, burial for three days, resurrection, and performing of miracles.[10][11][12][13]
The film expounds upon its claims about attributes in common. To explain the origin of the supposedly common December 25 birth, the film argues that as the winter solstice is the shortest day of the year with the shortest hours of sunlight (in the northern hemisphere), three days after the solstice the hours of sunlight can be seen to be increasing. This marks the birth of a "god of light" or Sun God. Another Christian-astrological similarity, according to the film, is that the three stars in Orion's belt (called the "Three Kings") align on December 25 with Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, and point to the Sun's rise on the horizon. This time is equated to the nativity of , where, according to the popular Christian myth, three "kings" follow the star in the east to locate the place of ' birth. Furthermore, around December 25, the Sun rises in the vicinity of Virgo, the constellation known as Virgin, which refers to the origin of ' virgin birth. Comparison of sunset in the vicinity of Crux with ' death on the cross is based on a similar principle. In addition, parallels such as walking on water (reflection at dawn/dusk), helping the blind see (without light there's nothing, black; with light, one can see again) and turning water into wine (ripening of grapes) are shown as metaphoric miracles, explained as the influence of the Sun.
Christianity is thereby argued to be a Gnostic myth, historicized by the Roman Empire for social control of Europe through doctrines established at the First Council of Nicea. The Dark Ages, the Inquisitions and the Crusades are presented as events which maintained Europe's submission to The Vatican through Christianity. The following is said in conclusion: "Christianity, along with all other theistic belief systems [...] empowers those who know the truth, but use the myth to manipulate and control societies. [...] It reduces human responsibility to the effect that "God" controls everything, and in turn awful crimes can be justified in the name of Divine Pursuit. [...] The religious myth is the most powerful device ever created, and serves as the psychological soil upon which other myths can flourish."
Part II
The 9/11 attacks are the subject of Part II of the film.
Part II, entitled "All the World's a Stage," uses integral footage of several 9/11 conspiracy theory films to illustrate how the September 11 attacks were either orchestrated or allowed to happen by elements within the United States government in order to generate mass fear, initiate and justify the War on Terror, provide a pretext for the curtailment of civil liberties, and produce economic gain. These claims include that the US government had advance knowledge about the attacks, the response of the military deliberately let the planes reach their targets, and the World Trade Center buildings 1, 2, and 7 underwent a controlled demolition. The film claims that six of the named hijackers are still alive, that Hani Hanjour could not have flown Flight 77 into the Pentagon, that no substantial plane wreckage was found at two of the three crash sites, that the Bush administration covered up the truth in the 9/11 Commission Report, and that the mainstream media have failed to ask important questions about the official account.
However, in a March 17, 2009 article, the New York Times, after noting that the first Zeitgeist film "may be most famous for alleging that the attacks of September 11 were an 'inside job' perpetrated by a power-hungry government on its witless population," goes on to say that this is a point of view that Mr. Joseph said he has recently "moved away from."[14] Peter Joseph later clarified this statement as a "misquote" on his Movement's website Forum and continues his support for a new 911 investigation.[15]
Part III
Part III, entitled Don't Mind the Men Behind the Curtain, argues that three wars of the United States during the twentieth century were waged purely for economic gain by what the film refers to as "international bankers". The film alleges that certain events were engineered or were allowed to happen as excuses to enter into war including the sinking of the RMS Lusitania (a factor in the US decision to enter World War I two years later), the Attack on Pearl Harbor (which was the opening attack of the Japanese on the US in World War II), and the Gulf of Tonkin Incident (which led to the escalation of the Vietnam War).
According to the film, the US was forced by the Federal Reserve Bank to become embroiled in these wars, not with a view to win but to sustain the conflict, as this forces the US government to borrow money from the bank, allegedly increasing the profits of the international bankers. The film gives a history of the Federal Reserve, claiming it engineered the Great Depression to steal wealth from the American people and was responsible for the assassination of Louis McFadden, a congressman who attempted to impeach the Federal Reserve Board. The film then goes on to claim that the Federal Income Tax is illegal.
This section also claims the existence of a secret agreement to merge the United States, Canada and Mexico into a "North American Union" and to replace the Canadian dollar, United States dollar, and the Mexican peso with a new currency, called the "amero". The creation of this North American Union is then alleged to be a step towards the creation of "One World Government", which would be formed by the merging of the North American Union, the European Union, the African Union and a hypothetical Asian Union. The film speculates that under such a government, every human could be implanted with an RFID chip that would be used to monitor individuals and suppress dissent. The film ends with several quotes from Carl Sagan, Bill Hicks and others.
Topic: [ZEITGEIST] The Truth You Need To Know (Read 6124 times)