Zeitgeist: Addendum

Zeitgeist: Addendum, a 2008 documentary film produced by Peter Joseph, is a continuation of the film Zeitgeist, the Movie. The film discusses the Federal Reserve System in the United States, the CIA, corporate America, other government and financial institutions, and religion, concluding that they are all corrupt institutions detrimental to humanity and are in need of replacement. The film proposes The Venus Project as a possible solution.
According to director Peter Joseph, the film "attempts to locate the root causes of this pervasive social corruption, while offering a solution". In its conclusion, Addendum stresses the need for belief systems to embrace the ideas of emergence and interdependence. He outlines concrete steps that can be taken to weaken the monetary system. The film suggests actions for "social transformation", which include boycotts of the large banks that make up the Federal Reserve System, the mainstream media, the military, and energy companies. It is also suggested that people reject the political structure.
Zeitgeist: Addendum premiered at the 5th Annual Artivist Film Festival in Los Angeles, California on October 2, 2008, and was released free online on October 4, 2008.
Synopsis
Zeitgeist: Addendum is separated into four parts:
Part I criticises the practice of Fractional-reserve banking and the creation of money through loans. The film argues that dollar bills, to use its American example of central banking, are printed and the money supply is, therefore, increased when the Federal Reserve buys Treasury Bonds. This money ends up in commercial banks. Once that money becomes a reserve in banks it becomes "multiplied" through the Fractional-reserve system, and then loaned to customers. The film claims that such a system is "absurd" because the interest that must be paid for the money that was loaned does not exist; it was never created. The film compares this system to a game of musical chairs, in which a person will always be left out. This subject is also touched in the first Zeitgeist film.
Part II is a documentary style interview with John Perkins, in which he describes his role as a self-described economic hitman. In that capacity, he claims to have helped the CIA, as well as various corporate and political entities, to undermine or corrupt foreign regimes that put the interests of their populations before those of the transnational corporations.
Part III describes The Venus Project, a proposal created by Jacque Fresco. The film promotes the Venus Project as a sustainable solution for mankind on Earth. Its main goal is to produce a "resource-based economy" using modern technology to implement a society based on natural resource economics in opposition to the current model of artificial scarcity maintained by a monetary economy.
Part IV states that everything wrong with the US is "fundamentally the result of a collective ignorance of two of the most basic insights humans can have about reality; the 'emergent' and 'symbiotic' aspects of natural law."
The film then suggests actions for "social transformation," such as boycotts of large banks, the mainstream media, the military and energy companies; rejecting the political structure; and "creating critical mass."
The Venus Project
The Venus Project was started around 1975 and Roxanne Meadows of Venus, Florida, USA. It was founded on the idea that poverty is caused by the stifling of progress in technology, which itself is caused by the present US's profit-driven economic system. The progression of technology, if it were carried on independent of its profitability, Fresco theorizes, would make more resources available to more people. This new-found abundance of resources would reduce the human tendency toward independence, corruption, and greed, and instead make people more likely to help each other. Fundamental to the project is the elimination of the current money economy in favor of what Fresco calls a resource-based economy. with no formal university education. Roxanne Meadows is a former portrait artist. The Project also has a non-profit "sector", called Future By Design.
Reception and awards
On October 2, 2008 the film won the "Artivist Spirit Award - Best Feature" at the 2008 Artivist Film Festival. The film had its global premiere during the festival's opening night, which was attended by a sell-out audience of 600 people..
Sequel
A sequel Zeitgeist III has been announced at Official homepage to be released in October 2010.
Criticism
Conspiracy theorist G. Edward Griffin, paleoconservative author of The Creature from Jekyll Island criticized the film for promoting collectivist ideas, saying "this program does not offer a cure. It offers a mega dose of the disease itself."
Radio host and paleoconservative conspiracy theorist Alex Jones gave the film a negative review, stating the film "says good things but offers false solutions." He believes the film is "like rat poison. 98% good, but the 2% kills you". According to Jones, Zeitgeist Addendum claims that it is greed which is the main driver behind the issues it presents, but Jones says "it's not just about greed. It's about power. It's about centralizing power by the Globalizationists ".
Sources cited in the movie
At the end of the movie and on its website, the following sources are cited:
* For part I it cites the book by Ellen Brown, Web of Debt: The Shocking Truth About Our Money System and How We Can Break Free, Third Millennium Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-9795608-0-4
* For part II, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (2004), by John Perkins.
* For parts III and IV The Best That Money Can’t Buy: Beyond Politics, Poverty & War (2002), by Jacque Fresco, Global Cyber-Visions, 2002. ISBN 978-09648806-7-9

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