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A few people had recommended the movie Zeitgeist to me, so I watched it. I tried once, and turned it off after ten minutes, but then a few weeks later watched it all the way through, just so I could write this review.
Part I, The Greatest Story Ever Told, debunks the Jesus myth by pointing out its similarities to the many preceding myths (such as Mithra, Horace, etc), and concludes that therefore astrology is true. I mean, isn’t it obvious?! No Jesus = Astrology YES!! The funny part is that they actually use things Jesus “says” (yes, the same Jesus they just finished debunking) as proof for their claims about astrology!
Part II, All the World’s a Stage, claims 9/11 is an inside job, and furthermore, everything the government ever does is some kind of conspiracy. EVERYTHING!
Part III, Don’t Mind the Men Behind the Curtain, tells us that rich people have, throughout history, done things, EVIL things, to stay rich. NO!!!!
For me, all credibility was shot at the beginning. I can’t understand how people got past the opening montage with scenes from the Hubble telescope, war zones and mock ups of evolutionary change — intensified impressively with a rhapsodic score. I felt so ready to believe anything! Yes, YES!!! Andromeda + evolution = war!!!
WhatEV.
The first spoken content occurs at the five minute mark, and goes like so…
The more you begin to investigate, what we think we understand, where
we came from, what we think we’re doing, the more you begin to see
we’ve been lied to.
Um, okaaay… …”what we think we’re doing”? <looks around for someone watching…> How meaningless can you be? And “lied to”!! Of course, it’s always that, isn’t it? Really, viewers can switch off at this point, but let’s continue for a bit of sadomasochistic fun, shall we? They’re going to tell us “where we came from” I think…
We’ve been lied to by every institution. What makes you think for one
minute that the religious institution is the only one that’s never
been touched.
What makes you think I think that? And, oh by the way, that’s a pretty grand assertion to just throw out there at the top of your little show. Care to back that up? “Every” institution? Really? EVERY???
The religious institutions of this world are at the bottom of the
dirt. The religious institutions in this world are put there by the
same people who gave you your government, your corrupt education, who
set up your international banking cartels, because our masters don’t
give a damn about you or your family. All they care about is what
they have always cared about and that’s controlling the whole damn
world.
I love that line: “the bottom of the dirt.” Ha ha ha! Man, this guy needs a writer! But I digress… Elites, “masters,” leaders, whatever you want to call them, have ALWAYS existed since we started organizing ourselves, which, as far as you and I are concerned, is since FOREVER! The fact that leaders emerge is a part of our evolutionary history and interesting to study, but the fact that they “emerge” is exactly the point. It’s a point about ALL OF US, and not an “us/them” question in any way.
Conspiracy theorists don’t get that. Onward…
We have been misled away from the true and divine presence in the
universe that men have called god. I don’t know what god is, but I
know what he isn’t. And unless and until you are prepared to look at
the whole truth, wherever it may go, whoever it may lead to, if you
want to look the other way or if you want to play favourites, then
somewhere along the line you are going to find out you are messing
with divine justice.
Wow. So much in that one! “I don’t know what god is, but I know what he isn’t.” Really? Is god male? Wait. Nevermind. I don’t care…
But I am curious to know how it is you know what god isn’t. Where did you get this knowledge?! Can anyone get knowledge like this there? Teach me oh wise one!
I guess by not playing favorites, you mean not indulging your biases? How is it that you escape yours?
If you’re interested, it turns out that we actually already HAVE a system for looking at the truth, as best we can, and generating our knowledge about things. It’s called science. Now, before you get all pissy about your conspiracy theories about the behemoth science controlling knowledge, consider the following. It’s the only system in the world, whereby anyone can postulate what they think is true, test their ideas, show results, and then present them to the community at large for review. This last piece is the crucial part. It prevents the powerful and the crackpots from overly influencing the discussion (notice, I said “overly”).
Many scientists would give their left nut/ovary to be famous for proving something very new and exciting. Proving ANYthing paranormal qualifies. And even if you prefer to argue against that last point, and think that not one single scientist would ever do such a thing as “break ranks” for the promise of fame and riches (and you would be arguing so for the purposes of your conspiracy theory), fine. Do the science yourself. Postulate, test, report, and submit to review. Easy peasey!
And sorry, what? Divine justice? WHAT? You don’t know what god is, but you do know what he isn’t…. So god … um … ISN’T … um … the LACK of divine justice. Got it! 
Clever!!! The universe has a justice to it!! Nice!!! I feel better already. (And, that’s the point really, isn’t it Conspiracy Boy?)
The more you educate yourself, the more you understand where things
come from, the more obvious things become, and you begin to see lies
everywhere.
Great, now I see lies everywhere. Thanks a lot!
You have to know the truth, and seek the truth, and the truth will set you free.
This just sounds so familiar. Is it just me?
And hey!!! What about the part about where we came from?!!!! I was waiting for that!
I was talking to a friend the other day about people who are planners, and people who are not.
I think that I used to be under the impression that it is important to plan, and to like it, and to say you liked it.
Then I remembered that the first few big vacations I ever went on, I did a lot of planning and imagining beforehand, and I believed (I think I ever said a few times) the old cliché “planning is half the fun!”
But it occurs to me now that I then went on the actual vacation and had about 300 times as much fun as I had had planning it. Who are we kidding?!
Just when you think you can run away….
Someone smart and experienced comes along and says EXACTLY what you don’t want need to hear.
This is why I mistrust smart and experienced people so much.
I saw an ad for Dry Grad in the liquor store a while back. This is where parents organize a party for their kids to celebrate graduating from high school, a party with no alcohol to protect their precious little angels from the death and destruction that awaits all who imbibe such evil toxins.
When I graduated, parents had organized transportation to a secret location (to avoid crashers) where we could all party till we puked. It was a blast, and I’ll never forget it! It seemed (and still seems) like a very fitting end to an often dry and boring, sometimes exciting, and frequently disappointing 13-year-long undertaking.
Notice, the reason why parents did this for us was to support us (as good parents should) by providing supervision and safety for what was by and large an extremely necessary release for us all. They recognized the importance and took responsibility.
What’s the reason for dry grad? Even MORE responsible parenting, you say? Not a chance! It’s simply one more lesson added on the 13 years’ worth of lessons the poor bastards are trying to celebrate the END of. Instead of supporting graduates, they are taking the opportunity to TEACH THEM SOME MORE!!!!
I’m sorry, but parents, you are seriously missing the fucking point of a GRAD PARTY!!!
If you want to sit around drinking tea tittering about Johnny’s bright future and his Honor Roll achievements, go right on ahead. But where are the responsible parents who are interested in treating their children like individuals and who care about their safety?
Here’s a new thing: Fill-in-the-blank Poetry
Ed
the fed
is ____
While you’re working that out, here’s a funny story…
A few months after I started a new job at the Department of Fishies and Oceans. My sister, who also works for the federal government here in sunny Canada, had been listening to me rant about the new job, and like a good sister tried to console me. She told me about this guy she had met, and how in conversation, she asked him, “So, what do you think of federal government employees?”
He answered with a question: “Have you seen the movie Sixth Sense?”
“Yeah…” she says, and he replies:
“I see dead people”.
Funny guy!
Reminds me of another funny guy, Will Ferguson, who wrote Why I Hate Canadians (a book that should be taught in high school — well, to Canadians of course; other people already know). In Chapter 22: Success Without Risk: The Canadian Dream, Ferguson reveals the
Ferguson Formula for Determining the Suitability of Canadian Aspirations:
CD=S-R
(Canadian Dream equals Success without Risk)
The winning career? Associate Professor. It just narrowly beat out civil servant.
My point? Buy Will’s book; it’s funny AND true — like The Bible isn’t.
One more example ought to do it (”it” being “clear the room”):
From Chapter Eleven: America is Sexy
Let’s face it, America is sexy. It is exciting, dangerous, crass, brash and violent.
The problem is not that America is screwing us daily—which they are—but that they never send flowers or call afterwards. They barely remember our name. “See you around, doll. Here,” as they toss us a coin, “buy yourself something nice.” It is intercourse without foreplay, when all we needed was a little respect. (Cue the sobbing, chest-beating litany of “I hate you’s.”)
Soo goood! Anyway, I’m digressing…
About the feds, you are either thinking “duh! what were you thinking?!” or “if it sucks so bad, why don’t you just quit?!” To which I would answer with “quit which? the feds or Canada?”
So fine, I’ll fill in the blank with “naive” and go drop some hints about flower shops…
Paul Buchheit makes some interesting comments on the potential for value of social networks like Facebook.
What I really like about the article is what’s behind what he’s saying: that the distinction between online and offline behavior is diminishing.
The title Paul chose for his article is a little too ominous sounding for me though. The idea that the online world is ruled by cheaters (or big brother) is exactly the kind of thing that keeps many of my technophobic friends from participating fully. I’m sure this is a big barrier across the board. But it turns out, social networks aren’t the problem, they’re the antidote! They give us the opportunity to behave more like we do in real life (the opportunity, mind you!).
Think about it. Way back in human history, we used to do something similar (in part) to what we do on Facebook: We used to store our names, addresses and phone numbers in a big book that was easily accessed by anyone. We even walked down the street and saw people’s faces (okay, we still do that one — the consequences for poking or throwing a sheep at someone, though, were different than they are now).
The study of Darwinian evolution teaches us that evolutionary stable strategies will always include some small percentage of cheaters. In fact, we need them. They keep us on our toes! The theory goes roughly: if there are too many cheaters, they feed on themselves and the population decreases; if there are too many saints, we all die from puking our guts out at the smarmy-smug righteousness of it all.
…or something.
Need another analogy? Imagine poker without bluffing….
Okay? We on the same page? In conclusion, don’t fear the online world any more than you already fear the real one rest of the world.
If you’re reading this blog post, you read blogs. Do you just visit the website it is on? Or do you subscribe to it and use a feed reader? Or are you seeing this through some shared aggregator-like service such as Facebook or FriendFeed?
Whichever way you got here, you have to figure out if you trust the author. In addition, you might be inclined to read other blogs, and you’ll have to figure out whether you trust those authors! (Seth Godin makes this point from the perspective of the authors.)
Users who are unaccustomed to the blogosphere can become overwhelmed and give up. But I think there’s a very high value to be had here for those who find it “too difficult” or who “can’t be bothered.”
In his artcle, Seth concludes that
“Sometimes, the web is more of a cocktail party than a club meeting.”
Bloggers (and marketers) increase their effectiveness by doing the sometimes hard work of considering their audience. Readers (and consumers) can do the same by considering the source. Participating in the blogosphere doesn’t just make you a savvy internaut; it helps you develop skills in all types of encounters where perceiving the club/cocktail party distinction would be useful.
This isn’t really that radical a notion. Avid readers have known this for a long time before the Internet showed up. The web (blogospere) simply allows us to particpate with lower barriers and higher concentratration.
This went down last Friday. I just discovered it today (great ski weekend!). It’s quite huge!! Enjoy!
First, if you haven’t already, you MUST read this first, just for the drama of it!!! PZ’s original post, minutes after it happened.
Then, Sir Dawkins’s take on it all (can this guy write or what?).
Finally, this article gives the story again, short and funny, but with a gazillion links to further reading.
I love how easy this keeps getting…
Happy (late) freakin’ Easter everyone!
So, the other day I was helping this self-proclaimed Luddite install some software.
I would never criticize someone for simply not knowing something. We all have different experiences, and there’s more than enough knowledge to go around. I’m always (okay, often) happy to help.
What bothered me was the pride behind the proclamation. It’s reverse snobbery, and the worst kind — like being proud of being poor (or rather not being rich). It’s a mask for insecurity.
The following argument was offered: “it took me decades to get this ignorant, so it’ll take me equally as long to learn how to do it.”
Um, noooo…. By that logic it should take us 16 years or so to learn to drive! Okay, bad example….
We all have different tolerances for change, and as software developers, our job is to make software that’s as easy to use as a toaster. For sure, we’re a long way off on many fronts. But then, so are the toaster manufacturers! We’re all doing varying degrees of our best and our worst. But turning fear of change into pride just plain sucks!
