Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)

Zeitgeist: The Greatest Story Ever Sold

Posted by "GrrlScientist" on April 25, 2010
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These multi-part videos are from a television exploration into the story of religion: the greatest story ever sold to the public by the power elites, who shamelessly use religion as a way to control the masses (includes Spanish subtitles).


Part 2 (the relationship between ancient myths and christianity and judaism; the relationship between astrology and christianity, etc.):

Part 3 (origin of the symbol of the cross, the meaning of the word “age”, the many literary similarities between christian, judaic and Egyption religions, etc.):

Part 4 (similarities between christianity and the pagan religions and the lack of historical documentation for the existence of jesus; the purpose of the religious myth for controlling huge numbers of people, etc.):

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Comments

  1. #1 V. infernalis
    April 25, 2010

    As much as I’d love for (parts of) it to be true, Zeitgeist is chock-full of inaccurate claims from the get-go. And the conspiracy theory under (and over) tones are just plain dumb.

    http://conspiracyscience.com/articles/zeitgeist/

  2. #2 "GrrlScientist"
    April 25, 2010

    yes, the conspiracy theory stuff is way over the top.

  3. #3 Hans Rippel
    April 25, 2010

    This pseudo documentary again. Had it recommended to me a while back and since I studied religions as my minor and had a separate focus on Buddhism I just felt compelled to write a little post on it a few months back, which you can find here http://www.optimalfunctioning.com/entertainment/zeitgeist-movie-theory-conspiracy.html
    I take it the lack of comments on your part makes sense just because you have a self-selecting audience here on ScienceBlogs.

  4. #4 Tabor
    April 25, 2010

    Very interesting and I wonder why I have never seen this before.

  5. #5 Scott Belyea
    April 25, 2010

    And an honest presentation of this material (which is only Part I) would surely have mentioned that Part II goes on to flog 9/11 conspiracy theories. That would have helped to raise the credibility of the material presented, wouldn’t it? :-)

  6. #6 V. infernalis
    April 25, 2010

    I’m also curious why this is popping up again after having already made the rounds of the Internet almost 3 years ago.

  7. #7 "GrrlScientist"
    April 25, 2010

    hans: the lack of comments is probably because most of the SB readers are either in bed or their hands are engaged in hedonistic wrongdoing.

  8. #8 Frank Habets
    April 25, 2010

    A documentary that covers similar ground, but more grounded in reality and devoid of tin-foilery is The God Who Wasn’t There.

  9. #9 HP
    April 25, 2010

    I enjoyed this. It reminds me of me when I was in my twenties. Ah, youth! :)

    I always find the discussion around these topics both fascinating and disappointing. On the one hand, the idea that modern Abrahamic religions have their roots in a continuum of ancient Near Eastern religious practices ought to be obvious and unsurprising. On the other hand, it seems that whenever a young person first discovers these parallels, they become overwhelmed by pattern-seeking, just-so stories, and conspiracy theories. This then is countered by a reflexive skepticism that winds up, I think, being dismissive of the whole enterprise of History, Literature, Cultural Anthropology — in short, the Humanities.

    I think there is a story waiting to be told about the continuity of religious expression between the ancient world and the modern world. I don’t think this documentary is that story, though. I no longer feel, as the filmmaker does, that I’ve been lied to; rather, I feel as though my sense of place has been greatly expanded. There’s something grand about walking past the local fundy church, and imagining Akkadians sweeping across the Middle East, dropping little memes that took root everywhere they passed.

  10. #10 Walter
    April 25, 2010

    This film is make by the same person
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EewGMBOB4Gg
    maybe you should check it out

  11. #11 Esteban
    May 2, 2010

    [b] This is an old movie. Now all Peter Joseph’s lectures are based purely on statistical information wich means that he is using a scientific method to analyze information [/b]

    Here’s an example: http://vimeo.com/7857584