The Zeitgeist Movement
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The Zeitgeist Movement is an activist movement established in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
in 2008 by Peter Joseph. The group is critical of market
capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...
, describing it as structurally corrupt and wasteful of resources. The group dismisses historic religious concepts as misleading, and embraces sustainable
ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...
and scientific administration of society. ''VC Reporter's'' Shane Cohn summarized the movement's charter as: "Our greatest social problems are the direct results of our economic system".


History

The Zeitgeist Movement was formed in 2008 by Joseph shortly after the late 2008 release of '' Zeitgeist: Addendum'', the second film in the ''Zeitgeist'' film series. Zeitgeist was first linked to the Venus Project, which had been founded by
Jacque Fresco Jacque Fresco (March 13, 1916 – May 18, 2017) was an American futurist and self-described social engineer. Self-taught, he worked in a variety of positions related to industrial design. Fresco wrote and lectured his views on susta ...
in 1985. In April 2011, partnership between the two groups ended in an apparent power struggle, with Joseph commenting, "Without he Zeitgeist Movement he Venus Projectdoesn’t exist – it has nothing but ideas and has no viable method to bring it to light." The first Zeitgeist documentary which predates the organization Zeitgeist movement, borrowed from the works of Eustace Mullins,
Lyndon LaRouche Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche Jr. (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2019) was an American political activist who founded the LaRouche movement and its main organization, the National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC). He was a prominent conspiracy ...
, and radio host
Alex Jones Alexander Emerick Jones (born February 11, 1974) is an American Far-right politics, far-right radio host, radio show host and prominent conspiracy theorist. He hosts ''The Alex Jones Show'' from Austin, Texas. ''The Alex Jones Show'' is the lo ...
. Much of its footage was taken directly from Alex Jones documentaries. The group holds an annual event, Z-Day (or Zeitgeist Day), an "educational forum" held in March. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' reported on the second Z-Day held at Manhattan Community College in New York in 2009 which included lectures by Peter Joseph and Jacque Fresco. This event sold out with 900 people paying $10 each to attend. The event's organizers said that 450 connected events in 70 countries around the globe also took place.


Reactions

An article in the '' Journal of Contemporary Religion'' describes the movement as an example of a " conspirituality", a synthesis of
New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...
spirituality and
conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...
. Michelle Goldberg of '' Tablet Magazine'' called the movement "the world's first Internet-based apocalyptic cult, with members who parrot the party line with cheerful, rote fidelity." In her opinion, the movement is "devoted to a kind of sci-fi planetary communism", and the 2007 documentary that "sparked" the movement was "steeped in far-right, isolationist, and covertly anti-Semitic conspiracy theories." Alan Feuer of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' said the movement was like "a utopian presentation of a money-free and computer-driven vision of the future, a wholesale reimagination of civilization, as if Karl Marx and Carl Sagan had hired John Lennon from his "Imagine" days to do no less than redesign the underlying structures of planetary life."


See also

*
Anti-consumerism Anti-consumerism is a sociopolitical ideology. It has been described as "''intentionally'' and ''meaningfully'' excluding or cutting goods from one's consumption routine or reusing once-acquired goods with the goal of avoiding consumption". The ...
*
Criticism of capitalism Criticism of capitalism typically ranges from expressing disagreement with particular aspects or outcomes of capitalism to rejecting the principles of the capitalist system in its entirety. Criticism comes from various political and philosophic ...
*
Environmental movement The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement) is a social movement that aims to protect the natural world from harmful environmental practices in order to create sustainable living. In its recognition of humanity a ...
*
Environmentalism Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecolog ...
* Money Free Party * Pastel QAnon *
Post-growth Post-growth is a stance on economic growth concerning the limits-to-growth dilemma — recognition that, on a planet of non-renewable resource, finite material resources, extractivism, extractive economy, economies and population growth, populati ...
*
Post-scarcity economy Post-scarcity is a theoretical economic situation in which most goods can be produced in great abundance with minimal human labor, so that they become available to all very cheaply or even freely. Post-scarcity does not mean that scarcity ha ...
* Structural fix *
Technocracy Technocracy is a form of government in which decision-makers appoint knowledge experts in specific domains to provide them with advice and guidance in various areas of their policy-making responsibilities. Technocracy follows largely in the tra ...
* Technological utopianism *
Veganism Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a vega ...
* Yellow socialism


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zeitgeist Movement Anti-consumerist groups Environmental organizations established in 2008 International sustainability organizations