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The Zeitgeist Movement is a deranged utopian cult that spends most of its time trying to edit the Misplaced Pages article about it in order to convince people that its membership consists of more than two men and a dog. Sadly, they once persuaded someone to write a blog in the Huffington post which repeated their bullshit, along with a few other minor journalists with nothing better to write about. They are incapable of explaining their ideas in English, which probably explains why they still get the occasional mention from low-grade journalists trying to fill an empty paragraph or two - if anyone actually understood what they were saying they would realise what a bunch of vacuous imbeciles they are. They seem to think that you can completely remodel the entire global economic system by spouting incomprehensible jargon, and inventing ridiculous conspiracy theories to explan why nobody is taking any notice. They have about as much chance of affecting world events as an ant does of stopping a forest fire by trying to stamp it out. The two men should get a life, and the dog should find a new owner. ] (]) 18:40, 31 July 2012 (UTC)
{{Infobox organization
| name = The Zeitgeist Movement
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| fgcolor = <!-- header text color-->
| image = Zeitgeist Movement globe.jpg
| size = 180px
| caption = Movement logo
| abbreviation = TZM or ZM
| motto =
| formation = August 18, 2008{{Citation needed|date=June 2012}}
| extinction = <!-- date of extinction, optional -->
| type = ]
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| purpose =
| headquarters =
| location =
| coords = <!-- Coordinates of location using a coordinates template -->
| region_served = Global
| membership =
| language = <!-- official languages -->
| key_people = ]
| main_organ = <!-- gral. assembly, board of directors, etc -->
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| website = {{URL|www.thezeitgeistmovement.com}}
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'''The Zeitgeist Movement''' is a global, nonprofit, nonviolent ] and ] advocacy organization founded in 2008. Zeitgeist proposes that humanity should, essentially, abolish capitalism, the nation-state and parliamentary bodies, and adopt a moneyless global socioeconomic system in which all resources would be equitably, commonly, and sustainably shared.

==Philosophy and history==
The Zeitgeist Movement describes itself as an educational group based on the belief that the ] economy must be replaced with a system in which the Earth's resources are equally shared by its inhabitants in a moneyless and ] system where debt, credit, exchange, barter, wage labor, private property and the profit motive would be eliminated.<ref name=huffpost>{{cite web |title=The Zeitgeist Movement: Envisioning A Sustainable Future |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/travis-walter-donovan/the-zeitgeist-movement-en_b_501517.html |date=Mar 16, 2010 |publisher='']''}}</ref><ref name="TVP-RBE">{{Cite web|url=http://www.thevenusproject.com/en/the-venus-project/resource-based-economy|title=Resource Based Economy|publisher=]}}</ref><ref name=PalmBeachPost>, Rhonda Swan, ], April 30, 2009</ref><ref name=VCreporter/><ref name=RT-Sept-2011/><ref name=RT-Dec-2011/><ref name=TheMarkerTV>, ] (Israel), Jan. 19, 2012. Interview conducted in English, following a brief introduction to Joseph and the movement in Hebrew.</ref>

Zeitgeist movement members say the current socioeconomic system is structurally corrupt and needs to be replaced with a system based on efficient and careful resource use through the technological potential of ].<ref name=huffpost/><ref name="TVP-RBE"/><ref name=nytimes>{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/nyregion/17zeitgeist.html?_r=2|title=They’ve Seen the Future and Dislike the Present|publisher=] |date=2009-03-16}}</ref><ref name=PalmBeachPost/><ref name="TheMarker20120119">Quotations and citations in this Misplaced Pages article are based on the translation from Hebrew to English of , original Hebrew article by Asher Schechter, ] (Israel), January 19, 2012.</ref><ref name="Globes20100318">Quotations and citations in this Misplaced Pages article are based on the translation from Hebrew to English of , ] (Israel), March 18, 2010.</ref>

The movement was originally inspired by ]'s film '']'' (2008).<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/movies/3245249-421/hogancamp-marwencol-zeitgeist-dolls-films.html?print=true | title=Art-house films: ‘Marwencol,’ ‘Zeitgeist’ | accessdate=March 7, 2011 | author=Bill Stamets | date=February 15, 2011 | publisher=]}}</ref> Zeitgeist used to be the activist arm of ] (TVP), which featured in the films '']'' and '']'' (Jan. 2011) as a possible solution to Earth's cultural and ecological problems<ref name="TheMarker20120119"/>, but in Aug. 2011 the groups split and currently are not associated with each other.<ref name=faq>{{cite web|title=The Zeitgeist Movement – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) |url=http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com/faq}}</ref>

==Zeitgeist Day (Z-Day)==
The movement holds an annual event, Z-Day, in March.<ref name=huffpost/><ref name="TheMarker20120119"/> It was first held in 2009 in New York City.<ref name=nytimes/> The 2010 event also took place in New York, with "337 sympathetic events occurring in over 70 countries worldwide."<ref name=huffpost/> London and Vancouver hosted the 2011 and 2012 main events respectively.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blog.brockwood.org.uk/2011/04/11/brockwood-at-zeitgeist-day-in-london-march-13th-2011/ |title=Brockwood at Zeitgeist-Day in London – March 13th, 2011 |publisher=Brockwood Park School |date=2011-04-11}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Zeitgeist Day 2012 - Vogue Theatre in Vancouver, BC |url=http://www.voguetheatre.com/detail.php?id=252 |publisher=voguetheatre.com}}</ref>

"A Zeitgeist Day Event can take many forms, ranging from a simple showing of DVD media like Zeitgeist: Addendum to prerecorded lectures ; to interactive question-and-answer events with Chapter Organizers in various regions, giving their own unique presentations."<ref name=zday>http://zdayglobal.org/about-zday/aboutzday Retrieved July 30, 2012</ref>

== Criticism of the Zeitgeist movement ==
'']''<ref name=huffpost/>, '']''<ref name=nytimes/>, '']''<ref name=PalmBeachPost/>, '']''<ref name="Globes20100318"/>, '']''<ref name="TheMarker20120119"/>, ''VC Reporter'' <ref name=VCreporter>, Shane Cohn, VC Reporter (California), May 12, 2011</ref>, ]<ref name=RT-Sept-2011> , ], Sept. 14, 2011</ref><ref name=RT-Dec-2011> , ], Dec. 2, 2011</ref> and '']''<ref>http://spectator.org/archives/2011/01/17/jared-loughners-zeitgeist-obse Retrieval June-07-12</ref> criticized various aspects of the Zeitgeist movement, specifically: (a) ], (b) reduced ] in their proposed economy, (c) practical difficulties in a transition to that economy, and (d) subscribing to ] in '']'', the original 2007 film that inspired the movement. The movement responded to the criticism by saying that (a) it does not believe in utopia because there is no final frontier, and that, instead, it believes in a non-finite process of updating society's notions of economics and politics to continuously re-align them with new scientific and technical discoveries, {{vague|date=July 2012}} (b) workers will be intrinsically motivated, (c) the difficulties, while very serious, are not impossible to overcome, and (d) there is no direct association between the material in the Zeitgeist documentaries and the movement.<ref name="TheMarker20120119"/><ref name=TheMarkerTV/><ref name=huffpost/><ref name=nytimes/><ref name=PalmBeachPost/><ref name="Globes20100318"/><ref name=VCreporter/><ref name=RT-Sept-2011/><ref name=RT-Dec-2011/><ref name=faq/><ref name="Understanding20120715">, The Zeitgeist Movement, July 15, 2012</ref>

An article in the '']'' described the movement as an example of a "conspirituality", a synthesis of ] spirituality and ], asserting that ''Zeitgeist: The Movie'' claims that "organised religion is about social control and that ] was an inside job."<ref name=jcr109>{{cite journal |last1=Ward |first1=Charlotte |last2=Voas |first2=David |year=2011 |title=The Emergence of Conspirituality |journal=Journal of Contemporary Religion |volume=26 |issue=1 |page=109 |doi= |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13537903.2011.539846 |accessdate=June 16, 2012}}</ref> The movement said that the article paints an "incorrect, misleading, offensive and defaming picture of the movement," and that the material in the first movie is unrelated to the movement.<ref name="Understanding20120715"/>

In ], Journalist ] criticized ''Zeitgeist: The Movie'' as being "steeped in far-right, isolationist, and covertly anti-Semitic conspiracy theories", and called the Zeitgeist movement "the world's first Internet-based cult, with members who parrot the party line with cheerful, rote fidelity."<ref name=tabletmag>http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/57732/brave-new-world Retrieved June 9, 2012</ref> Zeitgeist said the accusations were "erroneous, pejorative, derogatory and intended to silence the movement's message", and that the movement does not blame international bankers, corporate leaders or politicians as individuals, but rather the global socioeconomic system that supports their values.<ref name="TheMarker20120119"/><ref name=TheMarkerTV/><ref name=faq/>

In 2009 a German social networking site, ], banned Zeitgeist groups from their site for promoting antisemitism. Zeitgeist's Australian website commented on the ban thusly: 'The decision made by StudiVZ was without basis, the accusation devoid of evidence'.<ref name=studivz>http://www.zeitgeistaustralia.org/studivznet-shut-down-zeitgeist-groups/ Retrieval June 2, 2012</ref><ref name="Understanding20120715"/>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Sustainable development}}
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* ]
* ]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
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Revision as of 18:57, 31 July 2012

The Zeitgeist Movement is a deranged utopian cult that spends most of its time trying to edit the Misplaced Pages article about it in order to convince people that its membership consists of more than two men and a dog. Sadly, they once persuaded someone to write a blog in the Huffington post which repeated their bullshit, along with a few other minor journalists with nothing better to write about. They are incapable of explaining their ideas in English, which probably explains why they still get the occasional mention from low-grade journalists trying to fill an empty paragraph or two - if anyone actually understood what they were saying they would realise what a bunch of vacuous imbeciles they are. They seem to think that you can completely remodel the entire global economic system by spouting incomprehensible jargon, and inventing ridiculous conspiracy theories to explan why nobody is taking any notice. They have about as much chance of affecting world events as an ant does of stopping a forest fire by trying to stamp it out. The two men should get a life, and the dog should find a new owner. AndyTheGrump (talk) 18:40, 31 July 2012 (UTC)