Use Google to fact check “Zeitgeist: The Movie”

BoingBoing recently posted a blurb about “Zeitgeist: The Movie”, a budget film* (I wouldn’t exactly call it a documentary) that “purports to tell the real truth about Christianity, 9/11, and the International Bankers.” I had to see what this was about!

I couldn’t even get a minute into the movie before I felt like I had to jump out on to the internets to verify some of the material they were throwing out: “Horus [the Egyptian Sun God] had 12 disciples, was resurrected, … was born on December 25th … and that is why Christmas is celebrated on December 25th.” This contradicted what I had thought previously; that Christmas was celebrated on December 25th because the Romans had made it that day to attract followers. Searching the internets for q=horus christmas returns little useful results. Searches for q=horus disciples actually turns up a lot of hits disputing that claim. Wikipedia’s page on Horus makes no reference to Horus having 12 disciples or any kind of birthday.

Next up was this bit about “ages,” or “eras”, a period of 2150 years corresponding the movement of the Earth to the signs of the Zodiac. The movie says that the Moses ushered in the age of Ares, Jesus ushered in the age of Pisces, and the next age will be the age of Aquarius. Whistling a certain tune I headed out to Google again. q=jesus zodiac pisces returns 220,000 hits, but I wouldn’t exactly call the top hits reputable; it’s mostly people hawking astrological bible books. Some of the quotes on these pages look like a classified ad from the Weekly World News: “The Great Pyramid’s ‘missing capstone’ has puzzled Egyptologists for centuries…” (But for $24.99 + shipping we’ll explain everything!) q=moses zodiac returns similar pages. q=era 2150 returns a hit to the science fiction book “2150 AD”.

OK. So the movie is a little flakey on the facts and references. In fact, here’s a Google search about the movie that does return some reasonable hits: q=zeitgeigst movie bullshit — 437,000 results!

As pure entertainment, Zeitgeist hits the mark. (A better title would have been “Illuminati: The Movie“)… But seriously, if you’re into this sort of stuff, I would recommend viewing Bill Moyer’s Joseph Campbell and The Power of Myth, which is based on scholarly inquiry, not conspiracy theories. It’s a little dry on the special effects, but at least you won’t feel like you’re being fleeced while you’re watching it!

Update: Too funny. I just noticed the “statement” page for Zeitgeist says, “some information contained [in the movie] is not obtained by simple keyword searches on the Internet…” …why? Is The Man keeping this information from us? It gets better: “It is my hope that people will not take what is said in the film as the truth.” LOL. I’ve been pwned.

11 Replies to “Use Google to fact check “Zeitgeist: The Movie””

  1. looking up general words on google disproves nothing, i myself am unsure of how much zeitgeist may lie or bend the truth, but don’t think for a second doin twenty minutes worth of research negates all arguments made within the movie, this would be more relavent if the movie was trying to make money, but for something like this, your “research” has little real impact or reliability.

  2. Its up to the people making the accusations to prove truth. It is not the job of the listener to disprove. You don’t start with factand disprove as it goes.Same with the innocent until proven guiltynotguilty until proven innocent.so while it may apply to this blog post in more useful terms it would apply to the Zeitgeist movie I’d have to presume. As I don’t recall hearing any sources for the movie.P.S. the first part about international affairs and the large corporations does have some legal and factual evidence but the movies starts to lose credit after that segment.

  3. Zeitgeist Addendum I’m talking about. I find corporate and such manipulation quite plentiful (though less conscious of themselves then the movie would seem [ I don’t believe in “real” economic hitmen or corporations with conspiracy plans ])I find the attacks on the worlds religions and just the over statement that the technology ALL exists now that we can be in a perfect utopia absurd.

  4. first of all, follow the link thant bill posted.i was about to post it myself and found out, bill already did.2nd. when you use google, unfortunately you have to use the right words. right results don’t come that easy.3rd. Wikipedia is no more reliable than any other blog/site etc, and you should know that.and now the reason i’m posting, is about the era. something i’ve known for about 18 years, from an astrologer, so i didn’t need to ever google it, but i did it for your shake.age or era is an astrological age,and it takes about 2160 years to complete.here’s a link that came as the second result in my google search, using the right words.http://www.astrologyzine.com/taurus-4.shtmlit states that “An astronomical Age of about 2100 years (2160) is the time it takes for the Earth’s axis to move one-twelfth of the way around in this circular motion (30 degrees), and the effect of this motion is called “the precession of the equinoxes”. It can be marked by the Sign the Sun appears in at the Vernal Equinox, the first day of Spring. In our century, it is the constellation of Pisces which rises with the Sun at the Vernal Equinox, which means we are still in the Age of Pisces. The Age of Aquarius is still a century or so in the future for us.”

  5. agree that quick web research should not be used to discredit this film. some facts might be true, others might not. and on your take on Horus and fact checking birthday on wikipedia (although perhaps not our best source for egyptian myhthology) you can fin this within the first parapgraph on wikipedia horus page:”He even has different birth dates associated with him from one Egyptian calendar to the next. For example one calendar places Heru’s birth on the 10th day of the Egyptian month of Mechir (December 25th in Gregorian Calendar), while another calendar lists Heru-Dunawhy as being born on the 2nd “Epagomenal Day” (July 15th)”

  6. I couldnt get 5 lines into your so called "review" without disputing the fact that the movie never EVER says anything about Christmas, but the fact that all the Gods were apparently born on 12/25.

  7. damn i tried but couldnt make it through the 2nd paragragh. Try actually LISTENING to the movie instead of going in thinking that what you think is 100% truth……..

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