Ask HN: Why does nobody want to talk about Zeitgeist?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=324296

by jmtame • 18 years ago

1 4 18 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I'm just curious, the last time the story got submitted, it only got 11 points and maybe a few comments.

Do people just dismiss this as false propaganda? Or do they feel uncomfortable watching it? Or just not care?

I'm really curious why nobody is interested in the way their own economies and governments work, even if it is controversial. If it is controversial, why not argue the points?

*Edit: I have access to one of the world's largest academic research electronic libraries, as an undergraduate student at the University of Illinois. Would it help to cite the statistics mentioned throughout the video? Or is that just a wasted attempt at trying to figure out what's true and what's not in the videos?

pius• 18 years ago

I don't know what you're talking about. Could you provide a link to the thread?

wayne• 18 years ago

The first thing that popped into my head was Google Zeitgeist (www.google.com/zeitgeist) but I don't think that's what he's talking about.

alecco• 18 years ago

Hi jmtame.

Media like the "Zeitgeist, the Movie" make me and many others upset. It doesn't follow logic, it is quite simplistic, it is just too lame. It ties very different things into a great conspiracy theory.

What really pisses me off is all is welcomed by the far right conservatives in the western democracies. Anybody against their plans gets dismissed as a lunatic paranoid.

In "What We Say Goes" Noam Chomsky mentions the case of government agencies feeding the media with small bits of John F. Kennedy's assassination.

nostrademons• 18 years ago

I haven't seen Zeitgeist, but from your description and the comments on the original submission, I assume it's one of those conspiracy-theory films about the power elite and economic exploitation?

I think you might be surprised by how much of the middle class is aware that they're being fucked over by elites. Most of the folks my parents have had over for dinner just nod and agree when my dad goes off on his conspiracy theories. Where I went to college, many of the sociology courses had us reading about and discussing the power elite. For my part, I'll freely admit that I think it's likely there are conspiracies by people in power against people not in power, I just don't think the ones we hear about are the real ones. (Think about it: if these people were as powerful and clever as most conspiracy theories make them out to be, why would they let you know about it?)

Then the question always is: what do we do about it?

In one of your previous posts, you said: "And our professor said that in AA meetings, the first step is recognizing there is a problem. The second step is getting angry. And the third is taking action or doing something about it." As a kid, I used to believe that complaining served a very real purpose, because it drew attention to the problem. Didn't make me very popular. I gave up that belief when I realized that nearly every competent person (including many of my peers) already knew, they just understood that they were not in a position to do anything about it, and thinking about it just made them miserable.

The big difference between AA and the world around us is that AA is all about your personal behavior, yet the world around you is other people's personal behavior. Some wise person on the Internet once said, "Control yourself, because you can't control others." Asking "Why don't you do something about it?" is the wrong question. Asking "Why don't I do something about it?" is the right question, but finding an answer can be somewhat difficult.

Raganwald once wrote a great blog entry about "dangerous ideas". I'm looking for them - one of the reasons I gave up on my last startup (other than I didn't think it'd work) was that even if it succeeded, it just made sheeple more sheeplike. But dangerous ideas usually aren't obvious. If you find one, run with it - maybe you'll be the one to change the world.

Ask HN: Why does nobody want to talk about Zeitgeist?

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