Okay, lets talk about The Zeitgeist Movement. Im sure that many of you have watched the Zeitgeist films, and been drawn to some of the ideas. Ive been giving the movements founder, Peter Joseph, a fair hearing today, listening to several hours of him being interviewed. Hes a charming and likable fellow, and extremely articulate. He gets pretty jargon-y when being strongly challenged, but when allowed to speak at his own pace, is kind of compelling. But the whole Zeitgeist thing is completely insane, isnt it? You tell me. All Mr. Joseph wants to do is entirely reshape the economies and cultures of every country on earth, in the interest of providing for all the needs of every human without the need for money. Sound viable to you? He makes some interesting points about the scarcity engine of current free market economics. And he surely seems to be a nice guy - and not awfully ego-driven. But when he tosses off these scenarios like - and I paraphrase - Imagine that all the cell-phone companies got together and cooperatively designed phones that would be the best, most upgradable, most recyclable phones, he is assuming a motivation that humans simply do not evidence. Over and over, he talks about ways to standardize parts - car parts, for example - in the interest of everybody everywhere having access to immediate repairs. But how do we get every inventor the whole world over to selflessly contribute his or her innovations with no hope of personal gain? And how, with no money in play, do these non-profit car-parts end up in every far-flung region of the world, ready to be swapped into the standardized non-profit cars? The problem with Utopians - and Mr. Joseph is certainly a Utopian - is that at some point, the solutions they recommend have to be coerced. Im not troubled by Peter Joseph. I assume that the viral explosion of his videos has turned his head, and made him think that all things are possible. I doubt that he has his eye on the violent overthrow of ours or any nation. I suppose that - like the OWS movement - his far-out ideas serve to get people thinking, and might well provide the impetus for some serious re-thought about how we relate to all this damn stuff we buy. To that extent, I give him his props. What do you all think of this stuff? Any ideas about how we slow our headlong pursuit of convenience and shiny beeping objects, without crashing into a post-industrial dark-age? And without any Stalin / Mao pogroms and re-education camps in service of The Shining Vision? Clearly we have not found our way back to Joni Mitchells Garden. Are we just stuck with the materialism that we found so offensive when it was only for squares vapidly trying to keep up with the Joneses? How do we dial it back to an acceptable level? Or should we embrace it? I guess those are the questions before us. (For those of you who have not heard Peter Joseph speak, here is an interview done with Brian Rose of London Real. The in-depth theorizing gets going at around the 40 minute mark.) youtu.be/4-bdr68jHe8
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 03:00:27 +0000
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