Please watch
the following documentary, we will discuss it in class throughout the semester. For
now just comment about what thoughts and ideas you had while watching the
movie.
NOTE: the movie has a strong bias, I am having you watch it to get you thinking about issues, not to necessarily persuade you to buy into the issues.
While watching this documentary it basically just confirmed to me that politics are just a show of who can lie the best. The opening video clips proved that by showing how much they contradict themselves when they run for president and when they actually become president. I do agree with the film and the fact that people with money have power and people with power don’t like things that threaten their powerful status.
The part about corporations was interesting and it was sad to watch because of the animals that have been injured or tortured because of our human race. There are too many people that are obsessed with money and don’t care who or what they hurt in the process of getting their money. They’re too many loop holes for corporations. The damage done by them are extremely terrible. I think this is one topic that I have always had a hard time listening to because it is just terrible what human beings are capable of.
I have worked at a bank for three years and I understood how borrowing the money from the Federal Reserve worked what I didn't know is that every time we bought money from them it was basically a loan. We also sell our excess money back to them when we have coin bags of too much twenties etc.
The part on Freud was pretty interesting in the fact that he said that we could never have a true democracy based on the fact that humans have too many secret desires. I thought that was interesting and it got me thinking about the corporations and how they used this information to create advertisement to push at our buttons of desire. Once it was learned that people can be manipulated by advertisements and other things like speeches than it gave the people with the money and power the ability to control us in a way. Behavior modification class showed me that just by talking about the ABC’s.
I think that most people have trouble trusting the government with things that they do like the Saddam Hussein idea of what he was doing. I think ever since JFK and Watergate that the people of the United States haven’t completely trusted our government. I mean maybe that’s just me, but I have never fully trusted our government. Someone can say that I am no young to understand what happened, but I feel like I have taken so many history classes and learned so much about government cover ups to be able to make the conclusion that I don’t trust them.
Overall this documentary made me feel like an ant. I would never want to have a tracking device implanted into my body. If our world comes to that then we really have a serious problem. I hope that we can eventually turn around what we have done to the environment and to a lot of species.
To be completely honest, this documentary scared me, and started to get me worried as to what the future is going to hold not only for the country, but for the world as well. There are so many things going on in our country that we are oblivious to, its scary. The fact that our national bank system is operated by a few men, and men that we don't even know is scary enough! I don't like the idea that the money work hard for is essentially being handled by people who are unknown to us. It makea me not want to entrust my money in any bank and keep it in a safe place at home. The documentary also said that the majority of the citizens live paycheck to paycheck, and billions and billions go to power bankers at our expense. This is appaling to me. There are people out there just struggling to make it another day, and there they sit, getting paid with OUR money, while WE struggle! Theres something majorly wrong with that.
Another thing that utterly disturbed me about this documentary was talk of imbedding us with an ID chip, and having everything controlled by that chip. I believe this is just wrong. I would NOT be in favor of this...ever. Being tracked, and having every transaction tracked by the government would be crazy. There would be no privacy what-so-ever anymore. It would be a dictatorship in my opinion. And if we did anything to protest or violate what the government wants us to do, they would simply shut off our chip. Shutting off all our money supply, etc. Wrong. I don't think the government should have this kind of power, what ever happend to free speech?
A thing I agreed with in the documentary was that we need to stop spending foolishly, and use our resources more wisely. We're taking them for granted immensley, and when they're gone everyone is going to panic. People need to learn to be more self-sufficient, and quit relying on everyone else to provide the services and supplies they need. Plant a garden, raise a few animals, make your own household cleaners, etc. Our economy and enviornment will be better off.
This documentary is one of two things: another piece of propaganda, or a wakeup call. I admittedly know *very* little about the government and politics, but this is because I don't really watch the news or get too involved with public affairs. But based on what was in this documentary, it seems like very few of us really know what's happening in our government-- regardless of how much they "keep up with the news". To me, politics have always seemed very insincere. The media portrays events as it sees fit- meaning they will frame an issue in whatever way is most profitable for them. This documentary confirms that there is plenty out there that we don't know. We can't know what the secret service is up to (and this may or may not be a good thing)... and we can't know the kinds of things we don't know, either, which is a very scary thought. The scariest thing, however, is that the things we think we do know are often far from the truth. Unless one does a ton of research, he would probably never know that the currency and its circulation is not regulated by the government, but by a private corporation. Finding this out has the potential to flip our perception of the government and the society affected by it.
The way the documentary describes how the future will unfold is petrifying. Being implanted with a microchip that identifies and records your every move is ethically abominable. Even worse is the chain of events plotted out in effort to convince humans that this is the right thing to do. While one should be wary of blindly accepting conspiracy theories, we should also be wary of blindly accepting what corporations want us to think.
Though extremely depressing, this documentary at least gives the impression that there is something we can do to solve the problem. Realistically, though, it's difficult to imagine that enough people will either ever come to realize what's really going on-- and be affected enough by it to change their habits. While the sentiment is well intended, it's really difficult to follow up an extremely depressing and horrifying documentary by tacking on a five minute spiel of: "But there's something you can do!" After watching what they had to say about the hidden intentions of corporations, it's increasingly difficult not question the reason for the documentary-- how are *they* profiting from this production? Who can we trust? Based on what they portrayed, certainly cutting back on unnecessary spending and doing research to make sure we're purchasing from ethical companies would be the answer. I can't wait for class discussion to see what others have to say about the issue- like nearly everything in this world, the answer probably lies somewhere in the grey area.
Well, as a person who knows little about the government or politics I was somewhat shocked by the material in this documentary. Realistically, everyone lies, so the video showing important individuals like presidents and senators contradicting themselves was no so surprising. I was more less embarrassed to see the individuals that are supposed to represent and protect our country lieing to us. Its somewhat scary to know that we as the people are deceived by the people we help put in charge of the government. Something I've always known about the government is the way they try to portray themselves that is most profitable for them. The documentary goes into the importance of money to the government. And this served my opinion right. I feel that the government is ran by how much money can be made, used, and re-made. Like the documentary stated, the election campaign is not much of a election anymore. Its more like an auction about how much money can be made and used. I think the most surprising an unknown fact that showed up in the documentary was that the currency is not owned or regulated by the government. But, by a private corporation. This corporation known as the Federal Reserve, which I thought was regulated by the government, is not. The corporation basically loans the government money adds interest, ultimately making our debt larger and larger.
Though this documentary is extremely nerve racking, it gives the knowledge behind the government that needs to be known and understood. This should defiantly allow people to think about the government beyond the media and face value. This documentary should make us look at the outcome and the future for ourselves.
Before I even started watching the documentary I took it upon myself to read the intro and was surprised to see that Woody Harrelson was the host to this documentary. As I just got done watching him in the movie Zombieland the night before, but more so because he can be such an influential speaker and individual. In the opening few minutes of the documentary I was immediately intrigued when they started to talk about the contradictions in elections. It confirmed in me how politics, as Casady Myers stated, are just a show of who can lie the best. When confronted they immediately go on the defensive and reject ever saying or doing what they are being accused of, particularly when it comes to threatening their status or power. That is probably one of many reasons I have never really got into politics, no matter what we may think or do, such as voting, how much of that is already predetermined by money, money that is raised or given to by corporations.
Corporation that are willing to only look at the short term side of things and are only looking to please the consumer and make money. Regardless of what they might hurt or who they might in the process. They are forced to look only at the bottom line of things as Harrelson mentions, and as the bottom line increases they have to sell and produce more. In order to sell more they have to consume more of the earth’s natural resources which in turn causes environmental damage beyond repair. To obtain these resources corporations have to expanding to other countries and is the cause of so much war and conflict. At the same time we need these corporations to come up with technology to address the problems such as pollution and other means of energy.
The next thing that I found interesting and true is how the media can influence and push our buttons toward something that is not necessarily the truth. When the attack of 9/11 happened the media used that disaster to motive us the people to back actions of invading Iraq by saying they had weapons of mass destruction. They do this by training individuals to only say certain things in a particular manner that gets the audience convinced. It is these wrong impressions that led the government to take action as an attack on Iraq as self-defense. In fact it was a well planned out tactic from intelligence to get American control in important regains of the world to get these resources that WE need, oil. The corporation will say they are doing it for us the citizens, for we are the ones that want these resources. This is true, I believe as long as individuals themselves aren’t getting any blood on their hands in the process and have someone else to blame, we are willing continue using bloodoil.
Let me start off by saying I am not one for politics or anything remotely close to them. It isn't because they aren't interesting but because they make me so angry and frustrated! There are so many things wrong with this world it isn't even funny, people are starving but the upper class can donate billions of dollars to campaigns, people are working in crappy conditions, living pay check to pay check while corporations sit on their butts and count the money they are rolling in. I would love for someone to explain this to me. This video shows what a corrupt world we live in.
I love that the video opened up with clips of past and present Presidents. The clips are indicating what most people should already know: they are only telling us what we want to hear. These people want to be elected so they will tell voters/consumers what they want to hear. Corporations are basically buying off the President of the United States. This years campaign raising close to a billion dollars truly amazes me. There are so many organizations that the money could have gone to to help people out.
The next thing in this video that really upset me and made me think was the part about our banking systems.Now that I am hearing that no one knows who actually runs our banks is very frightening. Why should we trust people with our hard earned money when we don't even know who they are? Then when the video was discussing how the banks took over shows that we live in a corrupt society. History also shows that these bankers started rumors that small banks were going bankrupt to get everyone to switch over. Do we really need these people to be in charge of our money?
Bernay's use of psychology also kind of upsets me. I realize that the media is suppose to make us want and think that we need things we don't actually want/need. So people spend money on things they don't necessarily need because the media told them they "needed" it. I just hate that anything is/was done to help these big corporations out but not the little people.
Next thing on the list: implanted tracking chips. Are you kidding me? Not going to happen! The government already has so many other ways of keeping tabs on us (ss#, debit cards, credit cards, IP addresses) do they really believe we need to waste more time and more money on something so stupid?
I honestly don't know what to make of this video. I have a hard time trusting which bit of information has been warped and which hasn't. I like my information to be documented and scientifically studied, so that I know that I can go back and look at the data.
I understand that the video is trying to start a movement, a movement where "we the people" take control of our country. I support that idea, however I don't support the most likely way that it is going to happen. Through long and painful battles of "I'm right and you're wrong". I'll do my part to help what I can by not going out of may way to make my life more stressful to attempt to change those things that I cannot change. However, I will be more aware of what I spend my money on and what companies are doing with the money I spend. As a college student, it's a bit difficult to buy healthy foods and expensive safe foods. I do what I can.
I imagine the US will have some sort of revolution of the youth in my lifetime. So much of our world (the USA that is) is about to crumble.
It's a bit much to take in and spit my opinion back out. I think that a discussion in class will be much more progressive than trying to reflect our ideas onto a blog.
This documentary is pretty informative. I have always known that we live in a corrupt world but never actually was educated on that fact. I sometimes think maybe it is better to be unaware and live a life without this information hounding you. I think it is important to be aware..but should it lead your life? No. After reading the introduction I thought I wouldn't neccisarraly enjoy spending my free time watching this. Then after cleaning and listening for around ten minutes I found myself front and center with the screen. It was very interesting and factual enough for me to listen. I understand things are Bias, but the facts are present. The begining interests me because it is about our enviroment overall declining. I know that the enviroment has reduced in good terms a lot over the past years but it was interesting to hear it aloud in detail. The next part that I found interesting is the descriptancy of the Cartel. How our money comes from a higher unknown power. It states that this is a fact. The qoutes from Woodrow Wilson really stood out to me, and made me think about money and our world in an econimical veiw. I really never think about our economy to be honest. Call me selfish, but I don't care all that much. The money supply from a private Federal Reserve is crazy to me! Is this real? They state that it is a fact, but can it really be that unknown? Woodrow Wilsons qoutes and the his support in the Federal Reserve Act made thing seem very controlled. Infact it made me not feel so bad about not voting. Not only did it make me take a look on the economical side of our society, it helped me view psychology on the economy side. I always knew that you can go into buisness psych and industrial psych. But now I see why. Bernays had the first out look in buisness and psychology as one. We are so influenced and controlled it is crazy, but by being a psych major and understanding a little bit behind why we do what we do, it all seems legitimate. They kept stating how the government is basically a conspericy and we planed this war and we benifit from it. There is blood in our oil, was the most substantal quote that hit home for me. Being an employee for the DOD for around three years now really makes me think about this quote. We actually just opened a camp in Baharan, and I could have the opportunity to go. This documentary made me want to consider it more than I have in the past. And my final thought was, No one is putting a chip in me!
I have a love/hate relationship with these sort of documentaries. It is fascinating, liberating, to learn about this sort of corruption. However, it is scary to think about those same kind of things. Do we really have control over our lives? What will America be like in 10 years? 20 years? 50 years? And people wonder why I do not want to have children; who would want to bring someone into this corrupt world?
There were 4 things that really struck me as horrifying in this documentary; Our politicians with their similarity and deceitfulness, the amount of wealth in America's elite populations, the use of psychology to direct the publics attention, and the possibility of identification chips. Let's start with the politicians. We were shown clips of several past presidents or other important governmental figures giving contradicting statements as to avoid negative attention. Throughout history, many powerful people in the public eye have made mistakes. As "regular" people, it is important to remember that our presidents, government officials, etc.. are people too and that they mistakes. At the same time, most may be people but they aren't the same as us. They live in a whole nother world, since birth many of them have more opportunities than most of us "regular" people will ever have. Why? Because they have money and money equal power. Personally, I love Obama and I have always thought that he cared about the good of the common people and that he "gets" us. From time to time, such as while watching the video, it occurred to me, how similar can we really be? Are his thoughts and my thoughts about an equal opportunity country the same?
We hear about conspiracy theories all the time. As the documentary said, sometime conspiracy theories are not just theories. There will always be people that never believe conspiracies and those who believe them all too frequently. With so many circulating around, I think it would be ignorant to not see some truth in them. To the amount of wealth in America's elite populations, or "the 1%", it is scary to think that some families really do have so much more say in what happens in our country than my family does. I would like to believe that just because someone is rich, does not mean they are bad people. And I am sure there are tons of wealthy nice people, however the but on Rockefeller made my blood boil. Some people with money and power in this country are truly evil.
The piece about psychology shaping and directing our attention was the easiest to digest. I could see where the documentary was coming from and while I know it does happen, I do not think that that is an ALL bad thing.
Lastly, the ID chip idea was the scariest for me. Would something like this really happen? Could it? If us "regular" people fought against us, would money and power eventually overturn us? Does it even matter when we debate about things in regards to our government or is everything already planned out ahead of time?
I watched the video with great interest, although I was not shocked at all by the content. I believe that our government officials act in their own self interests and are kept in power by corporations and bankers. The two parties pretend to fight and be at odds, and our Presidents pretend that they care about the people, but the only thing they really care about is separating us from assets and keeping themselves in power. They make sure to throw us a bone now and again to make us think that they are working for us, then they turn around and pass laws to limit our ability to catch them in their huge Ponzi scheme. They steal from social welfare funds and pension funds to further finance their agendas.
Our politicians jet around from coast to coast living lavish celebrity lifestyles, while they pretend to hate rich people and bankers. It does not take long for our politicians to learn the game, steal from the poor to give to the rich - but sell it as if they are taking from the rich to give to the poor. It is quite effective when they have the media on board, a media that is bought and paid for.
The Congress and the President found that they can bury unpopular legislation (and spending) in a bill and pass laws without the public ever knowing. They refuse to limit their own terms and make careers out of fleecing their own nation. And, we, the sheeople continue to vote them back into office thinking they might actually do something in our best interest - hope springs eternal!
As we continue to want more Ipads and to live out our lives on social media, the government plays us against each other because that is the only way they can keep us in serfdom. They do not need microchips because they can track us with our debit cards, cell phones and city cameras. There is no point in stockpiling cash (out of the bank) because the government has the power to change our currency.
As I watched the Super Bowl activities yesterday, I paid attention to the advertising techniques which the corporations used. I also paid close attention to the announcer and news reporters, and one thing became clear - they all sell the same message, life is better if you have all the cool stuff. It is this race for cool stuff that keeps us at war and depletes our planet; but, how many of us are willing to give up our cool stuff?
This video got my attention right away. I have always had the view that the government is too much intertwined with money. The movie talks about how the candidate who can raised the most money, seem to be the most fit to us. When you really think about it, money really has nothing to do with the views of a certain person. Just because a person can raise the most money for their campaign, really has no correlation on whether or not they are the best candidate or should even be a president at all. I thought it was crazy how the corporations are getting more and more power. And somehow they are obligated by law to try to do so.
I thought the part about our so called democracy to be very interesting. The definition of a polyarchy seemed to fit a lot more to the United States. This is a really interesting idea because we are willing to go to war for a country to have a democratic society. Either way, I think we are trying to spread freedom and rights of the people to the world. Just because some forces are working against it, does not mean that we are not fighting for the right cause.
Another interesting point was the sections on the media. It talks about how organizations will not spread message that they do not believe in. This is true but I find it hard to believe that most people are not trying to convey or do anything evil. Just because their opinions differ, does not mean they are evil or immoral, but it could be true in certain cases. I think the people need to take the responsibility to not be easily swayed by one network or source. We should take the time and use our right to vote and have our opinions responsibly. When this happens we will be better informed to make the best decisions for our country.
As the film went on I could really see how bias it really was. At the beginning they take every contradiction from certain politicians and made them look pretty bad. Situations change over time and so do opinions. I found the one with Obama to be really bias when he was talking about threats to the U.S. Obviously, threats change over time as we gather new information. It really bothered me how they tried to make all these people look bad. These sort of documentaries are hard for me to watch because, like the news, they focus on everything bad in the world. We forget how lucky we are in actuality.
The first thing that really struck me about this film was when they pointed out that "publicly traded companies are required by law to place the financial interests of their owners above all else, even the public good". It seems crazy to me that companies are legally required to disregard all else in order to make money for their investors. Knowing this, it makes sense that companies export jobs to third world countries where they can pay workers pennies a day to make their products. They are also using harmful chemicals and wasting our natural resources when they don't have to. They are doing it to increase their profits, and they are legally obligated to do that. This just shows how closely tied our government and businesses are. I don't believe that most people would agree with this law, yet is was able to become a law with the help of people that were elected by us or by people like us. This makes me wonder who politicians are actually loyal to; the citizens or the businesses.
An example of businesses looking out only for themselves are the Monsanto files. Dairy companies were given cows antibiotics and RGBH, which then are given to us through the cow's milk. At first, the FDA told everyone that this was fine for both the cows and people drinking the milk. Instead, the cows are actually getting sick from this and so are the consumers. The constant exposure to antibiotics is making our bodies resistant to antibiotics, which make infections harder to treat. This also allows for bacteria to grow stronger, making them even harder to treat. One example that was given in the movie is people dying from staph infections they picked up at the hospital. This should be easily treated, but because of the amount of antibiotics we are exposed to, we do not respond to medicine the same way, and the infections are killing people. This is a situation where companies should stop giving animals antibiotics, but they don't, because they don't want to lose money.
Before this video, I also did not know that the Federal Reserve was not owned by the government. I always assumed because it was federal, and had so much power, that it was controlled by the government. I also didn't know that it loans money to the government and charges them interest. This makes me wonder who is actually in control of the money, and how much power you can have when you control a country's money.
The idea of a chip being planted into someone's body so that they can be identified after death, in case of a natural disaster, etc. seems almost comical to me. It reminds me of the chips they put in dogs skin so that they can find them if they run away. I wonder what kind of people actually volunteered for this. It seems to me that they are similar to the doomsday prepper people we see on TV. I wonder what they will want to do with these chips. I could see people wanting to put them in prisoners in jail so that they can be tracked down even if they escape. I think that would be a huge invasion of privacy, but I could see people being in favor of it.
This video seems extreme, but I can see where they are coming from. There is a lot happening in this world that we don't know about or are unable to control. I think that things need to be more out in the open. People need to be able to monitor companies and governments to ensure that they are making good decisions.
Growing up we are very heavily influenced by a number of different people; for me it was my parents. My father owns his own business, which is mildly successful, and my mother works in a factory. They never got into politics and they gave me a number of reasons why. While watching this video I was reminded of all of theses reasons and was able to better see why they don't get more involved. As far as elections go, I would always ask them why they didn't vote, and they would tell me that they weren't going to vote because they didn't believe anything that the candidates had to say. At the time I thought my parents were just being uneducated and lazy however growing up I have fallen into the same position, and this documentary supported this notion. In the introduction there were several clips of politicians contradicting themselves. They would make a claim and then shortly after go back on what they said, or state something completely opposite from their earlier intentions. This goes to show how we cannot trust the government, I've always thought it was kind of a joke and I never got into it strictly for these reasons. Just like my parents, I stay out of all of this mess, it may seem irresponsible and lazy, but just like this documentary states: we are not living in a democracy where the people make choices. At the same time though it is hard to imagine American's ever being satisfied with those in power. It makes me wonder if our leaders did everything they said they were going to do, would people still complain and be unhappy? I think the answer is yes and again this justifies me staying out of politics.
To gain power one needs money, and this is what America is all about. It is scary to see how money in corporations has such an influence on those governing us. Having my dad be a small business owner, I have grown up hating big businesses. I know the effects they have on my dads business, so I can see where they would effect people all around the world. It's sad thinking that these corporations only think about the good of themselves. They do not look out for the public good and they are only looking at short term profit. There main goal is to sell more and to do this they must produce more meaning that they use up all of our resources and pry into other countries which leads to even more problems. If American's would just resist the temptations of consumerism we could avoid all of this. If they spent a little extra money to keep small businesses alive we could limit the power of corporations and make America more of a free democracy again.
The idea of the government installing tracking chips into us is obviously a scary idea, but I also find it very far fetched and unrealistic. This portion of the documentary reminded me of the book Communist Manifesto. In this book the government has complete control over everything it's people do. The book is more of a warning, but I think it has a close connection to the idea of government installing tracking devices. This is basically the people's cry for help. They want everyone to rise up and make more of an effort in changing whats wrong with politics. I believe they are just using terror to propagate us.
While watching this video I had a lot of ideas jumping around in my head about what the documentary was truly about. When the video began I was under the impression that the main idea of it was that politicians were liars and should not be trusted. Growing up, I had an uncle who was very republican, yet would ramble on at every family gathering about how corrupt our government is. Needless to say I wasn't thrilled about watching a video about political unreliability. However, the documentary took a complete change. It began to speak about corporations and their influence on our entire state of being. That our society believes we know who is in power, but we are being mislead. This was an interesting idea to me. I've always been a person to watch the news and, although I'm not a political science major, I'd like to think I pay rather close attention to elections and am always sure to vote. After watching this video I felt as if I had no idea who was controlling my government. Was it really our legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government, or was it a few men who scammed their way into owning our government and milking it for all it's worth?
Another idea that I had came while watching their mention of the one and only Sigmund Freud. I found his ideas about freedom very interesting and something I hadn't heard about him before. He believed that people could never truly be free or have the freedom to do whatever they choose. His opinion was that people's desires would overtake them and would become uncontrollable. I, personally, have to believe this correlates somehow with his ideas about the Id, Ego, and Superego. I believe it is the Id that he believes will be let loose if people are given complete freedom.
I do have to express a level of concern that this movie did give me. The idea that our country is being influenced into war is hard to think about. War is something that kills thousands of people every year, and can truly tear apart the lives of societies and countries. Although I understand how the director(s) of this documentary came to the conclusion that they did, I find it hard to believe that our large country corporations are the lone reason for our societies drive to fuel this war. I have to believe that patriotism has a lot to do with it as well as people's drive to put an end to a horrifying dictator and liberate a different society.
I can't say that this movie scared me, but it did give me a level of concern for my country. Overall, I think the movie sent out a rather great message that our society can take back control of our country if we can learn to control our consumerism. Every country and every corporation has it's weakness. It's consumers give corporations their power but they can also easily take that power away. To put this into a comparison; if large corporations were super, it's consumers can be considered both it's sunlight and it's kryptonite. This power could disappear with consumers simply being aware of what they are spending their money on. If I got anything out of this video it's that I should be a smart shopper and understand what I'm buying and who I'm buying it from.
I really took into consideration everything that this film had to offer and will definitely be taking another look at it. I am mildly skeptical of it though. I try very hard to understand bias in anything that I watch and would really like to see a comparative documentary potentially explaining any issues that this film may contain. However, this was a great documentary to watch and I'm glad I saw it. It gave out a lot of food for thought.
This was a very interesting documentary. I liked what it was trying to convey in its message. A couple things that I liked was the Federal Reserve conspiracy, the 9/11 Rockafeller conspiracy, and the outlook of our environment in the next thirty to fifty years.
From what I understand the Federal Reserve is basically taking us for a ride of a lifetime. We pay them money because the government has to borrow it, putting us in a constant state of debt. Obviously I think that this is unfair because Americans can never get ahead in life. While watching I wondered why this is not a bigger concern in our political agendas at each new election. How is some private group of people running our money system that we do not even vote for? Seems silly to me that Americans would allow this because we are after all a democracy.
Another point that the movie tried to make was that this country is not a democracy, but more of a policracy. Ran by people with power and money (elites). Everything we do from the products we buy to the people we vote for to run the country is based off money. We as Americans never have a real opinion. This was upsetting to hear while watching because I would like to believe that I have an unbiased opinion on the decisions that I make, but this movie swayed me that maybe it is not. I guess i do not like politics to begin while, but maybe next elections I will try to make my vote based on my believes and not on what the canidate is forcing down my throat just to be elected.
The chip idea of implanting everyone with a microchip is real scary. I do not like the fact that my life would be monitored. Who would be the ones doing the monitoring? Seems like a flawed and corrupt idea to do this to the people. I felt uneasy when they talked about the chip in the passport. I just do not see this idea coming to life and being voted yes to by Americans. This country is supposedly a free one and that crosses to many moral boundaries.
The Rockafellar man caught my attention and made me angry because if it true that 9/11 was a set up then there is a lot of explaining to do. Killing thousands of Americans just so we could go to war and make money through the defense system is sickening. My brother is in the army, so personally for me it makes me angry to see him risking his life just for the likes of money. I hope that this movie is wrong in a lot of ways because it really made me hate America and myself for watching this go on day by day. Made my wonder how unimportant someones life actually is in the grand scheme of things if you are not one of these elite persons.
I do agree that the society we live in today is one that wastes a lot of things. This movie is not the first time that I have heard of this. Personally, I am guilty of wasting a lot in my life. I buy things that I really do not need but want just to make me happy. I was worried when Woody asked to picture the world in the next sixty years and triple the pollution, the people, the destruction. It honestly made me nervous to have children because I do not know what kinda of world they would be growing up in. From the sounds of it they would not have a chance to prosper. I do think that we need to change things as a society, but things are easier said than done in America. A collaberative effort to try and use less resources to save the planet seems like a far cry. I think that when it comes down to it people will change, but until that point we will continue to live as we are.
Lastly, as a classic example of an everyday American I will continue to live as I am, and quickly forget about this movie. Life will continue as always and I wont question that next time that I vote or buy a new pair of jeans to see if I have been swayed to buy them or not. All these issues due affect me, but not so directly that I am willing to change. I think that statement holds true for most about everybody. There is not sense of urgency to change at this point, so why do it. Honestly, I do not think that most of these topics will until I am older and dealing with 21 billion people on the earth and air so polluted that I will have to buy can air like over in China. Until then I will go about the same routine and conform to the elites and their decisions because my choice alone, frankly, is not going to change anything.
While watching the video I was continuously annoyed with the way the video was formed, information it held, and the way the information was portrayed. The video spent time discussing propaganda and lies, but I could only question the facts and knowledge this video was showing the viewer. Many times over have I been shown how the media and politicians can skew information or use bits and pieces of information to form new information that supports their cause. Knowing this, I couldn't help but wondering if this video was doing the same thin: forming new bits and pieces of information to support this video and their ideas. On top of that, I have always been a skeptical person, always having to see both sides of the story to form my own beliefs and ideas. Due to that, I was skeptical throughout the whole video, questioning if what I was viewing was in fact a video full of truth or a video full of lies formed from a variety of facts.
The video discussed the influence of media on people as consumers, and within this, there were a few small points I agree with. The first being that humans are driven by desire, a desire to obtain the "newest and greatest" item. This is present many times throughout daily television commercials, magazine adds, as well as the holiday seasons, such as Black Friday. The media does a great job of advertising what the public desires, showing that the "newest and greatest" item will set you apart from the others, making you part of a elite group of people, a strong desire for many people. From this, another point was made. That individual freedom is impossible to obtain. Meaning that humans will never be able to fully express themselves. Because society, rooting from the media, has set such a strong importance on "fitting in" and "being popular", this statement holds some truth. I highly doubt there is one person that can honestly state they have never done anything to win the approval of someone or someones. For me, middle school was full of these actions to fit in and be accepted. Therefore, Freud was not far from the truth when he made these conclusions.
However, the one topic that made me the most skeptical was the topic of ID cards and tracking devises. Although America has buckled down on illegal immigrants and identity theft, I do not see these two things becoming reasonable and occurring. I do not see American's giving up their freedoms to have a small tracking chip placed inside their arm. I remember the uproar that occurred when rumors flew about phone lines being taped and internet history being recorded, something that seems so small in comparison to a personal tracking device. I feel as though that tracker will have American's in an uproar, fighting for freedom instead of just allowing these procedures to happen. A person must allow the track to be placed inside one self before one must fear of the track simply being shut up, like stating the in video.
Overall, the video gave an insight into different ideas that I had never considered before and brought to my attention new thoughts and ideas. However, my skeptical character overpowered the ideas of this video to make any huge influence on my thoughts and ideas of our government and our future.
When I started the film I had a feeling I was going to find it interesting and not boring at all when they showed a quote by Howard Zinn. In the fall semester I read the book A People’s History of the United States by Zinn and I found it quite interesting on his viewpoint on how our nation was being run and how we could change it.
My thoughts that I had when watching this film was that it was kind of interesting how it is shown that the federal reserve isn’t tied to the federal government in any way. This is kind of a scary concept to think that all of our debt and money we owe is to a privately funded set of bankers that, with that power, could control our political influence in the United States. A separate thing that I thought of from this was how the policies of the rich and powerful are reflected in the politics that are in play at that time. Even though there are the 1% of people in that higher class they can still control most to all of what happens in our nation.
An interesting thing that tied to our class was how Freud was mentioned on how people don’t really have free will and they will always be more comfortable with conforming to the ideas of others or authority figures around them. This was interesting how his son used this information to write the book Public Relations and help big corporations into kind of brainwashing people into buying things that they really didn’t need to make them happy, they just thought so.
A final thought I had on the subject was that how it is so simple of a concept to stop the people in charge from doing bad things all we have to do is not buy their products. This is a simple request but what I have come to learn is that people in the United States are very selfish and don’t want to sacrifice things that they have and what they give to their family in order to stop these big corporations. But then again I guess that’s the kind of thinking that is the problem in this scenario unfortunately.
BR
This documentary had me interested the whole time, even though the topic was nothing new to me. I have always believed the government is behind some pretty eerie stuff that obviously isn’t revealed to the public unless it somehow gets leaked. I liked how this film talked a lot about how the corporations are the ones who are running this country and I couldn’t agree more. It’s crazy how much influence they have over the government and us; the citizens. Listening to that part of the documentary got me thinking about our freedoms we supposedly have. I personally don’t think we are free. The definition of freedom is the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. I don’t believe we can speak freely or express our opinions without censorship, but odd enough our first amendment states that we can. The Pledge of Allegiance is not allowed to be said in a lot of schools now because the word God is in it and some people don’t believe in God, why is it that those individuals who don’t believe can’t just have the option of not reciting it? Today, I doubt most elementary children in America know the Pledge of Allegiance, all because it’s not seen as important enough to our government to allow us to have our freedom of speech in which we should be able to choose to recite it in school if we want to. Church and state are supposed to be separate but yet if a Muslim wants to wear a wrap on their heads/face it is allowed as well as if they want to practice their religious pray throughout the day they can (I’m not racist I’m just stating a fact). I don’t understand how this is allowed but the Pledge of Allegiance is not said in every school anymore or we don’t have the option for it. Another instance is the push for laws to ban guns, which would be violating another one of our “freedoms”. Yes, we have a military and the police force to protect the people but yet again they are owned by the government and corporation money, so if we don’t have the right to bear arms how can the American people protect themselves from the government if we needed to? This is another example how the government wants to cripple us from our rights and have more power over us. Other examples include: being wiretapped without knowing, watched with surveillance cameras, and withheld from our rights in some situations. It’s wrong and it makes me believe that we only have these amendments to make us think our government is allowing us to live in the land of the free, “freely”. Amendments in my opinion are just there to put our minds at ease and give false comfort to the American people.
I have always been interested in and believed the government has been apart of some sketchy conspiracies. This part of the documentary got me thinking about a lot. We as Americans think we want to know things that the government hides, but in all reality I believe if we did find out some of the conspiracies or activities that go on behind closed doors, could send America into a civil war or uprising if something huge were to be revealed. A conspiracy, I personally believe in is that with all the technology we have and have access to as well as resources, I find it hard to believe that we had no idea where Bin Laden has been all these years. I think the government had known where he had been for awhile and didn’t pursue him because he was the reason why we went to war with Iraq in the American public’s eyes. As the “search” for Bin Laden drug on for years as well as the war, we set up big bases throughout the country, which set us up for securing resources. I believe once we knew we were in good conditions in Iraq and getting the violence under control more, then we all the sudden found Bid Laden, it was kind of iffy to me. When we became on good terms with Iraq and moving towards the same thing with Afghanistan, we didn’t need the “search” for Bin Laden to be our leverage to be over there anymore because we had made decent relations with the people which will come in handy when we keep our bases over there as well as our influence. I wonder if we really did killed Bin Laden, or if we have him in custody still. If he really was killed and dropped in the ocean, I think it was extremely shitty that we allowed him to be buried in a respectable manner in a sense. We can take the resources and time to give a terrorist this decent burial by American citizens and government officials but the rights of innocent Americans are becoming more and more narrowed for no reason except to benefit the government and their power. This all comes down to money, greed, and power. I think we need to change and become more aware of what’s happening to us before it’s too late! This is kind of a rant but this is what I was thinking about during the documentary and it all tied back to who is running our country, how they are influencing us and what the results are and can become if we don’t change.
I watched the documentary and honestly was not really effected by it. It was interesting and had a lot of good information in it, but it held nothing that I have not heard before. Maybe I am just more well versed in these issues than most people, but the information presented in this video is nothing new. I feel like it is a compilation of facts that are meant to spark fear and anxiety in the American people. I feel like people can find potential conspiracies through any manipulation or misinterpretation of facts.
I do believe that the government does play a hand in many secretive operations. I would be foolish to think otherwise. Of course the government does things that the general public does not know about, and probably would not approve of. However, unless mass amounts of people gather to put an end to the greedy, manipulative corporations, then this video, and others like it, will have no effect other than spreading unnecessary fear. If people truly wanted change, they should act on it, not complain to each other through the media. Therefore, I did enjoy the part of the documentary where they talk about taking a stance and that everything that happens in government is allowed to happen because we just "roll over and take it." I think that there will always be problems in the world, but sitting around and complaining about them is not going to fix anything.
There was a time when I was very interested in these conspiracy documentaries. This one in particular said many things that I know to be true. I really like Woody Harrelson, and agree with him politically.
This documentary showed every aspect of how the world is manipulated by an intricate system of social control. However, it is extremely easy to simply become jaded knowing that the world is going to shit and that there's virtually no way out of it. I recently made a friend who is very into this kind of thinking. He has lived on hippie communes and wants to do away with the money system altogether. He believes that a barter system could replace our current system. My problem is that no matter how much I want to, I couldn't live with these same ideals without either completely abandoning the society that I have grown to love to live on a hippie commune, or becoming a hypocrite.
Back in the days before modern day technology, whoever controlled even the simplest forms of technology, such as owning a printing press or having the fastest horse that can make it to the next town, had so much power. It is only natural that this supertechnology that we currently possess would give whoever controls it steroid-pumped power that is beyond anybody's imagination. This absolute power, added in with what we now know about the human psyche, is a dangerous mixture. In my opinion, the people who seek out this power, or the people who are raised to inherit this power, have psychological problems. Nobody should want to enslave the human race, but it's scary that modern day technology sets up an antecedent for that becoming a reality.
Earlier I stated that I have grown to love the society in which I live. There was a time when I was on the front line of the battle against the corrupt establishment. It led me to a couple of aversive outcomes. For one, with such extreme views against our modern day system, I found myself with very few friends. I didn't let myself like anybody who supported the establishment. Also people tend to not like the kid who can only talk about how everything's a conspiracy to control the world. The second aversive outcome was that I found myself being angry all the time. I would actively seek out political debates which would get my blood pumping. I fear that if I would have kept up that act, I would be at greater risk of having a heart attack, on top of my unfortunate genetic predisposition.
I realized that if I keep fighting the battle, I would not enjoy life like I should. Is it really worth spending all of that time being angry when a person only has about 80 years on this planet? I find my answer in John Lennon's song Watching the Wheels. I can know that I'm being screwed by the system, but also not let that bring me down. I believe that I can hold onto my happiness until the government crosses a line. I am a fairly moderate to liberal person, but I also believe that the right to the ownership of guns -although it will not completely prevent the government, or anybody, from taking advantage of us- is at least some sort of safety net if the establishment or the government were to do something extreme like a worldwide holocaust.
I think that Woody Harrelson made some very good points, and I will try to make a point to know where my money is going. I will also support politicians who are against the Federal Reserve, such as Ron Paul.
However, as for fighting the good fight, I'm not the right man.
This was a very interesting video that I really enjoyed watching. It had a lot of interesting information. Some of the information surprised me while other information I had already heard before was refreshed. A lot of the ideas in this video had to do with wealth, power, and people. One point that caught my attention was how politicians are seen as serious depending on how much money they can raise during their campaigns. Woody said it is not really an election but rather an auction where votes are bought by the amount of money raised. I also found it interesting how they said the U.S. is not really a democracy but rather it is a Poliarchy in which the rich and powerful are in control. I see how this can be true and was surprised because our entire lives we are taught that the U.S. is a democracy. I had never really heard anything about the Federal Reserve System. This was a new idea to me that really interested me. I didn't realize that there was a central banking system that we (the U.S.) get money from. I also did not know that this System has such an enormous amount of power of our government because they are in such a massive debt from all the loans they have taken out from this FRS. Woodrow Wilson is the president that was basically forced into signing the Federal Reserve Act into action. He later wrote about how he regretted his decision. I found this part of the video so interesting because I had never heard of this system before. I am surprised that there is such a powerful system out there that even our government is afraid of. Some other ideas I had already known about were things about how the media carries the messages that the major corporations want us to receive. I really like learning about Freud's nephew, Bernays. I have learned about him before and the major impact he had on the public relations. He played a huge role in selling ideas to consumers. He used the idea of linking products to peoples' unconscious desires. This is an interesting concept that I can never learn enough about. I also found it interesting when they were talking about all of the different misleading information the government and media fed the citizens of the U.S. to gain support to attack Iraq. It is disappointing to learn how deceptive our government can be. I also found the information about the RFID tags to be interesting. These tags are scary because of how much power they can give the government over us. I hope these tags are not enabled during my lifetime. I think these tags are an invasion of privacy. All in all this video had a lot of interesting ideas and I would like to learn more about most of them.
RB
I have always been extremely skeptical about these particular documentaries. They always seem to have an extreme bias, focusing on one side of the issue. Their aim is to always convince you that their side of the issue is the right one. Granted, these movies do have some truth to them, but at the same time, other aspects of these movies can seem farfetched. That being said, this movie did have some intriguing parts in it. In particular, the famous quotes from past presidents were very interesting to me. The fact that they tied so well in with the movie is what really caught my attention. My initial impression immediately went to conspiracy theory, but as the movie progressed, I started to allow some of the information to pass by my judgment.
One of the first topics they mentioned in the movie was that of the Federal Reserve.
As stated in the movie, the so called Federal Reserve actually isn’t even owned by the federal government. I may not be speaking for everyone, but that was the total shocker of the movie for me. I honestly had no idea that the Federal Reserve was owned by private bankers. As the movie went on about how the Federal Reserve loans money to the government and then has the government pay them back with interest, it all sort of made sense that we are in so much debt. Not saying that the Federal Reserve is actually a part of the reason why our country is in so much debt, but it does seem oddly coincidental to me.
Another part of the movie that was interesting to me was the corporations segment. I already knew a little bit about this topic, so it wasn’t as shocking as the Federal Reserve part. The part about how the military industrial complex has so much influence over the government that it has influenced the conflict we are currently involved in overseas in Iraq or Afghanistan. That part was extremely eye opening for me, but I did not believe it. I found that part hard to believe. I would hope that companies would not intentionally get us involved in conflicts which American soldiers are killed in order for those companies to make a profit. I just don’t see how those CEO’s could sleep at night knowing that they have caused thousands of American families grief and stress.
I don’t pretend to know that I know a lot about our government or politics but I know bias when I see it. Though it is obvious and well known that politicians contradict themselves the opining clip are skewed. Yes, there are contradictions, but each clip is being taken out of context. I feel like I can’t judge them too harshly without knowing more of the entirety of each speech. It is clear that the maker of the documentary wants to prove that our government and politicians are corrupt. It also irritated me that they had a famous actor, Woody Harrelson, narrating the documentary. This may or may not be true, but whenever famous actors are used in advertising or documentaries like this, I feel like the makes are trying to get the viewers to be like, “OH! He believes what their saying, I should too!” Comparing corporations to Godzilla? That’s slightly irksome . I understand what they are insinuating but it seem like name calling with is also a problem in today’s politics. I’m writing me response while listening to the video and I can’t decide if I like it. There is a lot of information but it is so hard to look past it’s biased. While watching the video, I can’t help but wish I knew more so I could have been able to form my own opinions. The video talks about how the media is bought out to slant the news in the way of the highest bidder but how is that different from this documentary that only gives the one, corrupt side. I am not suggesting that the video is wrong; I am just want to know more. I know we have problems in our government and our politicians but all of my information shouldn’t come from one source and as of now, that source is this highly biased documentary.
I agree that it is a very biased documentary and it was difficult to watch at times. To me, it seemed hypocritical the way the video condemned others for using the very same scare tactics used in the video. I am also very cynical of actors preaching to the "serfs" about lifestyles, when they are more extravagantly wasteful in one month than I will probably be in my whole lifetime.
This documentary actually scared me a little. My dad watches the news all of the time and it made me think how much of what he is watching is true. That saying of don't believe everything you read of the internet I feel has extended to don't believe anything without proof.
My roommate this summer was very into conspiracy theories. She told me about some I had never heard about. After watching this documentary it made me go back and reevaluate her theories.
I feel like I am pretty naive when it comes to what is going on with the government. I have always said that I could never do what the presidents do so I'm not going to judge them but I am rethinking that now. I mean they but the power of American money in a private bank and not in the government's control? That shocked me the most in the movie.
Another thing that surprised me was that the government has used propaganda to get us to agree to a war. Propaganda was used in Russia and Germany but in America. It is hard for me to believe that.
I have thought before that we should just get rid of money all together because it hurts us more than helps us now a days. After watching this I am leaning towards that theory more than ever. Money seems to be the underlying cause of everything bad in this movie. I wonder what a world would be like if we didn't have it any more?
I really feel that I should watch where I spend my money now. This movie defiantly convinced me to look into the companies I am putting my money into. The consumer has the power but we often forget that. It is partially our fault that our resources are being used up at such a high rate. We demand and the companies supply.
Another thing that surprised me was the micro chip in peoples arms. We are already too dependent on technology and they want to make us more so. I feel like that would be a bad idea because if we ever run out of power we are going to have a catastrophe on our hands.
Overall I feel like this movie was a huge eye opener, especially for someone like me that hardly every watches the news or pays attention to what is going on. People need to know the truth so they can act accordingly.
At the very beginning of this documentary, the speaker asked the audience to “keep an open mind, but question everything.” I really like that he started off this way, as it is an important mindset to have at any point walking into something new. I did notice, though, the way the arguments in this video were presented, it is really easy to join right in with gusto, not thinking about the facts. They really used fear and emotion as strong tactics in getting the audience attention.
There were many facts brought up in the documentary that were not only startling but downright scary. The idea that the federal reserve bank is not run by the government actually but private bankers is very scary to me. These private bankers were not elected by anyone, and it seems they are unregulated. Because money is so well connected with power, it makes one wonder how much power the people actually have. The documentary made me feel like our decisions as voters are governed by these political and financial elite, like free will doesn’t exist. For example, these people with all the money can back any president they want. It is a very strong trend that the president with more political funding comes out in the end. If they are manipulated how we vote, they are truly running the country.
Another point the documentary entertained is the idea that corporations drive war. This again is talking about a small group of political and financial elite running the show for what is best for their companies. The obvious example in this case is September 11th and the War on Terror. The speaker in the documentary claimed that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the attacks on our country on September 11th, 2001. If this is true, it really makes me question everything to do with the War on Terror that we are fighting because I feel that as a citizen and a voter, I was led to believe that was why we were after him. I do understand that Hussein did a lot of very bad things, but I really thought 9-11 was the real reason we went after him. If this is the case, does the War on Terror have anything to do with Terrorism at all? Or are we actually fighting for oil, as the documentary suggested.
The subjects of the documentary escalated quickly after that to tracking chips in passports and in people and to a totalitarian world government. I thought it was really interesting that the speaker mentioned that the government and those in power are using fear to drive these into reality and that this is completely wrong. At the same time, however, this documentary used fear to get our attention and to make the points.
There were a few other things I thought about while watching this documentary. First, if every living system is in decline, this is very scary because human population is growing, and we depend on all other systems to keep us alive. Second, I have always wondered if the attacks on September 11th were planned specially to match our countrywide emergency number, 9-1-1. Third, I thought there was a very strong call to action at the end. I really appreciated this because it made it seem like there was a reason I watched the whole thing, and I didn’t just waste my time.
My husband is a history teacher and admires Howard Zinn a great deal. This is my interview with him:
1.Who is Howard Zinn and why is he important?
A:Zinn wrote "A Peoples History of the USA". He is an iconic figure who presents what I would call "the rest of the story". Zinn recognizes the class structure of this country and it colors his work.
2.The theme of Ethos is about flaws in our system. What is the greatest single flaw?
A: According to Zinn, we do not have a democracy, we have a poliarchy. This is a system where we are faced with the corruption of money. Representatives are beholden to those who have the money. The term was "We don't have elections, we have auctions".
3.Is there a clear bias to this film?
A: We need to change the system. The question is how. Zinn is unabashedly progressive and views history from that perspective.
I’d say that around a minute of getting into the documentary I could already feel my heart rate increase and my cheeks getting flushed, I can’t stand politics never have and I probably never will but once I realized what reaction I was having to the documentary I had to stop it and walk away for a minute. I knew there was no way I could take any information presented throughout the documentary and learn from it with a biased mind-frame going into it. So once I got that all taken care of I actually really enjoyed the information that was presented.
It’s obvious that politics lie and they lie with a purpose, they know exactly what they are saying and how to say it. But at the end of the day they are just like everyone else in the world; their human beings, they are no different than any other person; there’s good and evil in every person. So why do we as a society put them on a silver platter. This documentary had me asking myself the question ‘why’ a lot. Why do we allow politics to persuade our opinions with advertising and false statements, why do we know that the promises made are actually never going to get done but yet we simply say ‘that’s just what politics do’, why do we accept that type of treatment? A bigger concern I slowly became aware of was why do we as regular everyday people living in society think we don’t have a say, too often I hear people especially of my age group, say that there’s nothing they can do anyways so why bother, nothing will ever change. Well excuse me, but no shit. When did regular everyday people start devaluing themselves and their ability to think clearly just because they didn’t have a political or ‘powerful’ standing in society?
I wanted to find out what other people’s opinions were on the documentary because I think one of the best ways to learn is to read what other people have to say. So I read through some posts, and a couple stuck out to me because for the topics on the federal reserves and the corporations they seemed to think that some of the accusations couldn’t be possible. That may be true, but I personally have always thought that our government had a lot of secrets, but they obviously have some very intelligent and influential people on their side. However, I also think that it’s naive when we as individuals opt not to think a situation could happen, in all reality why couldn’t it happen; examples like 9/11, the Sandy Hook shooting all these horrific events and yet people say that they can’t believe it happened, the thing that bothers me is that’s all people say is “I cant believe it” and I just want to scream well it happened so what are you going to do about it, continue to think that the unthinkable can’t happen, or open up your mind and realize it did happen and then start figuring out why and how. If people just took the time to do a little investigating I think they would be amazed at some of the things they find out that our society didn’t know about for years until after it happened. Which raises the question, what else had been done, or is being done that we still don’t know about?