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dailykos.com Holy s**t My son's teacher is showing Zeitgeist dailykos.com Holy s**t My son's teacher is showing Zeitgeist By litho Wednesday Jan 19, 2011 · 5:49 PM PST 2011/01/19 · 17:49 Li'l litho came home today and said "Dad, we saw this intense rightwing documentary in Social Studies today. It was all about how the Federal Reserve is manipulating our money to cause inflation and enslave us." "What was the movie?" I asked. "Zeitgeist." Zeitgeist? So happens, I first heard about Zeitgeist this week, in this context: By all accounts, an Internet documentary named "Zeitgeist" was the favorite movie of accused Tucson shooter Jared Loughner (bio included on the last page). Created in 2007 by New York-based conspiracy merchant Peter Joseph, "Zeitgeist" is a two-hour mash-up of old and new conspiracy theories involving religion, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and the Federal Reserve system. Its message is simple: "We've been lied to. We've been lied to by every institution." "He wanted to watch it all the time," a teenage friend of Loughner's told the Arizona Republic. "It was cool at first. But then it got weird. It was all he wanted to do." The clip and my letter to the principal on the flip... Now, on the one hand I'm concerned that my son's teacher is presenting in class the film that inspired a mass murderer, but on the other hand I'm equally concerned that a public school classroom has become a forum for the uncritical discussion of a wide range of conspiracy theories. I haven't watched Zeitgeist, and I don't really intend to. The Byron York article quoted above the flip claims the film sees the Federal Reserve as the creation of "ruthless banking interests" that seek to "reduce the United States to the 'slavery' of ever-increasing debt." (Maybe as a Jew, I'm overly sensitive to attacks on "ruthless banking interests," but it's hard not to hear an echo of the old antisemitic attacks on "international Jewish bankers.") Other reviews of the film, such as the wikipedia entry and a March 2009 article in the New York Times, also highlight its discredited conspiratorial rantings. This isn't the first time the Social Studies teacher has shown stuff in class that I thought was over the top. A couple of months ago, he screened two or three episodes of the History Channel's documentary series Ancient Aliens, a hodgepodge of Erich von Daniken's absurd rantings about pre-historic extraterrestrial visits to the Earth mixed together with New Age astrology and pseudo-science discussions of the Bermuda Triangle and other paranormal events. The episode I watched on line didn't include the Loch Ness Monster or the Yeti, but pretty much every other weird phenomena was thrown in. When that happened, li'l litho and I talked about the weaknesses in von Daniken's argument and ways he could address those weaknesses in class. I wasn't happy about what was being taught, but I didn't want intrude on his teaching. Zeitgeist, which bears a strong ideological resemblance to Ancient Aliens, strikes me as going beyond the pale, especially now that the film's influence on the Arizona killer appears to be fairly well established. I've prepared the following email to the school principal: When my son came home this evening, he told me that in Social Studies class today they had seen an eight-minute youtube clip from the movie Zeitgeist. The theme of the clip, apparently, was how the Federal Reserve was manipulating the money supply in order to cement its own power over society. I haven’t seen any of Zeitgeist, and in fact I had never heard of it until this past week when it emerged that Arizona assassin Jared Loughner was a fan of the film. According to press reports, one of his friends said that Loughner “wanted to watch it all the time... It was all he wanted to do.” The film apparently blends conspiracy theory and New Age religion to portray the Federal Reserve as the creation of ‘ruthless banking interests’ which seek to “debase American currency and reduce the United States to the ‘slavery’ of ever-increasing debt.” One part of the film – which, fortunately, was not shown to the students today – reportedly purports to show that the 9/11 attacks were an inside job conducted by the United States government. I am very concerned that these outlandish, false, and even dangerous theories are being presented to seventh- grade students, especially – if my son is to be believed – if there was no critical introduction to the film. It is one dailykos.com Holy s**t My son's teacher is showing Zeitgeist thing to present propaganda as an artifact, as an example of what disturbed minds can create, but it is an entirely different thing to present it as if it were an accurate representation of reality. I was not in the classroom today and I cannot claim to know what the teacher’s intent was in showing this film. If, however, he has turned his World Geography classroom into a forum for expounding his own political views, especially when those views are so far from the established norms of scientific evidence as his appear to be, then I think this situation needs to be brought to the attention of the school administration. I haven't sent that email yet, because as a teacher myself I'm very concerned about parental censorship of the curriculum. I'd hate for a parent to reject my teaching of Diego Rivera, for example, or an independent Ecuadorian film, because they disagreed with the politics of the works' authors. Still, it seems to me this film crosses a line and I have a tremendous urge to protest. 1 Jared Lee Loughner - Murderer In January 2011, Jared Lee Loughner attempted to assassinate U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Six people were killed and 13 injured in his shooting spree. Jared Lee Loughner was born in Arizona on September 10, 1988. On January 8, 2011, Loughner fired a gun at a Tucson event where Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords was meeting constituents. His attack killed six people and wounded 13—Giffords was shot in the head but survived her injuries. In November 2012, Loughner was sentenced to seven life terms and 140 years in prison without parole. Jared Lee Loughner was born in Arizona on September 10, 1988. His parents, Randy and Amy, raised their son in a northern Tucson subdivision. Loughner reportedly started showing symptoms of schizophrenia while still in high school. In addition to writing and saying nonsensical things, his thinking was disorganized. He also developed a paranoid obsession with the U.S. Constitution. After high school, Loughner enrolled at Pima Community College, where he sometimes acted in a manner that one classmate described as "wildly inappropriate." Loughner's odd behavior included making disturbing remarks about terrorism. In the fall of 2010, Loughner was suspended from Pima after repeatedly causing disruptions at the school and posting troubling YouTube videos—in one video, he stated that the college was "illegal." Instead of meeting the school's requirement that he provide a mental health assessment stating he was not "a danger to himself or others," Loughner subsequently withdrew from the college. "I can't trust the current government because of fabrications. The government is implying mind control and brainwash on the people by controlling grammar." After dropping out of Pima, Loughner's parents became increasingly worried about his behavior. In time, his father began disabling Loughner's car in order to make sure his son stayed home at night. Loughner also continued to share his radical anti-government views on YouTube. On January 8, 2011, Loughner showed up at a Tucson grocery store where Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was conducting a meet-and-greet event. Armed with a Glock pistol that he had legally purchased in November 2010, Loughner proceeded to fire 31 shots in approximately 30 seconds. Giffords was hit in the head during Loughner's shooting spree, one of the 13 people injured in the attack. Loughner also killed six people who had been at the event: Christina-Taylor Green, 9; congressional aide Gabriel M. Zimmerman, 30; District Judge John M. Roll, 63; Dorothy J. Morris, 76; Dorwan C. Stoddard, 76; and Phyllis C. Schneck, 79. After the shooting, investigators uncovered an envelope inside a safe at Loughner's home. On it were the handwritten words "I planned ahead," "My assassination" and "Giffords." Giffords survived the close-range shooting, but was critically wounded. Her injuries compromised her speech and vision, and also left her right arm and leg paralyzed. Loughner initially pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, which included murder and attempted murder. After a mental evaluation that resulted in a diagnosis of schizophrenia, Loughner was declared incompetent to stand trial in May 2011. He was then sent to a federal psychiatric facility in Springfield, Missouri, for treatment with the appropriate medications. In August 2012, Loughner was cleared for trial. He ended up pleading guilty to 19 charges. In exchange for his plea, he was spared the death penalty and the rest of the charges against him were dropped. Loughner was sentenced in November 2012. He received seven consecutive life terms and an additional 140 years of imprisonment, without the possibility of parole. .
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