Ex-Friend: Loughner Was Influenced By Conspiracy Theory Movie Zeitgeist

[RamboLiberal]

In the same Good Morning America interview in which he said that Jared Lee Loughner "wasn't on the left, he wasn't on the right," former Loughner friend Zach Osler mentioned a documentary film called Zeitgeist, which he says heavily influenced the alleged Tucson gunman.

Osler, who George Stephanopoulos described as perhaps "Loughner's last close friend," said, "I really think that this Zeitgeist documentary had a profound impact upon Jared Loughner's mindset, and how he viewed the world that he lives in."

And though by Osler's account he and Loughner stopped hanging out two years ago, and there's no way of knowing what Loughner thinks of the documentaries today, there are a few resonances between the film and the online videos attributed to Loughner.

Zeitgeist: The Movie, produced in 2007 by a man named Peter Joseph, is actually the first film in what's now a trilogy. A sequel, Zeitgeist: Addendum, came out in 2008, and a third film, Zeitgeist: Moving Forward, was scheduled to be released over the weekend. Together, they form the foundation for The Zeitgeist Movement, which, according to the movement's website, "works globally to spread information about a new social system called a Resource Based Economy." The website claims 420,000 people have registered as part of the movement, and says "estimates" put the number of online views of the original Zeitgeist: The Movie at over 100 million. (In March 2009, The New York Times reported on a "Z-Day" event in New York City.)

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/01/ex-friend_loughner_was_influenced_by_conspiracy_th.php?ref=fpa

PUBLIC STATEMENT FROM THE CREATOR OF THE“ZEITGEIST FILM SERIES”, PETER JOSEPH:

RE: THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA ASSOCIATION CREATED BETWEEN “ZEITGEIST” AND THE TUCSON MURDERS.

It has come to my attention that various mainstream news organizations are
beginning to run an association between my 2007 performance piece/film,
“Zeitgeist: The Movie” and the tragic murders conducted by an extremely
troubled young man in Tucson, Arizona. They are also slowly beginning to
bleed the obvious line between my 2007 documentary work, my film series as
a whole and The Zeitgeist Movement, which I am the founder. Frankly, I find
this isolating, growing association tremendously irresponsible on the part
of ABC, NBC and their affiliates - further reflecting the disingenuous
nature of the America Media Establishment today.

It appears to have begun with a comment on NBC news referencing my film
along with other “influential” films as well, such as Richard Kelly's
film “Donnie Darko” and then spreading to ABC News where it singled out
"Zeitgeist: The Movie" and the Series itself, stating:

“Osler pointed to an online documentary series called "Zeitgeist" as a
possible influence on the man.

The series rails on currency-based economics.

"I really think that this 'Zeitgeist' documentary had a profound impact on
Jared's mindset and how he viewed that world that he lives in," Osler
said.”

Let it be known that the former friend of Loughner, Zack Osler, who states the association on camera, is noted to have been out of contact with Loughner for two years. Yes, two years. So, the lack of integrity of ABC's reporting - to amplify a comment by a person who had not even been in contact with Loughner for such a long period of time - is truly poor, manipulative journalism. ABC goes on to imply that my film work was somehow an inspiration in real time even though, again, this testimony is based on interactions occurring two years prior. Needless to say, the disposition for such a horrible act of violence by anyone simply cannot be accurately assumed by behavior from 2 years prior, regardless.

http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/tucson.html

[GSLevel9]

1. and today's meme... LOUGHNER WAS A BUSH-HATER. nt

[NuclearDem]

2. Loughner was so into nutty conspiracy theories...

that he was actually LAUGHED out of ATS...

(For reference, ATS is AboveTopSecret, one of the top conspiracy theory websites out there...if he got laughed out of THERE, of all places...)

[elocs]

3. Question: where were all of these "friends" in the months leading up to this tragedy?

Because Loughner sure seems to have friends and ex-friends coming out of the woodwork now.

[NutmegYankee]

4. Friends can only do so much.

It's likely the shooter broke away from them as he descended into madness. Most people I know who became mentally ill pulled away from their friends when they said something.

[dkf]

6. He would tell them he didn't want to be friends anymore.

[MrMickeysMom]

8. Remember, money can't buy you love, but...

... it can sure buy you a few "friends"... :eyes:

[dkf]

5. Yeesh his fixation on currency was a thing against bankers and the Fed?

"According to the film, the US was forced by the Federal Reserve Bank to become embroiled in these wars, not with a view to win but to sustain the conflict, as this forces the US government to borrow money from the bank, allegedly increasing the profits of the "international bankers". The film then goes on to claim that the Federal Income Tax is illegal."

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeitgeist:_The_Movie?wasRedirected=true

If you read the wikipedia entry it does seem to cover quite a few of Loughners obsessions. He wasn't right or left...he was consumed by the conspiracy fringe.

[cbc5g]

9. Thats not conspiracy

or fringe...

[dkf]

10. Well maybe he was sane then.

[MrMickeysMom]

7. He might have gotten the same message from the Beatles' "White Album"

Having seen Zeitgeist, which points to and turns on its ear "religion" and "monetary based" system, it predicts we can only survive the mess we've created through those other influences by something they call "resource based" economy.

Actually, it's thought provoking, but if this is the latest theory of a conspiracy theory movie, I'm sure I'll be hearing about how his early childhood was really influenced by Kermit the Frog and "it's not easy being green" theory.

What nonsense.

[slay]

11. I've seen Zeitgeist - never does it advocate violence like what Loughner did

and it's actually a very interesting movie. You never know what can set an unstable person off - that's why violent hate speech is a legitimate concern because it actually encourages that kind of behavior. But as far as Zeitgeist goes, it never did.

It's obvious that Loughner has mental problems - how the hell does killing and wounding all those people stop our currency based economy anyways? And what difference will it make to him now that he'll be in prison forever?

I've seen people get obsessed over things like this - the way Glenn Beck's followers are with gold since they believe the same thing. Over 100 million people have seen the Zeitgeist documentary by now - and not one of them reacted this way. Loughner may have been obsessed with parts of that movie, but you can not blame the movie as cause.

Thanks for including the link (http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/tucson.html) to the public statement by the Zeitgeist documentary makers about this in your post.

Quote from the link: "Make no mistake: The Social System is to blame for the rampage of Jared Loughner – not some famous online documentary which is known as the most viewed documentary of all time in internet history. Are the other 200 million people who have seen the film also preparing for murder sprees? I think not."

[Odin2005]

12. The Zeitgeist movement is a bunch of technocratic idiots that...

...think AIs can make a planned economy work.

[earth mom]

13. How much you wanna bet that this is a move to ban the movie Zeitgeist?

Which was EXTREMELY critical of the government and the powers that be.

No doubt the next move by TPTB is to ban Orwell's books among many others that are deemed "terrorist" aka "liberal". :puke:

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[The Doctor.]

15. Zeitgeist is very interesting, but there is no real connection between it

and the actions of Loughner.

For one; Nothing he could have done at his level would stop the powers described in Zeitgeist from accomplishing their agenda. In fact... his actions would have gone further to facilitate (if, in fact, a cotillion of international corporations and banks really have their sights set on world domination) those very powers.

[tiny elvis]

16. pima community college was a more recent influence

there are more than 'a few resonances between' basic logic studies and loughner's online writings
how loughner interprets and misuses logic lessons should be used to see how he interprets other things
his broken mind could not have made good use of any potentially edifying presentation
noone has identified where loughner got the idea that manned space flight, particularly shuttle missions, is impossible
here is an example of his favorite topic and his writing style at abovetopsecret

All aboard with the empty NASA Space Shuttles!

If the design of the NASA Space Shuttle keeps the black body temperature of −454 °F from the outside orbit then the NASA Space Shuttle is at a temperature for human life.
The NASA Space Shuttle isn’t at a temperature for human life.
Hence, the design of the NASA Space Shuttle doesn’t keep the black body temperature of −454 °F from the outside orbit.

If the air supply supports the NASA Space Shuttle mission for the time in orbit then the crew is able to breathe with the correct amount of oxygen for the time in orbit.
The crew is not able to breathe with the correct amount of oxygen for the time in orbit.
Consequently, the air supply doesn’t support the NASA Space Shuttle mission for the time in orbit

space shuttles and government mind control are more directly related to loughner's target than fiat money