1 00:00:00,293 --> 00:00:03,620 - And to help me sort things out in addition is Peter Joseph 2 00:00:03,780 --> 00:00:06,023 founder of the Zeitgeist Movement 3 00:00:06,190 --> 00:00:10,604 Peter, I know that you have put a major critique of the mainstream media 4 00:00:10,744 --> 00:00:13,290 and its coverage of the Occupy Wall Street movement. 5 00:00:13,420 --> 00:00:15,703 Lay this out for me. What's your biggest beef 6 00:00:15,843 --> 00:00:18,964 with what we've been seeing in the Occupy Wall Street movement 7 00:00:19,104 --> 00:00:21,437 and how it's been covered? 8 00:00:23,624 --> 00:00:26,107 - Needless to say the mainstream media is doing 9 00:00:26,247 --> 00:00:29,323 what it always does best and that's maintaining the status quo. 10 00:00:29,463 --> 00:00:33,402 It's not a far-fetched understanding to see that the values 11 00:00:33,542 --> 00:00:36,713 that are perpetuated by this system that are associated with wealth generation 12 00:00:36,853 --> 00:00:41,556 and the corporations that run this country are going to do the best they can 13 00:00:41,696 --> 00:00:44,983 to make sure the public is not aware of the growing crisis 14 00:00:45,123 --> 00:00:47,639 that this economic system is creating across the board. 15 00:00:47,779 --> 00:00:51,830 I want to commend RT once again for what I've just seen: 16 00:00:51,970 --> 00:00:54,442 It's really wonderful the service that you are providing. 17 00:00:54,582 --> 00:00:57,717 Mainstream media? I've dismissed it long ago. 18 00:00:57,860 --> 00:01:01,325 - We appreciate it. We have been out covering this since the first day 19 00:01:01,465 --> 00:01:04,300 before a lot of people even heard of this, but I will say 20 00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:06,933 that I keep my eyes on what's on the cable networks 21 00:01:07,073 --> 00:01:11,798 and they have started to be out there a little more in terms of covering 22 00:01:11,935 --> 00:01:14,432 and showing that this is actually going on. 23 00:01:14,572 --> 00:01:19,446 I do also have to say that I've seen more stories about 24 00:01:19,586 --> 00:01:22,965 the gap between rich and poor, income and inequality... 25 00:01:23,105 --> 00:01:25,869 You've given up on the mainstream media, but do you think 26 00:01:25,990 --> 00:01:31,322 that after some time, that having this discussion will change things 27 00:01:31,424 --> 00:01:34,408 will lead to a better country? 28 00:01:36,179 --> 00:01:39,743 - Or a better world. I do think the pressures that are emerging 29 00:01:39,883 --> 00:01:43,120 are not going to stop. What's been generated with Occupy Wall Street (OWS) 30 00:01:43,260 --> 00:01:47,085 what underscores that generation: angst, anger. 31 00:01:47,225 --> 00:01:51,086 That 'insurrection' isn't going to stop 32 00:01:51,226 --> 00:01:53,130 because of the mechanisms of this system 33 00:01:53,239 --> 00:01:55,943 (which I'm happy to talk about as we continue) and the mainstream media 34 00:01:56,083 --> 00:01:59,144 will be forced to recognize some attributes of it. 35 00:01:59,284 --> 00:02:01,271 But it's always going to be a colored in a particular way 36 00:02:01,405 --> 00:02:03,923 because that's basically what they have to do. 37 00:02:04,033 --> 00:02:05,759 That's where their talking points come from. 38 00:02:05,899 --> 00:02:08,676 But I don't dismiss the mainstream media. I say that in rhetoric. 39 00:02:08,820 --> 00:02:12,388 Obviously I'm paying attention too or I wouldn't make the commentary that I do 40 00:02:12,528 --> 00:02:15,047 but I think the public needs to begin to understand 41 00:02:15,197 --> 00:02:19,230 that having the concentration of corporate power 42 00:02:19,370 --> 00:02:22,347 ownership of these major, mainstream institutions 43 00:02:22,487 --> 00:02:26,551 is always going to produce biased media and it's a natural consequence. 44 00:02:26,691 --> 00:02:28,765 It's not that the people are unethical who run the mainstream. 45 00:02:28,904 --> 00:02:31,927 It's just the value that's associated and what they promote. 46 00:02:32,027 --> 00:02:35,471 Just like RT and other great more independent avenues 47 00:02:35,611 --> 00:02:38,628 have values that are much more open, they're much broader 48 00:02:38,768 --> 00:02:41,195 more informed, and therefore you represent actually 49 00:02:41,335 --> 00:02:45,460 what many people want to see, what the voice of the people may actually be 50 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:48,737 as opposed to the filtering that goes through the mainstream. 51 00:02:48,877 --> 00:02:51,640 The entire Occupy Movement began as a blackout 52 00:02:51,782 --> 00:02:55,467 and then the outrageous criticisms calling them communists and socialists 53 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:59,403 and a bunch of drug addicts or people without jobs and no incentive. 54 00:02:59,505 --> 00:03:02,282 All that stuff went through that phase. Now we have hit a phase 55 00:03:02,422 --> 00:03:06,380 where the mainstream is going to pay some type of attention 56 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:09,039 but I want to alert everybody that it's going to be colored 57 00:03:09,181 --> 00:03:12,944 so everyone needs to go to outlets that are not mainstream. 58 00:03:13,062 --> 00:03:15,305 They need to start to frequent blog. They need to frequent 59 00:03:15,445 --> 00:03:18,225 all of the independent media that has arisen 60 00:03:18,342 --> 00:03:20,410 from common people that are reporting. 61 00:03:20,851 --> 00:03:23,554 Fortunately, we live in a world with everyone having cameras now 62 00:03:23,690 --> 00:03:25,541 so it's very easy to go to videoblogs 63 00:03:25,667 --> 00:03:27,726 and actually see and digest information yourself. 64 00:03:27,866 --> 00:03:31,452 - Or even go to some of these places, some of these parks where people are. 65 00:03:31,592 --> 00:03:35,532 It seems like more and more they're happening all around the country. 66 00:03:35,666 --> 00:03:39,808 Peter, I want to talk really quickly about the Zeitgeist Movement. 67 00:03:39,948 --> 00:03:42,933 It encourages also a change in the system. 68 00:03:43,073 --> 00:03:46,000 When it comes to some of the things that these protesters on OWS 69 00:03:46,140 --> 00:03:50,072 are frustrated with: a government with officials that are very much chosen 70 00:03:50,212 --> 00:03:53,117 by the amount of money they can raise, banks being bailed out 71 00:03:53,257 --> 00:03:56,014 veterans returning home and not being able to find a job 72 00:03:56,154 --> 00:03:58,270 I guess I want to get your take, pick your brain a little bit. 73 00:03:58,410 --> 00:04:02,185 What are your solutions to some of these problems? 74 00:04:02,325 --> 00:04:05,062 Just to correct the language quickly, it's not 'my' solutions. 75 00:04:05,202 --> 00:04:08,781 It's solutions that have come about through a very simple technical analysis 76 00:04:08,921 --> 00:04:12,290 of what defines society: what creates good public health 77 00:04:12,430 --> 00:04:16,283 good mental health, what we have learned about social management 78 00:04:16,423 --> 00:04:18,550 when it comes to our scientific benchmark. 79 00:04:18,690 --> 00:04:21,543 Just to point out before I answer that question, our entire social system 80 00:04:21,683 --> 00:04:24,267 is based on an archaic view a traditional notion 81 00:04:24,407 --> 00:04:26,258 that was established long ago. 82 00:04:26,398 --> 00:04:30,114 It's really an extension to feudalism is what the political system is today. 83 00:04:30,254 --> 00:04:32,406 The economic system is a socially Darwinistic notion 84 00:04:32,546 --> 00:04:35,374 that there isn't enough to go around, so we have all these mechanisms 85 00:04:35,514 --> 00:04:38,956 built in for scarcity and we now have one billion people starving 86 00:04:39,096 --> 00:04:42,381 on this planet, 3 billion people living on less than $2 a day. 87 00:04:42,521 --> 00:04:46,506 You look at the consequences of this system and then you step back 88 00:04:46,646 --> 00:04:49,577 and you think about what a true economic system might be 89 00:04:49,717 --> 00:04:51,473 and a train of thought will be established. 90 00:04:51,622 --> 00:04:53,884 A true economic system is not a system 91 00:04:54,024 --> 00:04:56,220 based on exchange, money and labor for income. 92 00:04:56,360 --> 00:05:00,164 That's a contrivance that we've concocted through traditional unfoldings 93 00:05:00,267 --> 00:05:01,944 as we've learned through time 94 00:05:02,046 --> 00:05:05,656 what our place in the world actually is, what we are. 95 00:05:05,967 --> 00:05:08,722 A true economy, which is what's now emerging in the public mind 96 00:05:09,006 --> 00:05:10,785 is the management of the Earth. 97 00:05:11,060 --> 00:05:14,556 A true economy is management of this household that we have 98 00:05:14,690 --> 00:05:17,065 and proper management is a technical orientation. 99 00:05:17,234 --> 00:05:19,944 Meeting the needs of human population is a technical orientation. 100 00:05:20,248 --> 00:05:22,972 Just as we build an airplane with a very specific design 101 00:05:23,090 --> 00:05:25,310 (you can't have too much deviation 102 00:05:25,436 --> 00:05:28,278 or you might injure the efficiency or efficacy of that airplane) 103 00:05:28,378 --> 00:05:30,680 we have to construct society technically. 104 00:05:30,821 --> 00:05:33,404 I can go on a long tangent about what a technical approach 105 00:05:33,537 --> 00:05:36,576 to the social management may be, but let me just say this: 106 00:05:36,994 --> 00:05:40,410 If we do not actually begin to manage the Earth's resources 107 00:05:40,694 --> 00:05:44,646 if we do not actually begin to take care of society as it is 108 00:05:44,843 --> 00:05:48,365 we are going to see numerous forms of destabilization occur 109 00:05:48,496 --> 00:05:51,086 systemically breaking down the social order 110 00:05:51,267 --> 00:05:54,267 causing much more chaos than we are beginning to see now. 111 00:05:54,369 --> 00:05:57,731 - Peter, you are speaking in very broad terms. 112 00:05:57,841 --> 00:06:02,267 A total restructuring of society sounds like a great idea 113 00:06:02,407 --> 00:06:04,716 but what about realistically in terms of 114 00:06:04,856 --> 00:06:08,095 some of these very specific problems plaguing society right now? 115 00:06:08,235 --> 00:06:12,305 Obviously everyone, especially down there in this movement believes 116 00:06:12,516 --> 00:06:14,508 that an entire restructuring needs to happen 117 00:06:14,608 --> 00:06:18,552 but do you think that there are some things that can happen now? 118 00:06:18,692 --> 00:06:21,384 - Yes, I do think that there are things that can happen now but 119 00:06:21,524 --> 00:06:23,734 the things that will happen now will only be patches 120 00:06:23,874 --> 00:06:27,090 until the larger order restructuring occurs. 121 00:06:27,230 --> 00:06:29,970 Most of the people in the protest community: 122 00:06:30,110 --> 00:06:33,583 OWS or even in the mainstream activist community 123 00:06:33,741 --> 00:06:36,947 never stop to think about the structure of this system 124 00:06:37,244 --> 00:06:39,299 the structure and the psychology and values 125 00:06:39,399 --> 00:06:41,585 that come from that structure and what's reinforced. 126 00:06:41,718 --> 00:06:44,068 That's where the Zeitgeist Movement really comes into play. 127 00:06:44,191 --> 00:06:47,510 I can list all sorts of things that could alleviate different tensions 128 00:06:47,650 --> 00:06:49,504 as far as the debt crisis. First 129 00:06:49,628 --> 00:06:51,871 you're going to have to have debt forgiveness across the board 130 00:06:52,011 --> 00:06:54,958 if you expect to stop the cancer of debt growth. That's it. 131 00:06:55,098 --> 00:06:58,211 The entire system is based on debt being created 132 00:06:58,351 --> 00:07:01,131 money being created out of debt, interest charged upon it 133 00:07:01,256 --> 00:07:03,130 so you have boom, your black hole: 134 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:08,659 instant, exponentially increasing, unstoppable, debt growth, period. 135 00:07:08,799 --> 00:07:10,635 That's it. It's structural to the system. 136 00:07:10,775 --> 00:07:13,389 How many people are talking about that? Not that many. 137 00:07:14,947 --> 00:07:17,278 - I think a lot of these protesters are talking about 138 00:07:17,380 --> 00:07:20,891 this system needs to change. Most people are just still very unsure 139 00:07:20,991 --> 00:07:23,442 how that happens... Unfortunately we're out of time. 140 00:07:23,552 --> 00:07:25,780 Peter Joseph, founder of the Zeitgeist Movement.