I have decided to end my association with TZM and TVP. This is a decision that I do not enter into lightly but over the past few months I have endured a few epiphanies that have finally illustrated to me that TZM and TVP in their current configuration are not going to be able to break into the mainstream. The last straw was Douglas Mallette's interview on V-Radio.
I still support the idea of an RBE, it is something that should be explored further, but if TZM wants to take this further they need to get their house in order.
Why I've come to this conclusion is as follows:
1. As an organization you have been too middle of the road in who you let represent these ideas. I understand you want to propagate these ideas far and wide, but you can't let just anyone represent themselves as movement members and then spout off about whatever agenda they see fit. You let people bring in baggage eventually that baggage becomes incorporated in the movement.
I am burned out trying to effect damage control. Although there is truth that the "forum is not the movement" it is public, anyone can read it and anyone can draw all sorts of inappropriate conclusions based on it.
You need more moderation, not less. And you need private forums. Better yet get rid of on-line forums altogether. Conduct town hall meetings and invite the public, this way you know you are putting your best foot forward. Lastly they only people who should be talking about an RBE are people who have explicitly expressed an understanding of it.
2. Drop the Zeitgeist name, distance yourself from the first movie. It is long past due that you do this. The first Zeitgeist is not engineered as a piece that will unify any group of people. It is polarizing and misleading. I am still mystified as to why Peter Joseph paid to have people write a 200pg support document and then released a re-tweak of the original movie, especially at a time when he was distancing himself from 911 Truthers. It is time to accept that conspiracy theory, new age, ufo's, NWO has no place in TZM. These people are not your audience, I cannot grasp how you do not understand that. Repudiate the first movie, and re-brand your group. Take the good ideas and shed the garbage. The fact that some of the more prominent members are afraid to disclose who they represent at conventions for fear of alienating the crowd before thy begin is proof enough that perhaps the Zeitgeist franchise has worn out its welcome.
3. Stop pushing the collapse porn. Waiting around for the collapse to magically usher in the thinking and attitudes necessary to birth a new economic order (oops did I just say that?) is foolhardy and irresponsible. And it won't happen. As I've argued before on the forums you cannot wait for collapse because people are going to rebuild what they know, not something new. Hopefully you are turning a new leaf with the new association with the food drive in September, but what took you so long?
4. TZM is a movement that is based on the scientific method applied to social concern. So bloody well use the scientific method already. If it can't be made falsifiable or replicable and no empirical evidence exists, then stop talking about it. Useless speculation is useless.
You want the mainstream to take you seriously, then start helping, start being part of your community, polish up your image, build your street cred. Start by owning up to past mistakes, rather than plunging headlong at full speed from one disaster to another. Build a respectable foundation around the idea of a sustainable economy/community. That is all you need. Indeed that is all you ever needed.
I still support the idea of an RBE, it is something that should be explored further, but if TZM wants to take this further they need to get their house in order.
Why I've come to this conclusion is as follows:
1. As an organization you have been too middle of the road in who you let represent these ideas. I understand you want to propagate these ideas far and wide, but you can't let just anyone represent themselves as movement members and then spout off about whatever agenda they see fit. You let people bring in baggage eventually that baggage becomes incorporated in the movement.
I am burned out trying to effect damage control. Although there is truth that the "forum is not the movement" it is public, anyone can read it and anyone can draw all sorts of inappropriate conclusions based on it.
You need more moderation, not less. And you need private forums. Better yet get rid of on-line forums altogether. Conduct town hall meetings and invite the public, this way you know you are putting your best foot forward. Lastly they only people who should be talking about an RBE are people who have explicitly expressed an understanding of it.
2. Drop the Zeitgeist name, distance yourself from the first movie. It is long past due that you do this. The first Zeitgeist is not engineered as a piece that will unify any group of people. It is polarizing and misleading. I am still mystified as to why Peter Joseph paid to have people write a 200pg support document and then released a re-tweak of the original movie, especially at a time when he was distancing himself from 911 Truthers. It is time to accept that conspiracy theory, new age, ufo's, NWO has no place in TZM. These people are not your audience, I cannot grasp how you do not understand that. Repudiate the first movie, and re-brand your group. Take the good ideas and shed the garbage. The fact that some of the more prominent members are afraid to disclose who they represent at conventions for fear of alienating the crowd before thy begin is proof enough that perhaps the Zeitgeist franchise has worn out its welcome.
3. Stop pushing the collapse porn. Waiting around for the collapse to magically usher in the thinking and attitudes necessary to birth a new economic order (oops did I just say that?) is foolhardy and irresponsible. And it won't happen. As I've argued before on the forums you cannot wait for collapse because people are going to rebuild what they know, not something new. Hopefully you are turning a new leaf with the new association with the food drive in September, but what took you so long?
4. TZM is a movement that is based on the scientific method applied to social concern. So bloody well use the scientific method already. If it can't be made falsifiable or replicable and no empirical evidence exists, then stop talking about it. Useless speculation is useless.
You want the mainstream to take you seriously, then start helping, start being part of your community, polish up your image, build your street cred. Start by owning up to past mistakes, rather than plunging headlong at full speed from one disaster to another. Build a respectable foundation around the idea of a sustainable economy/community. That is all you need. Indeed that is all you ever needed.
