30 Days of Zeitgeist - Day 20

Over the past decade, he internet has radically changed how people find, connect, communicate and collaborate with each other. The rapid rate of social movement awareness and adoption is directly attributable to the ability to instantaneously share information across town and around the world. Live video streams of protests and popular breakthrough film series like Zeitgeist would not be possible without the technological engineering feats of the infrastructure that is the world wide web. Social media sites and services, such as Twitter, Facebook and Google products, are increasingly vital to the rapid development and planning for these various causes, however, and that concentration of resources is causing them to become targets for the powerful and influential. Facebook, as a corporation, has recently gone public, opening themselves up to investor influence, pressuring them to further monetize their user-base, causing potential privacy issues with users of the site. Twitter recently altered their censorship policies to be in line with various governmental demands to censor undesirable information. Google's YouTube and search services have also been subject to government restrictions around the world, making it harder to share and find pertinent information. PayPal, the global payment processor that many organizations use to accept donations also has a long and growing history of abusing their powerful position by freezing assets, closing accounts and even refusing to accept donations on behalf of certain groups, like WikiLeaks, because of government pressure. Fortunately, all of these sites and services have alternatives, many of which are open source, non-corporate owned, and not adherent to arbitrary government opinion. The TZMNetwork is a social networking site for Zeitgeist Movement activists, and has recently undergone major renovation. Occupii is a similar site, mainly for Occupy Movement activists. The Diaspora* project is a general use social network that is based on an open source platform. Bitcoin is a digital currency that is not based on debt, not controlled by a government or corporate interest, and is open source, so anyone can use it. All of these, and more, are being continuously updated and improved upon by volunteers, who are working together for a better world for all people.

30 Days of Zeitgeist - Day 19

Several months ago, the Zeitgeist Movement held the Zeitgeist Media Festival, a global artistic expression and live performance focused event that worked with local food banks and other charitable organizations. It served to both bring awareness to the movement, reach out to the local community via local food charities and to celebrate the arts and media that help support the cause of a better world for all people. The main site for the event hosts videos of many of the performances, and will be updated with more content as more such annual events are planned. The Rio Grande Valley is home to many local artists and performers, and we look forward to hosting such an event and being able to host this incredible local talent, while hopefully working with the RGV Food Bank as well as the local chapter of Food Not Bombs. Keep watching this space for more news!

30 Days of Zeitgeist - Day 18

Before there was a Rio Grande Valley Zeitgeist Movement, there was RGV No State, a group dedicated to informing people in the RGV about the false institutions of government, law and other abuses of the social and economic structures that have been the foundation of the major problems we face as a species. This organization, lead by Armando Lopez and composed of many different people from all over the Valley and other parts of Texas, has helped the RGVGZM in many ways since the beginning of the chapter. Not only have they hosted the audio recordings of our meetings, but also share many audio lectures of the Venus Project's director, Jacque Fresco. These lectures, while from many years ago, still hold valuable insight into the radical social changes we seek to implement, and are worth listening to if you would like to know more about such ideas. We are grateful for their past and ongoing support, and their desire to help make the world a better place for all people.

30 Days of Zeitgeist - Day 17

Earlier this year, Peter Joseph engaged in a two and a half hour interview with media personality Joe Rogan. This wide ranging discussion goes over the integrated nature of social problems, various economic theories, transitional technologies and scenarios, the Occupy Wall Street Movement and many other topical issues. This is another example of the Zeitgeist Movement having a greater exposure to a wider audience, as the community that has grown around Rogan is large and growing. The social issues and discussions that Rogan has with his community is not like those had with traditional media personalities, and the message of a better world for all people is likely to resonate with them. The more people hear about the Zeitgeist Movement, it seems that more people are understanding and accepting the train of thought that is being offered.