How do you know a cult is dead? When even it's critics feel it's pointless to continue criticizing it.

Cults usually have two ways of dieing. Usually it's either in some way that most, if not all of it's members die, or, no one gives a damn about them anymore, including it's critics, because there is just not enough members left to give a damn about the group, and even the members that remain don't seem to give a damn about it anymore either.

The Zeitgeist Movement, a group that that many of it's critics consider to be a cult, and promotes conspiracy theories, an unrealistic and highly flawed economic system called the "resource based economy", an unrealistic belief that no one will ever have to work anymore, that machines will do all of our work for us, and reeducating people (hinting that reeducation could be forced) to change the way they think, has essentially gone out with a fizzle, instead of a boom.

It's Z-day events around the world has gotten smaller and smaller every year, and it's recent "Zeitgeist Media Festival" was a complete failure. Hardly anyone showed up at all. In addition to this, it's New (Age) World Fair was also a failure.

What's left of it's leadership appears to be losing it due to the lose of membership and plain interest in the group. One of the Zeitgeist Movement's leaders, VTV, is so desperate for attention that he has now resorted to trolling internet blogs and forums with sock puppets. The creator of TZM, Peter Joseph Merola, has been begging people to interview him, even trying to get conspiracy theory promoter Alex Jones to interview him.

No group that might share even miniscule amounts of similarity with them want's anything to do with them either.

The Venus Project, which the Zeitgeist Movement once considered itself to be the activist arm of, broke it's relationship with TZM in 2011, and now wants nothing to do with it. The Occupy Movement also wants nothing to with them. Anytime TZM shows up at a Occupy Movement camp site, they are shunned, ignored, and made very well known that they are not wanted, nor welcomed.

Most people in politics don't even talk about the Zeitgeist Movement. This can be either because they know that some of the people in that movement are a bunch of unreasonable, and sometimes unstable nutcases, or because they've never even heard of them in the first place.

With the exception of when one of it's members does something horrible, or incredibly stupid, the media doesn't give TZM any attention what so ever, and when the media does give TZM any attention when one of it's members does something that's really screwed up, the attention is "very" little.

Finally, there are the critics themselves. Whats left of them at least.

Fellow blogger and Zeitgeist Movement critic Jim Jesus has already stated that he is no longer going to criticize TZM, mostly because the group is basically dead, and that continuing to criticize them would be pointless and a waste of time. Even the blog site Zeitgeist Movement Exposed hardly criticizes them anymore.

In the end, what has caused the death of the Zeitgeist Movement was itself. No sane person can get behind such a movement for very long, and even conspiracy theorists have difficulty getting behind such a group due to it's authoritarian ways, it's hostility towards Christianity, and it's anti-capitalistic economic model.

The Zeitgeist Movement is dead. Whats left is rotting away.

Conspiracy Theorist Groups: The Cults of the 21st Century

In the 20th century, cults often times encouraged their members to believe in conspiracy theories. In fact, some of the core beliefs of many cults that were created in the 20th century are conspiracy theories.

In this century, so far very few cults have emerged. In fact, I really only know of two "major" cults that have emerged in this century so far.

The first is called Desteni, which, besides it's very bizarre beliefs, much of which can be read about on the Desteni Cult blog, is that also that many of their beliefs are also based on UFO conspiracy theories and New World Order conspiracy theories, and that they advocate a pseudo-economic system known as the "equal money system". It also encourages people to alter what they think, but how they think, and encourages members of the cult to be very hostile towards critics of the cult.

Besides Desteni, another cult that has emerged in this century, called the Zeitgeist Movement, is based entirely on conspiracy theories, and also advocating a pseudo-economic system known as the "resourced based economy". Plus, like Desteni, Zeitgeist not only encourages people to alter what they think, but how they actually think as well, and it's leaders encourages members to engage their critics in very hostile and volatile manners.

While Desteni it self might be considered stereotypical mind control cult, and Zeitgeist is also considered to be a cult as well, it seems that many conspiracy theorist groups also are cult like in the way they act. Not only do other members encourage follow members to believe what they advocate, but that they also encourage their follow members to distance and isolate themselves from people who might not believe what they believe, and to believe that those people are members of a group that is out to destroy them, and to engage critics in a hostile manner. Also, they are often encouraged to engage in actions that might cause others to distance themselves from them, such as badgering people to believe in what they believe.

Conspiracy theorist groups often times also encourage their members to engage in faulty, or even dangerous medical practices, or reject certain proven medical practices, because they have been told those practices are dangerous.

Also, many conspiracy theorist groups have a kind of "after the end" kind of belief, in which they believe the world will be allot better after these so called "shadow forces" that allegedly control the world are destroyed, and that their own beliefs on how the world should be run is the way to go.

So, are conspiracy theorist groups, cults? Not in all cases, but most do tend to have some cult-like behaviors and actions, and there is the chance such a group could become a cult.

Remember, the Zeitgeist Movement wasn't always considered a cult...