OSU police arrested Robert Lowell Harris, 21, early Thursday morning on complaints of malicious injury to property among other charges. The $3,775 worth of damage from the incident included smashed windows, spray-painted walls and sidewalks, and the metal letters from the ConocoPhillips building torn off of the wall. “Google Zeigeist Movement” and similar phrases were spray-painted around the Student Union.
OSU police found smashed windows, spray-painted walls and sidewalks, and four large metallic letters missing from the side of the ConocoPhillips OSU Alumni Center early Thursday morning.
David Cates, director of Alumni Center building operations, said vandals cut the letters off the building with pruning shears and threw them through several of the center’s windows, shattering glass and damaging a pair of custom aluminum blinds.
The vandals also struck Gunderson Hall and the Student Union, and police found “Zeitgeist Movement,” “Google Zeigeist Movement” and “ZM” spray-painted in black on the walls and sidewalk outside the Student Union and in Lot 32.
The combined damage is estimated at $3,775, according to police reports.
“It’s more of an inconvenience than a hurdle, but those letters won’t be back for homecoming,” Cates said. “That’s kind of disappointing.”
Robert Lowell Harris, 21, was arrested on complaints of malicious injury to property, public intoxication and obstructing an officer after police noticed a large metallic letter “O” hanging from his bicycle handlebars, according to police reports.
A witness called police at about 2:30 a.m. Thursday to report two men leaving the Alumni Center area, and identified Harris as one of the two. Another witness said he or she saw Harris remove the letters from the Alumni Center and spray-paint the building, according to the reports.
The Zeitgeist Movement referenced in the graffiti is an anti-establishment organization that plans to “stop supporting the system, while constantly advocating knowledge, peace, unity and compassion,” according to its Web site. About 11,440 members have joined the site since its launch on Saturday.
OSU Police Captain Richard Atkins said the vandals’ motivation is unclear and the department has no information linking Thursday’s incident with other recent cases of vandalism in Stillwater.
Cates agreed.
“I don’t think the individual was aiming these attacks at us per se, or the facility or the college, for that matter,” he said.
While Cates said his department is working to repair the damage, the severed letters are in OSU police custody as evidence.
Replacement letters for the building will not arrive for another two weeks, he said.
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I personally know this person that did this. The whole thing was done out of intoxication for the most part. Yet alot of this spawned from anger towards our government (F.B.I & C.I.A). for the “9/11/01 inside job and “93″ - The Oklahoma City Bombing - The Disenfranchisement of the African American community during both elections, 2000 & 2008. All of these proven facts with over whelming evidence. The Zeitgeist Movement gives you all the evidence to support this.
Hopefully without the further destruction of property the eyes of some here in Stillwater has been opened. I truly suggest that everyone look up “American Zeitgeist & Zeitgeist:Addendum” to see the truth for itself. We live in a world where money corrupts all establishments and the wool has been pulled over our eyes and told in our ears that we live in a great county. The American Government is the terrorist, they alway have been. Some are just too absorbed into the illusion to realize we all have been fooled but not made stupid to see the evil within our country.
Never condoning vandalizing ones property, but don’t we all see that our minds have been vandalized! OPEN THEM AND FOR ONCE BE FREE IN YOUR LIFE! IT’S NEVER TOO LATE!
Thanks, anonymous-person-who-personally-knows-the-moron-who-got-drunk-and-committed-a-pathetic-property-crime–you’ve really opened my eyes. I am now a full-fledged ignorant conspiracy theorist with little to no knowledge of history, and an unhealthy anger toward society, probably due to my own shortcomings as a person.
Well it’s a good thing all the crazy people have signed up for their crazy people’s website. It will be a lot easier to track them now.
Who’s going to want to jump on the bandwagon and follow a group whose members can’t even spell the word they’re spray painting to stand for right (”Zeitgeist”)? Two people who can’t spell, judging by the difference in the picture’s word handwriting. Way to represent.
It is unfortunate that intoxication and a desire to expose the truth can result in property damage. It is even more unfortunate that 99% of Americans (including most officers of the peace) do not bother to thoroughly investigate WHY someone would resort to acts of vandalism and seek ways to remedy the underlying source of all crime. As for Justin, Aaron, and Lisa… their opinions are clearly representative of the willfull ignorance that allows our world to be managed, undeniably, by a small group of dominant men in high positions of those institutions which are most dominant in society- Business and Finance. The establishment of government is in tandem with the influence and power of corporations and banks. The life blood is money, which is, in fact, an illusion that now has little relevance to society and serves as a tool for manipulation and division along a kind of social organization that guarantees elitism, crime, war and social stratification.
Simultaneously, individuals are taught that being “correct” is what creates their value as human beings. This state of being “correct” is directly related to the prevailing values of society itself. Therefore, those who accept and support the social system’s views are considered “normal”, while those who disagree are considered “abnormal” or even “subversive”. Whether it is the dogma of a unique social tradition, or the alignment with a worldwide establishment religion, the basis is the same: Intellectual Materialism.
Why do I even bother? If the University of Phoenix had a dual degree in “Post-Modern theory for pre-teens” and “Dialectical materialism for Amateurs with negligible intellectual capacity,” surely “American Zeigeist,” cacique, and tired professor would have graduated magna cum laude? Just grant me one favor, 3 anonymous dimestore provocators–read a book, instead of the internet? Please? Ideally, it would be a book from the library, because that might possibly weed out some of the internet-esque drivel that you seem to be devouring at a mind-numbing rate. Or, maybe just become better at sorting the wheat from the chafe on the internet? Just do something, anything, to improve your mind. For the sake of humanity’s future.
“Zeitgeist”, cacique, and tired are just jealous because I hang with Bigfoot on the weekends and have the negatives proving we faked the lunar landings.
It is obvious why you bother, Justin? Equally as dangerous as the Establishment Power Structures, are the people who have been conditioned to completely accept the static understandings put forth by these systems… therefore becoming: “Self Appointed Guardians of the Status Quo”. This applies to every system, especially political, financial and religious systems. Since people’s identities become associated with the doctrines of a Country, Religion or Business ethic, it often becomes very difficult for a person to change, for his or her identity has become combined with the ideologies which have been imposed upon them. Therefore, they perpetuate the doctrine of the institution, simply to maintain their personal integrity, as they see it.
We must break this cycle, for it paralyses our growth not only as individuals, but as a society. Perhaps a few non-library books are precisely what we need to understand for the sake of humanity’s future. Let’s start with Economic Hitman - have you read that one?
While I am all for looking at our world in different ways, spray painting buildings and destroying property is hardly some new way of thinking. If you were really interested in building a better future your toolkit would not be destruction, and destruction of property would not be the type of event you would want to use to open anyone’s eyes to your beliefs. (How absurd.)
Equally as dangerous as the “self appointed guardians” are the “misinformed tools” who think that being a public nuisance is really a challenge to power. But hey, good luck with that.
Aaron did you do that at area 51 with the martians while blocking out what the goverment is spreading out the back of jets that is not actually jet trails?
Sadly you all have me agreeing with Justin and you all just need to research and find actual facts on what your talking about.
ooo maybe thats the ultimate conspiracy. That the goverment has been planning for years for a way to for most of us who read the O’Colly online to agree with Justin. So they do all these things that American Zeigeist, cacique, and tired professor say they do just so that on 10/13/2008 our newspaper prints an article that will unite the university. In fact I found online in this random obsure website that provides dead on facts that backs me up on this let me go find that link….
There is no conspiracy. It is too obvious to be a conspiracy. A better term would be corporatocracy or the military industrial complex that President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned about in his farewell address in January 1961 (just a few years before the executive branch stopped considering the best interest of the American public).
I’ve seen Zeitgeist. There are some serious holes in the narrative it paints. The largest being motivation. World Domination? Okay. What are the banking families and corporations that would ultimately gain control of the world going to do with it?
But
Aime, if you are interested in the logic of the vandalism, here: You say violence and property damage is not the right way to challenge authority. What is? Voting wouldn’t work, as an attempted to change the system from within is automatically subverted by that system. (In English: Voting doesn’t work, because the only people that are able to win in the current governmental system contribute to the system) Non-violence is all well and good, but only when the oppressive forces are obvious (ie Cops with dogs and fire hoses, segregated water fountains, and racially based voting restrictions.) To the vandals, no one even knows of the oppression, so the goal is get attention. The way our society works anymore seems to require something shocking, so an act of violence was the result.
I don’t want to defend the action though. There were much SMARTER ways accomplish that. I also think that their underlying theories (which aren’t that crazy if you go with it a minute) assume the absolute worst in people while I chose to believe in the good.
There is a difference between standing up for what you believe and vandalism. If you remember, Dr King had a rather powerful way of standing up to dogs, firehouses, and segregated water fountains. It wasn’t easy, but it was way more powerful than any drunken act of stupidity could be. If you don’t think that you can change things using the current system or through non-violent protest, then you have some other problems going on.
Lots of people have actually googled “Zeigeist movement” because of this intoxicated stunt, google even corrects for the misspelling. So, even though he was arrested, he still got the message across. More people should have guts to say what they think, without having to get drunk and spray paint it.
I believe (America Freedom to Fascism) would be a better choice of videos regarding the monetary system in this country. While not everything posed as factual information in the film can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, most of it is well substantiated both in books, (Justin) and online. Zeitgeist, while posing a reasonable THEORY on the true rulers of the world, begins by attacking the religious sensibilities of most Americans. Not that religion isn’t a problem in its own right, but you have to pick and choose your battles, and that’s one we may not be able to win at the moment, at least not in most of the world. As for the monetary system, I believe most people are beginning to pay attention considering the carnage of late in the economy, and the destruction of the US dollar. STOP spray painting OSU, T. Boone’s only got so much money to clean it up, and if your trying to make a point, remember there is no spell check on the sidewalk. Notice i put my full name as not to be one of the “anonymous dimestore provocators”, who should be better at chafing wheat or something. America Freedom to Fascism, watch it. It will take you about as long as it did Justin to look up all those big words……
It’s funny I was looking for the definition of “Self Appointed Guardians of the Status Quo” on the internet and look what I found; Justin Akers, Lisa L. and Aaron… now I understand it thank!!… Oh! by the way Lisa of course he spells it wrong… he study in the USA, did you know it? “They” want you to be stupid and fascist like Aaron down there!
Hey Aaron yeah I´ll be easy to track us down now that we “the crazy people” are joining together on a web page. But I´ll be way easier to track your a** down when you get a chip install in to your arm… Oh no worries just go back to your TV. and carry on believing that everything its cool, thanks to people like you, Lisa and Justin, this will stay the way it is.
Destruction and vandalism it´s not the answer, that´s what they do, look what they done to Iraq and many other countries with some nice natural resource to steal…About public intoxication? Look how many boycott´s the USA* help to produce down South America with public intoxicaton and scaresity.
By saying USA I don´t mean the American people, they are just victims like the rest of the world if you don´t think so then look up in to the article that broad us in to this page. “Some young lad with little orientation trying to make a point” no wonder you got so many people in jail. This is because he is not getting a proper education or an explanation that can proof that the movie is wrong. Proper education Like to that upper class snob Mr. Akers. Yeah, yeah read a book hi says.. And are you posting that comment on a book right now are you? Oh silly me I thought we were on the internet.
I swear this aluminum hat is not working. I’m still receiving signals somehow from people like roberto!
Maybe the shiny side needs to go on the inside of the hat….
Hello Joel P.
You raise some astute questions that are crucial to understand at this point in time:
“What are the banking families and corporations that would ultimately gain control of the world going to do with it?”
The short answer is that these banking interests currently have a firm grasp on power and simply seek to maintain unfettered power at all costs. It is more or less a big game to them that is only fun when you can make your own rules. I like to think of it (banking cartel) as a rich fat bully that has always gotten his way and wouldn’t know what to do otherwise. The difference in the banking cartel and the fat rich kid is that the fat rich kid on the playground is not interested in controlling governments and sending humans and high-tech equipment to war for profit.
The long answer has to do with a uni-directional transfer of wealth…
All the king’s men cannot put the private banking system together again, for the simple reason that it is a Ponzi scheme that has reached its mathematical limits. A Ponzi scheme is a form of pyramid scheme in which new investors must continually be sucked in at the bottom to support the investors at the top. In this case, new borrowers must continually be sucked in to support the creditors at the top. The Wall Street Ponzi scheme is built on “fractional reserve” lending, which allows banks to create “credit” (or “debt”) with accounting entries. Banks are now allowed to lend from 10 to 30 times their “reserves,” essentially counterfeiting the money they lend. Over 97 percent of the U.S. money supply (M3) has been created by banks in this way. The problem is that banks create only the principal and not the interest necessary to pay back their loans. Since bank lending is essentially the only source of new money in the system, someone somewhere must continually be taking out new loans just to create enough “money” (or “credit”) to service the old loans composing the money supply. This spiraling interest problem and the need to find new debtors has gone on for over 300 years — ever since the founding of the Bank of England in 1694 – until the whole world has now become mired in debt to the bankers’ private money monopoly. As British financial analyst Chris Cook observes:
“Exponential economic growth required by the mathematics of compound interest on a money supply based on money as debt must always run up eventually against the finite nature of Earth’s resources.”
The parasite has finally run out of its food source. But the crisis is not in the economy itself, which is fundamentally sound – or would be with a proper credit system to oil the wheels of production. The crisis is in the banking system, which can no longer cover up the shell game it has played for three centuries with other people’s money. Fortunately, we don’t need the credit of private banks. A sovereign government can create its own. Now we just need to find a sovereign government.
Thank heavens for people like Aaron to inject a little humor into this ridiculous line of discussion between two extremes. Bravo! Keep ‘em humble! LOL
SEE!!! one of the angry christians (lynn), and I was trying to be funny!!!!
keep ‘em humble and don’t forget to eat your dummy nut cheerios cuz that is exactly what keeps the money system rolling… prosperity based religion, corrupt public education, and blatantly fraudulent government officials elected and appointed to serve their masters…
all these concepts may seem somewhat extreme until you examine the truth in the big wild world all around us. of course the truth is impossible to grasp if we turn over the keys to our minds and eyes to big, fun, entertaining, corporate media programming.
i know, i know, what is the fun in researching wacko ideas (that don’t impress your friends much) when you could be watching your favorite sporting event or chatting about the latest trendy TV show? if that is how you feel, then so be it - keep moving along in a stuper and have a nice day. there is probably nothing to see here anyways. :-)
Now I know why Xanax is such a big seller. With all the conspiracies apparently in the world, life can only be handled through medication. Wow…Stillwater has become Kook City!
“There is a difference between standing up for what you believe and vandalism. If you remember, Dr King had a rather powerful way of standing up to dogs, firehouses, and segregated water fountains. It wasn’t easy, but it was way more powerful than any drunken act of stupidity could be. If you don’t think that you can change things using the current system or through non-violent protest, then you have some other problems going on.” -Aimee
I’ll repeat what I said, so please pay attention this time:
Non-violence is all well and good, but only when the oppressive forces are obvious (ie Cops with dogs and fire hoses, segregated water fountains, and racially based voting restrictions.) To the vandals, no one even knows of the oppression, so the goal is get attention. The way our society works anymore seems to require something shocking, so an act of violence was the result.
Dr. King’s message of non-violence is one to be taken to heart. However 1)If YOU remember, what happened to Dr. King? 2)The vandals were trying to get attention. Its marketing, guerrilla style. This society seems to require a slap to get its attention. 9/11 was the perfect example. Only after 9/11 did most Americans figure out that part of the world didn’t like us and were threatening us. It took an attack to wake people up. These guys, in effect, are trying to wake people up, but without killing anyone.
Violence is bad, property damage is bad, but you can not call them crazy. There was reason behind their actions, whether you agree with those reasons or not.
I read what you wrote the first time, and you and several others have been talking about oppressive forces already. So identifying them isn’t exactly a problem. My idea was to show a powerful non-violent solution to oppressive forces in an attempt to remind you that there are other, better ways. (Ways that work and aren’t annoying/ignorant.) Get it yet?
And I didn’t call them crazy btw. Those are your words.
Amie, I understand your point and it’s a good one, but I still have to agree with Joel’s remarks. There is a vast difference in the situations. If this Robert Harris fellow and his Zeitgeist friends were to form a peaceful march through the strip and around downtown Stillwater there probably wouldn’t be more than 15 or 20 people show up. This means the media never would have covered the story and therefore the Zeitgeist movement would still be a blip on the radar screen and this heated debat never would have started. Harris accomplished exactly what he wanted to do - get peoples attention- the only way he knew how. I wish Harris could have just stood on the library lawn with a huge sign to get people to notice, but like Joel said, “this society seems to require a slap to get its attention” and a kid with a sign won’t do that. Unless of course that sign reads “Bong hits for Jesus,” but don’t get me started on that one.
Greg, I don’t think a sign will work either, but there are plenty of ways to get attention on campus without destroying anything. Hell, he could pull a Preacher Bob and probably make the paper, assuming he angers enough people. :)
But vandalism isn’t the message you want to spread. Actions speak louder than words after all, and those actions seem to be saying “tear down the university”, which I can’t agree with. Perhaps it would help if their actions and message were more similar?
They arrest people for vandalism? How about arresting the american soldiers destroying lives and homes in Iraq? Or how about arresting the cops who have nothing better to do than harass some poor human being?
How about this? We vandalize more often and more frequently?
Destroy this illusion? of “private property”?
All Americans will get what is coming to them…
your “national” soil is soaked with blood…..
and i see all of our hands covered in the blood of innocents.
This would’ve been worthwhile if he’d spelt zeitgeist properly, but obviously a clear testimony to his intoxication.
If people want to vandalise, do it on election posters, on those sorts of things.
Not cement.
Oh, and don’t get caught ;)