The Power of Nightmares Part 3 - The Shadows in the Cave

The Power of Nightmares, subtitled The Rise of the Politics of Fear, is a 3 part BBC documentary film series, written and produced by Adam Curtis.
The films compare the rise of the Neo-Conservative movement in the United States and the radical Islamist movement, making comparisons on their origins and claiming similarities between the two. More controversially, it argues that the threat of radical Islamism as a massive, sinister organized force of destruction, specifically in the form of Al-Qaeda, is a myth perpetrated by politicians in many countries—and particularly American Neo-Conservatives—in an attempt to unite and inspire their people following the failure of earlier, more utopian ideologies.

The final episode addresses the actual rise of Al-Qaeda. Curtis argues that, after their failed revolutions, bin Laden and Zawahiri had little or no popular support, let alone a serious complex organization of terrorists, and were dependent upon independent operatives to carry out their new call for jihad. The film instead argues that in order to prosecute bin Laden in absentia for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings, US prosecutors had to prove he was the head of a criminal organization responsible for the bombings. They find a former associate of bin Laden, Jamal al-Fadl, and pay him to testify that bin Laden was the head of a massive terrorist organization called "Al-Qaeda". With the September 11th attacks, Neo-Conservatives in the new Republican government of George W. Bush use this created concept of an organization to justify another crusade against a new evil enemy, leading to the launch of the War on Terrorism.

After the American invasion of Afghanistan fails to uproot the alleged terrorist network, the Neo-Conservatives focus inwards, searching unsuccessfully for terrorist sleeper cells in America. They then extend the war on "terror" to a war against general perceived evils with the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The ideas and tactics also spread to the United Kingdom where Tony Blair uses the threat of terrorism to give him a new moral authority. The repercussions of the Neo-Conservative strategy are also explored with an investigation of indefinitely-detained terrorist suspects in Guantanamo Bay, many allegedly taken on the word of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance without actual investigation on the part of the United States military, and other forms of "preemption" against non-existent and unlikely threats made simply on the grounds that the parties involved could later become a threat. Curtis also makes a specific attempt to allay fears of a dirty bomb attack, and concludes by reassuring viewers that politicians will eventually have to concede that some threats are exaggerated and others altogether devoid of reality. "In an age when all the grand ideas have lost credibility, fear of a phantom enemy is all the politicians have left to maintain their power."

Here is the playlist with all 3 parts in order:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=1D677F7EAAEE3DD5

Check out my first book of poetry on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Mystical-Poetry-Politics-mysticdave/dp/1448689082

Check out my blogs:
Mystical Poetry and Politics: http://www.mysticalpoetryandpolitics.com/
Mystical Musings and Politics: http://mysticalmusingsandpolitics.blogspot.com/
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Category:

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• yt:stretch=16:9

[Azzenstudent]

@zlovering Look, it's very easy to believe Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly. They make everything seem very simple. Science is not simple. It's rigorous and complex. So, why do you believe science deniers? Could it be because you prefer simpleminded bromides to something much more difficult? I'll say it again: the epistemological standards on the right are embarrassingly low. You don't know science yourself but you're convinced of its evil motives. This is conspiracy theorizing.

[TVScio]

@helenasophiahi blah blah blah... Quit being an alarmist. You'll have your time december 2012 and it'll end jan 1st 2013...til then, do something or stfu.

I'm tired of these pretentious nerd bags with lingo learned from alex jones thinking they're informed. Good for you, you're just as brain washed as every one else..Only we don't pretend we're saved... Now go watch noam chomsky you tool.

[thewotsit]

Thick blocks of text can only mean one thing...I've stumbled into the political arena.

[faraway109]

This program was aired in GB in late 2004. In this part3, it ridicules the threat of a terror attack on London as "a fantasy that swept through the media", and a means for Blair to "portray a new grand vision of the future". And then, just when this film had been shown in Cannes in Spring 2005, came the London bombing of July 7th 2005. After that, the BBC got disciplined. See any causal link? If you don't, take a look at the "7/7 Ripple Effect" video.

[syro666]

@TVScio Why don't you do something other than trolling people valid comments. I guess actual evidence is just not enough for you. Lets see what other names you can call me without bringing up any valid points for your argument. Typical Conservative let me guess you would have voted for Bush a third time if it weren't for those pesky laws that keep people in power from establishing a fascist government. Then you could just shoot whoever did not agree with you right?

[syro666]

@TVScio Did you even watch the documentary? I'm am not stating I am out of "there" league (I don't know who you are referring too) I am stating what I said is out of your league. Your obviously one of the stupid sheep that believes the status quo and anyone who questions it is stupid and schizo. That is what they taught you they manipulate stupid people such as yourself that when a person like me questions authority you yourself take it as a direct shot, If were all wrong why do you care

[TVScio]

@syro666 when no one understands your paranoid ranting about lord knows what...it's not because what you're saying is out of their league...it's because you're off your anti-psychotics again.

And I didn't resort to insults, only assumptions...which is what you base everything you know off of. So quit being a hypocrite, douche.

[syro666]

@TVScio Of course like most fucking sheep when confronted with the fact you resort to insults and name calling instead of making your own points to prove me wrong. HA obviously what I am saying is too far out of your league for you to comprehend, just keep watching your BBC and CNN and maybe they can get you to support another invasion idiot.

[TVScio]

@syro666 You enlightened being, how dost thou reach such a pinnacle of consciousness.

I'ma guess by the 666 you're a 15 yr old sitting in a dark room in your moms house, listening to marilyn manson, thinking you've got the world figured.

lol I'll leave it at that since you seem to be arguing with yourself, I have fking clue what you're talking about. Nor do I care.

[syro666]

@TVScio Yes I guess direct testimony from people who were in these focus groups saying soviet union was crumbling and that there was no evidence of any kind of military build up is just make believe? and I am the paranoid schizo? quite the opposite I am not under the governments spell of the "great terrorist threat".

[enlightened1ish]

So now we have all this security in the form of the Patriot Act, TSA, on and on, from a neo-con wet dream? A fantasy?

[TVScio]

@syro666 Maybe you'll stir yourself right into paranoid schizophrenia with that bs.

I never once said the government or the system was on our side. You're the one who's been brainwashed by youtube videos you goon. Why don't you stop making less assumptions, and gather more information moron. Go take your anti-psychotics. You're not righteous.

To busy acting like a paranoid fool to form a reasonable thought. Hence why you're atking random people on youtube over assumptions. Douche.