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bbc series: The Power of Nightmares
Jul. 24th, 2006 10:10 pmThe Power of Nightmares is a 3-part BBC series which I'd heard rumblings about a year ago but never gotten around to seeing. Kind of had to watch it now because it's by Adam Curtis, the director of The Century of Self, who I'm disturbingly close to idolizing.
It is, wow, probably one of the most controversial series I've ever watched, and sparked off a huge debate in the UK when it first aired (you can read some of the responses bbc received here). The director said in a Guardian interview: "If a bomb goes off, the fear I have is that everyone will say, 'You're completely wrong,' even if the incident doesn't touch my argument. This shows the way we have all become trapped, the way even I have become trapped by a fear that is completely irrational."
The series talks about the rise of the neo-conservative and islamic movements as a reaction against liberalism, pointing out the many parallels between the two, and how one tactic of the neo-conservatives has been to (knowingly! they are so machiavellian that I must admire them) create a boogeyman that people can rally against. Communism was the first boogeyman and Al-Qaeda is the second.
As the Guardian article says: The Power of Nightmares seeks to overturn much of what is widely believed about Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida. The latter, it argues, is not an organised international network. It does not have members or a leader. It does not have "sleeper cells". It does not have an overall strategy. In fact, it barely exists at all, except as an idea about cleansing a corrupt world through religious violence. (I recommend reading the whole article - it gives a great overview of what that part of the series is about.) Curtis gives a lot of evidence for this, none of it easily dismissed. And, just to clarify, the series isn't claiming that there isn't terrorism, or that terrorism isn't dangerous. It's just saying that terrorism is, in reality, dozens of separate groups sharing this one common idea. (And I think that it's the idea that is the most dangerous thing, because you can't kill it by killing people, for more will just rise to replace them, and as long as people persist in seeing it as a vast unified global conspiracy, a war that can be won solely through guns, it'll always be a threat. So, in my no-doubt not-fully-informed view, what we need are ideas to kill the idea.)
ANYWAY. The most interesting part of the series for me wasn't the revelation about Al Qaeda that came in part three that got everyone up in arms, but seeing how the neo-conservative movement came about, the ideas of Leo Strauss that shaped it. I'll talk more about that later when I'm not pressed for time. For now, some quotes from the last episode that intrigued me (why is it that I only remember to take notes once a series is almost over? ^^;;):
( Read more... )
It is, wow, probably one of the most controversial series I've ever watched, and sparked off a huge debate in the UK when it first aired (you can read some of the responses bbc received here). The director said in a Guardian interview: "If a bomb goes off, the fear I have is that everyone will say, 'You're completely wrong,' even if the incident doesn't touch my argument. This shows the way we have all become trapped, the way even I have become trapped by a fear that is completely irrational."
The series talks about the rise of the neo-conservative and islamic movements as a reaction against liberalism, pointing out the many parallels between the two, and how one tactic of the neo-conservatives has been to (knowingly! they are so machiavellian that I must admire them) create a boogeyman that people can rally against. Communism was the first boogeyman and Al-Qaeda is the second.
As the Guardian article says: The Power of Nightmares seeks to overturn much of what is widely believed about Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida. The latter, it argues, is not an organised international network. It does not have members or a leader. It does not have "sleeper cells". It does not have an overall strategy. In fact, it barely exists at all, except as an idea about cleansing a corrupt world through religious violence. (I recommend reading the whole article - it gives a great overview of what that part of the series is about.) Curtis gives a lot of evidence for this, none of it easily dismissed. And, just to clarify, the series isn't claiming that there isn't terrorism, or that terrorism isn't dangerous. It's just saying that terrorism is, in reality, dozens of separate groups sharing this one common idea. (And I think that it's the idea that is the most dangerous thing, because you can't kill it by killing people, for more will just rise to replace them, and as long as people persist in seeing it as a vast unified global conspiracy, a war that can be won solely through guns, it'll always be a threat. So, in my no-doubt not-fully-informed view, what we need are ideas to kill the idea.)
ANYWAY. The most interesting part of the series for me wasn't the revelation about Al Qaeda that came in part three that got everyone up in arms, but seeing how the neo-conservative movement came about, the ideas of Leo Strauss that shaped it. I'll talk more about that later when I'm not pressed for time. For now, some quotes from the last episode that intrigued me (why is it that I only remember to take notes once a series is almost over? ^^;;):
( Read more... )
