The Power of Nightmares

November 12, 2006 9:05 PM

Mark Curtis' three-hour BBC documentary The Power of Nightmares [2004] is pretty engrossing stuff, explaining the intellectual roots of the neo-cons and Al Queda way back to the fifties as well as explaining how politicians have turned away from inspiring citizens with "dreams" and now use "nightmares" to govern society. The film has never been shown on American television, which is probably why the director made the full DVD available for free download at archive.org. You can also watch it at Google video in three chunks 1, 2, 3.
posted by dydecker (23 comments total)

Oh wow, I just found out this was a double post.

Anyway, watch the movie. It's great.
posted by dydecker at 9:06 PM on November 12, 2006

previous thread.
posted by dydecker at 9:09 PM on November 12, 2006

Actually, the guy's name is Adam Curtis.
posted by dobbs at 9:15 PM on November 12, 2006

The irony against double posting assumes that most people saw it the first time.
posted by Brian B. at 9:17 PM on November 12, 2006

Thanks for the double. I didn't see this the first time around.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:21 PM on November 12, 2006

Even though it's a double and will presumably be deleted, before that happens I'll chime in to say [this is good]. I believe the short series Century of The Self is by the same people, and I recommend that even more highly.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 9:32 PM on November 12, 2006

Adam's The Century of the Self is also available for download and highly recommended as well.
posted by billyliberty at 9:35 PM on November 12, 2006

(Perhaps I should stop worrying and learn to love the 'preview' button, hm? But yeah, what stavrosthewonderchicken said.)
posted by billyliberty at 9:36 PM on November 12, 2006

dydecker, I search for this and couldn't find it. Thank you so much for posting this
posted by squidfartz at 9:56 PM on November 12, 2006

thanks for the link to Century of the Self. This has been in my Netflix queue waiting for release for months. I had no idea it was available on the internet archive. Thanks! Highly recommend the Power of Nightmares as well.
posted by any major dude at 9:59 PM on November 12, 2006

This is like a quintuple.
posted by bardic at 10:03 PM on November 12, 2006

Another thank you for the Century of the Self link.
posted by stinkycheese at 11:15 PM on November 12, 2006

And also look out for Pandora's Box. I don't know if it's available for download anywhere legally, sorry.
posted by Grangousier at 11:40 PM on November 12, 2006

Although there's a lot of debatable stuff in this documentary (specifically, I think he vastly overstates the ideological differences between "neocons" and old-fashioned imperialists like Kissinger), the archive footage in it is just incredible. Particular highlights: Ayman al-Zawahiri's prison speech, and Donald Rumsfeld doing a WMD routine about Russia thirty years before he'd use the exact same routine to justify the destruction of Iraq.

Some of the interviews are very good, too, especially the one where Richard Pipes trips up and says, of the CIA dismissing his theories about Russian military buildup: "They were dealing with reality. This was fantasy." Then he breaks out in a mischievous grin and corrects himself.
posted by stammer at 12:36 AM on November 13, 2006

And linked repeatedly in other threads.

But yes, it is excellent.
posted by dreamsign at 2:20 AM on November 13, 2006

From the things I've read since watching The Power of Nightmares two years ago, I sort of think he overstates his case to such a degree that it becomes dangerously misleading. From the film one might get the impression that al-Qaeda and the worldwide Islamist Jihad movement are basically boogeyman threats dreamed up by a government in search of a unifying purpose.

There's such an obvious agenda to tell a specific narrative that it makes me wonder how much of the film's evidence is (was) compelling only because it was edited to look so.

Which is to say, two years worth of New Yorker articles on the history of terror networks and profiles of their leaders paints a rather different picture.
posted by unmake at 4:24 AM on November 13, 2006

one might get the impression that al-Qaeda and the worldwide Islamist Jihad movement are basically boogeyman threats

One might get that impression. And one would be right.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:52 AM on November 13, 2006

As for the boogeyman-ness of OBL and chums, my favourite circumstancial evidence concerns those occasional tapes supposedly released by him. A tape appears on Al Jazeerah, and 15 minutes later the CIA confirms it's authentic and that he's alive, no matter what the sound quality or content.

There are only two groups of people who want OBL to be alive: jihadi mentalists and residual neo-cons. It's a coincidence of interests, not a conspiracy, I think. But if OBL really was alive, no matter what the circumstances, he could actually prove it. This looks like the last time he did that.
posted by imperium at 5:23 AM on November 13, 2006

excellent, yet old around here

I do love the parallels drawn between the neocons and al qaeda, though. Blind faith makes it so much easier to control your populace.
posted by caddis at 5:37 AM on November 13, 2006

Agreed with most of the above. If you havent seen it before it is certainly worth watching.

This is worth reading too. It is much wider ranging than the film but is good as a cultural history.
posted by ClanvidHorse at 5:53 AM on November 13, 2006

one might get the impression that al-Qaeda and the worldwide Islamist Jihad movement are basically boogeyman threats

One might get that impression. And one would be right.

This is a pointless argument. Yes, al-Qaeda and the worldwide Islamist Jihad movement exist and are dangerous; no, they are not the overarching Moriartys responsible for all the evil in the world, as presented by neocons. (It's a floor wax and a desert topping!)
posted by languagehat at 6:22 AM on November 13, 2006

no, they are not the overarching Moriartys responsible for all the evil in the world, as presented by neocons. (It's a floor wax and a desert topping!)

Moriartys and floor wax... woah. The traffic between my pre-frontal metaphor cortex and my left parietal simile lobe just made my head axplode!

Also, it's not a pointless argument... you pretty much summed it up there for all the moderates in the house. al-Qaeda: Bad: yes; Baddest: no.

I think the whole thing is a side-effect of a strange desire to always focus on one, huge enemy. One day it's communists, now it's radical Islamists - why the fixation on one, overarching enemy. It's almost like people WANT a Moriarty figure. Guys, wake up - it's death by a thousand tiny cuts.
posted by GuyZero at 7:11 AM on November 13, 2006

great documentary. pissed me off mightily it aired in Oct 2004 outside of US, but no one would air in on-continent. made dozens of DVDs of it for friends to spread it.
still a quad post.
posted by Busithoth at 7:25 AM on November 13, 2006