I am posting this diary because I found no evidence that this important program had been featured on the Daily Kos. I urge you to investigate this important documentary.
Power of Nightmares was aired in three one-hour parts on BBC Two starting Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2005. It effectively reveals the reasons for the emergence of the American neoconservative movement and the emergence of militant Islam. It presents a gripping historical account of the intertwined coevolution of the two most visible political movements of our day. I recommend it to anyone seeking to demystify the curious world we are experiencing.
According to the documentary, both grew out of a frustration with decadent liberal democracy and its vulgar individualism. To both movements, it was imperative that the great beast of the masses be rigidly controlled so that the lost brutes might find truth, and society might attain order. To the neocons, this means the advancement of the interests of the state. To the militant Islamists, this means adherence to Islamic truth. Both are ultra-conservative movements with utterly separate centers of mass.
The documentary exposes once again the ageless dilemma of the "common man" – that we are to be manipulated, controlled and exploited by the powerful elite, and never respected.
Here is a blurb from BBC about the program...
In the past our politicians offered us dreams of a better world. Now they promise to protect us from nightmares.
The most frightening of these is the threat of an international terror network. But just as the dreams were not true, neither are these nightmares.
In a new series, the Power of Nightmares explores how the idea that we are threatened by a hidden and organised terrorist network is an illusion.
It is a myth that has spread unquestioned through politics, the security services and the international media.
At the heart of the story are two groups: the American neo-conservatives and the radical Islamists.
Both were idealists who were born out of the failure of the liberal dream to build a better world.
These two groups have changed the world but not in the way either intended.
Together they created today's nightmare vision of an organised terror network.
A fantasy that politicians then found restored their power and authority in a disillusioned age. Those with the darkest fears became the most powerful.
The rise of the politics of fear begins in 1949 with two men whose radical ideas would inspire the attack of 9/11 and influence the neo-conservative movement that dominates Washington.
Both these men believed that modern liberal freedoms were eroding the bonds that held society together.
The two movements they inspired set out, in their different ways, to rescue their societies from this decay. But in an age of growing disillusion with politics, the neo-conservatives turned to fear in order to pursue their vision.
The program is presented in three on-hour segments:
I: I: Baby It's Cold Outside
YouTube: Baby It's Cold Outside
II: The Phantom Victory
YouTube: The Phantom Victory
III: The Shadows In The Cave
YouTube: The Shadows In The Cave
Here is a link to Google Video that gives list of viewing choices:
Google Video: The Power of Nightmares