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Documentary: The Power of Nightmares
torrentfreak.com — This a series of three BBC documentaries that show how fear is an ultimate tool for politicians to preserve their power. As director Adam Curtis puts it, "Instead of delivering dreams, politicians now promise to protect us: from nightmares.”
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- Junkyarddawg, on 10/12/2007, -2/+59"The fundamental aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed, and hence clamoring to be led to safety, by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
-- H L Mencken
I wonder how long it'll take for the US public to realize that a few thousand men in the middle east, armed with improvised weapons, are not in fact a serious threat to the West in general, or the US in particular. That the response to terrorism by the Bush administration is entirely disproportionate to the threat.- 23r17i05o42n, on 10/12/2007, -56/+5Junkyarddawg, go ahead and keep you head in the sand. I guess it would take your own family being murdered by terrorists for you to give a crap. Many of us, however, do care about 3000 innocent civilians being murdered. I thought liberals were supposed to be the compassionate ones. The opposite is, in fact, true.
- cyberdork, on 10/12/2007, -6/+22And do you care about just even one civilian being killed in Iraq? I doubt it Mr. Compassionate.
- effektz, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14For those of you not preferring a torrent site you can watch the google video of this documentary in 3 parts here: http://youneed2see.com/Political/57/The_Power_of_Nightmares
- Junkyarddawg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+47@23r17i05o42n; 1) Who says I'm a liberal?
2) Detail to me how the islamists would defeat the USA. Where would their immense fleet land their several million troop? Would they use their fighter aircraft to achieve air superiority over the US first, or send in their tactical bombers directly?
Or maybe they'd just *destroy* the USA? Maybe they're planning on firing hundreds of nuclear ICBM's at the US from their fleet of nuclear subs just outside US borders?
They can't do any of that, can they. There isn't even a single "islamist" organization, but dozens which hate & occasionally fight eachother. All of them pretty small and poorly armed (if you disagree, please tell me which islamist organization has the best airforce, most armor divisions, or strongest fleet).
Terrorism is devastating to the individuals caught in it, but can only deliver pinpricks to a society like the US. (That said, even though the islamists are no threat to the US, the US _is_ bogged down in Iraq, and the situation _there_ is a cause for concern.)
Howcome terror, which has claimed the lives of roughly 6000 americans in the last six years, is considered such a massive threat that it warrants gutting the constitution and sacrificing freedom, then why isn't the same ttrue of recreational boating accidents, which also has claimed 6000 lives in the last six years?
Or how about this: You're presumably against removing the second amendment? Even though 150000 americans were killed by handguns, in the USA, the last six years? See where I'm going with this?
Not only is the US response to terrorism disproportionate to the threat, but the threat has been intentionally exaggerated to justify the disproportionate response!
The war on terror is a "hobgoblin" to keep the US "populace alarmed, and hence clamoring to be led to safety". - yubpro, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5i don't think it's so much a matter of when the public realizes anything,
but more a question of what they will do once they've realized it. - PLUMCRAZY, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10This is news?
ALL politicians use fear to maintain their power. That is why there are only two sides in U.S. politics; because it is way too hard to get people all worked up about a compromise.
Right wing talking points:
They will let the terrorists win!
They will tax away all your money and give it to drug addicts !
They are soft on crime and you are going to be killed or raped !
Left wing talking points:
They are going to take away your Social Security !
They want to let the evil corporations take over the world !
They hate people of color !
The only reason politicians get away with this crap is because people treat politics like a sport where you always have to support your side and you always want to kill the other guys. - FushBuck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Just came to say that I was very glad I watched The Century of the Self before I saw The Power of Nightmares. Century of the Self goes into the political developement of the psychological techniques later used in Nightmares, and makes a nice background; but they're both excellent however you choose to watch them.
The Century of the Self
http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=8339
- 23r17i05o42n, on 10/12/2007, -22/+1...
- trollenlord, on 10/12/2007, -1/+24The documentary is not just about a conspiracy story but actually explains a lot of the true reasons behind the decisions made by western world leaders and politicians. I recommend warmly watching the documentary. It's hard to grasp on at first but in the end you can't help but notice new things on the newsfeeds and such as you understand what they really mean.
- artofwar420, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4For more truth go here (It's not my blog, so it's not blogspam)
"Girl Blog from Iraq... let's talk war, politics and occupation."
http://www.riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
- artofwar420, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4For more truth go here (It's not my blog, so it's not blogspam)
- Sukino, on 10/12/2007, -4/+13http://www.archive.org/details/ThePowerOfNightmares
All kinds of versions- artofwar420, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12People, download the iso file and seed it, that way we can burn it to DVDs and show it to our friends or parents easily.
- vaguelyrandom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9@artofwar420
Make sure you don't throw the discs away when your friends and family have watched it. Things like this tend to hit home when being watched, but as soon as Police Commisioner Scaremonger makes his next 'terrorists are actively trying to kill us all' speech on a sunday morning, people tend to forget and think of the children... - artofwar420, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5For sure man, but please seed, We need more resources.
- greenreefer, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1Thanks for the link. A great site I have overlooked.
About 800KB/s dl speed for the three.
A glimpse of the way things should be.
Thanks again.
happy new year, diggworld.
Good month really.
Saddam dead.
Sony screws itself on oversized DRM shaft.
Jobs Finally widely recognized as a manipulative, shallow, greedy criminal,
and now...
800KB/s's of dl.
Good times all around.
- Stonedonkey, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Whatever happened to "There is nothing to fear but fear itself"?
- trollenlord, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4If you meant you have problems finding the part and downloading, at least http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=power+of+nightmares will always work.
- Gambit89, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering. ~ Yoda
Every point applies quite succinctly.
- ollielarkin, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Also check out "the century of self" by the same guy Adam Curtis.
his work is very insight full, and executed excellently - brandz, on 10/12/2007, -10/+3second-hand smoke is a great example of fear gone out of control. be afraid, very afraid!
- FushBuck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The problem is that sometimes it's hard to distinquish what actually important. Because of that, it's important to learn to discern the integrity of your sources. Some people never learned how to do that, sadly.
- venicerocco, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Saw it. Very interesting.
(Unless you come from a certain ilk, in which case it's liberal American-hating elitist just, of course.) - remotecontempt, on 10/12/2007, -13/+3I've seen this before, and it's okay I guess.
The idea that governments are using fear to push their policies and political agendas should be discussed more, as this documentary explains. But the assertion that the organization known as al-Qaeda didn't exist until western governments (namely the US) created it as the "bad guy" is preposterous.- Groovemaster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11"...the assertion that the organization known as al-Qaeda didn't exist until western governments (namely the US) created it as the "bad guy" is preposterous."
Why? - 60days, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9The argument isn't that there wasn't a small group of terrorists called Al Qaeda; it's that there isn't a global terror network called Al Qaeda with sleeper cells in every country requiring the invasion of unrelated countries, wiretapping of everything and a multi-million security budget for the worlds largest ball of twine.
That said, give it a few more decades of creating training grounds, publicity and motives and there may well be.
- Groovemaster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11"...the assertion that the organization known as al-Qaeda didn't exist until western governments (namely the US) created it as the "bad guy" is preposterous."
- phlux, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Of course they are...
Its a fundamental fact that Human actions can be controlled through the manipulation of their different bodies: the physcal body, mental body, emotional body and spiritual body.
Most people believe that Religion is providing a Spiritual message, but it is not. Typically its an emotional message. The persuasion of behavior through the manipulations of the mental and emotional responses of people.
This is also precisely what TV does (no not a conspiracy theory) - simply that the TV works to provide stories to people as a complete packaged (external) experience. Where there is no use of the imagination and the emotional message is particularly tailored to elicit the desired response from the watcher. The experience is one by proxy.
Over long periods of time this works to separate people from really understanding their own *personal* emotions. When you have been conditioned to be emotionally responsive to certain images, words and sounds where you did not come to develop such a response through personal real-experience it makes it easy to direct a mass of people who will have a predictable and regular response to certain manufactured conditions.
This is why politicians work hard to redefine terms and phrases in the minds of the nation after they have developed the appropriate emotional definition. Think "patriot"
I wrote a rather long article on this a few years ago... need to find it and post it here.- BESTenemy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2 Ware built to process discomfort alot more efficiently than comforts. Fear provides a better psychological reinforcement mechanism and makes us act, unlike pleasure that causes relaxation.
In political terms, fear is a perfect tool for delivering agendas. It is also the easiest. Cosmetics industry have discovered the formula long ago. A person starts off feeling adequate. The ad persuades the subject that he or she really is inadequate and offers a solution that would grant the the feeling of "normality" that was present prior to the introduced threat (of aging, most commonly).
Terrorist threat is unknown, invisible, like the microbes 99.9% of which get killed with the help of a cleaning solution (insert brand here). Real or not, we cannot fear something that we cannot see. So, abstract illustrations help us preceive the threat (computer graphics or simplified analogies). Knowing the face of the threat, we treat it ferociously and we take action to defend ourselves from it.
Terrorism is a real threat, but the people that guide our minds make no distinction between actual threats, and preceived, exaggerated, abstract probable threats. We take things that are fed to us by the mass media literally and we act upon our fears. We think our wellbeing is at stake, so we temporairly suspend our logic and go into agressive survival mode.
We are the sheep. Not much can be done about it. Truth, in a sense, is no better than lies, if it's only popular to someone who awaits to be told what to believe.
- BESTenemy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2 Ware built to process discomfort alot more efficiently than comforts. Fear provides a better psychological reinforcement mechanism and makes us act, unlike pleasure that causes relaxation.
- 15charmaxwtf, on 10/12/2007, -15/+2From the BBC? Ohh, the irony.
- nfulton, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Sooner or later the "tyranny of fear" this administration has created will evaporate, to be replaced by an angry populace demanding justice . . .
I want my 400 Billion in wasted tax dollars back. I want the 600,000+ Innocent Iraqi lives and 3000+ soldiers lives lost in this _war based on lies_ avenged. I don't want to live under a "4th Reich" running "A New World Order". I doubt I'm unique in wanting my constitution back.
All the "signing statements" in the world won't prevent the indictments, investigations, convictions and prison sentences that will come to Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Condee and their associates when the fear fades away. - themaestro8, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3They showed this here in Canada on the good old CBC about 2 or 3 years ago. I saw most of it and thought it was pretty good.
- sunnyd71, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It was interesting that when it was showed on the CBC, my friends in Detroit only saw a black screen when I called them and said to tune to the CBC.
Many of the documentaries shown in Canada are blocked for those Americans lucky enough to get the CBC.
- sunnyd71, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It was interesting that when it was showed on the CBC, my friends in Detroit only saw a black screen when I called them and said to tune to the CBC.
- darkroastbeans, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1This needs to be taken one step further: politicians use fear of *social* concerns to keep themselves in power as well. For example: "You're part of XYZ group; you've had it bad all your life; vote for me so I can give you hand outs so you won't be so bad off."
- stexensticks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I don't really see the irony in this coming from the Beeb. The BBC doesn't really speak with a single editorial voice, it's very different from the American commercial networks. It's not like Fox or something, there is often some kind of dialogue or differing opinion, or controversy in programs.
Next time you yanks pledge to your public TV stations why don't you ask them to buy this and show it? That way the film generates revenue and the BBC is encouraged to keep making stuff like this. Its been on the TV in Canada, why isn't it considered interesting enough to be on TV in the US?
I'm all for radical copyright reform, making old things more available. But while this is documentary is a good few years to old to be front page news (even on digg), it's probably new enough to be paid for. BBC programs are coming soon to Azureus anyway, so enjoy. - dukeeeey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1there is a whole video on this subject ..
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5948263607579389947 - NoobieDoobieDo, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1Ok WTF .. when I'm not logged in this is on the front page. When I log in the link isn't on the main page.
Thanks for sucking digg ! - micradigitalis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6This is a fantastic documentary...nicely put together and very coherent. Take the time to watch it and it will expand your understanding of neoconservative politics and Al Qaeda.
- Holosiren, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6There's a lot more to this documentary than the fact that fear bovinizes the masses, diggers. I urge everyone to watch through at least the first segment. You may learn something about the neoconservatives, their origins, and their goal to convince us that America is the world's salvation.
There is also a very interesting take on world history woven into the presentation. In summation, the cultural globalization of the past century frightens leaders across the world - this includes Islamic fundamentalists - because the subsequent erosion of patriotism is stealing both their power and the national identity of their respective countries.
I've contemplated this sort of thinking before. It's fascinating stuff. The battle between individualism and common values, the battle between tolerance and uniqueness, and the battle between a people and their government: all of them are joining as we type away. - rossmcd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I saw this several months ago at a film festival and enjoyed it quite a lot, although it was a pretty long view to see all in one night. I was particularly struck with the parallels drawn in the film between the cold war and the current "war on terror" - similar methods, catch phrases, and even some of the same architects! Parallels between the Islamic fundamentalists and the neocons were also well presented. It was interesting seeing some historical background on the neoconservative movement, but I felt the filmmakers oversimplified this political philosophy. The movie gave me plenty to think about and talk about over the following week. Highly recommended!
- CypressStreet, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1as a new hampshire native finally seeing power of nightmares hit the digg front page i have to say...
live free or die!
coming soon Live Free or Die Hard starring Bruce Willis
i'm not kidding
check out my blog where this and Curtis' other work have been posted and discussed
http://fanta-se.blogspot.com - alcoholanon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I highly recommend this. I've downed it a while back but did not know the name of the series.
- diggtomanjeri, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Per most of the previous comments this series is highly recommended. I saw it maybe a year ago and actually thought it was more noteworthy for some of the historical insight into the current US administration and al Qaeda. The use of fear is certainly nothing new in politics and power, but BushCo has taken it to an abusive level.
- pedalwrench, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I highly recommend watching it. Especially if you wonder "why they hate us"
- nayear, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0this is a amazing documentary. I'm sure the internet will think I'm a crack-pot, paranoid nut but i truly believe Americas goal is world domination. the placement of military bases around the world and its control the majority of crude oil supply is all for the soul purpose having every nations economy by the balls, thus gaining control. Being an American it is my right, duty, and obligation to have feelings like this and if you object, you are my enemy :)
- oceanflynn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Fear sells as much as sex. People love to be angry over things they think they have no responsibility in fixing. The fear industry's bottom line is to increase its profits. The most accessible mainstream media three-sentence versions of complex stories uses the good-guy-white-hat, bad-guy-black-hat plot. The bad guy here is really scary. Leave it to those that know what they're doing.
- JohnnyZito, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I caught this on the Digg front page a few months ago. I watched all three parts in one sitting. Highly recommended for the history if nothing else.
- pacmanpacks, on 10/11/2007, -0/+19/11 was an inside job, done by nazis - www pacsteam pt vu
- laloba, on 03/07/2008, -0/+0Thank you for this, very interesting and to the point video.
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