The Power of Nightmares
The Power of Nightmares is a thought-provoking 3-hour BBC documentary that presents the strongest case I have seen for the damage caused by the confluence of fundamentalist religious faith— whether it be Christian or Islamist— and “ends justify the means” thinking so prevalent among politicos today.
Watching the over 40 years spanned by the history this documentary presents, I repeatedly saw my life flash before my eyes— “I was only two years old then,” “I was twelve then,” “I was thirty then—” the world-shaping events of which I was only vaguely aware at the time brought into sharp focus by the context this film provides.
9/11 was not the beginning of a war, nor the end of an era— it was one skirmish in an ongoing competition between virulent and increasingly symbiotic ideologies memes) aimed at rallying the masses (you and me) to unite behind some form of faith-driven fundamentalism that vilifies, represses, and/or kills all opposition. The Power of Nightmares presents these ideologies not as grand conspiracies by inscrutable masterminds, but the tragic bumblings of those infected by these memes, who under their influence have become willing to pervert pragmatism from the service of human peace and cooperation to the service of their personal meme-gods— gods for whom fear and blood sacrifice have long been a minor consequence of their survival.
Watch this show. Disagree with it if you like, if you can do so rationally. But never shield your beliefs, especially the ones most deeply-held, from criticism— to do so is the death of the mind.
August 20th, 2006 at 10:37 am
Good tip. Thanks. I downloaded the DVD image from archive.org, burned it and watched it earlier today. BBC is one of my top news sources but somehow I missed it.
I can’t quarrel with the series too much (not that I’m particularly well qualified to do so anyway). It’s consistent with what I think has gone on and is going on, though I do think they’re a little cavalier toward the end. I gather they updated the series after the London bombings, but the update wasn’t on the DVD image.
That the islamists seem driven by myth while the neocons are just pragmatic about it would lead me to side with (if I had to choose and while holding my nose) the latter. Unfortunately, I don’t have much hope for a return to the days the producers point out were led by people chosen for their vision rather than their nightmare.
Cheers from Phoenix! Steve
August 20th, 2006 at 12:15 pm
Steve,
My take is that the neocons are also driven by myth, in that they began to believe their own propaganda.
Glad you enjoyed the post!
August 20th, 2006 at 12:42 pm
Maybe so, although I don’t see how they could have actually believed their own propaganda. I think they were simply acting on previously planted “facts”.
But yes, I should have specified “religous myth”.