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October 29, 2004
Keep them frightened, keep them docile
Adam Curtis: "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."
If I have a quibble with the programmes so far, it's that Curtis focuses on how and why the neocons and Islamic radicals created the nightmares, but fails to explore the ways governments use them to create a "politics of fear." Must-see television all the same.
October 29, 2004 in Current Affairs | Permalink
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Comments
I missed the two previous episodes but I did catch the one last night and though it was extremely fascinating.
The problem is that no matter how convincing or how true the programme was, it flies in the face of the established (world) public consciousness to the extent that it's almost unbelievable!
What can we do to in the UK to stop the myth being perpetuated? Nothing, with no credible political opposition and an unchecked media we are well and truly stuffed.
Posted by: Matt Goddard at Nov 4, 2004 10:25:49 PM
I though you might be interested to know that the program "Power of nightmares" is being re-shown from the 18th - 20th January on bbc 2.
The third episode is going to be updated to take into account the law lords ruling on the indefinite detention of foreign terror suspects.
Look at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4171213.stm for more info and a facinating question and answer session with the series producer.
Posted by: Matt Goddard at Jan 15, 2005 3:32:58 AM