Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Nightmares

* cannon:
The Bush II era has given birth to a series of remarkable political documentaries -- works which collectively tell a story that later generations, if any, may scarcely believe. Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke may be the single finest documentary I've ever seen -- an elegiac and accusatory chronicle of all (or nearly all) of the controversies to arise from the Katrina disaster. Other films recount other horrors: Outfoxed, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Fahrenheit 911, Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre, An Inconvenient Truth, and 911: Press for Truth.

(Soon, I hope to speak at greater length about the last-mentioned film. To those who have asked what my own views on 911 are, all I can say is: Get that video.)

Special attention should go to Adam Curtis' extraordinary BBC documentary The Power of Nightmares, which aired in 2004 but is only now having an impact in America. You can download part one, part two and part three.
read the rest

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

watched it a coupla times here on BBC, first in Autumn 04. just fantastic and highly recommended.

here's a page where Adam Curtis answers viewers' questions.

EVERYONE in the States should see this.

Track said...

Thanks for the link to the Q & A. Very interesting. I watched the Documentary a few months ago. Thought it was impressive.

I am curious to see what folks here think about his suggestion that WoT/ramping up the threat posed by Al Qaeda was exploited by US/British politicians after 9/11.

The expression "nothing in politics happens by chance" comes to mind.

Call me cynical.

lukery said...

NOise: "I am curious to see what folks here think about his suggestion that WoT/ramping up the threat posed by Al Qaeda was exploited by US/British politicians after 9/11."
lol. you're kidding, right?

Track said...

Failure on my part to be precise.

Curtis suggests that 9/11 was exploited only after the fact by the neocons and the political establishment in the US and Britain.

What if Al Qaeda is an asset of western intel (as Nafeez Ahmed has speculated)? I find it strange that Curtis's cynicism and/or curiousity only goes so far.

Anonymous said...

"What if Al Qaeda is an asset of western intel (as Nafeez Ahmed has speculated)? I find it strange that Curtis's cynicism and/or curiousity only goes so far."

I believe that would be another example of that protective phenomenon of not thinking the unthinkable.

Anonymous said...

Unless, of course, it is instead an attempt to misdirect the public on purpose. I really do NOT want to think that.

lukery said...

'pologies Noise.

I'm with LeeB - it's really really difficult for people even to consider that AlQ is not 'the enemy' - alternatively, it's sometimes easier to effectively make one argument (such as Nightmares) without that msg being lost in a separate argument (eg that AlQ are 'friendly')

(i havent read the q&a)

PressForTruth basically suggests that AlQ is a Western Asset (or at a mimimum an asset of our friends the pakistanis) - although P4T doesnt come out and say that.

Anonymous said...

what LeeB said.