[Smaragdadler]

The Power of Nightmares
Originally aired on BBC in 2004
Written and Produced by Adam Curtis

In the past, politicians promised to create a better world. They had different ways of
achieving this. But their power and authority came from the optimistic visions they offered
to their people. Those dreams failed. And today, people have lost faith in ideologies.
Increasingly, politicians are seen simply as managers of public life. But now, they have
discovered a new role that restores their power and authority. Instead of delivering
dreams, politicians now promise to protect us from nightmares. They say that they will
rescue us from dreadful dangers that we cannot see and do not understand. And the
greatest danger of all is international terrorism. A powerful and sinister network, with
sleeper cells in countries across the world. A threat that needs to be fought by a war on
terror. But much of this threat is a fantasy, which has been exaggerated and distorted by
politicians. It’s a dark illusion that has spread unquestioned through governments around
the world, the security services, and the international media.
This is a series of films about how and why that fantasy was created, and who it
benefits. At the heart of the story are two groups: the American neoconservatives, and
the radical Islamists. Both were idealists who were born out of the failure of the liberal
dream to build a better world. And both had a very similar explanation for what caused
that failure. These two groups have changed the world, but not in the way that either
intended. Together, they created today’s nightmare vision of a secret, organized evil that
threatens the world. A fantasy that politicians then found restored their power and
authority in a disillusioned age. And those with the darkest fears became the most
powerful.

The Power of Nightmares - video download (1 GB !!!):
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/10/103745/557/

The Power of Nightmares - skript pdf (260 kb):
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/.../PowerOfNM.pdf