Tides of War

The Power Of Nightmares -

The Rise Of The Politics Of Fear

Wednesday 20 October, 9.00-10.00pm BBC TWO

"This new series, from acclaimed film-maker Adam Curtis, tells the story of how the fear of a hidden network of terror has come to dominate politics in America, Britain and around the world . and examines just how far that fear is based on an illusion.

"In an age in which people are wary of optimistic political visions of the future, The Power Of Nightmares asks if politicians have stumbled upon a new force that can restore their power: the fear of a hidden and organised web of evil from which only they can protect their people.The series tells an epic story, at the heart of which are two groups: the American Neoconservatives and the Radical Islamists.

"The first film begins in 1949 and traces the lives of two men living in America: Egyptian school inspector, Sayyid Qutb, whose ideas would later directly inspire those who flew the planes on 9/11, and political philosopher Leo Strauss, whose work strongly influenced the Neoconservative movement that now dominates Washington. Both men believed that modern liberal freedoms were eroding the bonds that held society together, but both had very different ideas about how to improve the situation."

See aslo: Guardian Review

The following is MY opinion:

Having travelled extensively not only throughout the western world but also in some less than hospitable places - South Africa at the height of aparteid, New Caledonia when the civil coup broke out etc, both pre 9-11 and post, I have noticed that the USAmerican media within the country are more than "over dramatic" at keeping the US people in a self centred heightened state on anxiety.

Example: I was in San Diego when the bombing of Jakarta occurred and 222 people lost their lives. Every news network that day in the USA lead story was somehting about the Scott Peterson trial (murdered his wife and may have dumped the body)

Now before anyone flames me let's get the facts straight here, I love the uSA and am prepared to give up my own heritage to live there, so don't suggest I'm anti-USA. Terrorism, although not it's current form, has ALWAYS existed. You have only to look the middle east saga to put a timeline there.

I'm in agreeance that terrorism is a crime, and is being used to entice a level of fear, having seen it from Ground Zero in NY, to Hiroshima.

Thus endeth my opinion. Flames can be sent to buggeroff.com

Well its the not in my back yard syndrome really. I have to say in the UK we are only aware of it because of the 30 odd years of troubles in NI. So when things happen around the world we can relate to it. I am sure if we had not had the NI problem then we would have been just as unaffected. That said in the summer on my holiday to America I did find that the news seemed to be very pro-government as though it was being controlled by the white house.

Aggghhh!! Cough! Cough! You've got to be kidding me that the media in the US is slanted to a pro White House stance. Nothing could be further from the truth. The media in the good old US of A is extremely liberal. Hence the fact that CBS News and Dan Rather tried to sway the election using forged documents from supposedly President Bush's leading officer in the National Guard. All I have heard in the news today and yesterday is how 380 tons of very potent explosives are missing from under our noses in Iraq. It's now coming out that they were missing before we went into Iraq while the UN was supposed to be watching the chicken house. Evidently some higher-ups in the UN thought they also could do some damage to Bush's campaign. The story is reported as new but was actually documented when we entered the area.

I've seen numbers that show media in the US have voted Democrat by numbers up to 90% of the time. This even in times when the country has voted Republican by huge landslides.

I do feel that the days of old are behind us and that the need for hearing the other side of issues is gaining in strength. This is why the newer FOX news has completely dominated political coverage by beating CNN & the other news networks combined. So you've got one against about five. Not to mention the print media which is still only one sided.

Mitch