The Power Of Nightmares: Part I

Now, I know that I'm a bit off here. I sincerely apologize or posting a day (almost two) late for this week's post. To be honest, the long weekend threw me off and I completely forgot that it was Sunday and missed the deadline. So, I'll make up for it now.

The first part of Adam Curtis' "The Power of Nightmares" was a very insightful look into the creations of the Neo-Conservative and Islamic radical movements. What was most interesting was the look at their parallels to one another in the creation of fear and scare tactics that have been bombarding not only our society, but most parts of the world, for the past few decades. It is interesting to look at our society and culture now, how we think and act, and then watch a documentary such as this one and see how our thoughts and ideas have changed over time due to historic events that may have not seemed as significant at the time.

The film begins by discussing Sayed Kotb (also spelled "Sayyid Qutb"), an Egyptian Muslim who traveled to America to study the education system. Once here, he was horrified with how materialistic and individualistic Americans were and decided that he needed to start a movement back in Egypt to make sure that Egyptians did not turn out the same way. The film explains that Kotb was overwhelmed with how much people only talked about celebrities or their automobile expenses. This made me wonder how he would react if he were here now, in present day, when our culture is so much more focused and obsessed with the entertainment industry and our purchases. It kind of does show that his fear of Americans becoming more self-involved was true, but I clearly think he went to extreme lengths and shared extreme ideals when he returned home to make sure the same thing didn't happen over there.

 Kotb

Parallel to this information about Kotb, the documentary provides information on Leo Strauss, the father of the Neo-Conservative movement in the United States. Like Kotb, Strauss was horrified with the materialism of the American culture. He was more concerned with the idea of liberalism spreading and that the growth of materialism and individualism would lead to selfish lifestyles. I think it really is extremely interesting that the foundations of what our country has turned into was happening at about the same time as the foundations of our "completely enemy", and it seems that they both began for the same reasons. It goes to show that these two different groups of people may have more in common than they would think, but in this world we all feel we deserve to have a sense of entitlement, so there could be no way that we could work together. On the other hand, however, I completely disagree with the beliefs of both Neo-Conservatives and Islamic radicals, so I would not want them working together, because I have been led to believe that this will only lead to violence and evil.

 Strauss

Although this was only part one of the documentary and therefore more introductory than the following parts will be, I can definitely see how these two movements completely work to shape our ideas about fear. Both use extreme scare tactics, they are both using religion to push forth their ideals, that ideal being that they are going to rid the world of evil, and they are offering violence as a solution. Although both groups would definitely not want to admit it, they have way more in common than many Americans would think on their own. I am excited to watch the next two parts of the documentary to see how these movements grew and got us to the point we are at today with how we think about each.