It should now be clear to everyone (though, sadly, it is not) that the threat of terrorism has been drummed up for political gain by neoconservatives.
In the past, politicians often offered us hope. In recent years, they have found it more useful to claim that they are protecting us from nightmares. Thus, they often claim that they are rescuing us from horrible dangers we cannot see, by conducting their wars on “terror” and immorality.
In reality, they have been offering us dark illusions and fantasies. Until two days ago, those politicians with the darkest imaginations had become the most powerful.
For those of you wondering how this insanity came to be, consider viewing the BBC’s superb documentary: “The Power of Nightmares: The Shadows In The Cave.”
Here is a taste of this gripping three-part documentary [1] (If these links don’t work, try this link to Part I – III. [2]
There are dangerous and fanatical individuals and groups around the world who have been inspired by extreme Islamist ideas, and who will use the techniques of mass terror – the attacks on America and Madrid make this only too clear.
But the nightmare vision of a uniquely powerful hidden organisation waiting to strike our societies is an illusion.
Wherever one looks for this al-Qaeda organisation, from the mountains of Afghanistan to the “sleeper cells” in America, the British and Americans are chasing a phantom enemy.
But the reason that no-one questions the illusion is because this nightmare enemy gives so many groups new power and influence in a cynical age – and not just politicians.
According to this first rate BBC series, the nightmare of the threat of terror was conceived by the Neocons as a dream that was necessary, though completely untrue, in order to convince citizens that they were locked in a battle between good and evil.
Two philosophical (and eventually political) movements combined to get the world to the polarized and dysfunctional place where it is.
Regarding the Islamic extremist element, credit is given to the teachings of Sayed Kotb (sometimes spelled Qutb), an Egyptian man who spent time in Colorado as a young man. Kotb became convinced that the individual rights and liberties of Americans thoroughly corrupted human beings. In their lust for material goods and carnal pleasure, Kotb perceived that people isolated themselves to the point where shared social bonds where destroyed. The quest for material goods thus trapped people in their own animalistic desires. Even though people felt “free” pursuing their individualistic needs and wants, they weren’t. They were decaying from the inside out.
The documentary finds the seeds of the American neoconservative movement planted by the obscure University of Chicago philosophyer, Leo Strauss. Struss believed that the tendency to question freely destroyed shared social value–the end result would be that nothing was sacred. The solution was to assert powerful unifying myths through government and religion. This would enable leaders to assert a fantasy that America was destined to battle the forces of evil across the world. Doing this would restore power and authority to government leaders. Incidentally, Strauss’ favorite TV show was Gunsmoke, where the government baldly and often violently asserted itself in its quest to obtain the moral order.
These two men took on small bands of followers, bands that eventually grew and rose into the higher echelons of government power. One can trace their respective ideas all the way up to the current leaders of the neocon and radical Islamic movements.
In America, the neocon ideas have been pushed hard by the government and media outlets that refuse to raise obvious questions. The resulting ubiquitous claims of moral certitude have thus caused many Americans to believe that any country that obstructed the U.S. was literally Satanic. Post WWII, the cold war presented neocons with a terrific opportunity to assert their violent version of governance. This documentary asserts that, in the eyes of neocons, the “war on terror” picked up right where the cold war left off.
Our politicians became so utterly convinced of this fairy tale of a largely unsubstantiated outside threat that any means of “defense” was justified, even waging a bloody war [3] against a country that was not a threat. Even the U.S. government’s bashing of patriotic citizens who dared to question or dissent. Even depraved torture conducted in the name of the United States.
As demonstrated in “The Power of Nightmares,” Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Bin Laden can all be seen as accomplices contributing to a perverted, devastating and unnecessary polarization that will require decades of political healing.
Following in the footsteps of Strauss, the neocons have intentionally concocted their myths (as well as the “evidence” in support), all for the supposed higher good. Especially disturbing was the section of of the documentary (toward the end of Part I) concerning the Neocon attempts the crucify the allegedly morally repugnant Bill Clinton, as well as the eventual conversion of David Brooks, earlier one of Clinton’s most vociferous detractors.
The three parts of the documentary can be viewed on-line: Part I [4], Part II [5], and Part III [6].
Update – June 28, 2023
I cannot find this documentary online any longer. I did find the transcript, however. [7] The opening paragraph:
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.
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