The Power of Nightmares/Century of the Self - Adam Curtis

domi

domi

The Living Force
FOTCM Member
I came across a mention of these documentaries while researching another documentary.
Here is a comment in a blog that I found using a search engine that piked my interest:
Also, the BBC documentaries 'Century of the Self' and 'The Power of Nightmares' give insight as to how the social psychology has inter-related with 20th/21st century politics.
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It made me think of ponerology right away.

Has anybody seen either of the multi-part documentaries? Originally aired on BBC4.
 
Power of Nightmares is excellent. I highly recommend it. Details the creation of so-called Islamic terrorism by the Western media. It's a long 5-part series but well worth the time.
 
The Century of the Self is an excellent four-part series. I haven't got round to seeing part 4 yet, but I can certainly vouch for the first 3 parts. The first part especially. You'll learn precisely how Freudian psychoanalysis was used by the pathocracy (through his nephew in fact) to wicked effect from the early 20th century onwards. From 'propaganda' and 'PR', to 'consumerism' and 'democracy', you will learn that these concepts were not accidents of history but concepts developed and deployed with the specific purpose of manipulating the human mind. And the most astonishing part? Most of it is down to one man [ahem, psychopath]: Edward Bernays, Freud's nephew!

Domivr said:
It got me thinking of ponerology right away.
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Same here. It's riveting viewing, having had one's lenses cleansed by ponerology.
 
The entire Century of the Self series is available here. It is broken into 12 parts, but they will automatically run concurrently:
http://www.surfingtheapocalypse.tv/century_self.php

There are a lot of other very good videos and movies at this site. I highly recommend viewing the 1936 production of HG Wells' Things to Come. It is an eerie road map of almost everything that has happened since then... easily as prophetic as 1984, even if the acting is a bit "stiff".
 
The power of nightmares is well worth watching. also look out for 'the trap' a 3 part documentary by the same director shown on bbc2 in march 07. reviews and synopsis on wikipedia, it is all about the increasing control systems placed throughout society, who benefits and why.
 
I found it interesting that it traced the rise of the neo-cons under the teaching of Strauss and his influence from Hobbes' "The Leviathan". The roping in of the Christian fundamentalists (who had previously remained mainly apolitical) for Reagan's campaign was another eye opener.

This isn't a quote from the series but goes along the same lines from an article by Richard drayton in The Guardian circa 2005.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1674184,00.html

For the American imperial strategists invested deeply in the belief that through spreading terror they could take power. Neoconservatives such as Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle and the recently indicted Lewis "Scooter" Libby, learned from Leo Strauss that a strong and wise minority of humans had to rule over the weak majority through deception and fear, rather than persuasion or compromise. They read Le Bon and Freud on the relationship of crowds to authority. But most of all they loved Hobbes's Leviathan. While Hobbes saw authority as free men's chosen solution to the imperfections of anarchy, his 21st century heirs seek to create the fear that led to submission. And technology would make it possible and beautiful.
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I haven't seen Century of the Self, but I did watch his latest, The Trap - What Happened to our Dream of Freedom. It's an excellent look into the negative influence of what Lobaczewski would call "schizoidal" writings. Lots of info on game theory, quack psychology, and how its naive and pathological view of human nature creates a monster. He just doesn't get into how this creates an opening for further stages of ponerogenesis.

As for Hobbes, how is this for a schizoidal declaration:

Hobbes said:
"Hereby it is manifest, that during the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war; and such a war as is of every man against every man... In such condition there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no culture of the earth, no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea, no commodious building, no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force; no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, short."
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As an update, I did end up watching all four parts of Century of the Self and it was an eye opener.
In a nutshell: the power elite's goal to control the masses of normal people which are considered irrational and dangerous and they found fertile ground in the ideas of Freud. Application of these ideas over decades let to consumerism and representative democracy.

The shocker - to me - was that democracy as we know it is deep down really another form of consumerism.
If you take this to another level: you can make people think what you want and then that can be used through focus groups as policy material, which of course was the goal all along.

Fascinating documentary. Now if only we can put a little bug in his ear to make one about psychopathy...
 
Great recommendations! I`ve seen only "The century of Self" and have widely recommended it to friends.
I believe there is an earlier thread on this on the forum. At the time I thought, the BBC never came closer to admitting
an ongoing conspiracy. It`s also another thing I should have learned during my graphic-design studies, but haven`t.
The infamous Edward Bernays, who died at age 104 (!) might be one of the most obscure very influential americans of
the past century. The fact that Freud wielded such a profound influence via his nephew (and his daughter) during the
past 80 years in western society is not at all widely known.
A Must See for everyone who needs a greater understanding of the world we`re living in.
 
I watched Century of the Self and I would definitely recommend it to appreciate at least the extent of how Freud's psychology has influenced the western world in self-serving useless ways, it is amazing how famous Freud and his daughter were considering how clueless they were in so many ways. Bernays is quite a character, being a pioneer in his field in mass manipulations through psychology/propaganda and becoming famous, renown and searched after because of that. A must see.
 
domivr said:
Fascinating documentary. Now if only we can put a little bug in his ear to make one about psychopathy...
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Indeed! haven't seen the power of nightmares yet but I just came across the century of the self as well and watched all four parts in a row - absolutely engaging. What easier target for the elite is there than self-importance? And what's more, the urge to buy, sell and otherwise consume en masse seems to be a direct result of this psychological manipulation.

also, i noticed an amusing scenario in the first part of the series, where they say that before the utilization of these theories and their application to the "irrational" mind of the people, the capitalists had supposedly only appealed to the "logical" mind - offering statistics and data in an effort to advertise. almost as if they had recognized "the machine" and decided that flipping the emotional triggers would be more effective. seems like a basic idea but it really is cunning eh? we associate products and material goods with the satisfaction of our psychological selves, and they manipulate our satisfactions with material goods. we WANT it!

also note that bernays said (i'm paraphrasing) : "we couldn't use the word 'propaganda' because of its negative associations with the war, so we founded the 'council for public relations'."

many people these days recognize the propaganda and are not falling under its spell, but there are also many who slurp it up like cheap beer. as the other posters here have said, i would also recommend flying this film series up the flagpole to your friends who may have an inclination to watch it...

here's the BBC page about the series: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/century_of_the_self.shtml

and part 1 of 4 on google video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2637635365191428174

update: just finished seeing "the power of nightmares" as well, and will also heartily add my own recommendation to see this film. enlightening, well composed. an impressive piece of work...
 
Re: The Century Of The Self - Part 1 of 4

Hi, if you use the forum search engine you can find out if a topic has already been discussed. The Century of the Self is discussed here - http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=6735.0 - topics will be merged.
 
I watched " The Power of Nightmares". It is great. he layed out 2 factions of nightmare, the Islamic Jihad and neocons as 2 factions, but he didn't stress the role of CIA in formenting both the factions. He seems to have gave too much legitimacy to islamophobia. Other thing is he still dumped the cause of 911 on bin laden's deputy, though he exposes how necons used it. The mountains of evidence of 911 as 'Inside Job' he ommitted , instead he relegated it neocons 'took advantage of it'. If he does that it wouldn't have aired on BBC.

I observed the similar pattern in century of self. Though he goes in depth with the historical facts. he leaves out the contemporary master minds by showing before and jumps to the after effects. Probably that is how, his documentaries survived.
 
Century of the Self is an overall good production in my opinion. I use it with my students and it usually creates a fair amount of discussion. The students have told me they have never thought of these matters before, in terms of just how easily the masses can be influenced. This film is a useful piece in understanding more about the 'mind control of the masses', especially when added to the reams of information on mind control, psyops, disassociative states, mkultra, and so forth.
 
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