Outside the Box Video Series: The Power of Nightmares

Written and produced by Adam Curtis, The Power of Nightmares—The Rise of the Politics of Fear explores the similarities between the ascent of the American Neo-Conservative movement and the trajectory of radical, fundamentalist Islamism in three one-hour films.

More controversial, perhaps, than even this comparison, is the argument that the threat of radical Islamism—al-Qaeda in particular—has been exploited by politicians around the world, especially American neocons, in order to advance their own agenda.

Episode 1: Baby It’s Cold Outside
This episode traces the origins of pan-Arab Islamist ideology to its founder Said Qtub—an Egyptian student who studied in America and became incensed with American commercialism and its corrupting nature. It also details the work of Leo Strauss, a Platonic philosopher at the University of Chicago who was extremely influential over the growth of American neo-conservatism and emphasized deceit as necessary for elites to maintain control over an orderly society...

http://whowhatwhy.org/2015/05/16/outside-the-box-video-series-the-power-of-nightmares-2/