The Power of Nightmares - Psychological Thriller Book | Explore Human Fears & Dark Fantasies | Perfect for Horror Fans & Book Club Discussions

Here's a brief synopsis of this film: a nutcase is a nutcase is a nutcase. And both the neocons and jihadists fit the bill perfectly. There's a definition of insanity currently making the rounds: that it's doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. But that can also be a symptom of just plain stupidity. A much better definition is doing something totally outrageous and expecting a result completely at odds with common sense and historical precedent. Perfect case in point: one of the Islamic jihadists who helped plan the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat actually believed that seeing the president assassinated would make the people see how corrupt the political system was and they would rise up in rebellion; whereas a sane man would have known that it's precisely in times of national tragedy that people cling all the more tightly to the status quo. Needless to say, this nutcase came in time to see not just the politicians as corrupt but the people themselves. So, too, the neocons set out to destroy Bill Clinton, who they hated; they actually imagined that once the impeachment proceedings began the people would see how corrupt he was and rise up in support of his imeachment. And, of course, they were horrified when the exact opposite happened. Which leads to the most telling piece of both the jihadist and neocon ideology: both believe that personal liberty - individual freedom - is the major symptom of a society's moral decay. Just think about that a moment: these idealogues see an ordinary citizen's freedom to make choices about his or her life as the number one symptom of moral depravity, because it somehow destroys shared social values. At this point, you can simply rest your case; these are people who are about as removed from reality - especially the reality of humanity's continual struggle to gain and keep some measure of freedom - as any madman who ever lived. Both the jihadists and neocons constructed a fantasy world based on the same hyper-exagerated notion of good versus evil; and to make it work they both had to invent an enemy who represented absolute evil. Among the legion of parallels and ironies to be found in this film, perhaps the most ironic is that Osama bin Laden, who appears to be the most sane, most rational of the jihadists. became the very one the neocons demonized.The only slight reservation I have about this film is its suggestion that ideas play a determining role in the sociopolitical world. Whereas, actually, for every apparent triumph, at least of the neocon ideology, you can plainly see that there are big monied interests who stood to gain from those ideas. And now that those ideas have become counter-productive, they're quickly falling out of favor. Professor Leo Strauss may have been the father of the neocon ideology, but rest assured it was the Rockefellers, Mellons, Astors, Vanderbilts, DuPonts and their business interests that allowed the neocon ideology to attain prominence. And it's those same interests that will relegate the neocons to the historical dustbin now that there's nothing left to be gained from them.