[Thylacine]

Maybe this is why

The Trap : What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom?

Part One : F**K You Buddy
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=8372545413887273321

Part Two : The Lonely Robot
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-7849982478877371384

Part Three : We Will Force You to be Free
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3291992041130722257
(follow the links in the sidebar for the next segment)

And the wiki-synopsis for those who'd rather skim
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trap_(television_documentary_series)

 

[Thylacine]

Okay, so I should've warned you all it wasn't just a matter of reading some inciting excerpt from the New Yorker and getting all frothy.

Skip if you will to the best part :

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1343199130780182696&hl=en

Take 17 minutes out of your busy existence to watch it. There's a poigniant part where there's a Soldier in Iraq saying "All these people want is food, electricity and shelter, and I'm sure the powers that be have plans for all that but they don't see it, I don't see it....."

 

[Changleen]

Adam Curtis is good.

Edit: For those with short memories, this is the new series from the guy who did 'The Power of Nightmares'.

 

[MikeD]

I'll have to watch those when I have a moment.

Just so I can prove that Thylacine HATES FREEDOM!

(Actually, I've been considering starting to write a piece on the "cult of the executive" (as a concept, a particular person, and a division of government/corporate structure) which seems to dominate both business and current administration thinking...hmmm, maybe I should get out the old pen on those long subway commutes...)

 

[Thylacine]

As a grunt in one of the episodes so poignantly exclaims....."We're here for your freedom, so step the f*ck back right now!"

Oh yes, I laughed. Quite audibly infact.

 

[Changleen]

That is a really great series. I just got done watching all 3 hours, and I do recommend it to you all.

It's all about the type of society we live in, more accurately the type of 'freedom' and what it does or doesn't mean, as well as the cyclical nature of things.

It's directed at a British audience, especially towards the end, but I think nearly all of it is highly relevant to a US audience too.

What is our 'freedom' for? What's the point?

 

[Thylacine]

Well, 'Freedom' has been perverted to mean 'The freedom for us to perpetrate Capitalist Imperialism, wherever we see a potential profit to be made.'

I think anyone that thinks the Iraqi's and Afghani's are more free than they were before need to seriously wake up. Where's the evidence that says both arenas are anything more than a sh!tfight?

 

[JohnE]

No, no. Freedom now means "The ability to do what you want, as long as Shrub and his evil little cabal have signed off on it, and are going to get a cut when the $$ starts rolling in."

 

[Silver]

Good stuff. Not as persuasive to me as "The Power of Nightmares" but still very interesting.

My nitpicks are mostly due to the assertion that biological sciences prove that we are genetic slaves is considered valid by the people used in the film to support that assertion. There's a few Smith and Dawkins quotes, but nothing that mentions that those scientists don't think that is=ought (naturalistic fallacy).

He also didn't ask the very pertinent question to Buchanan: If we can't trust politicians due to the fact that you think they are motivated by self interest, what makes you think that the corporate elites are any different? What is the advantage of trading one for the other?

Still, great stuff. I wish I lived in the UK sometimes. Highbrow television here is "To Catch a Predator."

 

[Changleen]

Honestly, the sorry thing is this sort of journalism is getting rarer and rarer.

I actually like how he gets factions to comment in such a one sided way, it normally highlights the fallacy in their arguments because it is often such a glaring ommision. Remember he did the same with 'Team B" in PoN;

"Is anything that came out of Team B true?"
"No, I don't think a single thing they said had any truth in it."

Even whilst making the bad guys look dumb, he makes the evangelists look over the top. It's healthy.