For anyone unfamiliar with Curtis's work, many of his documentaries are streamed here: http://thoughtmaybe.com/by/adam-curtis/
His theme is power in society. His style often borders on theatre, which he takes to a whirlwind pitch in this 2009 immersive theatre piece: http://thoughtmaybe.com/it-felt-like-a-kiss/ He hits full stride when he combines that particular style with his essayist's insight, skills of documentary journalism (and access to the BBC's massive film archives) in his 2011 masterpiece on the modern constraints of human freedom: http://thoughtmaybe.com/all-watched-over-by-machines-of-loving-grace/ -- Michael Allan Toronto, +1 416-699-9528 http://zelea.com/ Gregory Foster said: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA512 > > BBC Blogs (Aug 8) - "BUGGER: Maybe The Real State Secret Is That Spies > Aren't Very Good At Their Jobs and Don't Know Very Much About The > World" by Adam Curtis: > http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/posts/BUGGER > > It's really nice to see Adam Curtis weigh in on recent events from his > high-bandwidth cybershell plugged directly into the BBC archives > mainframe. As usual, the documentary filmmaker and media maestro > presents an unconventional take on events in long form that will leave > you confused or better informed and often both. > > In this installment, his long arc points out the manner in which > secrecy breeds confusion, suspicion, and treachery; and contrasts that > with the open force of love most of us are more familiar with. Or as > he puts it, > > > In fact in many cases [the history of spies] is the story of > > weirdos who have created a completely mad version of the world that > > they then impose on the rest of us. > > He also has some trenchant warnings for journalists who tend to enjoy > hearing and relaying fantastic stories: they may be serving to > reinforce and perpetuate illusions of hidden power and secret > knowledge, keeping intelligence budgets high even though the > recipients are unable to demonstrate results (that's a state secret). > More succinctly, Curtis cites one historian's description of a > particularly credulous journalist's relationship with anonymous > government sources: > > > "[He was a] kind of official urinal in which ministers and > > intelligence and defence chiefs could stand patiently leaking." > > I'm reminded of AP reporter Adam Goldman's statement during the > confusion sown by the Daily Beast's reporting on a top sekrit AQAP > "Legion of Doom" conference call that turned out not to be a call at all: > https://twitter.com/adamgoldmanap/status/365115189709910016 > > > As one former senior CIA official once told me: "Who says we can't > > lie to reporters? It's not a crime." > > Yet despite the punking, Curtis leaves a piece of cheese for > journalists at the end of his maze. > > HT Eugen Leitl via Cypherpunks (thanks!) > gf > > - -- > Gregory Foster || gfos...@entersection.org > @gregoryfoster <> http://entersection.com/ > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG/MacGPG2 v2.0.19 (Darwin) > Comment: GPGTools - http://gpgtools.org > > iQIcBAEBCgAGBQJSCbRrAAoJEMaAACmjGtgjVvkQAJoofjCKrrvvLjPMDpL+KP/s > oxE8CxO6pcS2QNjwvSIW7oTmd3xpPaOrU7SkMerWwxJMay4LoxO9gsZggm60fiho > nl1tCYZp+T/rIoTF/fBXUJSQOFpW7eH0NwADv7ofbSfTKLcXNT3qXT50zkFwf09s > sldqtzzFPERtJJkcz3YbqjilZA2WFbb4gaCTemEQz2ZnJ+18EnocDl/SyKipje7p > xUEKwVgoLeIf0ynOWPNYop0hSsc6Dmsy2iNi02G4e1KdR5T39Qgg99Ucs4K4EseD > wbIInqEA05GomOpV1PP5cChZ3sUykIfNxTN0J6ZQcN6iP9k/GxL/pXgfkuMR0j7p > Gd333uDL85e+vmH/a7fvXggzXVYo9fJ0WCIgQy3pXbm3BJkm0JAY2Lp3BUbE/9Z6 > PzlYkNZmTAUu6MPOBiC0vesxuVlYgMkkbLENBpCLw/NHVh++S/eP3kx2p3jgF8D+ > fcyjJQ/3x13Aa/TfrmyoIZlgBGYdC5Ld0lan16de+apSPCPwC6dp+TGvYhsjRio7 > lzfEN5eNTEU3nFk4VURB/wPT0ViB0W+0KpSMinL89DqtejVP5aeQP9m3+iue3sKV > /ReSq1cyn7vOiOH+aP4gTV7wklQrTlft4TESd/ceMQMQraZOPidRN7R2HW/5Vhf0 > y8npV0XyDdwT3vfqg+iF > =w36q > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- Liberationtech is a public list whose archives are searchable on Google. Violations of list guidelines will get you moderated: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech. Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by emailing moderator at compa...@stanford.edu.
