Alexander Davidis: Another "Puzzling" Psychopathy Expert?

[jasstnhawk]

It was suggested by another forum member that I share this incident that occurred within a FB group page with other members of the forum. Hopefully this is the proper "sub-topic" for which to start a discussion.

The following is a PM that I sent to FB friends who are members of the "Psychopaths - And What You Need to Know" group and as well as fellow Cass members ... the PM pretty much sums up the experience I had this morning:

START FB PM-->

My dear FB friends and fellow members of the Cass group,

I am writing to inform you of an incident that occurred this morning concerning the "Psychopaths - And What you Need to Know" group page and its admin Alexander Davidis.

Yesterday, as some of you are aware, I posted the SOTT. net article "From Internet Troll to Psychopathy Expert: The Con-Artistry of Thomas Sheridan" along with the following quote from the article:

"We had been hoping against hope that Sheridan would come around and really grok psychopathology, but his recent behavior coupled with information sent to us anonymously about his checkered past has left us with little choice but to share our findings with the public"

As of this morning, Davidis has changed the group's status from closed to secret and has removed the posting mentioned above. The following is the PM I wrote Davidis concerning this matter:

-------->

Alexander Davidis,

I noticed that you removed the SOTT. net article "From Internet Troll to Psychopathy Expert: The Con-Artistry of Thomas Sheridan" that I posted yesterday (along with a quote from the article) on the "Psychopaths - And What you Need to Know" group page. I am writing this PM to respectfully ask why you removed the article and what were your reasons for its removal, besides the fact that you are the admin and well within your right to do so.

I was under the impression that this group page was about "getting educated on psychopathy". Perhaps I misunderstood the purpose of this group's page and it was strictly about "Kickstarter.com funding", a project that has now been canceled according to a post you shared on January 23 at 10:39am. If I have misunderstood this group's purpose as written in the "About" section on the group's page, please let me know.

I understand the topic of psychopathy is a highly controversial one and that some groups or people may only want to "skim the surface" of the topic in order to inform others, yet remain careful not to offend, however if you are not offending or challenging someone's beliefs, buffers, programming, etc., then the question becomes are you truly informing?

To clarify and for the record, I did not post the article on T. Sheridan to cause any controversy, as evidenced by the omission of any personal thoughts or opinions on my behalf, but rather so others in the group, who may not be aware of the ongoing situation, can have the opportunity to read it, come to their own conclusions, and decide what they want to do or not do for themselves. Furthermore, I feel I would be remiss in my duty as a human being not to warn others of a possible predator in their midst.

Thank you for your time concerning this matter. Sincerely, Robin Rantamaki

<------------

I have not received a response from Davidis to this PM at this time. Hopefully he will respond in a timely fashion with some clarification as to why he removed the article.

I would also like to inform all of you that I recognize at least one name within the group's members list, Gerry Coogan, who is a friend of T. Sheridan. Perhaps he raised a "stink" about the article and asked to have it removed, or prompted the removal in some way, however this is just pure speculation on my behalf.

Again, this PM was written with the sole intent to inform and not to further the "controversy", for I agree with Laura's thoughts that it is time to move on to more important topics other than TS, because when viewed in the larger scheme, he is of little to no consequence.

Sincerely and in Fellowship, Robin

END FB PM<--

 

[Laura]

Re: "From Internet Troll to Psychopathy Expert: The Con-Artistry of Thomas Sheridan"

So, Alexander Davidis, who has serious problems with narcissism, has gone ahead and set himself up as a psychopathy expert too! Why am I not surprised? Perhaps it is time for an expose on him...

 

[Beau]

Re: Alexander Davidis: Another Psychopathy Expert?

This afternoon Facebook informed me that Alexander changed the privacy settings of the group to Secret, fwiw.

 

[Approaching Infinity]

Re: "From Internet Troll to Psychopathy Expert: The Con-Artistry of Thomas Sheridan"

That was the page for his documentary idea, which was discussed elsewhere on the forum. After cancelling the project, the page was set to "closed" on Jan 27. Since then, there hasn't been much activity at all. A few people posting links on psychopathy here and there...

 

[jasstnhawk]

Re: Alexander Davidis: Another Psychopathy Expert?

So, Alexander Davidis, who has serious problems with narcissism, has gone ahead and set himself up as a psychopathy expert too! Why am I not surprised? Perhaps it is time for an expose on him...

It has become clear to me, based on the removal of the article mentioned above, that his FB group page was more about fund raising and less about informing others about the topic of psychopathy.

That was the page for his documentary idea, which was discussed elsewhere on the forum. After cancelling the project, the page was set to "closed" on Jan 27. Since then, there hasn't been much activity at all. A few people posting links on psychopathy here and there...

Yes, I was one of those posting psychopathy topics and related topics. My question is, instead of setting the group to a closed status on Jan 27th, why did he not just delete the group?

 

[Foxx]

Re: Alexander Davidis: Another Psychopathy Expert?

I'd personally like to give Alexander the chance to respond with why he did what he did and when before making any conclusions myself, however I also think it's worth noting that at one point it was mentioned that "Thomas Sheridan is wholeheartedly supporting the project", regarding the film Alexander was raising money to make. Perhaps there is a connection between the two that goes deeper than just a casual recommendation? I don't know at all for sure, just thinking out loud.

 

[jasstnhawk]

Re: Alexander Davidis: Another Psychopathy Expert?

Here is some preliminary info found on Wikipedia ... As I was reading it and considering there is only one reference cited, I wondered if Davidis had written Wikipedia entry himself?!?

--This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (June 2010)--

Alexander Davidis is a German born television director, writer and producer.

He was born in Germany in 1963 where he went to private boarding school, the Castle Buldern in North-Rhine-Westphalia. In Essen, he studied business administrations for two years, then he moved to Berlin to study Social and Commercial Communications at the Universität der Künste Berlin.

After obtaining his Masters degree, he moved to New York City in 1989, where he started to work with now Hollywood film director Marcus Nispel (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) at Nispel's then film production company Portfolio Artists Network. Davidis started out as the in-house Conceptual Art Director. In this capacity he was responsible for the art direction of such memorable music videos as C&C Music Factory's "Gonna Make You Sweat" and "Things That Make You Go Hmmm...", the latter being nominated at the MTV Music Video Awards for best art-direction of that year. He also worked with Nispel on music videos for Aretha Franklin, The B-52's, Sheila E, Joe Jackson, LL Cool J and many more. As the company grew he became Creative Director looking after new directors that joined Portfolio switching from photography to music video directing, such as Hans Neleman and David LaChapelle.

Subsequently, Davidis turned director himself. In the early 1990s, he was represented by New York City based Taxi Films and in Europe by Production International that had their main offices in London and Hamburg and more offices in many countries including South Africa. As a result, Davidis became the "traveling director" shooting with the leading advertising agencies in South Africa, Brazil, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, the USA and many more. He won the award for Best Car Commercial at the Portugal Commercial Film Festival 1996.
In the late 1990s, he worked as a conceptual media consultant for the foreign political department of the ZDF, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, the biggest broadcaster in Europe as well as the New York Times Television, at the time living in London, from 1998 through 2003. Beginning of 2004 he returned to new New York City.

Davidis is also a still photographer specialized in historic and luxury Automobiles. Davidis's photography was exhibited in the UK in 2004 and in 2005 and in the US in 2005. He won the prestigious Aston Martin Owners Club Klemantaski-Parnell photo award in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004.
Alexander Davidis also directs the television series on historic car racing GT Racer.[1] Produced by the John Galt Films, Inc., NYC. GT Racer, Season I was shot for VoomHD. In the USA, GT Racer was called "Classic Racers". Season II was picked up by the Discovery Network and premiered on HD Theater and Discovery HD in 2009.

References

1. ^ "GT Racer Now On Your iPad or iPhone". San Francisco Chronicle. 6 April 2011. Retrieved 6 July 2011.

Once again, at least for me, this is a lesson about becoming more discerning about accepting/sending friend requests in FB and also the groups I join.

 

[jasstnhawk]

Re: Alexander Davidis: Another Psychopathy Expert?

I'd personally like to give Alexander the chance to respond with why he did what he did and when before making any conclusions myself, however I also think it's worth noting that at one point it was mentioned that "Thomas Sheridan is wholeheartedly supporting the project", regarding the film Alexander was raising money to make. Perhaps there is a connection between the two that goes deeper than just a casual recommendation? I don't know at all for sure, just thinking out loud.

I agree with you Foxx, I sent the FB PM this morning and I am still waiting for a response from him.

Perhaps there is a connection between the two that goes deeper than just a casual recommendation?

This is an excellent question, well worth looking into, and perhaps the reason behind the removal of the article.

 

[jasstnhawk]

Re: Alexander Davidis: Another Psychopathy Expert?

Ok ... so I have just received a response from Alexander Davidis concerning the reason why he took down the article:

Hi Robin,

I appreciate that you like to contribute to inform people. I also appreciate that you chose to PM me about this.

Since I have shelved the Psychopathy documentary project for the time being I am also not actively maintaining the "Psychopaths - And What you Need to Know" group page. I was actually thinking about closing it down completely for a while, but was not sure if I should or not as of yet. Prompted by your post, in the meantime however, as you may have noticed, I changed the setting today. It is now a secret group and one cannot freely post there anymore.

I just returned from extensive traveling today. I noticed your post and I also have seen the article on sott, skimmed over it but did not have had enough time to really read through it nor to catch up with the reading on the forum regarding Sheridan.

With other words I have not had enough time to form my own judgement on the issue. And as you noticed correctly, since it is my group, I did not want to promote an article, with which' details I was not complete familiar. I plan to catch up as soon as possible as the Sheridan issue does interest me a lot of course. After due diligence I will decide whether I will promote the sott article on him.

I hope that answers your question.

best
Alexander

My reply was the following:

Alexander,

Thank you for responding in such a timely fashion and for your explanation as to why you chose to take down the article posted on your group page.

I understand the need to take the time to "digest" and form your own judgement concerning the "events" that have transpired over the last week. Also, since it is your group page, I understand your decision to not promote the article until you are more familiar.

Again, thank you for answering my primary question and for your timely response.

Sincerely, Robin

I guess it's "wait and see" until he has caught up on all the events over the last week ... as for the other questions I posed in the original PM I sent him such as, "what is the purpose of the group" and basically/paraphrased "is he, as admin of the group, willing to delve further into the topic of psychopathy", is also a "wait and see" situation.

 

[jasstnhawk]

Re: Alexander Davidis: Another Psychopathy Expert?

Here is a post from AD's _http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1484615843/psychopathy-and-why-you-need-to-know/posts page:

THIS PROJECT HAS BEEN CANCELED.

Update #2 · Jan. 23, 2012

I apologize to every single person who got involved and who went out of his/her way to help this project and invested time and energy to move it along. I wrongfully used your resources and got your hopes up and that was not right.

Over the course of this project I discovered my own pathology which I have to face now and deal with.

As I know now, this field of interest (psychopathy research and help- / self-help groups) are saturated with other pathological types that are in it for all the wrong reasons. I do not want to be one of those. I would have been an ill choice to run this project. I could have created more damage than good, hence I decided to cancel it.

That was not easy for me to do.

But to do what's right is usually harder, takes more time and costs more money or energy.

If I want to change the world I have to star with myself.

Naturally no pledge will be executed.

We received two donations via our donation link and those will be returned.

All backers will receive individual emails explaining the details further.

Regretfully and Deeply Sorry

Alexander

After reading this statement, I have to give Davidis 'credit where credit is due', to see the faults in oneself and go public with them, in my opinion, is commendable. Once again, it is a "wait and see' situation as to whether or not he will chose to pursue the topic of psychopathy any further.

 

[Foxx]

Re: Alexander Davidis: Another Psychopathy Expert?

After reading this statement, I have to give Davidis 'credit where credit is due', to see the faults in oneself and go public with them, in my opinion, is commendable. Once again, it is a "wait and see' situation as to whether or not he will chose to pursue the topic of psychopathy any further.

That wasn't quite the end, Robin, and the issue was basically never fully resolved. There is a thread that's relevant here:

http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,25539.105.html

The fact that he's saying that the documentary is "still on hold" is also telling, I think. From the "Psychopaths - And Why You Need To Know" group on FB:

Alexander Davidis: I think I am about to close it. But haven't complete decided yet. Looks like I cannot give it the attention I wanted and the documentary is still on hold. Pondering about what to do with it.....

Doesn't sound like someone listing to the feedback they've received on this forum, to me. "Talk is cheap", as they say.

 

[jasstnhawk]

Re: Alexander Davidis: Another Psychopathy Expert?

After reading this statement, I have to give Davidis 'credit where credit is due', to see the faults in oneself and go public with them, in my opinion, is commendable. Once again, it is a "wait and see' situation as to whether or not he will chose to pursue the topic of psychopathy any further.

That wasn't quite the end, Robin, and the issue was basically never fully resolved. There is a thread that's relevant here:

http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,25539.105.html

The fact that he's saying that the documentary is "still on hold" is also telling, I think. From the "Psychopaths - And Why You Need To Know" group on FB:

Alexander Davidis: I think I am about to close it. But haven't complete decided yet. Looks like I cannot give it the attention I wanted and the documentary is still on hold. Pondering about what to do with it.....

Doesn't sound like someone listing to the feedback they've received on this forum, to me. "Talk is cheap", as they say.

Thank you for the "heads-up" Foxx. Later on this evening, I will read through the entire thread you provided to glean a fuller understanding as to what is really going on here ... including the removal of the TS article I posted yesterday on Davidis' FB group page.

So much information to wade through, so little time! ... I'm workin' on it!

 

[jasstnhawk]

Re: Alexander Davidis: Another Psychopathy Expert?

Ok ... done reading through the whole "Re: Occupy Wall Street Video Project" thread ... what an eye-opening read! WOW!!! Between the latest Sheridan thread and the aforementioned thread, I must state that I am very impressed with Guardian's work and her impeccable "nose" for B.S. ... Also, I am equally impressed with diligence of the network here. (Lesson learned: Leave NO stone un-turned when separating Truth from lies and always check/search the forum first for any information that may shed some light on any given topic/person.) Thank you again, Foxx, for providing the link. I do not think I would have found it on my own, especially based the thread's subject line.

It is now crystal clear, due to the corresponding dates of the the update I posted earlier and the dates of the "Re: OWSVP" thread, that the update posted by Davidis aka Fifth Way (FW) on his kickstarter fundraising page was in direct response to the feedback he received here on the forum.

As I read through the dodgy explanations/answers given by FW , it reminded me of the first and only time I ever tried to piece together the genealogy of the first chapter (Genesis) in the Bible, .... confusing, hard to follow, and ultimately my attempt was incomplete/unsuccessful . FW's explanations/answers also reminded me of the saying: "If you always tell the truth, you never have to remember what you said."

Furthermore, some of the lengthy, long-winded, lying-to-self, explanations/answers FW gave reminded me of my alcoholic father when he would enter into the "reconciliation" stage of the cycle of abuse. The only thing FW was missing was a hand full of roses and a "sparkling" gift to seal the deal before slithering into the "calm" stage of the cycle of abuse where everything is "magically" forgotten, especially/conveniently by the perpetrator. (Cycle of abuse diagram here: _https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cycle_of_Abuse.png)

After reading through all the information provided here on the forum, I think I have some "insight" as to why Davidis/FW took down the SOTT article on his psychopathy group page. I also think it is wise for me, at this time, to leave his group. Based on some of his dialogue here, I do not think he even knows the purpose of his group anymore other than the original purpose which was to solicit funds for his project, nor do I think he is capable or qualified to delve further into the topic of psychopathy. To remain in the group would be the blind leading the blind ... in this case a relative newbie (me) to the study of psychopathy with only the direct experience at the hands of a few psychopaths from which to draw on.

Thank you again, Foxx, and to all those who participated in the "Re: OWSVP" thread ... I am reminded once again to be more discerning on FB and elsewhere, how much information I have yet to wade through, how important it is to contribute/participate in the network/forum, and how much self-Work I have yet to do.

 

[Gawan]

Re: Alexander Davidis: Another Psychopathy Expert?

Once again, at least for me, this is a lesson about becoming more discerning about accepting/sending friend requests in FB and also the groups I join.

You could use lists if you are not sure and put uncertain people into these lists. So they cannot view everything you post, private data etc. This could be changed then before posting: friends, public, groups etc.

Anyway regarding AD it is an interesting developing and a good question why he didn't delete the group from the beginning. It looks like he is hoping for something and never considered the feedback that was given to him entirely. This also mirrors the behavior regarding the sott article. Sott is known not to expose people for fun or when they had a feeling about it (be it anger etc.), to the contrary until enough hard-data is collected to take the step. So it seems he is kind of sitting between two stools mode and time to come up clean or not. But lets wait for further input.

 

[jasstnhawk]

Re: Alexander Davidis: Another Psychopathy Expert?

You could use lists if you are not sure and put uncertain people into these lists. So they cannot view everything you post, private data etc. This could be changed then before posting: friends, public, groups etc.

Thank you for your feedback, Gawan, concerning FB. Since the events of last week, I have been learning FB's privacy settings on-the-fly as I "clean house", unfriending and/or blocking those who are directly or indirectly connected with T. Sheridan, because I have no use or time for negative comments/PMs/etc., or for the allowance of "energy" drainage/becoming "food". I will take your advice to heart and continue to learn my way around FB in order to "shore up" the security on my FB page.

Anyway regarding AD it is an interesting developing and a good question why he didn't delete the group from the beginning. It looks like he is hoping for something and never considered the feedback that was given to him entirely. This also mirrors the behavior regarding the sott article. Sott is known not to expose people for fun or when they had a feeling about it (be it anger etc.), to the contrary until enough hard-data is collected to take the step. So it seems he is kind of sitting between two stools mode and time to come up clean or not. But lets wait for further input.

I think he hasn't deleted the group page because he still is planning to go ahead with the project sometime in the future. Here is what Foxx quoted earlier:

Alexander Davidis: I think I am about to close it. But haven't complete decided yet. Looks like I cannot give it the attention I wanted and the documentary is still on hold. Pondering about what to do with it.....

I noticed, before leaving his group page tonight, that the quote above was from earlier today after he switched the group from closed to secret.

As far as waiting for further input, based on my experience with him today, what I read, and all the meticulous info laid out in the "Re: Occupy Wall Street Video Project" thread by Guardian and others who have personally met him ... well, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it is a duck ... He strikes me as a dangerous "charmer" and someone who I am personally choosing to avoid at this time. The "happening" I will be waiting to see is if he finds redemption or begins the profound Work to Know his True Self.