New documentary: fishead

Approaching Infinity

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_http://www.fisheadmovie.com/

ABOUT "I am <fishead(" MOVIE

Narrated by Peter Coyote

how psychopaths and antidepresants influence our society
a provocative snapshot of the world we live in

It is a well-known fact that our society is structured like a pyramid. The very few people at the top create conditions for the majority below. Who are these people? Can we blame them for the problems our society faces today? Guided by the saying "A fish rots from the head." we set out to follow that fishy odor. What we found out is that people at the top are more likely to be psychopaths than the rest of us.

Who, or what, is a psychopath? Unlike Hollywood's stereotypical image, they are not always blood-thirsty monsters from slasher movies. Actually, that nice lady who chatted you up on the subway this morning could be one. So could your elementary school teacher, your grinning boss, or even your loving boyfriend. The medical definition is simple: A psychopath is a person who lacks empathy and conscience, the quality which guides us when we choose between good and evil, moral or not. Most of us are conditioned to do good things. Psychopaths are not. Their impact on society is staggering, yet altogether psychopaths barely make up one percent of the population.

Broken into three parts, our search for the <fishead( starts in New York City, on Wall Street, where a big chunk of the world power is concentrated. This small plot of city land is where the economic crisis erupted and what we found there has far-reaching consequences, both for the psychopaths and us normal folk.

The second part of the film touches on how, for a small number of people, overuse of antidepressants can result in behaviors that appear to mimic some psychopathic features. Although overuse of these medications will not produce psychopathy, they may stifle emotion and decrease the user's ability to feel empathy. They also may have the opposite effects, "normalizing" emotional experience and empathy. More than one-third of the Western population uses and, in some cases, abuses these drugs. But why? So why do we want to take a pill that flattens or normalizes our normal feelings? We think something sure smells fishy again

It is not too far fetched to say that for the first time in history we not only praise psychopaths in the highest positions of power, but in many cases, they became our role models. On top of that, we don't seem to think it's a problem. In the third part, we come back to the idea of us, the normal people in our day-to-day life. How much different are we from the average psychopath? By embracing a superficial culture, each of us maybe unwillingly supports the <fishead(. Albert Einstein said, "The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."

Through interviews with renowned psychologist Professor Philip Zimbardo, leading expert on psychopathy Professor Robert Hare, former President of Czech Republic and playwright Vaclav Havel, authors Gary Greenberg and Christopher Lane, professor Nicholas Christakis, among numerous other thinkers, we have delved into the world of psychopaths and heroes and revealed shocking implications for us and our society

Apparently coming out on September 11...
 
That looks very good. I saw a couple of extended teasers on their site - 'Watch1' and 'Watch2'.
 
Looks very promising!

They have a iPhone application too, 'psychopath detector'. I just tried it, not that remarkable, but pretty good idea. Whatever it takes to get people informed! It was interesting to see the street interviews in those clips - everyone answered: "Crazy person", sigh...
 
Gawan said:
I concur it looks indeed really promising.

Indeed. I'm really curious about watching the documentary and how deep it goes; and just as it was with the video Defense Against the Psychopath, I find it really encouraging that the word seems to be spreading indeed. Which reminds me of that one SOTT Flyer: "Hope - Don't Drop It". Though I might be thinking too rosy-coloured here currently. But then, who knows.
 
Is it just me or are a lot of films and books popping up about psychopathy? Interesting pattern.

There's also Jon Ronson's recent book The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry released a couple of months ago and there is that other researcher who made the Defense Against The Psychopath video too, and quite a few more we seem to be stumbling upon lately. Which is great! But I can't help but wonder if some of these titles will be co-opted or twisted by psychopaths to point fingers in the wrong direction.

Then again, I guess it's better that this content is surfacing as opposed to not at all.

I look forward to watching this film.
 
It's heartening to see the awareness of psychopathy emerging. A spark of truth here and there.
Too late to save the world from the coming turmoil.

But it may help some protect themselves against these monsters.

Mac
 
clerck de bonk said:
Nathan said:
Is it just me or are a lot of films and books popping up about psychopathy? Interesting pattern.
Indeed, whats up?

IMO, SOTT's work is working on some levels, and people all over the place are sick of being manipulated, and trying to find the source of that manipulation.

That, and while this planet does seem pretty irreversibly screwed, the light of Truth is very powerful.
 
Jonathan said:
clerck de bonk said:
Nathan said:
Is it just me or are a lot of films and books popping up about psychopathy? Interesting pattern.
Indeed, whats up?

IMO, SOTT's work is working on some levels, and people all over the place are sick of being manipulated, and trying to find the source of that manipulation.

That, and while this planet does seem pretty irreversibly screwed, the light of Truth is very powerful.
My sentiments too but, they could link or at least make a nod of recognition towards sott, Laura and Lobaczewski IMO... But I guess it's as she put it herself 'the most important thing is to just get it out there'.
 
Just recieved a link for the full movie, having written with the producers offering to help find a local venue.
We are planning to screen the film in big cities around the world outside the festival circuit. We plan to bing not only the film but also some experts to do Q/As after the screening.

Would you be able to help us set up a screening in Copenhagen?

Thank you for your patience and your interest in our movie I am <fishead( and the suggestions.

If you want to watch the film and provide some feedback, go to www.FHmovie.com,

click on Where To See and use the password: fhmovie

Please become a fan on facebook, if you have done so already and don't forget to share the film with at least 5 people around you.

We believe in word-of-mouth marketing and we rely on people like yourself to spread the message of the film.

Your action is important!

Enjoy the movie and we look forward to hearing from you. We can take it from there.

I wrote these guys as this looked like a movie that could be palatable for mainstream venues and minds, this could also be a platform to share about PP- was thinking about proposing to put up a table during the proposed Q/A session. Maybe these guys are worth sending a PP beforehand, though I don't think they would read it, with having a worldtour and all. How does the netwok think about approaching this oppertunity?
 
parallel said:
Just recieved a link for the full movie, having written with the producers offering to help find a local venue.
We are planning to screen the film in big cities around the world outside the festival circuit. We plan to bing not only the film but also some experts to do Q/As after the screening.

Would you be able to help us set up a screening in Copenhagen?

Thank you for your patience and your interest in our movie I am <fishead( and the suggestions.

If you want to watch the film and provide some feedback, go to www.FHmovie.com,

click on Where To See and use the password: fhmovie

Please become a fan on facebook, if you have done so already and don't forget to share the film with at least 5 people around you.

We believe in word-of-mouth marketing and we rely on people like yourself to spread the message of the film.

Your action is important!

Enjoy the movie and we look forward to hearing from you. We can take it from there.

I wrote these guys as this looked like a movie that could be palatable for mainstream venues and minds, this could also be a platform to share about PP- was thinking about proposing to put up a table during the proposed Q/A session. Maybe these guys are worth sending a PP beforehand, though I don't think they would read it, with having a worldtour and all. How does the netwok think about approaching this oppertunity?

I've watched the movie and I think it is indeed a very good one for the average citizen to understand what is going on.
but it would be nice to hear from other forum members what they think about it too!
so what do you all think ?

I saw that in one part there's a notion about smoking and how it developed in recent years as . what I couldn't capture is what
the message is on this one ? (probably becouse of the lack of language knowlege from my side)

maybe we could make subtitles for them in other languages ?
but I think we should be watchful if we interact with them, becouse it could be that they don't have the whole banana so to speak, for
savety reasons you know !

from their website a comment of Prof. Robert Hare:

SPECIAL PREVIEW SCREENING
ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2011 IN NEW YORK CITY

Special pre-release screening of the documentary film I am <fishead( and a reception will commemorate the events of 9/11. The producers would like to extend their sympathy to the families of victims and to all who were directly affected.
The screening will be followed by Q&A with the filmmakers.

Ten years ago in September, the lives of many people around the planet were disrupted by a brutal act of a group of religious fanatics. Whatever were their convictions and aims, their act had clearly psychopathic or sociopathic underpinning.
Sadly, such underpinnings are not reserved only to terrorists. As the saying goes "the fish rots from the head". It is not too far fetched to say that for the first time in history we not only tolerate, but actually praise psychopaths in the highest positions of power. In many cases they become our role models. We believe that it is time to consider the facts and take action. We have delved into the world of psychopaths and heroes and revealed something crucial about us.

"You may say that the roughly 1% of psychopaths living among us is too insignificant a number to worry about. The problem is that these people move around and leave a trail of disaster and destruction behind them."

I've asked them about Political Ponerology but didn't get an answer to this question as of yet:

did any of you guys read "Political Ponerology (The Scientific Study of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes)" by ANDREW M. LOBACZEWSKI ?

a very importand book to understand the different kinds of psychopathy and pathological people and their interaction in society as a whole and in the realm of interpersonal relationships as well.
 
From Misha Votruba:

Dear Laura,

Thanks for getting in touch. I am familiar with the book and we will be very pleased if you decide to promote our film.

We are truly independent and our plan is in the first round distribute the film through "word of mouth" with the help of organizations like yours. Besides internet we plan to organize screenings and debates, where we can bring up details outside the scope of the film I am <fishead( . Once we reach critical mass we will aim for wide distribution.

Please share the link with as many people as you see fit and please get back to us with comments and feedback. The initial feedback from people appearing in the film is very good but we have limited ways of knowing how well we communicate with the rest of the world.

Best regards,

Misha V.

Thank you for your interest in our movie I am <fishead(

If you want to watch the film and provide some feedback, go to www.FHmovie.com,

click on Where To See and use the password: fhmovie

Please become a fan on facebook, if you have not done so already and don't forget to share the film with at least 5 people around you.

We believe in word-of-mouth marketing and we rely on people like yourself to spread the message of the film.

Your action is important!

Enjoy the movie and we look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Misha Votruba

&

Vaclav Dejcmar

On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 7:39 AM, Laura Knight-Jadczyk <lark2@cassiopaea.com> wrote:


Hi,

A number of people on my forum have been talking about your movie and I'm intrigued. As one of the very first people to begin talking publicly about pathology in power, (and getting death threats for doing so), I've spent ten years studying the phenomenon closely with a group of fellow researchers associated with our news website, Sott.net . It could even be said that sott was created to track the pathology in the public sphere via the mainstream media. If you care to check it out, use the search box and just type in "psychopath" to pull up a whole lot of articles...

Anyway, I'm not sure that you are familiar with the book "Political Ponerology: The Science of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes. See: http://www.ponerology.com/ - You can see the reviews, etc, on the site.

We are certainly interested in your movie. We currently live in the South of France and don't know how we could help getting a showing, but we can promote the movie on our websites and via our extended international network that is already very familiar with the problem.

I've looked at the teaser and would like to view the entire movie to write a review.

Thanks so much,

Laura Knight-Jadczyk
 
Just finished watching it. Except for a few minor (in my view) problems, I think it was done really well overall. Zimbardo really pleasantly surprised me in his segments, as he basically expressed a viewpoint that took into account all the problems I had with his book. He describes how it IS psychopaths who are 'authorities' providing the model that people follow (i.e. it's not the simplistic idea that "everyone has the capacity to be evil"). While I loved the image of the 'fat cat' smoking a cigar, the thread of smoking throughout the movie was kind of tedious. And the 'performing philosopher' guy was kind of a moron. He said, essentially, "The leaders of our world aren't psychopaths. I know these people and they're not." :barf: But it's the first time I've heard Hare state clearly that leaders in government can be and are psychopaths.

For those who haven't seen it, there are three sections: 1) psychopaths 2) anti-depressants 3) networks. So there's the 'fishead' (psychopaths at the top), a population of 'sociopaths' (their emotions numbed by drugs), and the potential for change via social networks. As they say, the problem isn't just psychopaths at the top, it's the fact that we don't do anything about it. We're taught from childhood to "mind your own business" and end up ignoring manifestations of evil. It's up to us to call it what it is.
 
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