Braunschweiger Kulturnacht: Psychology of the evil
Eloquent, entertaining, good looking, successfull: that is Danny Morgenstern on the 14th Brunswieck Culture Night at the Astor Cinema. Morgenstern is not fameless at all. Actually he is known as THE James Bond expert. Even the Universal Studios, he tells us by the way, contacted him in order to market the latest Bond movie „No time to die“. And well, the cinema hall is jam-packed, even though it is already 10 p.m. The success speaks for itself.
The view into the abyss of the human soul
It just logical that the beginning of the witty lecture is a commercial break for Morgenstern’s books. So what. At this point the felicity of the Brunswick man shows: „I need the gloomy saison in order to think my way into the subject“. That is the way Morgenstern explains when his next book will be published. With stimulations from his publishers such as „provide the rogue with some dangerous animals“ he aims to catch his audience unprepared.
Then the author quickly comes to the point: the psychology of the evil. And what is more likely for a Bond expert but to explain his theories on psychopaths with the help of the meanies from Bond movies? He throws the movies posters of 25 Bond motion pictures on the wall which turn like cards in a memory play. On the back you can see the faces of Blofeld, Doctor Kananga, Francisco Scaramanga & Co. The film industry, Morgenstern tells us, significally coined our notion of bad people. All villains shown do have physical abnormalities, such as scarves, webs or talipes. That way, he continues, the audience can quickly realize who is the bad guy. What do these people want? The world domination? No, most of them want money or power. All oft hem but Lyutsifer Safin, the villain from the latest Bond movie. He succeeds in killing Bond.
Just for one time James‘ antagonist was femal. In the motion picture „The world is not enough“ the french actress Sophie Marceau plays the opponent called Elektra Vavra King. Morgenstern’s comment: Women act less violently but the also act mor clever.“
1 % of the world population are psychopaths
Moreover Hollywood made us think that Psychopath are intelligent people. They are not. 20 % – 25 % of all insane are imprisoned. The reason for it is often negligence. For example they leave a genetical mark by eating an apple at the crime scene and leave the core behind.
These are the facts: Approximately 1 % of the world population are psychopaths (approximately 800.000 people in Germany). As already said, 20 % – 25 % of them are in prison, 5 % – 6 % are in a leading position.
What characterises a psychopath?
It gets down to the nitty gritty. The author remarks what kind of charakteristics represent a psychopath. At first, they do not have emotions and do not show empathy. Non compos mentis are lacking any sense of justice. For the brain it does not matter whether a bonbon or a rapture is shown, the feelings are the same.
But how is it that such people are not conspicious? Psychopaths, Morgenstern tells us, are very good actors and memorize desirable behaviour. Emotions, such as happiness on Christmas are simply lead to believe. Those people are dazzler with superficial allures, pathological liars and do live on the expense of others. They are jaded and show an insufficient control of behaviour and impulsivity.
How to dismantle a liar
How do you unmask a liar? Well, there are some unmistakable signs. Stories that are too long and cannot be told backwards are a tissue of lies. An example. A man is two hours late for dinner. His wife asks him where he has been. The guy goes far afield and tells a complicated story he made up. However, as he did not really witnessed those events he cannot remember the order of the events. His brain is out of order.
Plus the pupil gets smaller upon telling lies because of the swindle stress hormones are liberated. Interesting enough the tip of the nose starts itching and the motor activity suffers from the stress.
The prototyp: Donald Trump
And then again, there is Donald Trump, the former US-president. Trump, Morgenstern explains is a master of manipulation. When he enters the stage he is often quiet for the first 10 seconds. This way he raises the audiences‘ attention. In his speeches he repeats his most important statements again and again in order to make the audience memorize only one significant message such as. win, win, win.
After sharing these insights the audience is released into the night.
