Mike Ramsdell has been asked to speak about his model of Art and Activism, and how UNDERSTANDING, HOPE and ACTION can incite social change.

Event details not yet posted.

A midwestern dialogue.

For details:  http://mediarelations.illinoisstate.edu/report/1112/oct4/anatomy.asp

Our first screening in Canada for the 2011/12 year.

See Details  http://www.yorku.ca/yfile/archive/index.asp?Article=17640

A return to Fort Meyers.  Please contact the school for details.

ASHLAND, Ore. — A documentary about hate, currently touring the world, is showing right here in southern Oregon.

The film is called ‘The Anatomy of Hate: a Dialogue for Hope’.

The director of the documentary’s goal was to explore what creates hatred among groups and individuals and gives people a platform to talk about it.

The film follows the director’s five-year journey with groups like the white supremacists and Palestinian militants, as well as U.S. embedded troops and a man on death row.

It tries to find the common themes of hatred through the lenses of sociology, anthropology and even neurology.

(Mike Ramsdell appears in the video clip)

“ANATOMY OF HATE: A DIALOGUE OF HOPE” will be screened at 6 p.m. in the Rogue Building on the RCC Redwood Campus, 3345 Redwood Hwy., Grants Pass, and at 6 p.m. April 22 in the RCC/SOU Higher Education Center Presentation Hall, 101 S. Bartlett St., Medford.

A film that examines the ideological sources of hate and how hatred can be overcome, followed by a discussion with the movie’s director. There is no charge for admission, but seating is limited.

For more info, 541-245-7728, toliver@ roguecc.edu.

More than 200 Penn State Beaver students, faculty, and staff, as well as members of the public, gathered on campus last week for a free evening screening of the award-winning documentary, ‘The Anatomy of Hate – A Dialogue to Hope,’ directed by Michael Ramsdell. The 90-minute film was followed by an informal discussion and Q & S session with the audience and Ramsdell.

For six years, Ramsdell worked with unprecedented access to some of the most venomous ideologies and violent conflicts of our time — including the White Supremacy movement, Christian fundamentalism as an anti-gay platform, Muslim extremism, the Palestinian Intifada, Israeli settlers and soldiers, and United States military forces in Iraq.

Read the full story.

Filmmaker Mike Ramsdell brought his award winning documentary “The Anatomy of Hate – A Dialogue of Hope” to the Putnam Auditorium at Keene State College. The auditorium was filled with students and the public eager to view the film. The evening started with an introduction by senior Daniel Colina, additional comments by the filmmaker as well as a reading of the college’s diversity statement by Rebecca Eller of the Diversity and Multicultural Office.

Read the whole story.

http://www.keeneequinox.com/a-e/filmmaker-at-putnam-offers-hope-discussion-debate-1.2456019

Directors talkback screening.

Directors talkback screening.

Directors talkback screening.

Director talkback screening.  Hosted by student affairs and campus Chapel.

Director talkback screening.  Hosted by student diversity organization.

Director talkback screening, hosted by student activities.  FREE POPCORN!

Directors talkback screening.  Hosted by student activities.  FREE POPCORN.

Director Talkback screening, hosted by student affairs and film studies.

Members of the NCC community display signs during a demonstration meant to counter a threatened picket by the Westboro Baptist Church. The group did not appear in Naperville.

As the bell tower at North Central College rang to signal the six o’clock hour, sociology major Elizabeth Micheletti had a problem. The crowd she found herself leading was too large to fit in the college’s Koten Chapel, and she needed to make a change.

So the senior called an audible, and like a seasoned activist leading a demonstration, she climbed atop a bench and delivered the speech her family said she had been practicing all-day.

“We will kill your hatred with our kindness, and disarm you with grace,” she said as if talking to Westboro Baptist Church members. Last week, the Kansas-based anti-gay group revealed plans to be on campus Monday. In response, students, neighbors and church members gathered in counter protest.

The group, best known for displaying slur-laden signs near military funerals, never showed up Monday to protest the showing of “The Anatomy of Hate: A Dialogue to Hope” on the Naperville campus. Group members, who say war casualties are God’s way of punishing the United States for tolerating homosexuality, are featured in the film.

“It’s better than I thought,” she said above impromptu sing-alongs of “All You Need is Love,” and “Somebody to Lean On. “We didn’t need (the WBC) — everyone came here and did what they wanted to do.”

This is Micheletti’s first time leading a demonstration. Though her sociology focus and a course in Protest and Change gave her some tools to organize, she didn’t expect the Facebook group she created last Wednesday to grow into an event with more than 4,400 people invited.

The crowd, which NCC Director of Public Relations and Media Relations Ted Slowik estimated to be about 300, held colorful signs with everything from “Support Our Troops” to Lady Gaga lyrics. Micheletti and other student leaders who planned the counter-protest also passed jars to collect donations for the Trevor Project, an organization that focuses on suicide prevention among gay and lesbian youths.

She also said the donations will be matched by the Levi-Strauss company.

“My big complaint about (Westboro Baptist) is the military side,” said Josh Schlapp, a member of the Navy who heard about the demonstration from friends who attend NCC. He said members of the military who are killed died fighting for the hate group’s right to protest, and he is upset when they choose to protest their funerals as they are known to do.

North Central graduate Christine Kent said she was happy to see so many people come out to demonstrate during the college’s “Anti-Hate Week,” and called the group “repulsive.”

“It’s such the opposite of anything about love or acceptance,” she said of the group’s message.

Micheletti’s family, who also attended the counter-demonstration, commended her efforts.

“It’s amazing to see what her by herself and a Facebook group has made something so big,” Katie Micheletti, her older sister, said.

The night concluded with the screening of the documentary “The Anatomy of Hate,” which details reasons why certain groups hate others. Westboro Baptist is one of the subjects, and used as an example of anti-homosexual sentiments in the film.

Elizabeth Micheletti had one more message for the group as she addressed her peers — gratitude.

“Thanks to the WBC for their threat, which brought everyone together,” she said. “At NCC we embrace love and kindness.”

After three reported bias incidents in less than two months at school, the Hamilton community has had enough. Following the vandalization of the Muslim prayer room in the Chapel, the Bias Incident Response Team (BIRT) and Muslim Student Association (MSA) organized a candlelight march to support diversity. More than 300 students attended the march last night, marching in a line that started at the Chapel and spread nearly all the way to the Kirner-Johnson building, culminating in a screening of the documentary “The Anatomy of Hate.”

Associate Dean of Students for Diversity and Accessibility Allen Harrison, who helped to plan the march and whose office sponsored the film screening, said his goal for the march was to bring “a sense of solidarity and support from the entire community for individuals to openly and freely express themselves religiously without reason for fear or intolerance.”

To kick off the march, Dean of Students Nancy Thompson and President Joan Hinde Stewart spoke briefly about the purpose and significance of the march. Stewart said that by attending the march, the community said “we understand… we also must speak out at speech that is deeply offensive to us.”

“Our students in this community rise to the occasion and do the right thing,” added Thompson. “I think we’re saying a lot just by being here.”

That’s why Amanda Tarnate ’11 attended the march. “There have been a lot of people not thinking about their actions, not really respecting another people,” she said. “The vigil is a good way to counteract some of that.”

For Billy Wieczorek ’11, the march represented a unifying factor that the campus had been missing. “I really feel, especially in the last couple of years, there’s been a lot of stuff where certain people have been upset, but nothing that’s really energized the entire campus,” he said.

“Think about how many other times at Hamilton you’ve really been with this many other people for a cause.”

The event even drew people from the surrounding community including Simon Stanco and Adam Bankert, who are juniors at Clinton Central School. Stanco heard about the event while attending a seminar taught by Sidney Wertimer Associate Professor of Philosophy Marianne Janack and was encouraged by a teacher at his high school to make signs and attend the march by a teacher at his high school. Bankert heard about the march from Stanco, and said, “I felt like it was the right thing to do, to come up here and show our support.”

The march culminated outside of KJ before the film screening with hundreds of students holding candles singing “Amazing Grace.” When the march started to disperse, Michael Bethany ’11 stood and gave an unannounced speech encouraging community members to respect each other in the face of hate.

Filmmaker Mike Ramsdell, who produced, directed and edited “The Anatomy of Hate,” attended the march before the screening as well. “I was not aware of the march planned for tonight, and I think it’s awesome,” he said. “This is fantastic. You have around 300 people, and they’re here to actually demonstrate in a way that is peaceful and unified – not so much antithesis to the Westboro Baptist Church, but your own personal thesis.”

Ramsdell’s film analyzes how people can find tolerance and peace amidst a world populated with hate groups and hate crimes. The screening was planned far in advance of any of this year’s reported bias incidents, but Ramsdell felt it was appropriate to open dialogue encouraging tolerance and acceptance. “The film never set out to say these are answers, but it certainly set out to say this is a place to start,” he said.

The march could have had a dramatically different feeling if the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), a hate group which has made headlines (and a Supreme Court case) for protesting homosexuality at military funerals, had protested the film’s screening at Hamilton, as their picket schedule indicated they would. Campus Safety set aside a cordoned-off area for protesters to picket, but no one appeared to publicly oppose the film or the march.

A separate counter-protest to the WBC was organized, but many people chose to use the march as a counter-protest. “A lot of people thought it would be better to ignore them [in case they showed up], but I thought it couldn’t go unbalanced without a show of love and peace,” said Becca Ross ’14.

Tarnate was pleased with the turnout at the march, but attributed much of the attendence to people wanting to protest the WBC. “It’s unfortunate that we needed the threat of something so hateful to unify the campus and bring everyone out,” she said.

Although the specific incident that sparked the march was an anti-Muslim attack, the goal of the march was inclusiveness. Alia Rehman ’11, who is president of the MSA, said, “The march is not just to support the Muslim students; it is to show support for all religions present on campus. I hope that this march will send the message that there are all different religions on this campus, and that as a community here at Hamilton, we support one another.”

Madeleine Lopez, Consulting Director of the Cultural Education Center and Lecturer in Education, agreed. “I think it’s a great thing that community is coming out in large to really support what was at first an act of bias against one sub-community, but has come to everyone,” she said. “It speaks to how goodwilled the Hamilton community is. We’re here to promote diverse views and experiences, and do it with respect.”

The three reported bias incidents this year are a significant jump from past years, but Thompson cautioned against jumping to conclusions about the increase. “We’ve also instituted this new reporting method, and the BIRT, so it’s unclear to me whether there’s more happening or whether there’s more being reported,” she said. “But in any case it’s been a busy fall.”

The march and movie screening are steps to increasing awareness and tolerance at Hamilton, but Rehman felt more is necessary. “I feel that all bias incidents in general unfortunately stem from ignorance and a lack of education, whether it be about a religion or specific issue or matter,” said Rehman. “I think awareness and knowledge are the key ingredients to decrease any fear that people may have and to just help others better understand an issue. We just want to help spread awareness about these types of bias incidents in hope that future ones will not occur.” To help her mission of decreasing fear and intolerance, Rehman extended an invitation for members of the Hamilton community to attend an MSA meeting or to contact her with questions.

Both Harrison and Thompson stressed that the perpetrators of bias incidents do not represent the views of the campus at large. “In general, I am certain that the vast majority within our community is welcoming, tolerant and subscribe to the tenets of inclusion,” said Harrison. “[However,] we are not exempt from having such incidents occur. What is most important is how we as a community seek to educate one another daily about difference and how we respond to these incidents when they occur.”

“I believe these incidents are perpetrated by individuals within a community that doesn’t support and would never condone these activities, and so I see these events as an opportunity for us to reinforce our community support for all of the people and voices on our campus,” said Thompson. “The fact that they happened doesn’t mean that this is a bad place. It’s a good place where we need to make sure that the majority voices [of tolerance] overwhelm those few that demean us.”

By Josh Larsen jlarsen@stmedianetwork.com Oct 22, 2010 05:17PM

Naperville officials are preparing for a Monday protest by supporters of Westboro Baptist Church, but they know from experience that the group might not follow through on its picketing plans.

An Oct. 7 press release issued by the church, based in Topeka, Kan., said members plan to picket screenings of a documentary being held at three “pervert-run schools,” including the 7 p.m. Monday showing at North Central College. Westboro is featured in the documentary, titled “The Anatomy of Hate: A Dialogue to Hope.”

Ted Slowik, director of PR and media relations at the college, said although the school has discussed security measures with its own staff and the Naperville Police Department, there is no guarantee there will be a protest.

“These people have not shown up at several other places they’ve said they would show up at,” said Slowik. “What they try to do is try to incite a response from the people they’re protesting.”

Westboro Baptist Church, run largely by the family of Pastor Fred Phelps Sr., has been in the national spotlight for picketing the funerals of American soldiers killed in Iraq. Members of the Phelps family have claimed that military deaths are God’s punishment for the country’s acceptance of abortion and homosexuality.

In 2006, Westboro members threatened to protest the burial Mass of U.S. Army Sgt. Bradley Beste, of Naperville, at St. Raphael Catholic Church. Only a few protesters showed up before the Mass and they dispersed before the casket arrived.

According to Naperville Police Chief David Dial, representatives of Westboro Baptist Church have protested at least three previous times in Naperville. Based on those experiences, he doesn’t expect more than a dozen picketers Monday.

“There is no indication that they’ve shown up anywhere with 100 or so people,” he said. “They’ve also indicated they would be there, and on more than one occasion, not shown.”

Dial said any protesters who come to the event will be informed of the city’s guidelines — “where they can and can’t be” — and then monitored by police.

“We are making preparations to ensure the safety of all people, including them,” he said.

Some of those people could include up to 200 North Central students planning to be part of a counterprotest.

“We kind of like the whole idea of using humor and love signs, not ones that say ‘You go home,’” said senior and sociology major Elizabeth Micheletti, who is organizing the gathering. “We kind of want to stay away from that and promote a loving and peaceful environment.”

Micheletti said she started a Facebook page and invited 250 people to attend the event.

When she went to class, she was the only one who had indicated that they would attend, but two hours later, 196 people had responded that they would be there.

The student response is not being promoted by the college, said Slowik, but North Central stands by the documentary screening, which is part of the school’s annual Anti-Hate Week.

“We are encouraging students and everybody in the community to take part in Anti-Hate Week and come see the film,” Slowik said.

Film screening – details to follow.

Director talkback screening, to be hosted by numerous campus offices.   For information contact student activities.

Directors talkback screening, hosted by multicultural affairs and students activities.

For screening time and location, please contact the office of student activities.

IMG_0032 – Computer

IMG_0034 – Computer

Community college, or Harvard law school – that is as good as it gets when it comes to productive thinking. How each student actualizes these realizations is the beauty of individuality – the key is that they realize these things in the first place. I truly have the best job in the world.  I’m grateful every day.  Thank you.

Some may ask if I’m merely giving the WBC the opportunity to use my film and site to “spew their hateful idealogy”. The answer to that question is “yes”. Although I would rephrase it as, “I’m giving the WBC the opportunity to express their belief system.” Why? The first step in dialogue is to listen. No matter the message. If we aren’t willing to listen – we can’t dialogue – and if we can’t dialogue then there can never be understanding. Period. So I have posted the following below, for an opportunity for understanding. For those of you who only read “hateful idealogy” I’m sorry. And for those who say, “They don’t want to understand me”. It doesn’t matter, try to understand anyway.

Namaste,

Mike

QUESTION FOR WBC:  Does God punish innocents for the immoral deeds of their peers?

ANSWER FROM SHIRLEY PHELPS-ROPER:

Begin with this:  NO INNOCENTS!

Romans 5:11  And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

12  Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

13  (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

14  Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

Second, YES!  We are all guilty!  If you do not love your neighbor, one of the requirements for being acceptable before God, you get your own GodSmackin!

Matthew 22:34 -  But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.

35  Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

36  Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38  This is the first and great commandment.

39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Love thy neighbor is a most important doctrine! It is all over the place and it is YOUR duty! It is called the perfect law of liberty and the Royal Law. Check it:

James 1:25  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

James 2:8  If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

So, WHAT IS IT? Love thy neighbor! God would not leave the clueless earth dwellers to define such an important term!  So we look to the beginning of the discussion and sure enough, we get definitions up in here!  J

Leviticus 19:17  Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him…but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

You better warn your neighbor that his sin is taking him to hell! If you don’t do that, God’s word for it, you hate your neighbor in your dark, evil heart!

How will you do that? Oh, how convenient, Christ told us how to do it, to wit:

Mark 16:14 -  Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

15  And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

16  He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

17  And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18  They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

19  So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.

20  And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

THAT my friends is what WBC is doing! God is confirming our words everywhere and always! We told you now for 20 years, every single day on your streets, IF YOU GO THE WAY OF SODOM, you will suffer her fate! You went the way of Sodom, no, your destruction is IMMINENT! Trying to hook this humble little flock of slaughter up with murdering brute beasts won’t change that, it will only hasten your trouble!

Shirley Phelps-Roper

10/1/10

Film screening with Director Mike Ramsdell present for discussion following film. More information to be posted.

The Raising Awareness Club of Owens Community College near Toledo, Ohio will host the film screening on October, 11, 2010 – followed by a talkback session with director Mike Ramsdell.

The University of California at Merced will host a screening of The Anatomy of Hate; A Dialogue to Hope on October 1, 2010. Following the screening, filmmaker Mike Ramsdell will facilitate an interactive dialogue with the audience to discuss themes from the film. Details of time and location will be posted soon.

Director Mike Ramsdell, “I am honored to be working with the University of California system, after the unfortunate racially based actions that have happened within their school system.  The administration is to be commended for promoting UNDERSTANDING as opposed to COMBATING hate.”

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro will be hosting a series of events in September that will focus on the world post-9/11. As part of this series, they will screen The Anatomy of Hate: A Dialogue to Hope, followed by a Q&A session with the filmmaker.

Location:

Jarrell Lecture Hall, LIBR032

Time: 6:30 pm

Award-Winning Political Documentary to Proceed Political Dialogue at the University of Georgia

ATHENS, GA — September 15, 2010 – Intercultural Affairs, a unit within the Department of Campus Life at the University of Georgia will host a screening of the award winning documentary, “The Anatomy of Hate: A Dialogue to Hope”, which has been featured on CNN, Fox News, and NPR. Filmmaker Mike Ramsdell will then facilitate a discussion between students, state politicians, and political educators to talk about current angry rhetoric used in our political system and how citizens can help move the political dialogue back to a productive and inclusive discourse.

The film, winner of the Best Political Documentary at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival and Audience Choice Award at the Atlanta Docufest Film Festival, explores the human mechanisms responsible for acts of war, violence, and hate through a social science lens. A main component of the film is how fear, stereotype thinking, and “us versus them” mentalities are prominent in both individual and collective ideologies of hate. More and more, we continue to see these same divisive tactics being used in the American political arena.

Panel members who will take part in the discussion following the film include:

• Tim Riley, Democratic nominee for the Georgia 47th District State Senate Seat
• Dr. Barry Hollander, Associate Professor in the Department of Journalism in The Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication. His research focuses on the political impact of new media and he is among the leading experts on political talk radio.
• Kristin Moreaux, Chairman of the UGA College Republicans’ Executive Board
• Ben Clark, Executive Director of the UGA Young Democrats

This event is sponsored by Intercultural Affairs, a unit within the Department of Campus Life in the Division of Student Affairs. It will take place on Monday, September 20, 2010 in the Tate Theatre on the UGA campus, beginning at 6:00 PM, EST.

“The Anatomy of Hate: A Dialogue to Hope is an incredibly moving and thought provoking film that captures some of humanity’s ugliest manifestations of ignorance and fear. It begs the question of ‘how will we ever stop the cycle?’ and provides the audience with information that illuminates the glimmer of hope that will someday, somehow, bring us all together in peace,” stated Jennifer Miracle, Director of the LGBT Resource Center in Intercultural Affairs.

Michael Ramsdell and panel members will be available to answer questions following the film screening and panel discussion.

Free campus screening at St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont.
September 8, 2010
6:00 PM

Hosted by the college Diversity Coalition
The primary goal of the Diversity Coalition is to encourage open dialogue, educational opportunity and the chance to celebrate diversity in all human culture and experience. The Diversity Coalition serves to educate and promote awareness of issues such as gender, race, religion and ethnicity.
Contact:
Moise St. Louis, Director of Multicultural Affairs

The focus of this screening will be how the faith community can work to dissipate fear.  Free and open to public.

First United Methodist Church

Brighton, MI

I look forward to speaking with you,

Mike Ramsdell
Director

ORGANIZE A DIRECTOR SCREENING & TALKBACK

Fear has divided our world – liberals vs. conservatives, east vs. west, gay vs. straight, etc. These divisions will only grow more solidified and more violent unless we can sit down with those who are different from us and get to know them as human beings. Or, as philosopher Sam Keen said, until we can “put a face on the enemy”.

It is time to stop the fear and start the dialogue.

For over a year now filmmaker Mike Ramsdell has been starting dialogue at universities, among community groups, with secular and non-secular organizations – centered on his film The Anatomy of Hate: A Dialogue to Hope. He has found that people are not apathetic about the conflicts in the world, they are just overwhelmed by the problems and not sure where to begin finding solutions. Ramsdell – with a deep understanding of the biological, sociological, and psychological mechanisms present in so many acts of war, violence, and contention – helps people find the starting point: understanding. An understanding of the hope we have to build a less contentious world, and the actions that can make such hope a reality.

There are three options available to bring Mike Ramsdell and The Anatomy of Hate: A Dialogue to Hope to your location.

Screening with Director’s Talkback – $2,950.00

Includes a DVD, promotional materials, a draft press release, transcripts of the film, and a post-screening talkback hosted by director/producer Mike Ramsdell. Mike’s expertise and passion on the subject have been sought after internationally and have been reported on by such global media outlets as CNN.com, FOX news, NPR, and various European news outlets.

Difficult Dialogue Screening – $3,750.00

This is the package for those most inspired. The Difficult Dialogue Screening is part film screening, part cognitive therapy, and part community unifier. With this option Mike Ramsdell works directly with the host entity to organize a community screening. Here representatives from two local discordant groups (e.g.; Homosexual and Christian, Arab and Jewish, etc.) are invited to engage in a post screening dialogue. Mike uses his experience and expertise to shape the dialogue around ideas from the film and to illustrate how their implementation can assist in creating a less polarized community.

Screening with Mike Ramsdell, and former white supremacist Kerry Noble   $4,950

Kerry Noble, a prominent voice in the film, and former “Elder” of the Supremacist organization THE COVENANT, THE SWORD, AND THE ARM OF THE LORD – joins Mike on stage for a post screening dialogue.  Kerry’s journey into the world of white supremacy, including its peak when he came seconds from committing the largest domestic terrorist attack on US soil, to his arrest by the FBI and eventual decision to renounce supremacy ideology  - allows the audience a rare and profound glimpse into the mind of a supremacist, and gives the hope that underneath such ideology is the potential for a very different human being.

And because we know budgets are particularly tight, we’ve included all travel in the price of these packages.

Engaging in difficult dialogue is the work of our time. We are proud to work with you in starting that dialogue.If you have any further questions or need assistance, please contact us at – info@underthehoodproductions.com

ORGANIZE A DIRECTOR SCREENING & TALKBACK

Thank you for your support.

Mike Ramsdell

Read an account by an attending student of the Kettering University screening and action talk-back.

ORGANIZE AN ACTION SCREENING

Fear has divided our world – liberals vs. conservatives, east vs. west, gay vs. straight, etc. These divisions will only grow more solidified and more violent unless we can sit down with those who are different from us and get to know them as human beings. Or, as philosopher Sam Keen said, until we can “put a face on the enemy”.

It is time to stop the fear and start the dialogue.

For over a year now organizations like yours have been using the award-winning film The Anatomy of Hate: A Dialogue to Hope to do just that: start dialogue. And in doing so they have found that they have increased the awareness of their cause, their organization, and their community’s activism.

People are not apathetic about the conflicts in the world; they are just overwhelmed by the problems and confused about where to begin finding solutions. The Anatomy of Hate: A Dialogue to Hope explores the biological, sociological, and psychological mechanisms present in so many acts of war, violence, and contention. Through that exploration the film shows the beginning point of solutions – understanding.  An understanding of the hope we have to build a less contentious world, and the actions that can make such hope a reality.

To assist organizations in using this documentary for maximum impact, each action screening package includes:

• Introduction to the historical conflicts and concepts in the film
• Discussion Guide outline to assist with the post-screening dialogue
• Classroom exercises to take the ideas of the film from concept to reality
• Full transcript of the film
• Press Release template, that can be tailored to your purpose/event
• Marketing materials for promotion, which include “About AOH”, photo stills, and movie poster
• Group screening rights
• Step-by-step tips on hosting a successful screening.

Preview Discussion Guide Content

Read an account by an attending student of the Kettering University screening and action talk-back.

Engaging in difficult dialogue is the work of our time. We are proud to work with you in starting that dialogue.

If you have any further questions or need assistance, please contact us at – info@underthehoodproductions.com

ORGANIZE AN ACTION SCREENING

Thank you for your support.

Mike Ramsdell

Mike Bochenek, Director of Policy, Amnesty International

Award-winning filmmaker, Mike Ramsdell spent more then six years embedded with White Supremacists, Christian Fundamentalists, Death Row inmates, Israeli and Palestinian combatants, and the US soldiers in Iraq.    Combining this first-person perspective with interviews from leading sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists and neuroscientists –  the film explores the common human mechanisms associated with hate, and how understanding these mechanisms can help us build a productive dialogue toward understanding and peace.

“Ramsdell, thank you for not only sharing your work, but encouraging a dialogue of understanding and hope. This is an incredible educational tool.”

– Sharifa Whip, University of Alabama

To maximize success and impact of this tool, we’ve worked with leading educators to create a comprehensive educational packet that includes:

•  DVD of the award winning film
• Introduction to the historical conflicts and concepts in the film
• Discussion Guide outline to assist with the post-screening dialogue
• Classroom exercises to take the ideas of the film from concept to reality
• Full transcript of the film
• Suggested further reading

Preview Discussion Guide Content

BUY THE CLASSROOM DISCUSSION GUIDE AT 25% OFF REGULAR PRICE

BRING THE FILM AND DIRECTOR TO YOUR CAMPUS

See director/producer Mike Ramsdell speak about making the film.

And because we know there can be no more important place to begin this dialogue than in an educational environment, where budgets are particularly tight, we’ve reduced the cost of this package by 25% to ensure the dialogue takes place on as many campuses as possible.

Engaging in difficult dialogue is the work of our time. It is our cause to help start that dialogue on your campus.

BUY THE CLASSROOM DISCUSSION GUIDE AT 25% OFF REGULAR PRICE

BRING THE FILM AND DIRECTOR TO YOUR CAMPUS

If you have any further questions or need assistance, please contact us at –info@underthehoodproductions.com

Thank you for your support.

Mike Ramsdell

Read an account by an attending student of the Kettering University screening and action talk-back.

Table of Contents:
1) Letter from the Filmmaker
2) Discussion Guide
3) Role Play Scenarios
4) Film Transcripts

The film discussion guide is built on the following three principles:

STEP 1 – UNDERSTANDING

The first set of questions and discussion points is designed to re-examine and articulate the different mechanisms which the film offers as main contributors to emotion of “hate.”

STEP 2 –HOPE through Empathetic Connections

The second set of questions and discussion points is designed to have the audience,
collectively and as individuals, make a human – connection with those in the film, even those with whom they adamantly disagree. Once this connection is made, hope is born.

STEP 3 – ACTION

These questions and dialogue points are meant to re-iterate ideas from the film, as well as
explore other examples and ideas of how we, as individuals and a species, can work to
overcome the reactionary system of “hate”.

Example exercise:

UNDERSTANDING

OBJECTIVE #1 – Understand how the human mechanisms: Fear, Cultural identification, and Shadow projection create situations of contention, violence, war, and hate.

FEAR Topic Explorations –

- How does fear play a role in Hate?
- What ways do people respond to Fear that lead to violence, war or hate?
- How is fear in an environment of war (actual violence) different from symbolic fear (God’s punishment)? How are they the same?

Discussion Prompts –

- The film presents “FEAR” as a key element to an act of hate. How was Fear consciously and unconsciously at work in the subjects and environments explored in the film?
- When Sheldon Solomon says, “Fear is a good thing when it comes to keeping the angry lion from biting your butt, but the problem is when it becomes symbolically motivated?” What does he mean?
- How does the brain work differently in an environment of fear? (does a non-specialist audience have a basis to know this?)

A fantastic film series hosted in Rome, by a passionate group of Americans living abroad.  Others film include Eyes Wide Open, Forbidden Childhood, Inside the Meltdown, Food Inc. and Pray the Devil Back to Hell.

For more information:

http://www.peaceandjustice.it/film-series11.php

Hosted at Washburn University, in Topeka Kansas, by the History Department.

Location – Henderson Building, room 112.  Screening starts at 2pm.

Millersville University is preparing for a possible Monday morning visit from Westboro Baptist Church, an anti-gay Kansas church group known for protesting military funerals.

Last weekend, Westboro added MU to its online picketing schedule, saying it will picket the screening of an anti-hate film to be shown Sunday night at the campus.

“After today’s screening, you will know that God hates people and sends people to hell,” the church said on its Web site.

This week, MU students were preparing to stand alongside the Westboro group as “peacekeepers.” Campus police planned to have extra officers on hand.

But no one knows if the Westboro group actually will show up, or where the group will assemble on campus.

Read complete article here

The Anatomy of Hate – In the Middle East
April 7, 2010 by owujew

Tonight, at 7PM, many of us at Ohio Wesleyan will learn more about the sociological origins of hatred as we watch the “The Anatomy of Hate: A Dialogue for Hope.” Following the film, we’ll have an opportunity to speak with the director, Mike Ramsdell. I expect a large audience for the event which is co-sponsored by Student Union on Black Awareness; LGBTIQ Resource Center; President’s Commission on Racial and Cultural Diversity; Office of Multicultural Student Affairs; Office of the Chaplain; Women’s Resource Center; House of Peace and Justice; Amnesty International; B’nai B’rith Hillel; Tauheed; STAND; PRIDE and the Sociology/Anthropology Department.

The film has received a lot of advanced publicity on campus due to the potential visit of members of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), an anti-homosexual hate group featured in the film. Whether or not representatives of this organization visit Delaware tonight, they seem to have gotten students talking about the rights of homosexuals and those that do not recognize those rights. Michael Moore’s response to the WBC (1999), like his other films, is an interesting piece of activist filmmaking, but leaves one wondering whether the minds of these fanatics can ever be changed.

Click to Read Full Article

In short, I wasn’t naive enough to think that the world would “solve” all it’s differences, but I did think that conflict in general would be more peripheral….and I was happy about that.  However, the unfortunate news is that the topics and subjects in this film are only more relevant then they were when I filmed them – and the concept of fear, which the film so strongly emphasizes, is only more palpable.

But, true though this may be, HOPE, the final chapter in my film – is still as available as it ever was.  And the one good thing that we can all take from this, is the awareness that Hope does not come and go with a Presidential candidate’s promise.  It is an option we all have – and if we choose to back up our hope, with a strong understanding – and diligent action – then there is nothing to stop that hope from becoming a reality.  It always has been and always will be OUR choice.

The documentary explores why people hate and focuses specifically on the Iraq War, the conflict between Israel and Palestine, hostilities toward the LGBTQIA community, and Christian hate groups.

Terree Stevenson, Director of Multicultural Student Affairs, said the film is being brought to campus to encourage thought about the hate speech.

“We’re bringing this film to campus to spark conversation about the issue,” she said. “We want to encourage thought among students.”

A question-and-answer session with the filmmaker, Mike Ramsdell, will directly follow the screening, which is co-hosted by the Student Union on Black Awareness; LGBTIQ Resource Center; President’s Commission on Racial and Cultural Diversity; Office of Multicultural Student Affairs; Office of the Chaplain; Women’s Resource Center; House of Peace and Justice; Amnesty International; B’nai B’rith Hillel; Tauheed; STAND; PRIDE and the Sociology/Anthropology Department.

Read the full article.

See the full interview:

Your Excellency:

You are already well aware of the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza consequent on Israel’s devastating military attacks and its siege. As recently as December 27of 2009, you called the blockade of
Gaza “unacceptable.” While this statement is certainly valid, it constitutes a gross understatement of the actual situation which amounts to slow genocide. Such understatement suggests that you are trimming your language to accommodate US pro-Israeli policy. We live an ongoing, illegal, crippling Israeli siege that has shattered all spheres of life, prompting the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, Richard Falk, to describe it as “a prelude to genocide”. Your own UN Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, headed by the highly respected South African judge, Richard Goldstone, found Israel guilty of “war crimes and possible crimes against humanity,” as did major international human rights organizations, such as Amnesty
International and Human Rights Watch. The Goldstone report concludes that Israel’s war on Gaza was “designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic
capacity both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability.”

Mr. Ban,

The 1948 Genocide Convention clearly says that one instance of genocide is “the deliberate infliction of conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of a people in whole or in part.” That is what has been done to Gaza since the imposition of the blockade by a UN member state, namely Israel, and
the massacre of 1434 Palestinians, 90 per cent of whom were civilians, including 434 children.

On your second short visit to Gaza since the end of the Israeli onslaught in 2008-09, you will find what Professor Sara Roy, an expert on Gaza, describes as “a land ripped apart and scarred, the lives of its people blighted. Gaza is decaying under the weight of continued devastation, unable to function normally…” Professor Roy concludes that “[T]he decline and disablement of Gaza’s economy and society have been deliberate, the result of state policy–consciously planned, implemented and enforced… And just as Gaza’s demise has been consciously orchestrated, so have the obstacles preventing its recovery.” Israel is intent on destroying Gaza because World official bodies and leaders choose to say and do nothing.

As civil society organizations based in Gaza, we call on you to use your position as Secretary General of the UN, the world body responsible for holding all governments accountable for the safeguarding of the human rights of all peoples under International Law to bring to bear on Israel the full force of your mandate to open the borders of Gaza to allow the import of building materials as well as all the other requirements for decent living conditions for us, the besieged Palestinians of Gaza.

We understand you are coming to Khan Younis to inspect an UNRWA housing project designed to provide housing for Palestinians whose homes were demolished by Israel’s war machine and who have been
waiting for over five years for replacement. Of course the building project will not have been completed because of the blockade, even though it is an UNRWA project. The brazen refusal of Israel to cooperate with the decision of the International Community to re-construct Gaza, for which several billions of Euros were pledged, should not be tolerated. Israel’s attacks have damaged or completely destroyed many public buildings and have according to the UN’s own OCHA report as of April 30, 2009, severely damaged or completely destroyed some 21,000 family dwellings. Many other Palestinians who have spent the past several winters in flimsy tents have also been promised the means to rebuild homes and schools, though to date nothing has been done to alleviate their suffering.

In addition to the very visible lack of shelter, we, in Gaza, also suffer from the contamination of water, air and soil, since the sewage system is unable to function due to power cuts necessitated by lack of fuel to the main generators of the Gaza power grid. Medical conditions due to injuries from phosphorous bombs and other illegal Israeli weapons as well as from water contamination cannot be treated because of the siege. In addition to the ban on building materials, Israel also prevents many other necessities from being imported: lights bulbs, candles, matches, books, refrigerators, shoes, clothing, mattresses, sheets, blankets, tea, coffee, sausages, flour, cows, pasta, cigarettes, fuel, pencils, pens, paper… etc.

Mr. Secretary General,

When you visit Khan Younis, keep in mind that a huge UN storage depot was directly targeted by Israeli phosphorus bombs only last year destroying tons of badly needed food and other essentials. At that time your UNRWA chief John Ging spoke of massive obstacles preventing humanitarian aid from reaching the civilian population of Gaza: those obstacles must be removed. The Red Cross called the Israeli assault
“completely and utterly unacceptable based on every known standard of international humanitarian law and universal humanitarian principles and values.”

We sincerely hope you will live up to your responsibility and speak for the suffering people of Gaza to those who hold the keys that could easily end the barbaric blockade, as the first step towards the
implementation of all UN resolutions in Palestine.

Gaza, 2010-03-21

Signed by:

University Teachers’ Association in Palestine
General Union for Health Services Workers
General Union for Public Services Workers
General Union for Petrochemical and Gas Workers
General Union for Agricultural Workers
Union of Women’s Work Committees
Union of Synergies—Women Unit
Union of Palestinian Women Committees
Women’s Studies Society
Working Woman’s Society
Arab Cultural Forum
Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel
One Democratic State Group
Al-Quds Bank for Culture and Information Society

Dear Mike,

CHANGE. Not a word all of us like; not a word the country always likes. Change can be difficult, uncomfortable, and require self-examination. But change can be good.

Twenty-six years ago this coming June, I walked into a gay church in Kansas City, Missouri with a bomb, for the express purpose of “starting the 2nd American Revolution.” This hate act would have been the largest domestic terrorist act in US history up to that time, had I not regained my senses just seconds before setting the timer. The worshiping actions of those in the congregation of that Metropolitan Community Church, however, helped rescue me and save me from myself and the right-wing extremist deception I was entangled with.

Today — March 21, 2010 — I once again stepped into a church that caters mostly to the gay and lesbian community of Fort Worth: this time as a visitor looking for a home church. No, I’m not coming out of the closet! ) I found this church three weeks ago in a Google search for “an all-inclusive church.” Events since then blocked my desire to attend this church, but today my wife and I attended.

Why this church? Since coming home from prison, I’ve been unable to find a church I was comfortable in. We’ve tried Charismatic fellowships (loved the music, but too much end-time doctrine that I no longer adhere to, too much hypocrisy, and they didn’t welcome all believers); we tried Messianic churches (again, really loved the music, but most are into the Charismatic movement and end-time doctrines); and we tried Unity and other churches that simply did not emphasize Jesus enough. But I simply found most churches preach too much discrimination (especially against gays and lesbians), too much “signs of the times heralding in the return of Christ” mentality, and too much of a leaning toward right-wing theology or the Christian Right. So we simply quit trying to find a church.

An all-inclusive church believes in people more than doctrines, believes in truth more than dogmas, believes in healing and love more than division and hate, and believes in solutions more than rhetoric. An all-inclusive church seeks the best in people, seeks commonality over differences, and seeks hope and joy over fear and despair.

So why not attend an all-inclusive church sooner? Honestly, I feared they would not accept me, with the past I had (probably stemming from not fully accepting myself yet). It’s an unfounded fear, I know that, but isn’t that how all fear is anyway? I know I’ve changed since those days 26 years ago and I know others have accepted me for who I am now.

We plan to go to this church again next week, Palm Sunday. The female pastor introduced herself to us and we enjoyed her sermon. The people were friendly. And I am betting that their inclusiveness will include people like me, people that once opposed them and have since changed.

This church has ministries that I would like to participate in and I think I can learn a lot from the people there. Leaving Celebration Community Church today, I felt encouraged rather than discouraged about “the church experience;” I felt, actually, more at home. And isn’t that what a home church (or synagogue or mosque or other religious congregation) is supposed to be like?

Change. I’m actually enjoying this one.

Kerry Noble
The NOBLE Report
“Building Bridges, Not Walls”

The event will be held at 7 p.m. in the Hill University Center Alumni Auditorium, 1400 University Blvd. Admission is free. The event is sponsored by the UAB Office of Student Involvement and Diversity. Call 205-934-8225 for more details.

The 90-minute film by Ramsdell, of Under the Hood Productions, examines some of the most venomous ideologies and violent conflicts of the modern age, including the White supremacist movement, Muslim extremism, Palestinian Intifada, Israeli settlers and soldiers and U.S. forces in Iraq.

“A lot of the film was shot in Alabama,” says Ramsdell, “and a lot of contacts were made there. The Southern Poverty Law Center gave me a small grant to keep shooting.”

Ramsdell says he shot video at the Donaldson Correctional Facility in West Jefferson County and at Ku Klux Klan rallies in locations just outside of Birmingham.

“The Anatomy of Hate” features first-hand footage and interviews with leading experts in sociology, psychology and neurology and personal stories of hatred and redemption. The film reveals the emotional and biological mechanisms that make mankind susceptible to hate.

“The Anatomy of Hate” was named “Best Political Documentary” at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival and was an official selection for Docufest in Atlanta in 2009.

Other sponsors for the event include the Ford Foundation Difficult Dialogues Initiative Grant and UAB Digital Community Studies.

For more information about the film, visit the Web site at www.anatomyofhate.com.

About UAB
Known for its innovative and interdisciplinary approach to education at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is an internationally renowned research university and academic medical center and the state of Alabama’s largest employer.

Good morning Beata Mostafavi:

We do NOT oppose that documentary – we LOVE that documentary. We see it as
a preaching tool. We are most thankful for it. Anyone who sees that
documentary is going to come away with a few things:

1. God hates fags and their enablers and those are the ONLY
demographics left in all of ALL of Doomed america.
2. If you preach that glorious truth, someone is going to do what the
Lord Jesus Christ told us they would do: hate on you and speak all manner of
evil against you falsely!
3. If you preach that amazing truth, someone might juxtapose you with
some murderers and thugs and criminals!
4. When they do that, the silliness of that effort shines through and
unless you are a dark-hearted rebel, you will be ashamed of that effort.
When you see the cute little boys that are standing with their loved ones
and all of them are telling you the plain words of scripture and are being
most faithful about it, what can you do with that?
5. God does not change! Your duty and our duty is to fear and obey him
NO MATTER WHAT!!

You see Beata Mostafavi – our God said that the fear of man bringeth a
snare. That is to say, if these faithful servants of God that have stood
before this nation with our hat in our hand for 19 long years and suffered
all your vicious assaults of every kind were to begin to draw back at this
hour, our God would cast us off like he has the rest of this generation. So
we will NOT do that! We will stand flat-footed on your soil and tell you
plainly that you have enraged your God with all your idols, false gods,
murders, filthy manner of life (adultery is the policy of this nation -
Christ said if you divorce and remarry, you are living in adultery – this
nation I say has a policy of such) and worst of all, you teach your children
that God is a big fat liar and that HIS COMMANDMENTS are on the table for
disposal at their will. God said thou shalt NOT kill, but the hands of this
nation are DRIPPING with the blood of your babies and now, to add to your
crimes, your hands DRIP with the blood of your Iraqi neighbors and your
Afghan neighbors. At any point along this path of God’s wrath abiding upon
you, you could have REPENTED. But NOT THIS NATION – heck no, just go kill
some people. God would have kept this nation safe and sound, but you would
not have it! Your destruction is IMMINENT.

Trying to hook the obedient, faithful, peaceful, lawful servants of God up
with thugs and murders that are going to kill you in violation of the laws
of God and the laws of man will change NOTHING, except for the wrath that
God pours out upon you for what you have done to his little ones. Now,
knowing that our God is the avenger of all such, we will answer these
questions, but we will NOT turn aside to the left hand or the right hand
from delivering this final call.

The time is so very, very short now. The destruction of this nation is
IMMINENT. So we run to and fro to bring a final call. This documentary is
very timely to help get the words before all your faces. The words are
dropping all over the world by the hand of our God! Praise ye the Lord all
ye nations and ye that have forgotten God, the Lord is coming, america is
Doomed!!

Thanks for asking.

Shirley Phelps-Roper
1/28/10

I did not, nor do not claim that my film provides answers. Nor do I claim that it explores every facet of “Hate”. But what it does articulate clearly, is that if we are unable to make an empathetic connection – due to our fear, cultural experience, and stereotype thinking then we will perpetuate the cycle that created such pain in the first place.

So now the dialogue will continue. Maybe not between me and the audience, but no one present last night will stop playing the events in their head for a while to come. At the end, some will conclude that my film is a “zionist propoganda piece” as one man articulated. Others will conclude that the behavior displayed last night was exactly what my film was trying to address. Regardless of the conclusion – I do hope that the dialogues which follow, will not be focused around who was right and who was wrong – but “How do we bring peace.”

When the protesters didn’t show, as you’ll read, Phillip wasn’t sure what he’d write about – and sounds like he wasn’t to thrilled about having to sit and watch a film he wasn’t in the mood to see. Yet, out of those circumstances Phillip wrote an article for his paper that could be the best articulation of my film, and the experience I look to give audience members – that I’ve ever read.

His summary, “This film mustn’t be watched from a third person perspective. It needs to be seen with the full realization that we are all very much unmentioned participants in the acts we’re viewing.” is an astute and razor accurate articulation of exactly what I hoped audience members would feel.

Certainly not everyone will have the same experience Phillip did, but as a filmmaker I’m proud that I was able to achieve, at least in one person, the film experience I set out to create, and as a citizen of planet earth it makes me feel hopeful that people like Phillip are soon to jump feet first into this global juggernaut called the workforce and bring with him a great set of tools – the ability to think powerfully and articulate clearly.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Thanks Phillip.

When entering the McKinnon Theatre on Friday to view The Anatomy of Hate by Mike Ramsdell, I would have to admit I had very little expectations.  An assignment for a class to publish in this print edition and some encouragement on the part of an instructor led me to believe that I could find conflict at this particular showing, since there was a tip off that the viewing would be protested by the Westboro Baptist Church and, looking for irony to appease my own sense of humor, I had arrived half an hour early.

Instead of protesters (only counter protesters had shown up), what I found was a compelling film that should be seen by all.  Before the movie began, I had the privilege of speaking with Mr. Ramsdell.  I had informed one of our faculty members that I was looking for the protesters and she introduced us, which left us in the awkward position of attempting dialogue on a movie one of us hadn’t even seen yet.  Despite this impasse, I was immediately struck by Mike’s quiet, observational qualities; if I was disinterested in talking about a movie I hadn’t seen, it was matched only by Mr. Ramsdell’s disinterest in telling me about it.  We chatted briefly about the protesters that weren’t and then entered the viewing.

As to the movie itself, it was a brilliant juxtaposition of social groups in the world today; depicting stunning and startling imagery; from white supremacy groups to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict to the anti-homosexual protesters we were expecting to picket.  There were, needless to say, many controversial representations in the film.  As a conservative, I initially found it outright contentious to include President Bush and, specifically, the American nation alongside such themes; yet, without question that comparison must be included, if only for our unparalleled ability at acts of destruction.  Yet, I’m concerned that this film will be labeled polarizing by the conservative ideologies and snuffed out of existence.  This would be a grave error.

Certainly, there were parts of the movie I disagreed with.  I found particular irony with the scenes of intellectuals giving a synopsis of the world’s problems from a withdrawn (dare I even say Godly?) point of view, with utter disregard for the notion that such luxuries of thought had been paid for by many of the same acts they were attempting to dictate.  This film mustn’t be watched from a third person perspective.  It needs to be seen with the full realization that we are all very much unmentioned participants in the acts we’re viewing.

However, my fear that conservative groups will label The Anatomy of Hate taboo is underscored by a greater worry: I’m concerned that the broader audience will fail to understand this movie.

Immediately following the show, I was inundated by the comments people were making to their neighbors and the bits and pieces I caught were rather disheartening.  I heard calls of injustice that no one had fixed all the problems that had been depicted.  A woman nearby was gathering apologies from her son for playing the video game Call of Duty.  Shortly after Mr. Ramsdell ascended the podium for discussion, a man asked him why he would give legitimacy to some of the hate groups he had depicted; providing a pulpit from whence they could spew their vitriol.  Shortly after I had asked my own question, another woman from somewhere behind me phrased an assertion that much of the devastation on the screen had been caused by immoral corporate activity.

Yet, playing to the monotonous humdrum of laying the worlds problems at the feet of violent media, irresponsible leadership, or corporate bodies is precisely the sort of behavior that runs counter to the very central theme of the movie itself.  As those around me sought to unload all of their discontent on their own nightmares, it was just such fears as these which were The Anatomy of Hate’s key study.  In fact, an entire section of the movie had actually been dedicated to the nature of vilifying an enemy as being the embodiment of evil and the consequences of that choice.

A section of the movie showing an anti-homosexual advocate, who has called for God to destroy America, as a loving mother looking after her children; another of a freedom fighter and known terrorist entertaining his son in the comfort of his living room; images of white supremacists laughing and talking with one another as they go about the business of preparing a wooden cross to be burned; a scene with teenage Palestinian boys who have vowed to kill the Israeli forces laughing amongst themselves as they walk down the road, exhibiting not acts of carnage one would typically associate with the area, but rather simple youthful exuberance.

All of these shots have been put together in an exceptional exhibition which highlights perhaps the hardest notion for us to acknowledge.  Perhaps, evil is not a constant and well defined force?  Maybe, the idea of evil is a far more obscure thing which takes on existence in momentary actions rather than permanent discourse?

Perhaps the most powerful scene, for myself, was one in which children at a Nazi gathering were set loose to chase a piglet.  Moments later, the screen showed five or six juveniles gathered around the exhausted and hyperventilating animal, under the guidance and lockstep of an adult.  As one of the boys (perhaps as young as eight) began to stomp on the animal’s head, killing it, the audience erupted into muffled cries of protest at the perceived cruelty.

Yet, as the guardian of the children descended on the animal with a knife, and began to clean it, as a hunter, giving stark resemblance of a more primitive animal teaching the younger generation the means of survival, the noise around me was drowned out by the considerable louder musings of my own mind, which informed me that these several children on the screen were, perhaps, considerably better prepared to face an unforgiving natural world than any of the pampered youth that had been here coerced into the audience of a film festival.

It was this concept that is perhaps the most difficult for us to give credence to today.  That these men and women whom we so frequently revile are, in their own right, concerned with many of the same things that frighten us; their rights to thrive and prosper; concern for their children’s future; and, of course, that fool’s errand, the timeless search for some semblance of immortality.

While this alone is not enough to condone their behavior or pardon the hatred which they spread, the subtlety of this acceptance has a powerful implication.  If these individuals are capable of love, then perhaps someday a world can exist where they no longer fear the subjects of their divisiveness.  It is in this distinction that the message of The Anatomy of Hate becomes a powerful lesson of hope.

I was rather pleased, then, when Mr. Ramsdell alleviated my own insinuation on the politicizing nature of his film; another potential weapon in an irrational day where phrases such as “comprehensive reform solutions” or “bi-partisan negotiations” are treated as legitimate subjects of discussion as opposed to the utterly misguided nonsense that they are; by informing the audience that it was not the intention of his film to attempt to judge any of the encompassed parties in it.

Rather than a simple documentary on the hate that separates us, this film transcends such confines by eloquently defining how the nature of our fears can unite us.  I’m concerned that viewers will attempt to label this movie as a graphic depiction of divisive hatred and death.  Much more than that, this is a wonderful masterpiece that captures our continual, terrifying struggles to live.

CLICK TO HEAR INTERVIEW

Further, the Craig Fahle show, featured on the Detroit NPR radio station – WDET 101.9, has asked me to come on the show and speak about the film and screening. Again, I’m honored. Please tune in on Wednesday, March 3rd at 10:20am.

For more about this screening, or if you’re interested in hosting one, please contact us at info@underthehoodproductions.com.

ACCESS Screens Documentary “The Anatomy of Hate: A Dialogue for Hope”
Dearborn Arab American center to host free dinner, film, and discussion

DEARBORN, MICHIGAN (PRWeb) March 1, 2010 — As one of many events scheduled across the country in support of “The Night of 1000 Conversations”, the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) will sponsor an open dialogue following a free screening of the award-winning documentary, “The Anatomy of Hate: A Dialogue for Hope”.

“This event is part of a larger nationwide grassroots campaign launched by The Rights Working Group to raise awareness of the dangers of profiling,” explained Nadia Tonova, Advocacy & Policy Supervisor for ACCESS & NNAAC. “We chose Flint director Mike Ramsdell’s eye-opening documentary because it not only explores the ideologies of hate, but teaches ways to overcome them. This powerful film moved one critic to say, ‘like medical anatomy, [the film] cuts to reveal, and in deeply revealing it moves us toward healing’.”

The film will be shown at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center in Dearborn on Friday, March 5, 2010. Following the film, guests will be treated to a dinner and discussion with Mr. Ramsdell. The event will take place from 6-9 p.m. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis, and must be reserved. There also will be materials from the 2010 U.S. Census available, and a speaker from the Census Bureau will speak about the importance of being counted.

“In today’s world the fear is palpable – used in politics, marketing, and media it saturates our collective ether and has driven a divisionary wedge through this world like never before – East vs. West, gay vs. straight, right vs. left, us vs. them, etc. My goal was to make a film that understands this process and how it leads to all acts of war, violence, and hate. Albert Einstein said, ‘Peace can only be achieved through understanding.’ I believe that, and I believe that such understanding is achieved through genuine engaged dialogue,” said Mike Ramsdell. “I have been honored to start that dialogue all over the world with this film. As a native of Flint, I am all the more honored to be working in my home state with such a significant organization as ACCESS. I spent five years entrenched in the exploration of hate, violence and war, and it has led me to a most unexpected conclusion – hope.”

Director Ramsdell is currently touring college campuses, film festivals and community events to animate community dialogue. In recent months, reactions to the film from screenings around the country include: ‘amazing’, ‘awesome’, and ‘intense’. Additional information on screenings can be found at: http://theanatomyofhate.com/category/screenings

About ACCESS
The Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) is a nonprofit agency committed to advocating for and empowering individuals, families, and communities. ACCESS provides a wide range of health and human services, employment services, youth programs, educational and cultural programs and civic engagement, advocacy, and social entrepreneurship services. www.accesscommunity.org

About Under The Hood Productions

A production company launched in January 2003 in Atlanta, GA by filmmaker Michael Ramsdell to develop and produce thought provoking, independent narrative and documentary films, like “Montclair” and “The Anatomy of Hate”. A native of Flint, Michigan, Ramsdell currently resides in Brighton, Michigan with his wife and children.

##

Media Contact for UTH Productions:
Donna Lehman

MarketUP, LLC

dlehman@market-up.com
770-565-7275

Media Contact for ACCESS:
Emiliana Sandoval
Communications Specialists
313-842-5128
esandoval@accesscommunity.org

This one promises to be fantastic. Exact times and locations being determined now.

Hosted by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights to support their cause.

http://icirr.e-actionmax.com/showalert.asp?aaid=269

Please contact them for further details.

Another opportunity to screen in the Midwest. Check back for exact times and locations.

At a school so deeply rooted in this country’s struggle for equal rights, I could not be more excited. Check back for exact times and locations.

“The Anatomy of Hate; A Dialogue of Hope”, will be screened in Columbus, Ohio at the Arena Grand on Wednesday, March 24 at 6 p.m.

After the film, there will be opportunities for networking and open discussion with Ramsdell about the film and his experiences while filming.

This is a Young Professionals of Columbus (YPC) event sponsored by Outlook Columbus.

Tickets to the screening are $8 and $5 for YPC members. Tickets can be purchased at the door.

YPC connects its membership to the pulse of the community and its leaders while developing and advancing each individual’s potential. Our growing membership represents a broad range of professional occupations and members ages ranging from early 20′s to mid 40′s.
www.ypcolumbus.org

In spite of these apparent indicators- both of these screenings were emotionally engaging dialogues about how we as a species continue to turn our fear and insecurities onto each other causing pain, disconnect, and unnecessary evil.

People want to dialogue. They want to tell their stories and they want to hear others tell theirs. They want to connect at the level below the comfortable cultural conversations, of good guys and bad guys, and engage in the messy and confusing collective yarn that spins and tangles between all of us – but that somewhere along the way, it was decided we should deal with this quietly, privately, or better yet – not at all.

University screenings are tremendous for this, because 18-22 is an age when people have not yet completed the mental aikido necessary to wrestle this confusion to a dark corner of the mind where it is hidden behind snack chips and soccer mom schedules. They are open. They are raw. And they are curious as hell.

So to all of you out there who are still wresting with these issues – DON’T STOP. This is life. This is the journey. The powers of the universe do not waiver in their intent – and none of us will be free of this Samsara until we clean this shit up. No matter how busy, rich, powerful, beautiful, or significant you become.

And although the journey is singular, the destination is collective. Thank you for being awake on the journey. Life will offer many temptations of comfort – but as Frost said,
The woods are lovely dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep.
And miles to go before I sleep.
And miles to go before I sleep.

I didn’t actually speak with her, but her comments were forwarded on to me via email through the reporter covering the story. Below is the propaganda flyer the group distributed.

GodHatesFags Protest Flyer

Part of a student series, dedicated to a provocation of understanding, peace, and compassion……sounds good to me!

Mike Ramsdell 09-09-09 Interview

See the review at IMAFilm

View video

Honored to have The Anatomy of Hate: A Dialogue to Hope chosen for screening during the Zagrebdox International Documentary Film Festival in Croatia.

The film is playing as part of their “Controversial Dox” program. Wish I could attend! Sounds like a terrific event!!

Hosted by the Political Science department, and Dr. Dipak Gupta, the film will be screened as part of the lecture series, “Killing for a Higher Cause: Political Violence in a World Crisis.”

Visit the website for more information about this series.

Hosted by the student affairs office, this screening promises to be one of great success.

The second half of the festival hosted by Kettering University and Mott Community College.
Event starts at 7:00pm, Director’s talk-back to follow.

Hosted by the student Government at Penn State Fayette, this screening is focused around improving race relations and dialogue with “others” on campus and off.

Hosted by Mott Community College, in association with Kettering University, this festival is dedicated to bring new and important films to the university students of Flint, MI. Director talkback will follow.

Georgia Equality has chosen THE ANATOMY OF HATE; A DIALOGUE TO HOPE as its central event to celebrate national coming out day. The event will revolve around the issue of homosexuality and faith. For more information go to – .

ATLANTA, GA August 27, 2009 – Winner at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival 2009 for Best Political Documentary, The Anatomy of Hate; A Dialogue for Hope by filmmaker Michael Ramsdell of Under the Hood Productions, will screen at 6:00 pm on Saturday, August 29, 2009 at the Carter Center in downtown Atlanta as part of this year’s Docufest independent film festival.

This ninety-minute film reveals the shared narratives found in individual and collective ideologies of hate, and how humans as a species can overcome them.

“It’s a film that challenges, informs, and inspires. An invaluable tool for anyone who believes that the path to peace is through a deeper understanding of our common humanity”, said Michael Bochenek, Amnesty International, Director of Policy.

The creation of The Anatomy of Hate represents one determined man’s quest for answers to an age-old question: Why do we hate? Initially moved by the horrors of 9/11 and wondering how he might help create a better world, Ramsdell began a six year odyssey that led him to capture some of the most venomous ideologies and violent conflicts of our time including the White Supremacist movement, Christian fundamentalism as an anti-gay platform, Muslim extremism, the Palestinian Intifada, Israeli settlers and soldiers, and US Armed Forces in Iraq.

“What I found was, for me, life changing,” stated Ramsdell. “There was no boogieman, no devil, nor any single person or group of evil at the center of all this violence, war, and hate. Instead I found a planet full of creatures doing their best to fill the void of existence with limited psychological tools, and emotional shortcomings – myself included. And instead of embracing these shortcomings and using them as empathetic links to our fellow men, I discovered that our psyche turns them into mythological monsters that we can project onto others, declaring those ‘others’ as inferior, evil, or deserving of death.”

Gritty, often harsh first-hand footage is interspersed throughout the film with thought-provoking interviews with leading sociological, psychological, and neurological experts; along with tales of redemption told by former ‘haters’ to show both the emotional and biological mechanisms which make all people susceptible to acts and ideologies of hate.

However, the film also demonstrates how these very deep human traits make us equally capable of overcoming them, and that’s where hope is revealed.

“Hope that if man creates hate, he can also un-create it. And indeed I met some amazing people doing just that – overcoming their cultural hard-wiring to reach across enemy lines”, Ramsdell added, “More than anything, I believe it is dialogue that will move us past the barriers of fear, cultural conditioning, and stereotypical thinking – to an understanding aligned with the eternal truth that we are all one. It is my highest vision that this film, and its core concepts, will serve as a catalyst for that dialogue.”

The filmmaker states that his creed as a social change entrepreneur is: “Nothing can happen without understanding. Nothing will happen without hope. Nothing does happen without action.”

Michael Ramsdell will be available to answer questions following the film screening and at the Docufest after party.

For more information about the film, Mike Ramsdell, and persons featured in the film, visit: http://anatomyofhate.com/about

About Under The Hood Productions
A production company launched in January 2003 in Atlanta, GA by filmmaker Michael Ramsdell to develop and produce thought provoking, independent narrative and documentary films, like “Montclair” and “The Anatomy of Hate”. A native of Flint, Michigan, Ramsdell currently resides in Brighton, Michigan with his wife and children.

Media Contact:
Donna Lehman
MarketUP, LLC
770-565-7275
dlehman@market-up.com

September 10-12, 2009
Hyatt Regency Century Plaza
Universal Studios, California

The Anatomy of Hate to screen
Saturday, September 12 at 2:05pm
Screening Room #1, Block C

Screening at the Atlanta International Documentary Film Festival, known as Docufest
Saturday, August 29, 2009
6:00pm at the Carter Center venue

Filmmaker Mike Ramsdell will be on hand to answer questions following the screening and at the festival after-party.

Tickets will be on sale at the box office, and online for $8.

Thanks to all those who made this festival happen!

http://twitter.com/Piff2009

There is wonderful debate happening in the global conscience. I call it “wonderful” because it is evidence that we as a species continue to ask and struggle with how we can better live on this spinning rock.

The debate is centered on the speeches President Obama, and former Vice-President Cheney gave a few weeks ago. They have become the figureheads for this debate, but you’ll hear this same debate taking place in many variations, in many locations. From kitchen table- to war rooms, the question, at its heart is, “How do we best keep ourselves and those we love safe?”

It’s not a new question, but it is being asked under the most threatening global circumstances humans have ever faced/created. The two schools of thought are based on very different actions, both desirous of the same result. The first, as represented by VP Cheney, is the notion that if you destroy all that threatens you – you can assure your safety. This requires a primary commitment to a strong military and defense system. The second, as represented by President Obama – is that if you find and focus on the commonalities with others, including your “enemies”, you will create an environment of diminished threats. This requires a primary commitment to dialogue.

The key to resolving this debate is in properly identifying the enemy.

A story I was told by a SFC in the US Army is a good example of how we can make this identification. He told me of a day when he and his men fell under sniper fire outside of Baghdad. The sniper had the entire platoon pinned down; making them vulnerable not only to the sniper but also to any coordinated attacks. He pinpointed the snipers position as a window in the neighboring building. However, he also saw in the window a young girl of about 5. A body shield. The SFC didn’t have the ability to set up a counter sniper position, leaving him the only option to strike with significant, yet less accurate, force. Hence, this little girl and anyone else in the apartment would likely be killed.

This Sergeant is a father. And a good one, I presume based on the pictures and stories he shared. He is a man of great conscience, with as much of a moral compass as any of the rest of us – even more perhaps because of all he’s been through. However, he was also personally responsible for the 12 men with him. Some of them fathers, some of them young enough to be his son. It was certainly not a time for dialogue – however if he killed everyone in the apartment – he knew he would eliminate the sniper fire, but also significantly increase the hostility in the community. This in turn would further expose the platoon to future attacks. It was, as anyone would describe, a FUBAR situation.

In the end his loyalties were to his men, and that is whom he defended. He doesn’t know “for sure” that the little girl was killed – or anyone else for that matter. What he does know is that with his counter attack – he quelled the sniper fire, and got his men back safely. Mission accomplished. However, as suspected, neighborhood attacks rose there after and before the tour was over that platoon lost 2 men and 4 others suffered major injuries.

Mr. Cheney identifies the enemy as the sniper – and argues that there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of “snipers” running around the globe waiting for the next opportunity to kill Americans. And from a certain perspective he is right. At that moment – that sniper was the “enemy” if the SFC’s goal was the safety of him and his men. However, in killing this sniper, and those in the apartment –did we really make them safer?

This is the rub. How do we remove the individuals who mean us harm, without enflaming the ideologies that recruited them in the first place? And let me be very clear – the ideology I’m speaking about is not Islam, nor is it communism, nor any other notion that ever sent two men, or two nations to war. The lowest common denominator in all wars, hate, and violence is the notion that there is an US and a THEM. Once this division exists – its just two short steps of fear and righteousness to the spilling of blood.

Hence, we must all ask ourselves the very basic question – are we a unified collective living in the illusion of separation? – or are we separate entities who at their best find unification?

The answer is that we are unified. Once this is realized, suddenly ideas like “do unto others” and “love thy neighbor” are no longer great spiritual edicts to aspire to, but pragmatic advice on how to function in this world. The collective unity exists as a giant ocean of consciousness which we all participate with, and from. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that filling it with the poison of divisionary thinking affects all waters – the same way that any pollutant, no matter where it’s origins, contaminates the entire aquatic body. And it makes more sense, that if one “group” pollutes the water with poison, and another counters with their own more powerful poison – the water becomes dirty very quickly.

And that is exactly the situation we find ourselves in now, and that the Sergeant found himself in, in Baghdad. He was pinned down by a “poison” – and his only remedy was to use his stronger, more powerful poison to protect his men. The result was even more polluted waters.

The solution is to realize that the poison is not the enemy, nor their system of attack. The real poison is the idea that there IS AN ENEMY. As long we are focused on “Eliminating the enemy” we are simply increasing the poisonous idea of an Us and a Them – assuring only that there is an enemy and in turn that we are an enemy. Whether terrorist, communist, socialist- it is the living equation known as, “What you do unto others shall be done unto you.”

So the very simple, yet utterly complex solution to the question is – stop making a THEM. Individually, collectively, culturally, etc. We are one entity, and we must begin to live that way if the goal is a long, happy, and safe life. If the goal is war, genocide, and famine – then we should continue with the thought process of Us and Them, that has created such for all of existence.

This is not a solution based in religion, morality, or emotion. It is a solution of pragmatism. It is what works -Love your neighbor as yourself. Can we do this? Absolutely. Will we do this? I don’t know. But I’m very encouraged by the fact that we at least continue to debate and discuss such ideas.

Supporting Links

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/21/cheneys-speech-obama-dese_n_206165.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/21/obama-national-archives-s_n_206189.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pcQ37uGO8A&feature=related

- David Gordon Green, director ALL THE REAL GIRLS, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS

Screening times to be announced – 6.15.09

http://www.philadelphiaindependentfilmfestival.com/

LAPEER — Armed with only his camera, his credit card and an idea, Michigan filmmaker Mike Ramsdell set out to answer one question: What makes us hate?
Ramsdell, a Flint native who now lives in Brighton, began his film-making journey shortly after graduating in 2000 from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
Set off by the events of Sept. 11, Ramsdell, like a lot of people, felt like he needed to understand why, if all people at their core are the same and have the same needs and wants, things could get so violent and go so wrong.
The father of two said that he, in a way, felt obligated to make the film because it was one way he could make a difference.
“I’m not a soldier, I’m not a politician, I’m a story teller,” he said.
Almost eight years later, what Ramsdell discovered can be found in his full-length documentary film Anatomy of Hate.
Distribution of the film began in February in what Ramsdell, 35, calls the grassroots part of the distribution process. After a screening was held in his hometown of Flint, members of the Lapeer County Equal Rights Alliance found out about the film and decided they would like to show it in Lapeer.
A free screening of Anatomy of Hate is set for 7 p.m. Friday, June 5, at the PIX Theatre in downtown Lapeer. A discussion with Ramsdell follows the screening.
“(The film) is really good,” said LCERA member Gale Crooks. “This is really relevant … It’s very powerful.”
Along with members of hate groups, the film talks to a number of social behavior experts.
With limited funding, Ramsdell’s filmmaking process began in the United States around 2003 when he interviewed and spent time with members of a white supremacy group. Around 2006 he was able to fund a trip to the Middle East. But then he was faced with the problem of how to find the people he wanted to talk to.
“You can’t call the West Bank and say: ‘Hey I need to speak to a terrorist,’” said Ramsdell.
Instead he enlisted the help of a native tour guide, offering him cash for information and contacts. And while Ramsdell was led into some dangerous situations, he said he felt safe almost the entire time.
“I’m a pretty savvy guy,” he said. “I’m pretty confident.”
The risks paid off, and Ramsdell was able to finish his film.
One would think interviewing terrorists and members of supremacist groups would lead Ramsdell to have feelings of despair, but he said just the opposite is true.
In all of his work he said he didn’t meet one person who was full of hate or evil, just people who had taken the wrong path in seeking fulfillment.
“I feel like I learned an enormous amount,” he said.
The biggest surprise to Ramsdell? “(The) amount of hope I came away with.”
He said the idea that one person can really make a difference rings out loud in his film. The idea that because humans created the hate and violence they can also take it away, leads to the hopeful feeling.
Also making Ramsdell hopeful is the fact that Lapeer is one of the first places to screen the film.
“I’m incredibly excited about Lapeer,” he said.
Ramsdell encourages any other city or group interested in screening his film to contact him at his production company www.underthehoodproductions.com.
Along with the distribution of this film, Ramsdell is working on various scripts and another documentary film, War Photographers.
“I’m honored and proud to do what I do,” he said.
Details on the Lapeer Anatomy of Hate screening: 810-793-7229.

Mike Ramsdell respectfully addressed every participant comment, and skillfully led the discussion, with outstanding sensitivity, in the direction of the issues of HATE and VIOLENCE.

A group of HS students came to the film for credit and they praised the film and presentation; they were able to openly discuss issues of hatred and discrimination and violence that they had been studying in class – the students described the event as “awesome” and “amazing.” Mr. Ramsdell couldn’t have done a better job in helping us bring the devastating issue of hatred with the message of hope to our community. It isn’t an exaggeration to describe this distinguished, preeminent film as STUNNING. -Gale Crooks, Founding Member of Lapeer Community Equal Rights Alliance

This film, like medical anatomy, cuts to reveal, and in deeply revealing it moves us toward healing. Amidst a welter of powerful images and confessional/testimonial interviews of adults caught up in vicious circles of violence, producer Mike Ramsdell brings us the haunting faces and voices of children learning and practicing hate. Later he shows us children being taught compassion through play—opening up to what philosopher and mythoanalyst Sam Keen refers to in the film as humanity’s “bright potentialities” for happiness and fulfillment, potentialities that are squandered daily by us adults in wars and ubiquitous hot and cold internecine conflicts.

The film does not spare us the brutal facts and images of violence and hate, from the holocausts in Europe and Rwanda to lynchings and gay bashing in America. But this is not the pornography of war and hate. The viewer’s need for a safe distance to consider these nightmare realities and the hunger for hope and meaning that they engender are met with, in exquisite timing, by the authoritative voices and surprisingly warm presence of scholars and scientists such as philosopher Sam Keen, and social psychologist Sheldon Solomon, who show us that there is a possible escape from the dismal trajectory of human history.



These scholars rely on Ernest Becker’s powerful insights to reveal the underlying causes and potential solutions to war and senseless violence. Central to Becker’s thought is the idea that the super-normal potential for violence in humans stems from exactly the same self-affirming meaning systems and identifications (god, country, tribe) that validate our lives and actions and empower us to avoid the otherwise paralyzing apprehension of the inevitability of our personal death and of all those we cherish. The light of these meaning systems casts an ever broadening and darkening shadow—the creation and demonization of human enemies who are seen as essentially different from us. The fuel of violence and hate is fear—fear of powerlessness in the world and fear of the other, the enemy—who also is always the enemy of our God and our good. As Keen says in the film, war is always a theological act, a method of destroying the enemies of God.



The film never breaks the trance-like experience of having more reality before us than we are used to, but it is nevertheless not emotionally relentless. Animation with voice-over narration is used to clarify and give emphasis to theory—and provide a break from brutal images and powerful monologues—without breaking the tone of serious challenge and opportunity that undergirds the whole film. The stories of diverse individuals are interwoven in clear counterpoint to each other throughout the film. We are shown the redemption stories of a murder and a would-be bomber of a gay congregation, and follow combatants on opposing sides in the wars and hot conflicts of the Middle East. We are shown no demonized caricatures. Even in the unredeemed, the film reveals humanity in its complexity.



Anatomy of Hate is recommended for anyone who wants to move beyond naive or cynical views of human nature to more deeply understand the psychological and cultural forces that have tied history to repetitive violence and which provide the clues to undoing the knot.



Reviewed by Henry Richards, a Seattle-based forensic psychologist and longtime Ernest Becker Foundation (EBF) member.


‘We are Samah’s parents too’ by Meital Yas’ur-Beit Or
The parents of a Palestinian boy whose organs were donated to Israeli children after his death from injuries inflicted by IDF fire in Jenin, met with the children who received their sons organs.

Ahmed Ismail Khatib,13, was shot by IDF troops in the West Bank town of Jenin nearly two weeks ago when he walked out of his family
home carrying a toy gun that soldiers mistook for a real one. He was taken to Rambam Hospital in Haifa where he died. His father decided to donate his organs to Israeli children for peace.

The first meeting was with the parents of 12-year-old Samah, an Israeli Druze girl who received Ahmeds heart.

We are also her parents now, Ahmeds mother told Samahs mother Yousra, as she hugged her.

The joy is also shared by two fathers. We are one family. I hope you will accept me as your sister, Yousra said.

We feel as if we are looking at our son. If this girl asks you something and you cannot attend to it, come to us. We are her parents too, Ahmeds father said of Samah.

Mother: Samah received a new life

The meeting between Ahmeds parents and the parents of children whose lives were saved by transplant operations using Ahmeds organs was emotional. Men, women, doctors, nurses and visitors at the Schneider Children’s Medical Center sobbed.

Fairouz Gaboua, whose 5-year-old son Mohammad received one of Ahmeds kidneys, came to thank the Khatibs. Tovah Levinson of Jerusalem, the mother of 3-year-old Menouha who received Ahmeds second kidney, was also there to meet the family.

This amazing family gave Samah a new life, Yousra said. It is difficult to express in words whats in my heart. An Israeli soldier mistakenly killed Ahmed and they donated his organs to sick Israeli children, it is a bridge to peace.

Tovah Levinson said, We are really grateful to you for saving our daughters life. God will pay you back for that good deed.

We hope her wounds will heal soon. We hope that she will work to promote peace once she grows up, Ahmeds parents said.

Ahmeds father addressed the Israeli public through a letter in which called on both Israeli and Palestinians to instill a new culture in our childrens minds.

Ali Waked contributed to this report

Along the way, the Flint native has encountered average Americans, mothers of suicide bombers, white supremacists, leaders of the militant Palestinian movement Hamas and American soldiers.

Ramsdell considers “moviemaking the greatest job in the world” because it affords him the opportunity to tackle any topic he chooses.

His first film, a Robert Altman-esque ensemble piece titled “Montclair,” will be shown Friday through Sunday in the theater at the Flint Institute of Arts, 1120 E. Kearsley St. It’s part of the museum’s periodic series of film screenings introduced by locally affiliated moviemakers.

Ramsdell, 34, of Brighton wrote, directed and produced the drama based in Montclair, N.J. He will speak on and answer questions about the film at the Saturday and Sunday screenings.

“One of the things that’s always frustrated me being a married man is that most of cinema’s portrayal of marriage is ‘Cinderella-happily-ever-after’ or some form of marital abuse,” said Ramsdell. He’s the son of Richard Ramsdell, manager of Flint’s Farmers’ Market, and Betty, a retired school counselor.

“There’s a ton of drama in marriage that has nothing to do with those things,” added Ramsdell, who’s married and has a daughter. His wife, Jennifer, is pregnant with their second child.

“One person wants to go right and another wants to go left. That’s what we found fascinating — to try and make a movie without an antagonist or a bad guy.”

The main characters, Jay (Justin Barrett, who also serves as executive producer) and Amy (Alecia Hurst), are the spine of the movie, Ramsdell said. “Through them, we meet the other characters — their friends and neighbors — who are all at different stages of relationship.”

“Montclair” recently completed a successful run on the festival circuit, playing at the Atlanta Film Festival, Charlotte Film Festival and the Palm Beach Film Festival. It was one of four films chosen to play at the Stratford Upon Avon Film Festival and won best screenplay at the Cinema City Film Festival of Universal Studios.

“We had offers for DVD distribution, but none were very lucrative,” said Ramsdell, a 1991 graduate of Flint Central High School. “We’re waiting to see what the next year holds.”

Ramsdell — who holds a bachelor of fine arts degree from the North Carolina School of the Arts — is completing his second film, a documentary titled “The Anatomy of Hate.”

To make the movie, he traveled across the globe to “try to understand what makes people do the things they do to each other.” He started the project soon after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Ramsdell spent time filming white supremacists, including Billy Roper, head of the White Revolution, a neo-Nazi organization based in Arkansas. “I traveled with him to rallies, marches and festivals,” he said.

“I was never doing it to judge anybody,” Ramsdell stressed. “My goal was to find the common mechanisms operating in all of us.”

He also filmed members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., while they were picketing and protesting.

The church runs numerous Web sites, including GodHatesFags.com and GodHatesAmerica.com.

Ramsdell flew to Israel, where he filmed leaders of Hamas, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (a network of West Bank militias affiliated with former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction) and Israeli soldiers. He also shot footage in the West Bank of victims of suicide bombers on the Israeli side and family members of bombers on the Palestinian side.

“It was a fascinating experience,” he said. “One day, you’d be talking to the mother of a suicide bomber and then to the mother of a victim of a suicide bomber.”

Ramsdell traveled to Iraq, where he spent a few weeks embedded with a calvary division of the U.S. Army and at a combat support hospital in Baghdad.

“It was obviously difficult to work on,” the filmmaker said. The documentary will be released in the fall.

“You see so much pain and death. But I met a lot of people who are doing incredibly positive things.”

A group of HS students came to the film for credit and they praised the film and presentation; they were able to openly discuss issues of hatred and discrimination and violence that they had been studying in class – the students described the event as “awesome” and “amazing.” Mr. Ramsdell couldn’t have done a better job in helping us bring the devastating issue of hatred with the message of hope to our community. It isn’t an exaggeration to describe this distinguished, preeminent film as STUNNING.

Anatomy of Hate screened for members of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, and community representatives at their monthly meeting. Michigan’s legislature is currently working with new hate crime laws. AOH provided an opportunity to discuss the pressures that go into hate crimes, and how such environments can be identified before the crimes take place.

                                    Michael Bochenek, Amnesty International, Director of Policy

If you know me, or have read anything I’ve ever written, or any film I’ve eve made, you’ll know that this quote has shaped the focus and direction of my life. It is utterly simple to understand – and incredibly complex to execute. It asks us to understand those with whom we don’t have peace, and also, perhaps more important, to understand our own contributions to any venomous environment. It’s an equation applicable at the individual level – I struggle with it deeply and frequently in my marriage, and at the global level – Choose any of the 36 wars being waged on the planet right now. Why is understanding so difficult to achieve?

The answer is the subject of my film and the focus of this website. As with the film, I will primarily explore this question through the social sciences. I choose them because they have 3 components which I find essential and absent in other paradigms – 1) They encompass individual and collective studies of man. 2) They offer case history, and intellectual arguments to support their findings. 3) They do not rule out the metaphysical or spiritual aspects of man and his motivations. Further, I have specifically NOT chosen the typical platforms of explanation – geographical, ideological, or political differences – as these at their very nature are subjective in analysis and divisionary in their explanation. I instead, believe conflict can most productively be understood through our commonalities. (However, if along the way you find a different paradigm which you believe offers productive insight, I hope you will share it.)

Also like in the film, this will be a meeting place for persons of tremendously different ideologies– from white supremacists, to Muslim extremists, and Christian fundamentalists, as well as experts and individuals with insightful personal experience. And here is the difficult, yet most important aspect – The one rule of this site has to be the same as the film – All dialogue, posts, or thoughts must be focused around the key intention of UNDERSTANDING. No name-calling, no dismissing ideologies as inferior, and no propaganda. The great challenge for each of us, is to move past the “Me Vs. You”, or “Us. Vs. Them” thinking which has created these problems in the first place.

Be compassionate. Be Productive. Seek understanding.

If we can agree on these 3 guidelines, then I do not believe Mr. Einstein’s quote is that far from our grasp. If you think you can’t agree – then you are in luck because there are 1000’s of other places where you will be greatly encouraged to espouse the superiority of your ideology, and others will happily retort with equally impassioned arguments for theirs. But not here. Here we believe that –

“Peace can only be achieved through understanding.”

With infinite gratitude,
-Mike Ramsdell

Boston was awesome. The film festival ran the same week as the marathon, so not only did I get to drink with filmmakers, but also with the most elite runners in the world. On top of it all, my wife came for the ride, which she never does. In short it was a great few days, and the audience in Boston was fantastic. Here are what a few of the audience members had to say.

Wasn’t at this festival. But thanks for all those that put it together!

ACCESS will be hosting a FREE movie and dinner at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center in Dearborn March 5, 2010. We will show Flint director Mike Ramsdell’s eye-opening documentary The Anatomy of Hate: A Dialogue to Hope, a film that moved one critic to say, “like medical anatomy, [the film] cuts to reveal, and in deeply revealing it moves us toward healing.” Following the film, guests will be treated to a dinner and discussion with Mr. Ramsdell. The documentary explores the ideologies of hate and teaches ways to overcome them.

ACCESS Screening Dearborn

The event will take place from 6-9 p.m. and is part of the nationwide grassroots campaign Night of 1,000 Conversations hosted by ACCESS and Racial Profiling: Face the Truth Campaign. Tickets are on a first-come, first-served basis and those interested MUST RSVP to Rachid Elabed at 734-652-3303 or email relabed@accesscommunity.org. Please note that the film may not be appropriate for children under 13.

Date: Friday, March 5, 2010
Time: 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Address:
15801 Michigan Ave.
Dearborn, MI 48126
United States