World Trade Centre -or- Fear and Loathing in the Global Village

Dreamer: Johnny, 6 year old American

This dream was reported by his parents shortly after 9/11.

Our 6 year old child reported dreaming that a monster has a bomb and the bomb will soon go off, the child said he feels trapped and has no way to escape.

Mr Hagen's Reply: Children's Theatre of Cruelty -or- Literature of Hate

The child voices and speaks for all who sit with horror and terror, observing the lit fuse of world destruction. Such dreams can only continue to fuel children's fears and the morbidity which each generation has inherited from the last. Providing each and every child with a safe environment free from all forms of hate must be a priority in the 21st century. Other dreams received by the International Institute for Dream Research (IIDR) speak about the Anatomy of Human Destructiveness (read IIDR interpretation)

Anatomy of Hate -or Hate Crimes in the Global Village

Anatomy of a subject refers to the exhaustive examination of a subject. For Northrop Frye Anatomy of Criticism "anatomy" is a compendium and encyclopedia of communal fictions which presents a satirical analysis of human behavior, attitudes and beliefs. In the archive found at the IIDR web-site the growing multitude of social problems found in dreams include rape, violence, crime, fear, prejudice, right to life vs. freedom of choice, pornography, hate crimes etc. The archive is therefore aimed at a systematic mapping and accurate understanding of the Anatomy of Global Social Problems including American ones.

The literature of hate is a minor literary genre yet finds expression on dreamscreens everywhere on a daily basis. Elisabeth Young-Bruehl The Anatomy of Prejudice outlines the origins, development and aims of hatred. Gabrielle Edwards Coping with Discrimination provides understanding into the harms of discrimination, stereotyping and scapegoating. "A stereotype is a mental picture that one group has of another, a false characterization designed to depersonalize the target group". Assigning blame to a powerless minority group for things that have gone wrong in government or for other misfortunes that have befallen the community is called scapegoating.

The aim of hatred is destruction of that which is different, frustrates, rejects, denies or otherwise is perceived as posing a threat to one's self or one's community. Hatreds appear in many forms such as scapegoating, prejudices (i.e.. racism, sexism, abelism, class), stereotyping (i.e.. depersonalization, pornography), phobias (i.e.. xeno- and homophobia), suicide (self injury), jealousy, envy, rage, tirade, contempt, sadism, masochism etc.

Malignant aggression and hate crimes have begun to come under increasing scrutiny in the United States and in Canada. Our gaze and the unconscious mental structures (i.e. images) which traumatically feed our vision of others and the world has been socialized by the "politics of discrimination". These hate systems are transgenerationally reproduced and are readily visible in the Middle East, in the Balkans and in Northern Ireland to name a few places. Before Hitler's rise to power, Walter Lippman Public Opinion had already assessed and warned against the rising influence and the propoganda effects of political media which were shaping the stereotypical "pictures in the head". Most hatreds however remain repressed and unconscious from being expressed in the community, mainly due to the deference system of "political correctness". The hatreds are then relig-ated to the communal dreamscreen where the machinations of hateful images can gain expression.

Children's Nightmares and the Psychohistorical Theatre of Cruelty

Ernest Hartmann Dreams and Nightmares, tells his reading audience that; "Some children live in truly dangerous worlds that do not become less dangerous as they grow up." Citing Charlotte Beradt's work The Third Reich of Dreams, Hartmann understands that her collection of dreams, portrays the helplessness and vulnerability of the German population living under the totalitarian Nazi regime. For Hartmann, these dreams seemed to have defined and influenced the emotional tone of the society. Children growing up in their social environments internatize the thoughts and moods of their social world and reality, this process is called socialization. Many dreams received by the IIDR speak of the nightmaric reality of growing up. 

Developed by Antonin Artaud Theatre and it's Double, the theater of cruelty subjects the audience and spectators to a cognitive-emotional shock treatment. The nightmare provides just such a theater to view the various traumatic psychological forms of violence which circulate on the communal dreamscreen. A decadent nightmaric geneology of these hatreds can be traced throughout the history of dreaming. It has been one of the aims of the IIDR to screen and expose this decadent psychohistorical geneology of nightmares.

From a popular film perspective, the Oliver Stone film World Trade Centre provides a story of hope, heroism and sadness surrounding the events of September 11, 2001. Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 (see film trailer) provides a dystopian viewpoint of America's future.

Hope these thoughts are of help and provide some insight,
Mark H.

Further Reading;

IIDR interpretation Post traumatic Nightmares.

All material Copyright 2006 International Institute for Dream Research. All rights reserved.