Theatre of Cruelty and Literature of Hate
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: Theatre of Cruelty and 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.
Anatomy of Hate
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 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.
Literature of Hate
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 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. Most hatreds however remain repressed 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 they can gain expression.
Theatre of Cruelty
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 forms of violence which circulate on the communal dreamscreen. Many of these hatreds can be found in the Dream Interpretations Section of the International Institute for Dream Research. A decadent geneology of these hatreds can be traced throughout the history of dreaming.
Hope these thoughts are of help and provide some insight,
Mark H.