Taken Too Far: When Trigger Warnings Attack!

[jimhines]

I guess this is Jim Talks About Triggers and Content Warnings and Censorship and Stuff Week. Here are the previous two blog posts:

• Trigger Warnings as CENSORSHIP, and Other Nonsense
• Trigger Warnings as an Impediment to Mental Health

I want to talk next about the fear that trigger warnings could be abused, or that they could be used as a tactic to

Comments

[funwithrage]

FWIW, I skipped the *vast majority* of classes in college and am doing fine.

In fact, I'd argue that a key part of starting college is figuring out which classes you can skip and which you should. ;P

[taldragon]

these are fabulous posts!

relatedly, lollardfish wrote about trigger warnings in an academic context, on his blog: http://www.thismess.net/2015/08/trigger-warnings-real-threat.html#uds-search-results - not sure whether you've seen those.

[mt_yvr]

Yeeeah and here we're going to have to diverge, potentially a lot

[jimhines]

I'm not sure how much we've actually diverged here.

Hm ... if I had to restate some of what I'm thinking in terms of your comment, I'd say I agree with you that yes, we should be keeping an eye on the potential. Like I said, I do think the hypothetical possibilities are worth thinking about. And if there are examples of triggers, warnings, etc. being used in damaging and damning ways, then yeah, we need to push back on that.

What irks me is the argument not that "This is something we need to keep an eye on," but "This problem is already here and destroying free speech and okay I can't actually point to an example of trigger-warning-censorships but it's TOTALLY censoring people" and so on and so forth.

Does that make sense?

"Because it's not about saying what we can say or do, it's talking about how to think."

Can you expand on that a bit, please? I'm not sure I'm following, and I want to understand.

[mt_yvr]

First : absolutely agree. If people are saying the English aren't just coming, they're here... yeah. We agree

[jimhines]

Thanks - that makes sense, I think.

After trying and floundering several times to delve more into the thoughts vs. behaviors, I'm ending up with a thought about white folks demanding to know why they can't say the n-word.

To which I generally have a couple of answers. First of all, you can say it -- but others are also allowed to tell you what they think of you saying it. Second, and more relevant, it's not about whether or not you can say it -- it's about why you want to say it. What's the thinking that makes you want to choose to use that term?

Here's one thing that popped up in my Facebook feed...

[dragonbat2006]

...that I would consider to be a misuse/misapplication of triggering:

http://www.therebel.media/18_people_voted_to_remove_student_from_council_meeting_because_raising_her_arm_was_triggering.

I write fanfiction. I have no problem putting warnings on my content. If anything, I overwarn. But if the substance of this article is true, I do consider an example of Taken Too Far.

Re: Here's one thing that popped up in my Facebook feed...

[jimhines]

Okay, the article uses the word "triggering," but I'm not seeing it in the actual complaints.

That said...yeah, the situation feels like potentially going too far with the safety/respect policy.

Pulling up different articles, I see her "offense" described as "raising her hand," "indicating disagreement," and "inappropriate hand gestures." I'm guessing we're not talking about flipping someone off, because if so, that probably would have been spelled out.

It also says she went so far as to "shake her head disapprovingly," which...um...okay, yeah.

Following the link to the Reason article, it sounds like students voted 33 to 18 to *not* kick her out or expel her for this "violation" of policy, and that other students are pushing to rewrite the policy

Re: Here's one thing that popped up in my Facebook feed...

[shiv5468]

The reason she was targeted with the safe space rules is because she was speaking in favour of Israel. other people had done the same thing in the meeting and had not been censured.

It was political silencing, and censorship.

Re: Here's one thing that popped up in my Facebook feed...

[luckylove]

The headline is wrong. She raised both her arms above her head in disagreement. She even admits she did that in another article. To a survivor of domestic abuse that can be a trigger, a prelude to being hit again. There's a reason that this meeting's safe space policy bans that type of gesture. I find it quite aggressive given my background.

[shiv5468]

Has anyone ever asked mental health professionals if trigger warnings and safe spaces is the right approach?

Because we don't make these accommodations for people with ptsd, or phobias. And a phobic is just as terrified of their trigger as a sexual assault victim.

You can't actually make the world safe from triggering one of my phobias. My treatment has been about building resilience, mastering panic attacks and not about a safe space. People are entitled to reasonable accommodations, but not more than that. And sometimes a course will never be safe enough. A dental phobic has no business on a dentistry course if they have panic attacks. Sexual offences are a key part of the law syllabus. If you can't deal with that, then you can't do law. Because the accommodation of safe space is to destroy the integrity of the curriculum.

[jimhines]

"Has anyone ever asked mental health professionals if trigger warnings and safe spaces is the right approach?"

Yes.

Heck, there are mental health professionals weighing in on this conversation.

"You can't actually make the world safe from triggering one of my phobias."

Nobody's claiming otherwise. The point isn't to make the world safe. It's to provide warnings when possible, and allow people to make better-informed decisions. Nobody's arguing trigger warnings are a cure-all, or that it's possible to make the world completely safe.

[shiv5468]

But that is not how it's being used

http://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/muslim-students-from-goldsmiths-university-s-islamic-society-heckle-and-aggressively-interrupt-a6760306.html

[jimhines]

Could you please show me where the word "trigger" is used in that article?