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posted by Fnord666 on Friday October 20 2017, @01:36AM   Printer-friendly
from the et-tu-brute? dept.

⚠ Warning: Contents of summary and comments may be offensive. ⚠

Cambridge Uni students get Shakespeare trigger warnings

Shakespeare contains gore and violence that might "upset" you, Cambridge University students have been warned. The "trigger warnings" - red triangles with an exclamation mark - appeared on their English lecture timetables.

Lectures including Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus contain "discussion of sexual violence, sexual assault", the BBC's Newsnight programme has learned.

The university said the warnings were "at the lecturer's own discretion" and "not a faculty-wide policy". The lecture timetables were issued to this term's students by the university's faculty of English.

[...] Asked about the warnings, one Cambridge academic who did not wish to be named, said their "duty as educators was to prepare students for the world not protect them for three years". Prof Dennis Hayes from Derby University's education faculty said: "Once you get a few trigger warnings, lecturers will stop presenting anything that is controversial... gradually, there is no critical discussion".

Cambridge University said the English faculty "does not have a policy on trigger warnings", but added: "Some lecturers indicate that some sensitive material will be covered in a lecture... this is entirely at the lecturer's own discretion and is in no way indicative of a faculty-wide policy."

Forsooth!

Also at Cambridge News, The Guardian, and The Independent.


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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @01:43AM (17 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @01:43AM (#585043)

    Anybody who is upset by Shakespeare wins a long term, all expenses paid holiday to a psychiatric ward.

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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday October 20 2017, @01:56AM (2 children)

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Friday October 20 2017, @01:56AM (#585051) Homepage

    H-Hey, don't d-drag me off for electroshock therapy. I SWEAR that Smithers was Black! [cinemablend.com] He really was! No, he wasn't always White, you're LYING!

    There...are...FOUR...lights!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @02:15AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @02:15AM (#585060)

      Hahahaha, we all know you'd be the one saying there are five lights, no torture required...

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @12:57PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @12:57PM (#585203)

      False statement. Well, not about the black part as that was true, but he has never been white. He is yellow.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Whoever on Friday October 20 2017, @02:45AM (9 children)

    by Whoever (4524) on Friday October 20 2017, @02:45AM (#585077) Journal

    Anybody who is upset by Shakespeare wins a long term, all expenses paid holiday to a psychiatric ward.

    Have you actually read Titus Andronicus?

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Friday October 20 2017, @03:22AM (8 children)

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday October 20 2017, @03:22AM (#585094) Journal

      And...?
      Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] with citation:

      It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy, and is often seen as his attempt to emulate the violent and bloody revenge plays of his contemporaries, which were extremely popular with audiences throughout the 16th century.[1]

      What's next?
      - ban Shakespeare because the utmost majority of his characters are white and the only black one killed his wife (for failing to iron his hankie)?
      - ban Casablanca because everybody and their dog are smokers? (hold a second on to this, I'll need to pay attention next time to identify the non-smokers. But you get the gist)

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 3, Disagree) by tfried on Friday October 20 2017, @10:26AM (7 children)

        by tfried (5534) on Friday October 20 2017, @10:26AM (#585162)

        ban

        Umm - where exactly did you get that?

        Yes, this particular warning is sort of silly, but I certainly prefer an overcautious lecturer including a warning, just in case, to an overcautious lecturer omitting anything "problematic", just in case.

        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday October 20 2017, @11:04AM (2 children)

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday October 20 2017, @11:04AM (#585175) Journal

          From TFS

          "Once you get a few trigger warnings, lecturers will stop presenting anything that is controversial... "

          Nothing formal, just a de facto ban.

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @05:22PM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @05:22PM (#585324)

            No, they won't. You are just making a mountain out of a mole hill.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 21 2017, @12:42AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 21 2017, @12:42AM (#585498)

              Yes, they will. You are making a mole hill out of a mountain.

        • (Score: 5, Insightful) by nobu_the_bard on Friday October 20 2017, @12:39PM (3 children)

          by nobu_the_bard (6373) on Friday October 20 2017, @12:39PM (#585198)

          Just start putting warnings on everything until it no longer has any meaning.

          Calculus I
          * Trigger Warning: Students may be exposed to unshielded derivatives and excessive talk about sin, not just cos.

          Physics I
          * Trigger Warning: There may be discussion of gravity that both agrees with observable reality and defies students' expectations, which sometimes leads to bouts of discomfort.

          Introduction to Computer Use
          * Trigger Warning: Microsoft Office has proven to lead some weak-hearted students to uncontrollable anger or thoughts of suicide.

          • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Friday October 20 2017, @06:45PM

            by Grishnakh (2831) on Friday October 20 2017, @06:45PM (#585363)

            Ok, I have to agree about the one about Microsoft Office. That thing is indeed horrible, especially the version where the background color is bright red and the menus are in ALL-CAPS. Holy shit, what fucking moron UI designer came up with that shit?

            But a trigger warning isn't the answer. An outright ban on using Microsoft Office in the university is. There's no reason for using MS Office in an academic setting (where students are typically on tight budgets) when LibreOffice is both Free and free, and as a bonus it won't cause you to want to rip out your eyeballs.

          • (Score: 2) by darkfeline on Friday October 20 2017, @10:01PM

            by darkfeline (1030) on Friday October 20 2017, @10:01PM (#585450) Homepage

            Life
            * Trigger Warning: You may experience uncomfortable feelings. Are you sure you wish to live?

            --
            Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 21 2017, @12:54AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 21 2017, @12:54AM (#585507)

            excessive talk about sin, not just cos.

            Cosplay is just advanced sinplay.

  • (Score: 5, Funny) by krishnoid on Friday October 20 2017, @06:02AM (2 children)

    by krishnoid (1156) on Friday October 20 2017, @06:02AM (#585128)

    I'm mostly concerned that there's enough detail in those trigger warnings to make them spoilers. That's just unforgivable.

    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday October 20 2017, @04:08PM (1 child)

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Friday October 20 2017, @04:08PM (#585280) Journal

      What if the things in the trigger warnings are the only things you need to know for the exam?

      Thank Cambridge for protecting the precious minds of young students from upsetting things. Once they graduate from academia, they won't ever have to worry about encountering upsetting things.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @05:24PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20 2017, @05:24PM (#585325)

        You do realize that the warnings to do prevent students from reading / listening right? For the slackers it just changes the method from "I'm siiiick" to "I'm twigahd!" No censorship, no watering down of academia, just fear mongering by people without perspective.

  • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Friday October 20 2017, @06:42PM

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Friday October 20 2017, @06:42PM (#585362)

    That's ridiculous. These people are not insane, just misguided, and psychiatric wards are very expensive and won't help here. Those who are upset by Shakespeare should simply be given the choice of dealing with it, or leaving the school.