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from the this-article-may-trigger-strong-emotions dept.
There is a lot of talk on the net these days about microagressions, and it's good netiquette to post trigger warnings before discussing sensitive topics. What's good in online forums isn't necessarily appropriate in-person, especially on University campuses. The cover article for September's edition of The Atlantic magazine discusses the harm that students' requests for trigger warnings on course content and accusations of microagression are causing, stifling open conversation on campuses across America. The authors also suggest that these student behaviors are actively causing harm to the students.
Avoiding trigger topics, instead of assisting those who have suffered traumas, perpetuates and enhances the pathology of the phobias they hope not to trigger. The hunt for microagression creates in the students cognitive distortions that are usually treated with cognitive behavioral therapy. The authors are calling this "The Coddling of the American Mind", and suggest it will create a generation of graduates unable to cope with the world after graduation.
The authors also appeared on the Diane Rehm show, on a segment called "The New Political Correctness: Why Some Fear It's Ruining American Education". Far from trying to shut down the conversation about race relations, the authors are trying to re-open it.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday September 01 2015, @08:03PM
The whole debate around this centers on a false idea that trigger warnings are suddenly endemic to the academic experience. They aren't.
So where were trigger warnings ten years ago? I say to the contrary that this is a fad working itself out.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Wednesday September 02 2015, @01:24AM
I went to a very liberal and progressive college a bit over 10 years ago, and I didn't see a single trigger warning throughout my time there. They may have existed, but it wasn't something that I came across.
In fact, there was one time in particular when somebody scrawled the details of the Gwen Araujo murder on the sidewalk in front of one of the buildings that a trigger warning might reasonably been useful.