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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: 2, Insightful) by eapache on Tuesday September 01 2015, @03:26PM
Exposure therapy is premised on controlled, expected exposure to triggers. Trigger warnings are not antithetical to this idea - they are an implementation of it: you *warn* people so that they are expecting to be triggered, or, if they believe the trigger would be too strong for their current state, so they can avoid it completely.
I don't understand the idea that this is somehow harming mental health, it should be making it easier for people to self-treat when they've been traumatized.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Francis on Tuesday September 01 2015, @04:15PM
Well, for one thing it normalizes freaking out over things that aren't a big deal. For example if you've been raped and you aren't freaking out because of something that should have received a trigger warning, you're not a real rape survivor and should shut up before you damage the cause. This kind of thinking has been a huge problem when it comes to child abuse as anybody who has been abused like that is expected to keep their mouth shut if they're not prepared to toe the party line on the issue. Leading to a huge number of people not feeling like the abuse was real abuse.
The main purpose it serves is to further isolate people that need to be working out how to develop a healthy connection with others. It's not going to happen if you're demanding a trigger warning over whatever it is. Memory is stored in an idiosyncratic way and trying to predict how the memories are connected in a group of people that likely have little in common is nigh impossible. In all likelihood the obvious triggers are the ones that are easier to deal with. It's walking through the minefield of other memories that connect to the trauma that are the real issue.
If there were a reasonable way of warning people about those random connections, I'd be more apt to accept trigger warnings as something legitimate. But, by the time you see the trigger warning, it's really too late for anybody that's that sensitive. The trigger warning itself is likely to be a trigger. If you've been raped and can't handle thinking about it, being given a trigger warning about a discussion about rape is probably not going to be very effective.
(Score: 2) by Zinho on Tuesday September 01 2015, @04:53PM
Unfortunately, the students asking for this aren't asking so that they can be prepared to sit through class in the proper frame of mind; instead, they're asking to be excused from potentially trigger-inducing lectures. In the Atlantic article the authors mention that it temporarily became an official recommendation at one college: an online resource guide for faculty recommended that 'materials that might trigger negative reactions among students be avoided altogether unless they “contribute directly” to course goals, and suggested that works that were “too important to avoid” be made optional.'
The approach the authors suggested is that campus administrators send a general trigger warning with the acceptance papers. They specifically endorsed the Chicago Law School's (PDF warning) Freedom of Expression statement: [uchicago.edu]
. . . education should not be intended to make people comfortable, it is meant to make them think. Universities should be expected to provide the conditions within which hard thought, and therefore strong disagreement, independent judgment, and the questioning of stubborn assumptions, can flourish in an environment of the greatest freedom. . .
. . . it is not the proper role of the University to attempt to shield individuals from ideas and opinions they find unwelcome, disagreeable, or even deeply offensive. Although the University greatly values civility, and although all members of the University community share in the responsibility for maintaining a climate of mutual respect, concerns about civility and mutual respect can never be used as a justification for closing off discussion of ideas, however offensive or disagreeable those ideas may be to some members of our community.
Students ought to expect that their professors are not going to rape them during a discussion of Greek Mythology, even if Zeus' exploits are the topic of conversation. Lecture halls should be a safe place to discuss trigger-inducing topics. Attending class and discussing difficult topics should be seen as part of an effective recovery, not an obstacle to it.
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 01 2015, @08:57PM
That's funny because when I studied mythology in grade school, never once did any teacher try to rape anyone.
But if you guys and gals would rather run from a lecture screaming rape rather than learn something...
I dunno, maybe you should be spending mommy's and daddy's money on something other than half an education.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday September 01 2015, @11:15PM
I don't have much use for my alma mater generally, but that excerpt from the University of Chicago's Law School rings true to me.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 02 2015, @12:42PM
Alma Mater?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m93rJnjpbc [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 02 2015, @01:48AM
OK, so what do we "trigger warn" for? There's so many things that can be "triggering", so we just need to trigger warn everything! Ah, and there's the rub. You see, now that we've trigger warned everything we can actually remove the trigger warnings as they're simply implied when one consumes information.
DONE! Any other pseudo-intellectual rubbish problem you need solved?