Trigger Warnings + PC Culture.

In last week’s workshop about audiences, the subject of Trigger Warning’s came up. Specifically about recent events at American Universities.  One of the groups in class is doing this as the subject of their PB4 and interviewed me about it as well. While doing the interview I realized I actually have a lot to say about the topic. I also think there are different parts of the argument where my opinion is radically different.

The difference comes when comparing trigger warnings in online communities, to trigger warning’s and content warning’s in a university.

When it comes to trigger warnings in online communities I have no issue. If people want to create safe spaces for themselves and other’s and create rules for posts on how they are presented – I think that’s great. I am apart of a few communities that require such warnings and have no issue with complying – and if I did I simply would not be a part of the community anymore.

This post will be focused on my critique of these warnings and other requests at censorship students have requested of their institutions in the name of a ‘safe space’.

I do not think the problem most people have with trigger warnings has to do with stating that something may be shown may contain graphic content whether it be sexual violent or verbal. That is certainly not my problem with it. My problem is it has created an issue of censoring conversation. Censoring all forms of content and ideological perspectives. As Obama states in the video above (provided by The White House), You do not get to silence someone because of a difference of opinion.

One of the books mentioned in different articles that was asked to have trigger warnings was The Great Gatsby. I personally, find that ridiculous. I read The Great Gatsby when I was 15 – it was not required reading for me but it was fo others at my school. The Great Gatsby contains racist and sexist remarks, domestic violence, and a lot of alcohol. This is all stuff I may hear about or is referenced to in my daily life.

hich brings me to this point; Life does not have a trigger warning.

Not only are issues arising over literature (which is sadly not that new in America with our large history of book burning) but art as well. The Boston Globe reported:

“At Wellesley,controversy eruptedwhen a sculpture depicting a pale man sleepwalking in his underwear appeared on campus. Hundreds of students signed a petition to have it moved, calling it “a source of apprehension, fear, and triggering thoughts regarding sexual assault.” To her credit, the university’s president declined to have the sculpture moved”

American Universities have historically been a place for freedom of expression. A place for debate and change. This is being squandered by over sensitive students who have taken their views too far.

I could go on and on with different examples of students protesting speakers they do not agree with, or asking other students artwork to be taken down, but I won’t. I will simply leave you with this quote taken from a Slate article :

“That sentiment is similar to one expressed by the American Association of University Professors last year in its statement on trigger warnings. “Some discomfort is inevitable in classrooms if the goal is to expose students to new ideas, have them question beliefs they have taken for granted, grapple with ethical problems they have never considered, and, more generally, expand their horizons so as to become informed and responsible democratic citizens,” the statement says. “Trigger warnings suggest that classrooms should offer protection and comfort rather than an intellectually challenging education. They reduce students to vulnerable victims rather than full participants in the intellectual process of education. The effect is to stifle thought on the part of both teachers and students who fear to raise questions that might make others ‘uncomfortable.’ ”