Trigger Warning: Reality Hurts
This is a Mindf*ck Monthly newsletter from September 7, 2022. Every month, I send out big ideas I’ve been chewing on in the hopes that it makes you less of a shitty person.
Let’s dive right in.
Table of ContentsTrigger WarningsThe Verdict Is InDeath of “Safety-Ism”Trigger WarningsYears ago, many readers wrote to me complaining that I didn’t include trigger warnings in my articles. This was 2014-15 or so. The trigger warning thing had become popular on university campuses and left-lean...
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Leo
(new)
Sep 10, 2022 02:11PM
No shit reality hurts, it is a fucking bitch. But the loss of that innocence, and increasing experience results in being better prepared for it. Maturity basically. Sheltering ourselves and hiding in the dark, afraid, is no way to live a life and is, to me, the definition of being a child.
reply
|
flag
Of course, losing that innocence is a major loss of sorts, but unfortuantely it is needed and a requirment for maturity. This kind of stuff has been known for generations, and tribes even for rituals and what not to replicate it. This is why modern society is fucked, we lost our rituals.
Personally, i think it's more about being respectful of other people than your own feelings about what trigger warnings do and don't do. It would also be helpful of you to provide those studies for people to read them, that's an interesting take. Anyhow, i don't think it's comparable TW: you're going to lose your job with TW: rape and suicide. The second might save someone from having a full blown panic attack and flashback.
The responsibility of people that might be triggered is towards their own feelings. Giving them the opportunity to decide what to read and what not to read is simply being kind.
If someone is drawn towards triggering subjects, than that's on them to work out themselves and in therapy.
I don't agree with censorship, things should be talked about, creativity should be a free space for creation, and we need to learn with our mistakes, our history, we need to have difficult conversations. But we also should give people the chance to decide whether they want to be part of the conversation.
They might even want to engage, but need some time to process it, or, they might simply not want to engage, both are fine. And instead of driving everyone away from your content, being kind simply doesn't hurt.
