Trigger warnings

I really hate those constant warnings of "strong language" or "mild sex". They are everywhere, TV, film theatres, etc. I think they treat viewers (or readers) as if they are stupid and weak minded. Who the hell has problems with "strong language"? It is just that: LANGUAGE. The big, scary thing. And as for sex scenes, goodness, just grow up! It is just sex. Bees do it too. And now there is this thing called trigger warnings that risks ruining our reading experience too. All of this shit reeks of self-righteousness and self-importance. (Yes, I am angry. I am very polite when I am not very angry). Why am I so angry? Because this is just one example of a set of social phenomena that is threatening free thought and expression as well as the sanity of still-sane mortals.

Paradoxically, it is at universities, the greatest bastions of free and critical thought, that these phenomena are growing stronger. And the fact that these are US universities (and mediocre ones at that) provides little consolation. These phenomena are growing and will arrive near you well before you can imagine in your worst nightmare. This is one more example of the negative consequences of US cultural dominance (there are some positive ones. I am not saying the opposite. I am just referring to the negative ones). I came about this old article by Jill Filipovic and I must agree with everything it points out, even if I do wish someone would write it even better. Here are some of my favourite highlights:

They're a low-stakes way to use the right language to identify yourself as conscious of social justice issues. Even better is demanding a trigger warning – that identifies you as even more aware, even more feminist, even more solicitous than the person who failed to adequately provide such a warning.

It highlights particular issues as necessarily more upsetting than others, and directs students to focus on particular themes that have been singled out [...] And there's something lost when students are warned before they read [...] and when they read those writers first through the lens of trauma and fear.

But the space between comfort and freedom is not actually where universities should seek to situate college students. Students should be pushed to defend their ideas and to see the world from a variety of perspectives. Trigger warnings don't just warn students of potentially triggering material; they effectively shut down particular lines of discussion [...] students should also accept the challenge of exploring their own beliefs and responding to disagreement. Trigger warnings, of course, don't always shut down that kind of interrogation, but if feminist blogs are any example, they quickly become a way to short-circuit uncomfortable, unpopular or offensive arguments.

That the warnings hinge on topics that are more likely to affect the lives of marginalized groups contributes to the general perception of members of those groups as weak, vulnerable and "other". [...] There's a reinforcement of the toxic messages young women have gotten our entire lives: that we're inherently vulnerable.

Colleges, though, are not intellectual or emotional safe zones. Nor should they be.
Trauma survivors need tools to manage their triggers and cope with every day life. Universities absolutely should prioritize their needs – by making sure that mental health care is adequately funded, widely available and destigmatized.
But they do students no favors by pretending that every piece of potentially upsetting, triggering or even emotionally devastating content comes with a warning sign.

Here are my main points against these entire concept (some of these ideas are already mentioned above):

Self-righteousness

Just read the first paragraph quoted above. Enough said.

Self-importance

every human being has lived moments in their lives where, by being singled out among the crowd, he or she has felt special. There is nothing wrong with that. On the contrary, I am all in favour of making people feel that they matter. That they are more than a particle of dust in the universe. That other people are kindly willing to acknowledge their needs, expectations, their joys and pleasures, and also their pain. But not at any cost and specially not at the cost of their and everyone else's right to an excellent education. Not at the cost of undermining the experience of reading a good book without preconceived false ideas.

Trauma

There is the risk of being considered cold hearted and even evil when what is at stake is people experiencing trauma or PTSD. But it is exactly considering these people's ordeals that makes me the most angry. Because it is a lot more than preparing students for a cruel life that comes with no trigger warnings that is at stake here. It is the way we deal with trauma and the way we try to heal it. And it is my absolute belief that treating victims has weak, broken selves is no way to do that. But it is what many people mistakenly believe to be the way to heal themselves and this is causing immense unnecessary pain in our society. What is happening is people letting a past traumatic event define them as victims and define the way they interact with the world around them. Even, in extreme cases, to the delusional point of expecting a sort of reverence for their role of survivors of trauma. What you see is people drowning in pain and self-pity because they think that this is the only possible reaction to such events. When it is not! They can instead take control of their lives and carry on, and learn to live with their memories by keeping them in their place and not letting them define them.

Triggers

When it comes to my personal experience of trauma and dealing with triggers, I am absolutely sure that the way to deal with them is not to avoid them at all cost, but instead to confront them and sublimate them. What I mean by sublimation is to gently (no need to overdo it) push your limits until you succeed in overcoming those triggers, by putting yourself in slightly uncomfortable situations. One way to do it is to try to disassociate the triggers of a bad memory and instead associating it to a good one (this is not always possible, of course).

Healing

It is a cliché that literature (and art in general) heals. It has also been scientifically proven to be true in numerous studies. By issuing trigger warnings, we are disseminating the dangerous and erroneous belief that literature causes pain and trauma and undermining its ability to work its wonder. Saying that black people should avoid reading books where racism is present or that victims of rape should avoid books were women are victimized is robbing them of the ability to understand and express their pain. This is the main reason why it is even more important to stop this non-sense.