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bluharmoni
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[–]YetAnotherCommenter13 points 13 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link
Honestly, if a trigger warning is just "content advisory: the following material may distress some people for reason X, read with caution" I don't really have a problem with them.
But they've become grossly overused.
Trigger warnings were intended for people with severe PTSD. They aren't simply there for "things you might dislike" or "things you might disagree with."
Not only that, but people can get PTSD over a huge number of things. I have a mild case of PTSD over my time in high school so I tend to find that certain high-school-related material distresses me and gets under my skin. However it doesn't result in a completely-dissociated-from-reality-flashback. It might make me angrier than usual, sure... but its a hot button issue, not necessarily a "trigger." And it certainly isn't the kind of "trigger" that gets warned about.
Warning people that certain material might be confrontational to their sensibilities? Fine! Good, even!
But please, please, not everyone that has suffered something has a case of extreme PTSD.
TL;DR - In theory trigger warnings have a totally reasonable function. In practice they've become overused to the point of being a complete joke.
[–]seriesoftubesguy2 points 13 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link
And for the people who use them as they do like that, thats pretty much PTSD for those freaks.
[–][deleted]4 points 13 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link
The survivor culture is designed around people who have identified with what happened to them, so they like to have lots of reminders (because it's not a very stable identity), and that's what trigger warnings do. I do think it's a shame because it makes it very difficult to develop other resources. It's just one big endless round of tea and sympathy.
[–]deshki2 points 13 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link
It's like growing up, with one parent always letting you run around and play like a jackass outside while the other one is constantly trying to coddle you and flips out over every bruise or scrape. It's a part of growing as a person; facing those things that would otherwise hurt or harm you and oercoming them.
People have it backwards, as if people just need to be sheltered like a wounded bird for their entire lives.
Obviously compassion is needed, but at a certain point you only enable people to keep themselves miserable.
[–][deleted]3 points 13 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link
I could not agree more.
[–]BryGuyYup2 points 13 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link
I do a lot of tutoring with schoolkids and by far the hardest part of my job is dealing with parents when their kids get a bad grade. I have to explain to them that part of learning is the student realizing that if he doesn't do his homework, he's going to fail. I'm there to help him through the tough concepts, not do his homework for him. A large minority of the parents (something like 1/4 to a 1/3 of them) simply refuse to accept that, and think, "I'm paying you for my kid to get A's". I happily part ways with such clients pretty quickly.
[–]MechPlasma3 points 13 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link
I've got... not a trauma, but basically if I get reminded of when my girlfriend went missing a few years ago, sometimes I just completely shut down for a while thinking about it.
Fun fact: One of those times was reading this article.
Fun fact: Trigger Warnings are goddam useless because they don't protect you from things that actually 'trigger' you.
See, not only are 'triggered' moments usually from something really unexpected, but even when they are used properly (eg: let's say someone in r/Confessions was writing about a similar story), I'm gonna bloody know what they're writing about pretty early on. I do not need a Trigger Warning to tell me that a post starting with "My girlfriend went missing" might involve missing loved ones!
...oh yeah, and that's just the "reasonable" Trigger Warnings. Then you have the ones warning about single-sentence posts or completely nonsense triggers.
Also, the one exception is trigger warnings in Tumblr tags, just because you can use that to make sure those posts don't come up on your Dashboard.
[–]guy_smieley3 points 13 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link
There are three issues here. 1. The double standard. 2. At what point do we draw the line between fun and bullying. 3. How much is anybody responsible to intervene. I'm afraid the only answer I have is the pessimistic one. 1. Everything is always a double standard, just try to be on the right side of it. 2. Nobody draws any line but what best rewards them self. 3. Nobody will ever intervene except to loot the victim. What you need to do is not to decry the unfairness, but accept that unfairness is the basic quality of life and start personally taking responsibility for finding yourself in the weaker position. I'm sorry that's not the nice answer. The world isn't nice - in fact a school environment might be one of the most psychologically stressful environments you are likely to be in in your life (there are much worse environments, but you aren't going to be in them).
[–]theskepticalidealist1 point 13 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link
I need trigger warnings, for trigger warnings.
[–]Grapeban-7 points 13 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link
Yeah, because trigger warnings are so fucking hurtful to you if you don't need them and don't see their use, clearly trigger warnings are oppression manifested.
Why don't you go advocate about an actual issue?
[–]bluharmoni6 points 13 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link
What are you trying to say, exactly? Because what you wrote doesn't make any sense. And I'm not advocating for an issue; I'm poking fun at trigger warnings.
[–][deleted]5 points 13 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link
Im a guy and I appreciate trigger warnings for abuse stuff because i was pretty horribly abused and i can sometimes have panic attacks if i read something thats too graphic about it (i know thats kinda pathetic of me but i guess im pathetic then). I do think its silly to have trigger warnings about things that have nothing to do with events that cause PTSD though.
[–]bluharmoni4 points 13 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link
But wouldn't a descriptive title work just as well? And I don't think there's anything pathetic about surviving abuse. I do get irritated when "Trigger Warning" is in almost every post on feminist blogs. The phrase becomes meaningless, and it looks like an effort to portray men as violent, abusive, and likely to rape, while women as eternal victims.
[–][deleted]2 points 13 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link
Yes if the titles were descriptive that would work just fine for me, I could avoid what I know is bad for me to read. I dont know if thats what feminists are intending with the trigger warning, I think that they might be doing it with good intent but it just gets out of hand maybe?
[–]bluharmoni2 points 13 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link
I try to presume good intent until shown otherwise. I'm gotten to the point where it's hard to give some feminists the benefit of the doubt. I think the reality is that trigger-warned posts get more attention. Lots of times I'll see something like this (Trigger warning: Rape), and then the post will say that a woman was raped by her boyfriend, and that's it. How is that any more triggering than the warning? I think that at the end of the day, male or female, we have to take responsibility for what we're reading and what part of the internet we're browsing. If I found the word "rape" triggering, I'd never go near feminist blogs, for example. But trigger warnings aren't that simple; and we can't realistically be expected to know what might trigger someone else when writing a post. That put's too much of a burden on what feminists like to call "freeze peach," as if free speech (or freedom of association) is a concept to be made fun of.
[–]SteelCrossx2 points 13 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link
I certainly wouldn't say it's pathetic of you. If I may ask you two questions, which I'm just honestly curious about, how often do you think trigger warnings prevent you from reading something that will cause a panic attack when you otherwise would have read it? Also, do you feel avoiding reading those things helps you overcome your panic attacks or prolongs your condition?
I was diagnosed with PTSD after returning from Afghanistan (apparently somewhere between 30% to 50% of service members are affected in some way) and the guy I was talking to about it said it was important for me not to avoid everything that made me uncomfortable but to confront it on my terms at reasonable rates to prove to myself that I can handle it. I found that to be imminently helpful and my fear of trigger warnings is that using them (and requesting them) actually prolongs the problem they're supposed to be helping. I'd love to hear what someone else thinks about them.
Yes I will avoid things that are triggered for rape or sexual abuse when i might have otherwise read it. I have a lot of panic attacks anyway (I think mostly because i still live with my dad who is the person who hurt me and i dont have anywhere else to go. so i am kinda in a constant state of panic). I am not sure if avoiding these subjects is helping or hurting me, i just know that i am kinda weak about it and i find it really hard to force myself to go ahead and read something that I know is probably going to give me flashbacks. And then theres the problem that mostly everything about rape and abuse assumes the victim is female and that just makes me feel like a huge freak and kinda makes the problem worse.
Do you attend any therapy sessions? It sounds like being able to talk to someone confidentially would really help you.
[–][deleted]1 point 13 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link
No my dad wont let me get therapy and I need to get a job so I can leave and start working on getting over this. I know its pretty pathetic but I have always been trapped here and its kinda hard. I havent found any help it all seems like its geared toward women.
[–]deshki3 points 13 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link
That doesn't sound pathetic at all. You sound like you have a parent who doesn't care about your mental health and you're stuck because you don't have the means to seek it yourself.
I havent found any help it all seems like its geared toward women.
I'm not trying to "recruit" you or anything, but check out the sidebar - for being so full of "rape supporters", Men's Rights has the best resources for male victims of sexual abuse.
Yeah my dad is bigger than me and has did stuff to me for years so i really dont know how to stand up to him and get out of here with no money and no help. My mom knows what he did and said it was my fault so she wont help me out either. I will check those sites out thank you i really do need some help.
[–]deshki1 point 13 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link
If he's actually hurting or abusing you and you're under 18, call your county's child services or better yet the police. You have no idea how quickly someone goes from tough and invincible to polite and docile once they see a cop show up.
I just turned nineteen. Hes not doing things anymore he mostly stopped when i was like seventeen and only did it a couple times after that. I dont want the police involved because im never going to be able to tell anyone what i let him do to me. i really just need to find a job so i can get out.
There are people who are actually paid to listen to exactly those things and help you overcome them, even if you don't think it's possible. There's nothing wrong with seeing a therapist, no matter what some jackass who has never faced an ounce of adversity in their life will tell you.
[–]newSuperHuman-2 points 13 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link
So essentially, you need to put a trigger warning on your entire life right now and GTFO.
Yeah im pretty pathetic for letting all that happen.
[–]newSuperHuman1 point 13 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link
Fine, I might not know the reasons you're staying, and they may be entirely out of your control, but years from now you're going to think 'that redditor was right- I was in a deep depression circle jerk, and the single greatest thing I did to get out of it was to change my environment.' In the meantime, save me your sarcasm- I'm just trying to give you a something more helpful than sympathy.
I wasnt being sarcastic. its cool dude.
And sorry I thought you were telling me GTFO of my life as in kill myself and I thought it was rude. Sorry.
I just hope you find a way to get the things you want. The problem is that when you're as mixed up as you sound like you are, you might not even know what you want.
[–]Grapeban-2 points 13 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link
Why? They're absolutely harmless and having nothing to do with men's rights.
[–]seriesoftubesguy3 points 13 years ago [recovered] | Copy Link
Why do you always insist on trolling here.
You'd think after you made it clear you don't give a flying fuck about the rights of men but rather how you can harass armchair activists over the internet, you would decide to stop coming here.
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