I'm Being Triggered.

I have been back and forth about how I feel about trigger warnings. I still have not found a concrete answer. I do value them sometimes, I think that it is kind and thoughtful to let people know that there might be content in the video or post that is violent. Calling them trigger warnings is where I am conflicted. There is no way to now what will trigger someone, as we discussed in class.

The video that we watched in class about the two girls discussing the power bill was amusing but it was not an accurate portrayal of what being triggered is like. It is like the floor falls out beneath you and you can not breath and you are taken right back to that place where your trauma occurred. No one can prepare for it or predict it will happen. What we all have to do is be compassionate to those around us. To think before we speak. To acknowledge that people around us have not had the same experiences as we have. To not say that one trauma is more extreme than another and that one trigger is not more serious than another. Kindness and thoughtfulness is really what I am asking for.

I really like in Lisa Duggan's On Trauma and Trigger Warnings, in Three Parts, she addresses her own trigger is a barking dog and states that she has had to find a way to deal with the panic attacks. She knows that triggers are real and how they impact a persons daily life. This being said she is also critical of how they might be being used to protect instead of address. Lisa gives the example of anti-gay Christian students using the defense of trigger warnings to get out of broadening their mind with engaging in queer material. This is a great example of how 'trigger warnings' are being taken advantage of. If people continue to use them as a way to leave the room when they feel a bit uncomfortable then people will not overcome that feeling of discomfort and become a more accepting and informed individual.

I think that the conversation around trigger warning and the misuse of them tie back to the stigma around mental illness. There are still some psychologists that do not believe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a real disorder. Since there is still so much fear and ignorance around mental illness, the idea that a person could be 'set off' into a psychotic rage over a video or article is dismissed. We know a psychotic rage is not what would happen but to the larger population they have no idea.