Parental Guidance Requested
College students want warning labels on literature.
Reading can be dangerous, some young people seem to believe.
"Colleges across the country this spring have been wrestling with student requests for what are known as 'trigger warnings,' explicit alerts that the material they are about to read or see in a classroom might upset them or, as some students assert, cause symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in victims of rape or in war veterans," the New York Times reports.
The Times notes that the warnings "have their ideological roots in feminist thought." At first glance this looks like just the latest politically correct excess, but it's distinct in some ways. For one, the faculty is resisting: "The debate has left many academics fuming, saying that professors should be trusted to use common sense and that being provocative is part of their mandate." Lisa Hajjar, a sociology professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, tells the paper: "Any kind of blanket trigger policy is inimical to academic freedom. . . . The presumption . . . that students should not be forced to deal with something that makes them uncomfortable is absurd or even dangerous." (Z: Bravo, Lisa)
Students have demanded trigger warnings at Oberlin College, Rutgers University, the University of Michigan and George Washington University as well as UCSB. The Times reproduces an excerpt from an Oberlin "draft guide," which reads: "Triggers are not only relevant to sexual misconduct, but also to anything that might cause trauma. Be aware of racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, cissexism, ableism, and other Issues of privilege and oppression. Realize that all forms of violence are traumatic, and that your students have lives before and outside your classroom, experiences you may not expect or understand." ("Cissexism" refers to prejudice in favor of men and women who identify themselves, respectively, as men and women.) (Z; WHAT?)
In a recent piece for The New Republic, Jenny Jarvie writes that "some consider [trigger warnings] an irksome tic of the blogosphere's most hypersensitive fringes." They started "in self-help and feminist forums to help readers who might have post traumatic stress disorder to avoid graphic content that might cause painful memories, flashbacks, or panic attacks." They've "been applied to topics as diverse as sex, pregnancy, addiction, bullying, suicide, sizeism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, slut shaming, victim-blaming, alcohol, blood, insects, small holes, and animals in wigs. . . . Even The New Republic"--actually a TNR writer named Molly Redden--"has suggested the satirical news site, The Onion, carry trigger warnings." (Z: 'slut shaming?' what, we don't want to shame sluts?)
But trigger warnings have come in for criticism and mockery even on the left. Jarvie concludes her piece with this sensible observation: "Bending the world to accommodate our personal frailties does not help us overcome them." She reports that the feminist website Jezebel, "which does not issue trigger warnings, raised hackles in August by using the term as a headline joke: 'It's Time To Talk About Bug Infestations [TRIGGER WARNING].' " And Susannah Breslin provoked outrage in 2010 when she "wrote in True/Slant that feminists were applying the term 'like a Southern cook applies Pam cooking spray to an overused nonstick frying pan.' "
The Times reports that targets of campus trigger-warning demands include F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" (for "a variety of scenes that reference gory, abusive and misogynistic violence"), Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" (anti-Semitism) and Virginia Woolf's "Mrs Dalloway" (suicide).
Here's what this reminds us of: "Rated R for strong sexual content, language, nudity, drug use and violence throughout." That's the Motion Picture Association of America's warning for the 2012 film "Spring Breakers." Or how about this: "Rating Category: M. Content Descriptors: Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Mature Humor, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Violence." That's the Entertainment Software Rating Board's evaluation of "South Park: The Stick of Truth," which the ESRB helpfully explains "is a role-playing adventure game based on the animated South Park TV show."
There are similar rating systems for television programs (the TV Parental Guidelines) and popular music (the Recording Industry Association of America's Parental Advisory Label, or 'Pal,' program). (This column, published as it is by a family newspaper, will occasionally include a warning when linking to an external website that contains family-unfriendly content.)
The MPAA, ESRB, TV Parental Guidelines and RIAA warnings are all designed to strike a balance between freedom of expression and parents' interest in shielding their children from the fouler aspects of popular culture. For the most part free expression wins out, especially in the Internet age, as it generally requires enormous effort to prevent a determined adolescent from gaining access to "adult" material. And the law isn't of much help: In Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association (2011), the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a California law restricting the sale or rental of "violent video games" to minors.
Still, efforts at establishing such warning systems have occasioned free-speech controversies, most notably in 1985 when the Parents Music Resource Center, led by Tipper Gore, called for warning labels on record albums with explicit lyrics. It was a bipartisan effort--Gore, a Democrat, was joined by Susan Baker, wife of then-Secretary of State James Baker--but it drew wide derision from pop musicians and the left. In 1992, the Associated Press reported, vice presidential candidate Al Gore "fielded questions from an MTV audience" of college students about his wife's efforts and was put on the defensive: "He said neither he nor she supported censorship."
In those days, "mature" content held a certain allure for teenagers and young adults. By contrast, it would seem that today's young adults are anxious to be infantilized. (END OF ARTICLE)
So, even some professors find this ridiculous....happy days! GOOD THINKING!
But, really? Kids are afraid of triggers related to the points above in literature but don't mind watching Miley Cyrus or some of the music videos that we know are out there? Or how about the many really violent films full of gratuitous and sometimes violent sex and murder, too? Is it only in the classics in literature they're offended?
What do you think.... How can we have a strong country with kids who need TRIGGERS in literature? This is not that widespread, I'm sure, but add this to incidents like not allowing pictures to be taken with camels on HUMP DAY (Wednesday) because it might insult muslims, etc etc.........(by the way, why would it be considered RACIST against Arabs? Why not interpret it as celebrating Arabs with camels? :-)......are we REAL anymore?
"You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them." Ray Bradbury.
Thoughts?
Z
But, really? Kids are afraid of triggers related to the points above in literature but don't mind watching Miley Cyrus or some of the music videos that we know are out there? Or how about the many really violent films full of gratuitous and sometimes violent sex and murder, too? Is it only in the classics in literature they're offended?
What do you think.... How can we have a strong country with kids who need TRIGGERS in literature? This is not that widespread, I'm sure, but add this to incidents like not allowing pictures to be taken with camels on HUMP DAY (Wednesday) because it might insult muslims, etc etc.........(by the way, why would it be considered RACIST against Arabs? Why not interpret it as celebrating Arabs with camels? :-)......are we REAL anymore?
"You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them." Ray Bradbury.
Thoughts?
Z
51 comments:
Triggers? How about this is just another instance of censorship.
My wife had a wonderful career as an elementary school librarian, later called media specialist. Part of her job was to spend several thousand dollars every year updating the school library's collection. She was always deeply aware of the need for age appropriate literature. That was just part of the job.
Now, we see the writing on the wall. School districts nationwide are talking about getting rid of the requirement of having a school librarian, and centralizing all the judgement functions. When this happens, gone will be that local person that has always functioned as that "trigger" to guard what our kids read.
Certainly, libraries are pretty much automated with bar coded books, scanners, internet computer stations, and computerized "card" catalogs. All we need, now, are trigger warnings so that volunteer parents can run these formerly professionally supervised school functions.
Do you also teach your students about the dangers of Climate Change???
Do you tell them that The GOP has reached the point of no return on Climate Change
I just don't and can't see how the GOP can continue to deny the obvious.
But then again,the GOP has the uncanny ability to deny anything.
But I guess the Koch brother's money can change a lot of minds....until Rubio has to boat to his home in Florida.
You Bagger's are just laughable clowns
"Do you tell them that The GOP has reached the point of no return on Climate Change"
Just what is the "point of no return"? Since only 3% of Americans see climate change as a problem, just who is concerned that the GOP has gone too far? How far is too far when it comes to truth? Do you even know what the science says? Have you looked at the data?
http://www.gallup.com/poll/169289/jobs-government-economy-remain-top-problems.aspx
Students need MORE than just "trigger warnings"...
Plato, "Protagoras" - Surely, I said, knowledge is the food of the soul; and we must take care, my friend, that the Sophist does not deceive us when he praises what he sells, like the dealers wholesale or retail who sell the food of the body; for they praise indiscriminately all their goods, without knowing what are really beneficial or hurtful: neither do their customers know, with the exception of any trainer or physician who may happen to buy of them. In like manner those who carry about the wares of knowledge, and make the round of the cities, and sell or retail them to any customer who is in want of them, praise them all alike; though I should not wonder, O my friend, if many of them were really ignorant of their effect upon the soul; and their customers equally ignorant, unless he who buys of them happens to be a physician of the soul. If, therefore, you have understanding of what is good and evil, you may safely buy knowledge of Protagoras or of any one; but if not, then, O my friend, pause, and do not hazard your dearest interests at a game of chance. For there is far greater peril in buying knowledge than in buying meat and drink: the one you purchase of the wholesale or retail dealer, and carry them away in other vessels, and before you receive them into the body as food, you may deposit them at home and call in any experienced friend who knows what is good to be eaten or drunken, and what not, and how much, and when; and then the danger of purchasing them is not so great. But you cannot buy the wares of knowledge and carry them away in another vessel; when you have paid for them you must receive them into the soul and go your way, either greatly harmed or greatly benefited; and therefore we should deliberate and take counsel with our elders; for we are still young—too young to determine such a matter.
Another idiotic concern from Leftists who wouldn't know what to do if slapped or hit by a stranger. This is another excuse for censorship and the reduction of rights and freedoms, cloaked in the guise of "sensitivity." Take your sensitivity and ram it.
BZ
Sorry but you'll have to try to distract from changing the topic if this one is to embarrassing a topic for you rightwing deniers. It's only "obvious" to your crackpot religious rightwing cults. Most people with a brain aren't dumb enough to deny the "obvious". Sorry.
This is probably the most uninformed and ignorant blog I have ever read on this board. You RightWingers will not pull your heads out of the Koch arses until we are knee deep in salt water, think about it....
Typical Rightwing Nutters commonly say really stupid things and expect others to be dishonest about it.
If what you say is idiotic.....you will be called an idiot. Therefor, that's what I'm calling you.
Republicans Need to STFU on the VA Issue...
Stop pointing fingers and trying to tar the President with this. The past administration (Bush) was just as much at fault as anyone else is or was! Every time you open your freeking mouths about it, it should be to say "how do we work together to fix this".
Sadly the GOP thinks it's another big opportunity to impeach the President for something that Bush was responsible for. Throwing more money after more at the problem is not the solution but that what the stupid ass Conservatives always think is the solution, and when that don’t work, as it never does, they go ahead and blame Obama for being “inept” every time something like this comes up..Would any of you teabaggers like to take a stab at explaining this ?
Republicans need to stop trying to point fingers at the President. When you have one finger pointing at someone else, there are three pointing right back at you. Get the facts straight! The GOP blocked the funding. The GOP is cheerleading sequestration and austerity. These are the things that lead to problems at the VA. So get your arses out of your behinds and stop blaming the President for all our woes.
FJ, that was a remarkably incoherent rant, and Bloviating Zeppelin, your was pretty idiotic as well. From commentors with zero knowledge of science and who believes he knows everything. But, what else is new from Teabaging fools?
As for you Ms. Geeeeez, ANY SCHOOL TEACHER WORTH THEIR WEIGHT WOULD KNOW that Climate Change (Global Warming) does exist!!!!!
I also feel that as usual, this blog as many of your other blogs was unhinged and made very little if any sense at all. Just a mishmash of unrelated stories that hold NO facts, and seems as if you the author tried to assemble into a blog. More miss-mosh from conservative kooks
@Z:
Looks like you've been hacked.
Looks like the leftist, progressives have to much time on thier hands!
Anonymous. First of all, your comment isn't so earth shattering that you have to pose as "anonymous", and second of all, this isn't hacking. This is just rude, uninformed people who hate and have to let it spew.
So let them :-)
Bob, I think you addressed well the whole issue; thanks for that first-hand information.
Centralizing..all group-think. No surprise.
Group think.
Four year old mandatory free preschool that's coming
mostly liberal profs
An amazing plan to bring America to its knees and it's working pretty well.
I'll always wonder why this is so important to leftists like the very rich and far-left George Soros. Odd.
And BOB...thanks for the global climate change information.
Did you hear Kerry say something like "if we're all wrong, what's the problem?" at Boston U? :-)
What's WRONG is the amount of jobs we're going to lose and the ridiculous scaring of our children.
You see, I'm convinced that leftwingers actually believe that if some scientists and many conservatives see this in a different light, it means we hate clean water and air :-)
it's the same thing with Obama care.... if we're against it, we're racists and we don't want to help the sick !!
The truth is we want to go slow and sensible; making sure what we do is discussed by all sides, experts that what's decided upon as actions really DO help when we're spending so much money.
Why they can't get that is beyond me, but....what else is new?
FJ...excellent comment...really interesting.
"Not in MY name"...they're having fun. Also, I don't think they're more than one blogger, so let her :-)
Also, I find it so interesting that the lib blogs are moderated, then they come here and abuse the openness we conservative blogs have. :-)
And that someone would say WE are "distracting" from HIS point when HIS point has nothing to do with the POST.
You can't make this stuff up!! :-)
@Bob --Triggers? How about this is just another instance of censorship.
------
As silly as this idea of triggers is it beats outright censorship.
Now the right has no firm ground to stand on in that matter.
Best not to talk about not being offended before you revisit Mapplethorpe, The Last Temptation of Christ and Serrano.
I was struck by something Neil deGrasse Tyson said on Bill Moyers show recently. His thesis was that cultures which progress do so because of the presence of his type of conflict.
Trying to root it out as left and right are doing is asking for trouble.
I wonder what has those two girls so shocked in the graphic.
Maybe they started reading a real science text after being taught from one of the Louisiana high school texts written by Bob Jones University.
Talk about needing trigger warnings.
I know, Ducky, two sides of any situation would be shocking to any American university student.
And, of course, I was waiting for a comment on censorship; I think anybody with any sense realizes that this post is about the fact that our kids can't take anymore anything that might unsettle them.
I don't believe the insult to religious icons/beliefs of a faith of thousands of years, held by a majority of this country, really compares to this silliness pointed out in the article.
And, by the way "left vs right"? Where?
This post is here to discuss this ...This blog didn't represent this in a left v right situation.
That you might recognize these nutty points in the article as leftist is YOUR assumption, and probably a good one.
How many Conservatives would ever whine about Cissexism? :-)
I hope what you saw on Moyers' show didn't "strike" you too hard.
I want to also add that there are a few Conservative blogs which do moderate or disallow those they don't want there.
They're trying to have legitimate, conservative discussion without having the fray come and insult and misinform.
I respect those blogs as much as I do the conservative blogs, like mine, who let anybody in.
Deletion is available to me; but I do welcome a good fight from time to time.
I think the left just can't cope with other types of thinking...that scares me because our kids are mostly in their hands! Yikes.
FJ, that was a remarkably incoherent rant
Plato is an incoherent rant?
Sounds more like a reflection upon the rationality of the hearer than the speaker.
Hey, Farmer. I noticed your comment on Flickr and enjoyed it.
I hope you enjoyed the satiric quality of the photo.
I found the comment well worth consideration. Yours or are you channeling Žižek?
@Z I think the left just can't cope with other types of thinking...
----
Well we'll find out who can't cope.
The idea of cisgender seems to have shown up on your radar although it's been around for a while.
Premise is that our language cannot adequately represent gender.
Count on this idea becoming more widespread and count on far right conservatives to counter with the tired old "Adam and Eve" dogma.
If conservatives are a fount of open reasoning it has frankly escaped me.
Let's say these snivelers apply their standard universally. Now almost every college classroom today will need a trigger warning posted on the door. WARNING: VICTOCRATS AT WORK. EXPOSURE TO THE MANY UNSOUND AND UNPROVEN IDEAS PRESENTED IN THIS ROOM WILL PUT YOU AT RISK OF LOSING YOUR MIND, YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR FREEDOM.
It will look like the Prop 65 warnings ubiquitous all over California. (That would be signs seen everywhere warning of possible substances in a building known to cause cancer. A well meaning voter initiative meant as a consumer alert and for safe water, the warnings are tacked up anywhere anything could possibly fall under its classification. By their omnipresence they become part of the background clutter and impart no meaningful information.)
@Ducky, "Now the right has no firm ground to stand on in that matter."
I don't understand, Ducky. I would think that in the case of censorship, or even triggering, that would not be a partisan issue. ???
Slut shaming is a bad thing? What's next, removing the opprobrium from thief shaming? Oops. Already happening.
The Victocrats are as busy as termites with the same effect.
Z said...
Also, I find it so interesting that the lib blogs are moderated, then they come here and abuse the openness we conservative blogs have. :-)
So True!
Those dumb liberals, they bought the Obama BS, hook, line and sinker, and now they are defending all of his VA hospital BS by claiming it the Republicans fault for him not getting his promises done.. Yeah Right, I didn’t know that we had that much power!
Cisgender. This hyper-reflexive re-construction of language is eerily reminiscent of a book I'm reading on the Maoist takeover of China's land, language and thinking.
Basic Rights Oregon, a homosexual activist group, lets the cat out of the bag about why this made-up term of 'cisgender' is being muscled into the language.
"So why do we say ‘cisgender’ instead of ‘non-transgender’? Because, referring to cisgender people as ‘non trans’ implies that cisgender people are the default and that being trans is abnormal. Many people have said ‘transgender people’ and ‘normal people’, but when we say ‘cisgender’ and ‘transgender’ neither is implied as more normal than the other."
Leaving a trail of confusion and re-assignment of the Father's carefully ordered creation. First, there was no separation between man and animal. And now between man and woman. What a lie. And who is the father of all that?
I got nuthin' for this tripe. It's just another step on the road to intellectual oblivion. Coddling the hyper-offended and increasing jobs in the grievance industry.
We're reaching dystopia faster than we can foresee.
Baysider: Did you notice I highlighted the "SLUT SHAMING" with my own comment in the piece?
that really cracked me up.
GOD FORBID we should SHAME SLUTS :-)
Such great comments from you all.
Thanks for these...good stuff.
What though, is the definition of a 'slut'?
Ducky..yes, let's "...find out who can't cope."
YOu say "We need a new word because "language cannot adequately represent gender."
and you think WE're weird? Are you kidding me?
Then you suggest "Count on this idea becoming more widespread and count on far right conservatives to counter with the tired old "Adam and Eve" dogma."
We can only hope.
How far you leftwingers have taken decency and humanity.
Let's invent new words...let's tell 7 yr old boys to use the girl
's bathroom if they FEEL LIKE A GIRL. (don't worry about the HUGE majority of little girls who aren't welcoming this..the small minority who needs help rules, right?! :-))
Super, Ducky...congratulations.
I'll take Adam and Eve ANY time :-)
CI, look it up...
pretty time-worn definition.
No, the definition is subjective. Sexual morals are going to be judged differently, dependent on who's doing the judging.
As if I didn't know that's what you were getting at? :-)
That's why I said "Look it up"...pretty definitive no matter who was 'doing the judging!" HA!
Kind of sad when we forget what SLUT is, isn't it? wow
I was just curious as to what metrics you used to considered one a 'slut', since you placed importance on it this topic. It could range from anyone who had ever had a sexual relation outside of the marriage contract, to one who looks for casual sexual partners as a matter of course.
I agree that subjection is always definitive to the user.
I'm going now for a few hours, but CI, tell us your definition of SLUT.
"a word that's purely subjective and has no real meaning because of its subjectivity" ??
And yes, every definition I saw was about promiscuity.
See y'all later.
By the way "I was just curious"
Ya, I get that, CI.
o/t - @ ducky
I found the comment well worth consideration. Yours or are you channeling Žižek?
Both! As you well know, I've always been a huge fan of Smith's invisible hand!
@Ducky:
"I wonder what has those two girls so shocked in the graphic."
Might be it was one of those here's how guides on fellatio and anal joys that are required reading in health 101 now? I hear BU and Rutgers give phd's in those fields.
@CI:
"What though, is the definition of a 'slut'?"
Tramp stamps and Miley?
Z,
Groups that thrive on outrage, or more accurately, fake outrage, are attempting to reorder society to fit their own twisted view of humanhood. According to them, all humans should just be put into one category. While that may make life easier for people who lack nuance, it makes for a very boring society.
Oh right, that suits this very boring group of humans. When you remove the differences in people it allows progressives to control thought. I realize that they are much more intelligent than the rest of us, so maybe I just don't get it.
I remember that in the military it was necessary to remove the humanness of the enemy to make it easier to kill. The enemy had to be targets. Targets can be hit. Humans are harder to kill. People without individuality are easier to control.
If we allow the jackasses in universities to control thought we allow them to control us with political correctness and fake outrage. If we allow them to remove individuality from America we lose the essence of what it means to be an American. If that happens, shame on us.
Law and Order; so well said.
That is why I think I mentioned that California wants to start free preschool for every 4 yr old child...
Imagine how young they want to start their peace/love/dove propaganda?
America HAS NO young who'll fight for it anymore. We can't use the term TERRORIST and I'm thinking that, soon, the left will prohibit us also from saying ENEMY. GOOD JOB, Lefties! Good luck with that.
See, everybody's so good, sweet; and if we'd just all love each other..(sarcasm)
I saw a bumper sticker today "PEACE IS BEST"
Do people like that HONESTLY don't understand that all Americans want peace but it's enemies who don't?
HOW DO THEY THINK??
Z,
I feel another post coming on. We are being stripped of any individual thought in this country. The progressives are smart enough to realize that first you must inflict guilt, then you must, propose a remedy (affirmative action, reparations), and finally you must control. It seems that they feel they're in the end game.
Z,
BTW, your point is well taken. What's next, womb school? Jeez when will kids ever be kids rather than a vessel into which progressives pour political correctness? We need to be aware.
L&O: Let 'er rip with the new post! I love that you're blogging again.
And YES! The GUILT thing is what I see some of my high schoolers struggling with...it's almost like their minds are clamped shut from GUILT. They can't think a terrorist REALLY wants them dead :), etc etc.
They find America horrid because of the Indians, because of slavery, because people got RICH! :-) There seems to be no context anymore and I still think younger kids need to grow loving their country and, later, let them learn the goods and bads with open minds, realizing they've had the great gift of being raised in this land, even if it isn't perfect. And I'm quite sure no lib teacher's every helped them come to the conclusion that America might not be perfect, but WHAT COUNTRY IS BETTER?!
I wanted to ask you about the AP American History books..
I think we talked about this recently, but is there a way to get the truth in them again? ...that the Pilgrims didn't come primarily for GOLD, etc?
Is it possible to remedy the points in those books to reflect the fact that NOT every hero we all grew up with was rotten to the core!?
Z - On the subject of heroes......you should try to catch today's [May 24th] Huckabee show, if you hadn't yet. The subject matter is part of what should be in our school history books.
CI..thanks for that. I was at a wedding tonight so I couldn't watch but I think he's on again Sunday evenings and will make a note. I'd like to see that discussion.
Thanks.
Z,
I took on the topic in a post. Your post made me think. So thanks for that. I find inspiration in your posts. Keep posing your questions because it inspires debate and that is the essence of free speech. Game on.
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