Hope.
In December of 1884,
a novel was published by a man named Mark Twain, and this novel covered many subjects: It was a commentary on social inequalities; a lucid exploration on the multitude of details regarding the evils of slavery; a picturesque, and also not-so-picturesque, illustration of "modern" American life and the grandeur of its landscape, and the ignorance, arrogance, and strength of its people. It has been lauded as genius and criticized as racist, along many other qualities both positive and negative. It has been taught as required reading material in many American high schools throughout the last century, and also been the subject of attempts at censorship in the form of bans from public schools' curricula for a variety of reasons. Its name is "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."
Why have many people decried this book? Why do people decry any book that actually makes them think? "Huckleberry Finn" is simply an easy example of this subject-- others include "Animal Farm" by George Orwell; "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee; "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury; "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe; "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov; "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath; "White Fang" by Jack London. And so on and so on.
What am I getting at? This Take is mainly aimed at Internet culture, something we all subscribe to on a daily basis, and at many peoples' (such as mine) frustration at how breathtakingly anti-intellectual many people are online. Dare I say... most? That could simply be over-analysis on my part, but it certainly feels that way sometimes. This is directed at something we see every day on the Internet, somewhere on social media: "Trigger warning."
What does "trigger warning" mean?
Generally a "trigger" for someone is a subject or phrase that elicits a powerful emotional response in a person, usually the emotion of (allegedly intense) anger or frustration due to a perceived slight of some kind, possibly from something they personally have experienced, or possibly just because they think it's a subject, whatever it is, that people shouldn't talk about or bring up. People online in the last few years have actually therefore begun some articles or posts or photo captions or whatever with that phrase, "trigger warning," as a way I guess of allegedly wanting to ward off people who might be frightened by whatever is contained in that following picture or article or video. In a similar vein, "safe spaces" can be applied here as well.
So the question here is... why? Why does it exist?
^ "The Thinker," by Auguste Rodin
Could it be that we're all, as a citizenry, just becoming... mentally weaker? And dumber? And less able to take intellectual criticism? Surely this is a concern that people have had for a long time, but the Internet in its current modern form has only existed for about fifteen or sixteen years... that's not a long time, people. I hope that is not the answer, but in times past, people haven't been able to stick their head in the figurative sand just by looking at a book's cover; you have to actually read some of it to really find out what it's going on about. Any article or post that has "TRIGGER WARNING" in the title is doing you a disservice. Is the subject about environmental pollution and all the plastic that we don't recycle and that kills turtles and whales in the ocean? Welp, I don't want to see that! I want to go about my day without reading anything sad! Is it about domestic violence? Welp, I don't want to see that! I don't believe it happens as long as I don't see it! You think meat just grows from the ground? Welp, as long as I don't read "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair, I can keep going on thinking that animals aren't slaughtered en masse for my consumption!
Shouldn't we read things that stimulate us?
...That challenge us? That make us think? That get our mentality headed toward thinking critically about something new? Aren't we supposed to read things that shock us, and teach us, and anger us, and sadden us, on occasion? Folks... the world is an amazing and beautiful place. It is also a woefully sad, fucked up, violent, and infinitely complicated place. Romance, desire, aggression, justice, incest, violence, money troubles, crime, sexuality, attraction, Nature, God... these things *need to be discussed.* They need to be read about. They need to be understood and thought about critically. We need to be patient with people who say/write things that we think are deviant, since "deviant" occasionally is also a label that doesn't make sense. For all you know, YOU are the one who is allegedly "deviant." Maybe your very ideas scare others, or maybe you are scared of others' ideas.... and you shouldn't be.
Folks-- Books don't come with trigger warnings. Big ideas, and their discussion, don't come with trigger warnings. "Mein Kampf" is not supposed to come with a trigger warning; it is supposed to be something you read, realize "huh, this is racist trash written by a genocidal dictator," and then put back on the shelf never to be read again. But the point is, you read it and it made you think. If a serious subject that makes you actually think and discern reality from fiction "triggers" you, GOOD! It is supposed to be that way. This is not a commentary on warnings from news media or certain websites that certain video is very violent in nature-- those warnings make sense, as graphic violence should hopefully be disturbing to everyone. This is about "Safe spaces" attempting to shield your poor little cerebrum from ideas.
If you seek to shield yourself from ideas, comfortable ones or not, you are only harming yourself,
and you and the people around you will gradually become duller, dumber, and drearier as a result. SO, if you actually believe in the validity of "safe spaces" or "trigger warnings" or use them yourself, STOP. NOW. And try to convince those around you to do the same. If you see it online, DON'T FUCKING CLICK ON IT AND GIVE THE STUPID WEBSITE YOUR TRAFFIC. They actually thrive on that stuff. A lot of the time, websites will actually go out of their way to use "trigger warning" because they actually know people are drawn to it! But if their ideas or subject matter was actually worth a damn, they wouldn't need that in the title to get your attention. The New Yorker doesn't use "trigger warnings," and it doesn't have to.
Good luck out there, people. Thanks for reading. If you haven't read some of the books I listed, do it. You might be glad you did.
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