<story><title>University of Chicago: ‘We Do Not Support So-Called Trigger Warnings’</title><url>http://time.com/4466021/uchicago-trigger-warnings/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jordigh</author><text>&amp;gt; &amp;quot;A trigger warning is advance notice about subject material that may be difficult for certain students to read, hear or see.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;But that&amp;#x27;s not what trigger warnings are for... it&amp;#x27;s not just about mild discomfort. They&amp;#x27;re to prevent &lt;i&gt;panic attacks&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Trauma_trigger&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Trauma_trigger&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Whether trigger warnings are effective or not is a different matter, but of course if you portray them as being about being offended or mild discomfort that they sound utterly stupid.</text></item><item><author>basseq</author><text>This is &lt;i&gt;tough&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;p&gt;With the aspirations of &amp;quot;civility and mutual respect&amp;quot; along with &amp;quot;rigorous debate, discussion, and even disagreement&amp;quot;, I would hope any truly egregious edge cases disappear.&lt;p&gt;In the middle, I think people have the right to remove themselves from discussions—civil or otherwise—that they don&amp;#x27;t want to listen to or engage. But that right &lt;i&gt;doesn&amp;#x27;t&lt;/i&gt; limit others&amp;#x27; ability to have those selfsame discussions in public or private venues, nor require others to give you advance warning about it.&lt;p&gt;And finally, U. Chicago has the right to set degree requirements. If you are unable or unwilling to meet those requirements (e.g., not participating in discussions), then you have no place at that institution. After all, the &amp;quot;real world&amp;quot; won&amp;#x27;t hold your hand.&lt;p&gt;So...&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Trigger Warnings&lt;/i&gt; (&amp;quot;A trigger warning is advance notice about subject material that may be difficult for certain students to read, hear or see.&amp;quot;) U. Chicago says they &amp;quot;don&amp;#x27;t support&amp;quot; them. I think actively discouraging them in every case seems extreme, but the institution simply &lt;i&gt;can&amp;#x27;t&lt;/i&gt; be required to provide trigger warnings in every case for every individual. In other words, a &lt;i&gt;lack&lt;/i&gt; of trigger warning doesn&amp;#x27;t mean &lt;i&gt;you&lt;/i&gt; won&amp;#x27;t be triggered.&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Safe Spaces&lt;/i&gt; (&amp;quot;A safe space is a place they can go to avoid those subjects or heal after confronting them.&amp;quot;) U. Chicago doesn&amp;#x27;t condone the creation of safe spaces. Similarly, I think this stance is extreme. Safe spaces may be necessary for individuals. But U. Chicago is under no obligation to provide them for you or excuse you from other discussions as a result.&lt;p&gt;In other words, U. Chicago isn&amp;#x27;t a place for people who don&amp;#x27;t want to discuss issues that make them uncomfortable. Which, on its face, seems reasonable to me.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>deong</author><text>&amp;gt; They&amp;#x27;re to prevent panic attacks.&lt;p&gt;That might have been the original intent of a &amp;quot;trigger warning&amp;quot;, but their sheer prevalence today indicates that this is either no longer true or else we have nothing less than a massive public health emergency that we should be dropping everything else to work to address.</text></comment>
<story><title>University of Chicago: ‘We Do Not Support So-Called Trigger Warnings’</title><url>http://time.com/4466021/uchicago-trigger-warnings/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jordigh</author><text>&amp;gt; &amp;quot;A trigger warning is advance notice about subject material that may be difficult for certain students to read, hear or see.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;But that&amp;#x27;s not what trigger warnings are for... it&amp;#x27;s not just about mild discomfort. They&amp;#x27;re to prevent &lt;i&gt;panic attacks&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Trauma_trigger&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Trauma_trigger&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Whether trigger warnings are effective or not is a different matter, but of course if you portray them as being about being offended or mild discomfort that they sound utterly stupid.</text></item><item><author>basseq</author><text>This is &lt;i&gt;tough&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;p&gt;With the aspirations of &amp;quot;civility and mutual respect&amp;quot; along with &amp;quot;rigorous debate, discussion, and even disagreement&amp;quot;, I would hope any truly egregious edge cases disappear.&lt;p&gt;In the middle, I think people have the right to remove themselves from discussions—civil or otherwise—that they don&amp;#x27;t want to listen to or engage. But that right &lt;i&gt;doesn&amp;#x27;t&lt;/i&gt; limit others&amp;#x27; ability to have those selfsame discussions in public or private venues, nor require others to give you advance warning about it.&lt;p&gt;And finally, U. Chicago has the right to set degree requirements. If you are unable or unwilling to meet those requirements (e.g., not participating in discussions), then you have no place at that institution. After all, the &amp;quot;real world&amp;quot; won&amp;#x27;t hold your hand.&lt;p&gt;So...&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Trigger Warnings&lt;/i&gt; (&amp;quot;A trigger warning is advance notice about subject material that may be difficult for certain students to read, hear or see.&amp;quot;) U. Chicago says they &amp;quot;don&amp;#x27;t support&amp;quot; them. I think actively discouraging them in every case seems extreme, but the institution simply &lt;i&gt;can&amp;#x27;t&lt;/i&gt; be required to provide trigger warnings in every case for every individual. In other words, a &lt;i&gt;lack&lt;/i&gt; of trigger warning doesn&amp;#x27;t mean &lt;i&gt;you&lt;/i&gt; won&amp;#x27;t be triggered.&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Safe Spaces&lt;/i&gt; (&amp;quot;A safe space is a place they can go to avoid those subjects or heal after confronting them.&amp;quot;) U. Chicago doesn&amp;#x27;t condone the creation of safe spaces. Similarly, I think this stance is extreme. Safe spaces may be necessary for individuals. But U. Chicago is under no obligation to provide them for you or excuse you from other discussions as a result.&lt;p&gt;In other words, U. Chicago isn&amp;#x27;t a place for people who don&amp;#x27;t want to discuss issues that make them uncomfortable. Which, on its face, seems reasonable to me.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jotux</author><text>I read the wikipedia you linked, specifically about trigger warnings: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Trauma_trigger#Trigger_warnings&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Trauma_trigger#Trigger_warning...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;But your statement:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; They&amp;#x27;re to prevent panic attacks.&lt;p&gt;Seems to counter the arguments in the link:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Richard J. McNally, a Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, while writing for Pacific Standard,[13] discussed the merit of trigger warnings noting that &amp;quot;Trigger warnings are designed to help survivors avoid reminders of their trauma, thereby preventing emotional discomfort. &lt;i&gt;Yet avoidance reinforces PTSD. Conversely, systematic exposure to triggers and the memories they provoke is the most effective means of overcoming the disorder&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt; while citing several academic studies conducted on PTSD sufferers.</text></comment>