Trigger Warning

[wenglund]

For those of you who may have social justice warrior tendencies, and who may be ardent advocates for equality, I would advise against reading my post on page 3 of the Equality: Is it Overrated thread. It is at high risk of evoking accusations of micro-aggression and all sorts of epitaphs (racists, homophobic, misogynist, clown, idiot, etc.)

So, if you are in need of safe space, please do not go there.

However, if you are open to differing points of view, and are partial to reason and evidence, I welcome thoughtful consideration and rational challenges to what I have said.

I placed this warning here in addition to on the post in question because I didn't know where else to put it, and I didn't want the unsuspecting to inadvertantly stumble accross it in the thread.

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

[NeuroTypical]

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

Shouldn't that be "dislike"?  I'm going to unlike it just because of that.  Too bad we don't have a "dislike" button.

Edited February 28, 2017 by Guest

[anatess2]

 

[wenglund]

Love and liked all the comments so far. Quite funny.

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

[Guest]

http://www.ldsliving.com/Elder-Oaks-Members-Should-Refrain-from-Contentious-Communications-Even-While-Using-Technology/s/84646

 

Quote

“Don’t be part of such communications. As followers of Christ we know that all of the inhabitants of this earth are children of God. Use that knowledge to push back against the worldly prejudices that preach hate or hostility toward other nations, ethnic groups or even political parties. … Followers of Christ should be examples of civility.”

 

Edited February 28, 2017 by Eowyn

[NeuroTypical]

I have a legitimate story about a legitimate person who was legitimately triggered. 

I know a lady who was sexually abused and had PTSD. Her boyfriend took her to see a play - A Streetcar Named Desire. They didn't know at the time, but there's a rape scene in that play. When the scene happened, the lady became physically nauseous. She said to herself "Dang I hate when that happens. I'm trying to enjoy a play, but I can't, because I watch this one scene, and then suddenly I'm having to try to hold down my lunch. PTSD sucks!"  Her bout of nausea lasted a good 30 minutes or more. She made herself sit through the rest of the play to prove to herself she could, then went light on dinner.  

I don't think anyone else noticed, besides her boyfriend, who was so apologetic and felt so bad he almost made himself nauseous out of empathy.

She didn't campaign for trigger warnings or safe spaces. She didn't push to have the scene removed from the play.  She just bumped up her level of pre-googling and took fewer risks with her entertainment choices.  She also, over time, saw her PTSD symptoms subside as she moved through the healthy process of dealing with trauma. 

Anyway, anyone want to guess what she thinks about all the nonsense going on in the name of being triggered?

[mirkwood]

[NeuroTypical]

That trigger has a built-in safety, Mirk!  

[anatess2]

@mirkwood.  So, my kid made money.  And guess what he bought with it... you'll never guess.

..

..

..

..

..

..

A Mosin Nagant!  Of all things.  I'm still scratching my head wondering what's going on in his brain.  I, for sure, thought he was gonna splurge on iTunes or the App Store.  Oh, and he had enough money left over to go to the range to try it out.  He was excited to show me the difference in the clusters of his scoped .270 Winchester and his new iron-sighted Mosin.  I have to say, he is much more accurate with the Mosin with all 8 holes within an inch of each other on his first outing with the thing!  His Winchester was varying more than a couple inches and he's been shooting that rifle for a while now.

What's interesting about it is... he got the Mosin from a friend who got it from another friend who got it from his grandfather who used that Mosin in WWII.  It's ooooooooollldddd.  But well maintained.

Edited March 1, 2017 by anatess2

[Guest LiterateParakeet]

@NeuroTypical I liked your story and agree.

I'm a survivor of childhood sexual assault. My daughter is playing Stella in Streetcar Named Desire. She warned me about the rape scene which I appreciate. Usually I can tolerate that sort of trigger these days, especially if I know its coming.

  A couple of years ago, my daughter and son were in the musical, I forget the name, with the gangs. There was a rape scene in that too, a gang rape---oy vey! It was a tough scene for.me.  I definitely made use of the coping skills I had learned. (Mindfulness is a Godsend for PTSD.)  

Afterwards, I said to my kids, "You could have warned me about the rape scene." They said, "Oh! Sorry!" genuinely and that was the end of it.

The reason I am not on the SJW bandwagon about trigger warnings is not because I'm unsympathetic. Sometimes the feelings of being triggered are much more intense that what NeuroTypical and I have described here. It can be very intense. BUT here's the thing,  many triggers are unpredictable.

I got badly triggered once while reading Gone With the Wind. And even though I had read the Hunger Games books and enjoyed them....when i saw the first movie I was at a different place in my healing and perhaps the visual effect was too much, but I got seriously triggered. It was really bad, as in shaking and fighting back sobs. I wanted to stand up and run from the theater. But I didn't because I had my (then teenage sons) sitting on each side of me with their friends (yes I felt like a cool mom LOL). If I ran out, my boys would've known I was upset. I didn't want to ruin the movie for them, so I sat there and got through it somehow. 

A couple of my worst triggers were a pair of black handled scissors  (metal handles not plastic that used to be common but that we hardly see anymore). And, if you can believe it, my own kitchen, especially if it was messy. I could barely tolerate my own kitchen for months. (My family was very understanding and picked up the slack.) 

My childhood abuse lasted for years and my own home was not safe so that is why so many things triggered me (I only scratched the surface here), but even for a victim of one icident of rape, many things can be triggering, sights, smells, certain articles of clothing, maybe even a word or phrase the rapist used, etc.

And its not just survivors of sexual assault that have PTSD. My best friend in high school found the body of her older sister who had been shot in the head (they called it suicide, but the family suspected murder because the son-in-law disappeared with the kids.) People made a lot of jokes about suicide back them...like "I'll kill myself if I fail this test" and my friend would run from the room sobbing. This sort of thing happened many times.

We simply can't protect people with PTSD from all the potential triggers even if we tried. So instead I talk to people about mindfulness, therapy, art therapy, and yes, I might go SJW about rape culture. 

[wenglund]

22 hours ago, Eowyn said:

http://www.ldsliving.com/Elder-Oaks-Members-Should-Refrain-from-Contentious-Communications-Even-While-Using-Technology/s/84646

 

 

Does Elder Oaks mention anything about humor impairment or irony deficiency?

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

[Ironhold]

7 hours ago, LiterateParakeet said:

@NeuroTypical I liked your story and agree.

I'm a survivor of childhood sexual assault. My daughter is playing Stella in Streetcar Named Desire. She warned me about the rape scene which I appreciate. Usually I can tolerate that sort of trigger these days, especially if I know its coming.

  A couple of years ago, my daughter and son were in the musical, I forget the name, with the gangs. There was a rape scene in that too, a gang rape---oy vey! It was a tough scene for.me.  I definitely made use of the coping skills I had learned. (Mindfulness is a Godsend for PTSD.)  

Afterwards, I said to my kids, "You could have warned me about the rape scene." They said, "Oh! Sorry!" genuinely and that was the end of it.

The reason I am not on the SJW bandwagon about trigger warnings is not because I'm unsympathetic. Sometimes the feelings of being triggered are much more intense that what NeuroTypical and I have described here. It can be very intense. BUT here's the thing,  many triggers are unpredictable.

I got badly triggered once while reading Gone With the Wind. And even though I had read the Hunger Games books and enjoyed them....when i saw the first movie I was at a different place in my healing and perhaps the visual effect was too much, but I got seriously triggered. It was really bad, as in shaking and fighting back sobs. I wanted to stand up and run from the theater. But I didn't because I had my (then teenage sons) sitting on each side of me with their friends (yes I felt like a cool mom LOL). If I ran out, my boys would've known I was upset. I didn't want to ruin the movie for them, so I sat there and got through it somehow. 

A couple of my worst triggers were a pair of black handled scissors  (metal handles not plastic that used to be common but that we hardly see anymore). And, if you can believe it, my own kitchen, especially if it was messy. I could barely tolerate my own kitchen for months. (My family was very understanding and picked up the slack.) 

My childhood abuse lasted for years and my own home was not safe so that is why so many things triggered me (I only scratched the surface here), but even for a victim of one icident of rape, many things can be triggering, sights, smells, certain articles of clothing, maybe even a word or phrase the rapist used, etc.

And its not just survivors of sexual assault that have PTSD. My best friend in high school found the body of her older sister who had been shot in the head (they called it suicide, but the family suspected murder because the son-in-law disappeared with the kids.) People made a lot of jokes about suicide back them...like "I'll kill myself if I fail this test" and my friend would run from the room sobbing. This sort of thing happened many times.

We simply can't protect people with PTSD from all the potential triggers even if we tried. So instead I talk to people about mindfulness, therapy, art therapy, and yes, I might go SJW about rape culture. 

The problem with trigger warnings and safe spaces, however, is that they're all too often being invoked by individuals who are only triggered because it hurts their feelings or it's not something they want to deal with, not because they have a legit anxiety issue over the matter. 

For example, a number of law schools are having to deal with the fact that students are demanding trigger warnings (et al) before their professors start into discussions of rape law and related topics. Even though these students are going to need to know this material in order to actually practice law, they're wanting to sit it out because of their feelings. 

 

And yes, I have my own issues as well. Among other things, I was witness to someone's horrific death a few years ago; we're coming up on the fourth anniversary. 

[Guest MormonGator]

On February 28, 2017 at 2:38 PM, NeuroTypical said:

I've seen this meme many times, and it is the most accurate meme in the history of the internet. Happens all the time.  

[Guest LiterateParakeet]

@Ironhold I appreciate your post. I didn't know that and agree thats a problem.

I'm cofused though by you quoting me and then saying, "The problem with trigger warnings however . . ." as if you were disagreeing with me. You know I didn't advocate for trigger warnings, right? 

Edited March 2, 2017 by LiterateParakeet

[NeuroTypical]

2 hours ago, Ironhold said:

For example, a number of law schools are having to deal with the fact that students are demanding trigger warnings (et al) before their professors start into discussions of rape law and related topics. Even though these students are going to need to know this material in order to actually practice law, they're wanting to sit it out because of their feelings. 

College is a place where sheltered idiots should have their bubbles popped and get dipped into the hot lava of reality.  Every crop brings new sheltered idiots with their new mantra.  When I was going to college, it was all about the idiots driving their parent's SUV's to the park to rally for the environment, and 3 hours later the parks employees had to bring dump trucks and hire extra work to clean up and haul away all the idiots' trash.   

As long as the bubble-popping and lava-dipping keeps happening, we can continue to replenish the nation with potential.  When the idiots start having their way in colleges however...

[Ironhold]

2 hours ago, LiterateParakeet said:

@Ironhold I appreciate your post. I didn't know that and agree thats a problem.

I'm cofused though by you quoting me and then saying, "The problem with trigger warnings however . . ." as if you were disagreeing with me. You know I didn't advocate for trigger warnings, right? 

Just giving my opinion on the matter. 

[anatess2]

13 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

As long as the bubble-popping and lava-dipping keeps happening, we can continue to replenish the nation with potential.  When the idiots start having their way in colleges however...

Then you end up with the mischievous, generation Z alt-right...

[wenglund]

15 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

When I was going to college, it was all about the idiots driving their parent's SUV's to the park to rally for the environment, and 3 hours later the parks employees had to bring dump trucks and hire extra work to clean up and haul away all the idiots' trash.

Add to this full-fledged banquets served at starvation awareness conferences, or smoking while protesting air pollution, wearing a hijab at a feminist rally, or fighting with by-standers while marching for peace, or flying in jets to go speak out against the use of fossil fuels, or wearing store-bought clothes and jewelry and talking on smart phones at an anti-capitalist rally, or surrounded by armed body guards while assailing the 2nd Amendment, or purchasing placards and markers from Walmart to protest Walmart, and on and on. I am convinced that hypocrisy is a way of life for a certain political orientation.

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

[anatess2]

2 minutes ago, wenglund said:

Add to this full-fledged banquets served at starvation awareness conferences, or smoking while protesting air pollution, wearing a hijab at a feminist rally, or fighting with by-standers while marching for peace, or flying in jets to go speak out against the use of fossil fuels, or wearing store-bought clothes and jewelry and talking on smart phones at an anti-capitalist rally, or surrounded by armed body guards while assailing the 2nd Amendment, or purchasing placards and markers from Walmart to protest Walmart, and on and on. I am convinced that hypocrisy is a way of life for a certain political orientation.

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

I say hypocrisy is a way of life for both major political orientations.  Hence, the stick-it-to-the-man rebellion.

[Guest MormonGator]

14 minutes ago, wenglund said:

Add to this full-fledged banquets served at starvation awareness conferences, or smoking while protesting air pollution, wearing a hijab at a feminist rally, or fighting with by-standers while marching for peace, or flying in jets to go speak out against the use of fossil fuels, or wearing store-bought clothes and jewelry and talking on smart phones at an anti-capitalist rally, or surrounded by armed body guards while assailing the 2nd Amendment, or purchasing placards and markers from Walmart to protest Walmart, and on and on. I am convinced that hypocrisy is a way of life for a certain political orientation.

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

To me it's the same mentality of preachers and religious types preaching about adultery while meeting their girlfriends in cheap motels. We are all guilty of hypocrisy to some degree, it's human nature. To me the issue is that one side gets called out on it, one side doesn't. 

[wenglund]

2 hours ago, anatess2 said:

I say hypocrisy is a way of life for both major political orientations.  Hence, the stick-it-to-the-man rebellion.

Yes, all sides are hypocritical, But, might you be comparing mountains to molehills?   I have seen websites that are staunch pro-life while also advocating for the death penalty as well as alleged small-government politicians having managed to grow the government considerably, and more, but to me it pales in comparison to the other side of the aisle--though I may lack self-awareness.

Here are some more:

http://libinstdysf.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2015-12-09T11:27:00-08:00&max-results=7

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

Edited March 2, 2017 by wenglund

[wenglund]

1 hour ago, MormonGator said:

To me it's the same mentality of preachers and religious types preaching about adultery while meeting their girlfriends in cheap motels. We are all guilty of hypocrisy to some degree, it's human nature. To me the issue is that one side gets called out on it, one side doesn't. 

I think both sides get called out by each other, but only one side tends to call out its own, while the other side tends to circles the wagon. It only seems like one side gets called out because the other side owns the mainstream media and Hollywood.

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

Edited March 2, 2017 by wenglund

[Guest MormonGator]

3 minutes ago, wenglund said:

I think both sides get called out by each other, but only one side tends to call out its own, while the other side tends to circles the wagon. It only seems like one side gets called out because the other sides owns the mainstream media and Hollywood.

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

If the sin is serious enough, than their own side will call them out. Anthony Weiner is a prime case of this happening. 

[wenglund]

11 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

If the sin is serious enough, than their own side will call them out. Anthony Weiner is a prime case of this happening. 

They may make a pretense or pay lip service in calling out one of their own  but the only real or serious sin for the Left is to obstruct or betray Leftist elites and the Progressive (e.g. regressive) cause. To the Left, there are few sins more egregious than being a black, and/or female, and/or gay, and/or Jewish Conservative, particularly if you were once a leftist. Just ask Allen West, .Dave Rubin, Dennis Prager, David Horowitz, Clarence Thomas, Condolessa Rice, Laura Ingram, Milo Yiannopolous, and the list goes on.

To leftists, Anthony's biggest problem wasn't exposing himself online, but saving Hillary's emails to his server, which put the Left's presidential candidate in serious legal jeopardy.

At least that is how I see it.

Thanks, -Wade Englund-