On Trigger Warnings, Defensiveness, and Anti-PC Hysteria

[Odin]

Who Are The Real “Victims” Here? On Trigger Warnings, Defensiveness, and Anti-PC Hysteria

Quote:Last night I saw Belladonna of Sadness at Northwest Film Forum in Seattle. The movie is a surreal, psychedelic take on the dynamics of heterosexual eroticism set in medieval France, animated in 1970s Japan. I found a lot to recommend it, as a formally striking film that foregrounds a complex female character and its portrayal of witchcraft as a survival-driven rebellion of a patriarchal order, but due to its frank (albeit highly sympathetic) depiction of coercive sex and outright rape, I can definitely see why some other women might choose to skip it.

(Another case could be made that the intensity of the rape scenes allows male viewers to empathize with the woman whose experience the movie chronicles, feeling a kind of helplessness they might not otherwise have access to, but that’s not the point I’m interested in making here.)

The main thing I want to talk about right now is how judiciously trigger warnings were used before the film. In her brief introduction, Northwest Film Forum director Courtney Sheehan made reference to the erotic complexities of the film. “Are we supposed to be turned on by this? Or horrified? Both are true, at different times.” Her insightful words, along with a brief on-screen introduction from Violet Lucca, digital editor of Film Comment Magazine, gave fair warning of the kind of content we were about to encounter.

As a woman who is lucky enough not to be triggered by much in the way of sexual violence and yet strives to understand the complexities of the experiences of other women and marginalized people, I found these warnings to be highly humane, effective, and welcome. A trigger warning is not the same thing as censorship. On the contrary, the warning made the film accessible to an even broader audience than it might have otherwise been.

In a recent interview with Buzzfeed about her new book ‘Shrill,’ Lindy West said of internet harassment culture, “It’s the same conversation we’re having about political correctness and coddled co-eds.” The world is full of people who, because they are lucky enough not to need them, don’t fully understand the purpose of trigger warnings, but rather than trying to listen to those who do, become outraged and defensive at their mere mention.

The anti-PC hysteria in the US today is coming from a place of intense emotion, not the “reason” it claims to deify. It is coming from a place of wanting to shut down conversations, not the “free speech” it hypocritically touts. We can speculate forever about what motivates people to fall in line with avowed racists and misogynists like Donald Trump and cultural currents like GamerGate, but I would submit that the motivation for this defensiveness, at its core, is sheer, unadulterated terror. Even the slightest glimpse of the terror that many women face every day is intolerable because it is so much more horrifying than anything most of us would prefer to imagine, given the ability to opt out. (This ability to opt out is known in social justice parlance as “privilege,” but for reasons related to the impulse to opt-out in the first place, that word is highly triggering to many who possess it.)

Our culture despises anything we perceive of as “vulnerability,” “weakness” and “victimhood” because we categorize these experiences as “feminine,” but where is the true weakness here? On the part of survivors and feminists developing tools to help everyone navigate the world with more openness, curiosity and understanding? Or on the part of a fragile ego which is triggered into a sputtering, adolescent rage upon being exposed to ideas like “privilege” and “rape culture”?

Upon closer examination, it would certainly seem that when it comes to internet harassment culture and trigger warnings, the true “coddling” in this situation is the coddling of the consciousness that lashes out in denial of the suffering of others.

[Ragnarök_62]

Wow, I found the perfect place to stash my seemingly infinite stash of yes, yes.....

Special Snowflake dissing.

Yes, yes  I admit it.  Special snowflakes trigger rags.  Bwahahahahahahahah

[Ragnarök_62]

(01-28-2017, 01:19 AM)taramarie Wrote: Why do "snowflakes" trigger people?

"Trigger" is a neologism as such:

Urban Dictionary Wrote:A phrase posted at the beginning of various posts, articles, or blogs. Its purpose is to warn weak minded people who are easily offended that they might find what is being posted offensive in some way due to its content, causing them to overreact or otherwise start acting like a dipshit. Popular on reddit SRS or other places that social justice warriors like to hang out.

Trigger warnings are unnecessary 100% of the time due to the fact that people who are easily offended have no business randomly browsing the internet anyways. As a result of the phrases irrelevance, most opinions that start out with this phrase tend to be simplistic and dull since they were made by people ridiculous enough to think that the internet is supposed to cater to people who can't take a joke.
Trigger warning: If you think this phrase needs to be posted before politically incorrect opinions, you don't belong on the internets.

I'm stating I'm triggered by "special snowflakes" as snark aimed at said "special snowflakes".

Special snowflakes: This is a meme as follows:

know your meme Wrote:About
Special Snowflake is a derogatory term widely used on Tumblr to describe someone who often whines about deserving special treatment or sees oneself as exceptionally unique for no apparent reason, similar to the use of the expression check your privilege in the social justice blogosphere.
Origin
On October 15th, 1999, the film Fight Club[1] was released. The film features one of the protagonists, Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) telling the men looking to join the fight club:

Quote:“You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake.”

[pbrower2a]

I suspect that snowflake implies someone incapable of taking the heat in a discussion due to the likelihood of being offended. One will melt, so to speak.

[Ragnarök_62]

(01-28-2017, 02:10 AM)taramarie Wrote: Why is sensitivity viewed as such a bad thing?

LOL!   My dear tara, it's not sensitivity that's deserving of my snark , derision, lampoonery, dissing, but rather the SJW/special snowflake attempts to shame/dis/lecture me on what I'm supposed to think / feel. The fact is said SJWs/special snowflakes are all about telling others how to think/feel. And... in many cases they love to project a sense of insufferable moral superiority.

[Ragnarök_62]

(01-28-2017, 03:06 AM)taramarie Wrote:

(01-28-2017, 02:17 AM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote:

(01-28-2017, 02:10 AM)taramarie Wrote: Why is sensitivity viewed as such a bad thing?

LOL!   My dear tara, it's not sensitivity that's deserving of my snark , derision, lampoonery, dissing, but rather the SJW/special snowflake attempts to shame/dis/lecture me on what I'm supposed to think / feel. The fact is said SJWs/special snowflakes are all about telling others how to think/feel. And... in many cases they love to project a sense of insufferable moral superiority.

The SJW movement is more than likely created out of thinking of how others feel...the human condition and when they see others being attacked or rights being taken away or not given in the first place, injustice etc what are they supposed to do? Sit idly while it happens? This is how society progresses don't you think? When SJW types see a wrong and want to address it. Tell me what you would do? I believe in fighting injustice because of the fact i am sensitive and want more for people, animals and the planet.

My, my tara,  let me attempt to deprogram you.  No, SJW's don't really give a fuck about what you think they do.
They aren't called the "regressive left"  or "cultural marxists" nothing.  In, reality it's all about blame redirection, self pontification, reverse racism, and a return to segregation.  Here's a vid to explain it all.  IOW, they act just like actual  Neo-nazis of a different color/sex or whatever else they have a hangup on.

[Ragnarök_62]

(01-28-2017, 03:49 AM)taramarie Wrote: Promoting greater inclusion and representation.......while pushing aside whites..... yeah that logic ummm that is not how it works. While stating certain groups are not being heard the idea should not be to perform reverse racism....i mean do these people realize what they are doing and on top of it the backlash it is causing? How ridiculous. This is not equality at all.
Just watching the video and reacting to what i am learning...i had no idea people were doing this in America. This is shocking to me. We have nothing like that here to my knowledge.
We do have a few neo nazis and skin heads so we do have racism but nothing quite like this.

Very good tara. Yes that is what the SJW/snow flake situation is like here in the US. That is one reason Trump won here.  A vote for Trump became a "fuck you" so to speak to said naggy SJW's/special snowflakes. It also explains why a bunch of US Millies about 19 years old start trolling the fuck out of this stuff on social media. Xer's just find them as an object only worthy of snark.