Preview

Trigger Warnings Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
741 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Trigger Warnings Essay
The world is changing at different rhythms, and today there is a lot of victims of violence. Also, there are people who want to speak but the topics may be challenging and can not be heard. Trigger warnings may be overused in today's world and people think there no need for it. However, People argue trigger warnings are needed because there are many victims of violence and those victims are too sensitive. Trigger warnings prepare a person mentally on a subject they are about to hear. At U of C, the incoming freshmen received a letter stating “there will be no trigger warnings” and are expected to have debatable topics. In a college environment, trigger warnings and safe spaces have created controversy.
The use of trigger warnings is helpful
…show more content…
People should already be mentally prepared on hard topics. At the moment some people believe that “students must be challenged, and they need to learn to engage rationally with ideas, arguments, and views they find difficult, upsetting or even repulsive” (Mann 1). In other words, a student should live in a space where they have challenged every day to experience a different point of views and understanding on others opinion. This makes them think outside the box and lets them challenge a social point of view. Back in time people thought in one way that the world was square but then a person challenge that thought and said that the world was actually a circle. That person got out off his safe zone to challenge a world's thinking. This brought many arguments and people did not want to be challenged. According to Greg Lukianoff, “It is creating a culture in which everyone must think twice before speaking up , lest they face charges of insensitivity, aggression worse” (1). Furthermore, it creates an environment where people can talk whatever they want but it makes them think twice before speaking up making them responsibility on what they are saying and makes them be prepared for the effects of their argument. Having trigger warnings it does not allow people in being challenged and makes them fall in a safety

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Some argue that hate speech should be used outside of campus and away from students who might be offended, but in classrooms learning about hate speech is a place to start discussing it. Harvard is an example where speech codes would not benefit students in their education where students who want to become “young lawyers also need education in the habit of equanimity in the face of hostility; in the skill of mustering social pressure to fight those battles of which law is inapt or too expensive; indecency and courage to speak up on behalf of those who are being treated rudely” (Volokh). Being able to stand up and protect others can be taught in classrooms, but if speech codes disallow students to contend their discussions, the experience and education would be lost which would rather than support education, demolish it. Also, the ability to problem solve in a tense situation can be very important for students working their way into lawyers who normally deal with hostile language and social…

    • 923 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Colleges across the United States are constantly undergoing changes to the way classes function in order to improve the education process. A more recent concept being implemented in a handful of colleges is also a topic of major debate. A trigger warning is a way to warn students about graphic material that may be disturbing for some students. In theory, trigger warnings allow students to be prepared for content that may trigger unexpected emotions that would interrupt the student’s ability to focus on the lesson. In reality, however, the results of trigger warnings damage not only the student’s education, but their ability to be prepared to join society in the real world.…

    • 666 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Despite the benefits that associated with providing trigger warnings, there are some potential drawbacks. One argument is that trigger warnings may be too protective and result in failing to fully prepare students for their lives after college. Lukianoff and Haidt (2015) argue that rather than supporting students, trigger warnings provide too much protection and result in a lack of preparation for professional work settings that demand, "intellectual engagement with people and ideas one might find uncongenial or wrong" (pg. 5). While that is not the intention behind trigger warnings, it could be an unintentional consequence. When examining trigger warnings, Leiter (2016) discusses “easy cases” such as students who are legally entitled to trigger…

    • 309 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Trigger Warning Analysis

    • 1080 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Nationwide, educators are implementing the usage of trigger warnings to shield emotional and physical pain from civilians that may be fragile. Trigger warning or viewer discretion are acts of kindness that help protect people with histories of conditions. In article that was published in August of 2015, “Trigger warnings don’t hinder freedom of expression: they expand it” by Lindy West, she states that “a trigger warning is letting the audience know about potentially disturbing content” (West). West also discusses psychiatric conditions that people may have, like PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), sexual assault, and more. A common example of a trigger warning could be when college professor is showing a video that holds content that might be sensitive to rape victims. Before showing the video, the professor should say, “Trigger warning- rape”. Because of the professor’s trigger warning, the student’s that may have been sexually assaulted now have time to mentally prepare themselves for video ahead.…

    • 1080 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Brianne Richson wrote “An Obligation to Prevent Trauma on Campus” to educate her audience on “trigger warnings”. Trigger warnings are “advance warnings of potentially upsetting material”(Richson 426). Almost anything can be labeled as a trigger warning given the right situation. She gains the reader's attention by saying, “We all have that one memory that we would prefer people not bring up because we want to block it from our consciousness forever”(426). This statement is very relatable to anyone reading this essay. Everyone has done something that they regret or wish did not happen. Richson thinks that trigger warnings should be applied to college syllabi to warn students about potentially triggering subjects. These warning would prevent…

    • 296 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Colleges nowadays report warning kids when professors are going to talk about something that could bring up uncomfortable experiences in class, “with a so-called ‘trigger warning’” (‘Coddled Kids Crumble’, Para. 4). That way, a past victim of abuse or violence would be warned when graphic or violent material might be coming their way. But in some colleges, such as Oberlin College in Ohio or University of California, Santa Barbara, these trigger warnings are mandatory, and are a result of parents shielding their children from reality. To do this in college, is ironic, as this is a stage where kids are supposed to sort of grow up and be prepared for life. However, if students are “swarming their campus counseling offices”(‘Coddled Kids Crumble’, Para. 8) for trivial life occurrences, such as being made to feel bad by another student, then this is the result of parents not giving tools or adequately preparing students for situations they could handle on their own. Now in an environment where students are supposed to mature into adults, college students are now struggling with petty issues when two students dialed 911 over seeing a mouse and “then sought counseling for the resulting trauma”(“Coddled Kids Crumble”, Para. 8). Although it is understandable to be scared of mice, to call 911 is an extreme case showing the side effects of coddling. To have grown adults get counseling for something as trivial as mice is proof that these students have been shielded from the majority of their…

    • 1333 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Trigger warnings are helpful because it is beneficial for students and help create a better learning environment. Alyssa Leader supports this with her own personal experience and anecdotal evidence. Also for the students it is a sign of respect, students appreciate the advance notice, and are accommodating. Elana Newman supports this from the students she has had in class. Harrowing reaction, harm trauma, and need some type of treatment, Richard J. McNally argued his point of view of trigger warnings.…

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Why I Use Trigger Warnings

    • 1406 Words
    • 6 Pages

    A common debate in many American Universities has emerged regarding the necessity for trigger warnings in class syllabi as an attempt to warn every student of offensive and triggering material that they may not want to discuss. Although it may seem important to give notice to students of scandalous or offensive material, the addition of trigger warnings in syllabi is excessive and will only leave students unable to develop intellectually. This form of censorship only coddles the students, keeping them from learning that there will always be upsetting topics that they cannot control. By censoring college curriculum, we are allowing students to rely on trigger warnings to be there during every uncomfortable situation they may face. Students must be able to see those topics at an intellectual level in order to move past them, instead of wanting to be shielded from any controversial ideas. Just as Jonathan Haidt argues in The Coddling of the American Mind, campuses have become safe places "where young adults are shielded from words and ideas that make them…

    • 1406 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Future School Shootings

    • 2511 Words
    • 11 Pages

    In this paper it looks at some previous school shooting that have happened in the United States. It looks at the shooters, and also look at theories of what possibly could’ve been their motives for commenting such a tragedy, taking innocent lives. The paper looks at what we have learned and what we can do to prevent future school shooting tragedies. It looks at how bullying has pulled the trigger and how kids just want to be heard. The paper looks at what psychologist and criminologist have to say about future shootings and past shooters. It looks at the copycat effect and how the 1999…

    • 2511 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    There has been recent discussions of trigger warnings, a controversial issue has been whether it protects students or take away freedom of speech. Microaggressions are small actions or word choices that people can do or say, without any intent, which will end up offending other people. Students are starting to use the word “trigger warnings”, a word that first appeared on blogs and other online forums to alert people of content that contain sexual assault (Wilson). Universities are using them more on campuses and due to this, college students are calling out for professors to put trigger warnings on materials that can cause some kind of traumatic experience. Trigger warnings harm the ability of college professors to convey academic content…

    • 1591 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Trigger Warnings

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The fundamental base of College and how it opens your mind to new ideas would essentially vanish if all professors started to offer trigger warnings. Some classes, even, would fully be eliminated if this were to happen. Ilya Somin, a professor at George Mason University, says in his article “A Warning Against Trigger Warnings” that at the beginning of each semester of his class, Constitutional Law II, he tells the students “I don’t believe in trigger warnings. But if I did, I would have to include one for virtually every day of this course. We are going to cover subjects like slavery, segregation, sexism, suicide, the death penalty, and abortion. There is no way to teach this course without discussing these issues. And there is no good way to cover them without also considering a wide range of views about these subjects and their…

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Dangerousness Essay

    • 2561 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Critically discuss the notion that dangerous offenders can never be managed effectively in the community…

    • 2561 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    You are in the mall and someone yells everyone "'Get down!" Or I will shoot." Your first instinct is to hit the ground before shots are fired. Now imagine that in the school cafeteria. Scary, right? As scary as it sounds scenarios from horror movies are playing out in schools all over America. You are eating lunch in the cafeteria and a student enters the cafeteria and starts firing off a firearm. First instinct is to scream for help and get on the ground, but why are scenes like this taking place in the learning place. The place where we are told we are the safest, maybe even safer than home. If school is so much safer than home then why are school shootings on the rise? "Most of us already know that too many of our movies, television shows, music songs, and video games are filled with trash: grisly murder scenes, dismemberment and disembowelment, nonstop profanity, rape and torture scenarios" (Bennett par 14). By placing scenes like these in movies for the youth to see the media is causing America to become more violent than is needed. We must prevent violence in schools, solve violence in schools and violence needs to stop now.…

    • 939 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Although trigger warnings are on the rise, many people are fighting the tides of change that are closing in on universities here in the US. Trigger warnings can be described in short, as a preemptive disclaimer. These warnings are a common prelude to articles discussing, sexual assault, war, mental illness, race, etc., on the internet. A trigger warning would indicate explicit material as something graphic enough to ignite a reaction that could be as severe as post traumatic stress disorder. Trigger warnings have a become a rising issue in Universities, since adopted from internet blogs. Although many people find them tantamount, others see it as a decline in a more broad curriculum that would surely push the boundaries of controversial subjects; thereby, strengthening a students education.…

    • 1383 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    College students that belong to the majority group usually aren’t fond of being told that their unintentional actions mean they’re actually a racist. Conversely, those who support these checks on language grow more angry, discouraged that their majority counterparts cannot agree with strict rules on communication. Whenever something offensive is spoken, students adopt a victimized sense of self, creating a tirade of upheaval. Rather than developing mob mentality, calling for major change, peaceful discussion should instead be…

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays