Urban v's the Commentariat

[J Ed]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/18/u...-students-squirm.html?hpw&rref=education&_r=1

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Should students about to read “The Great Gatsby” be forewarned about “a variety of scenes that reference gory, abusive and misogynistic violence,” as one Rutgers student proposed? Would any book that addresses racism — like “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” or “Things Fall Apart” — have to be preceded by a note of caution? Do sexual images from Greek mythology need to come with a viewer-beware label?
Colleges across the country this spring have been wrestling with student requests for what are known as “trigger warnings,” explicit alerts that the material they are about to read or see in a classroom might upset them or, as some students assert, cause symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in victims of rape or in war veterans.

...

The debate has left many academics fuming, saying that professors should be trusted to use common sense and that being provocative is part of their mandate. Trigger warnings, they say, suggest a certain fragility of mind that higher learning is meant to challenge, not embrace. The warnings have been widely debated in intellectual circles and largely criticized in opinion magazines, newspaper editorials and academic email lists.

“Any kind of blanket trigger policy is inimical to academic freedom,” said Lisa Hajjar, a sociology professor at the university here, who often uses graphic depictions of torture in her courses about war. “Any student can request some sort of individual accommodation, but to say we need some kind of one-size-fits-all approach is totally wrong. The presumption there is that students should not be forced to deal with something that makes them uncomfortable is absurd or even dangerous.”

Note how many of the unis with these intersectionalista students are private unis...

 

[steeplejack]

mentally ill.

"I might be exposed to bad shit!"

the logical conclusion is to lock yourself indoors and never watch anything, surf anywhere, speak to anyone or read a book or newspaper.

Bad shit might happen.

 

[butchersapron]

mentally ill.

"I might be exposed to bad shit!"

the logical conclusion is to lock yourself indoors and never watch anything, surf anywhere, speak to anyone or read a book or newspaper.

Bad shit might happen.

I wish they actually did follow through on that logic.

 

[flypanam]

I wish they actually did follow through on that logic.

Tipper Gore must be some sort of hero to these types. PMRC as Trigger Warning nirvana

 

[rekil]

A desperate attempt, even by Irish commentariat standards, to lump Sinn Fein in with the far right.

Sinn Fein, some of whose members have engaged in actual paramilitary action against unsavoury foreign elements such as Brits and Protestants, would have to be given a more extreme rating than that, somewhere beyond the far right and into a realm where it may indeed be meeting itself at the other end of the spectrum – which may explain the fumbling efforts of experts who see it as a sort of left-wing, or socialist party, but which probably brings us to a somewhat more evocative denomination which would cover the nationalism and this strange "socialism". It would bring us to Sinn Fein as National Socialists.

SF are at about 20% in the polls, on target to wipe out Labour in the euros and are undented by being called terrorists etc for years, so why an experienced opinion monger like Lynch would think this approach might fare a bit better is a mystery. On the other hand, to get paid for this lazy piece of piss, that's livin' the dream.

 

[Idris2002]

A desperate attempt, even by Irish commentariat standards, to lump Sinn Fein in with the far right.


SF are at about 20% in the polls, on target to wipe out Labour in the euros and are undented by being called terrorists etc for years, so why an experienced opinion monger like Lynch would think this approach might fare a bit better is a mystery. On the other hand, to get paid for this lazy piece of piss, that's livin' the dream.

Another side of effect of neutrality is that the Irish commentariat look at 1939 - 45 and think 'oh noez, we missed the big party the cool kids went to '.

 

[flypanam]

Does Denis O'Brien sanction articles at the indo like O'Reilly used to?

 

[Nigel Irritable]

A desperate attempt, even by Irish commentariat standards, to lump Sinn Fein in with the far right.


SF are at about 20% in the polls, on target to wipe out Labour in the euros and are undented by being called terrorists etc for years, so why an experienced opinion monger like Lynch would think this approach might fare a bit better is a mystery. On the other hand, to get paid for this lazy piece of piss, that's livin' the dream.

Ah now, we can't start including the Sunday Independent here or the sheer weight of malicious stupidity will bury the thread.

The far right claim is idiocy, but one with a bit of a pedigree - the Officials used to cheerfully describe the Provos as fascists for years. They weren't then and they aren't now. That said Lynch does make the perfectly correct point that neither Labour nor Sinn Fein are left wing, despite the general consensus in the mainstream media that they are.

 

[phildwyer]

mentally ill.

"I might be exposed to bad shit!"

the logical conclusion is to lock yourself indoors and never watch anything, surf anywhere, speak to anyone or read a book or newspaper.

Bad shit might happen.

It's projected guilt if you ask me. Supposedly the trigger warnings are to protect war veterans, of whom there are now very many in American classrooms. So it's alright to send them off to slaughter darkies, but bad to remind them about it.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Right, so who fancies making nearly a grand a week?

The EiC is expected to:

1. Represent openDemocracy in the eyes of an international public of readers, supporters and funders
2. Expand our range and activities, whilst maintaining our commitment to both editorial quality and diversity
3. Sustain and build relationships with major funders: private, charitable and corporate
4. Enlarge openDemocracy’s audience and audience engagement both by editorial innovation and by deep understanding of readership measurement and analytics
5. Act as Chief Executive of openDemocracy Ltd, ensuring it is well run and financially sustainable.

http://www.opendemocracy.net/opendemocracy/editorinchief-opendemocracy

 

[J Ed]

Retweeted by Laurie Penny
R-Mattz ‏@RealMattLucas May 20
#WhyImVotingUkip Because I like to think that people from other countries who live in mine are the main reason I have failed in life.

Go fuck yourself Laurie you private school everything handed to you on a plate wanker. Ironic that someone who bangs on about privilege for their FUCKING JOB is so totally blind to their own.

 

[mk12]

Ugh. Everything wrong with the middle class left summed up in one tweet.

 

[The Pale King]

http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2014/05/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-trigger-warnings

This caught my eye in Laurie's article on trigger warnings:

"The book I’ve just written touches on all sorts of potentially traumatic issues, the reason being that if you want to do transformative feminist politics properly you have to be willing to engage with rage and pain. Unspeakable Things is not being published plastered in trigger warnings, and I wouldn't want it to be, but when I sent out draft chapters to friends for comment, I told them straight-up: this might be triggery. Perhaps if you're having a bad head day for body issues you might not want to read the eating disorders chapter. If I were ever so lucky as to see it discussed in a university class, I'd have no objection to teachers letting their students know that there are some difficult passages."

I would be worried about forcing people who have had traumatic experiences to reveal themselves and the type of trauma they have experienced in a university class. It might be that some people would rather others did not know about their traumatic experiences and not be forced to share them or analyse them in terms of whatever it is the class is reading. There are privacy issues here and whether people who have undergone traumas want to be known as and present themselves as survivors of abuse or abuse victims to their teachers and peers.

Anyway, gist of the article is that censorship happens in Texas, and that if you have any doubts about trigger warnings, you are "dismissing women, people of colour, queer people and trauma survivors as readers" and "saying that our experiences do not matter - that we should calm down and "grow a thicker skin"."

 

[el-ahrairah]

i think trigger warnings aren't the worst of ideas in the world but that makes me want them banned!

 

[killer b]

'triggery'

 

[emanymton]

If I were ever so lucky as to see it discussed in a university class

There is not enough laughter in the world.

 

[emanymton]

i think trigger warnings aren't the worst of ideas in the world but that makes me want them banned!

It really should just be covered by basic don't be a prick protocol.
If you are about to read something out that might be upsetting to some just say so, if you don't you're a bit of a pick.

 

[rekil]

Laurie and her mates aspire to be the new PMRC as someone said earlier, could be an article in that, easy money. But only if you top Laurie's "wrote this on my phone, in two hours, on a train" for any old shit will do sloppiness.

She has evidently forgotten about the peculiar kind of "empathy" she offered to a victim during her drive-by here.

 

[The Pale King]

There is not enough laughter in the world.

And she threw it out there ever so 'umbly as well. Harvard take note!

 

[flypanam]

Not going to read it, but when did teachers become psychotherapists? I'm pretty sure from university, FE, and secondary they are pretty much under pressure with non academic requirements, let alone finding texts that are benign enough for everyone to be comfortable.

Can a biology text be pmrc'd?

 

[ViolentPanda]

'triggery'

Prone to calling people "Dave" and wearinga lurid blue suit when partying?

 

[ViolentPanda]

double post

 

[ViolentPanda]

Not going to read it, but when did teachers become psychotherapists? I'm pretty sure from university, FE, and secondary they are pretty much under pressure with non academic requirements, let alone finding texts that are benign enough for everyone to be comfortable.

Can a biology text be pmrc'd?

Not to put too fine a point on it (in other words, I'm going to be blunt!), what sort of eggshell-personality, fearful and temulous whining milksop wimps are not going to have experienced enough trauma in their lives that they evince trauma from reading a fucking text? Wankers who've been insulated by mummy and daddy's money, that's who!
I've had to read G-dawful stuff that's made me sick to my stomach and made me cry, but I needed to read it to understand a subject (forensic psychology), and to allow me to better-understand the subjects of the subject. If those texts hadn't explained particular horrors, I would have had a much harder time grasping the psychological effects that those horrors can and do cause. I despair for a future where we have too few psychologists, because prissy pissy wankers were scared of being traumatised by the subject!

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Out of mild curiosity has anyone ever read anything about trigger warning written by someone with any expertise in PTSD?

 

[The Pale King]

Out of mild curiosity has anyone ever read anything about trigger warning written by someone with any expertise in PTSD?

Behold:

Laurie Penny ‏@PennyRed 3 hrs
When I see 'trigger warning for eating disorders' on a blog, I still read it, I just make sure to have lunch beforehand. It's that simple.

 

[el-ahrairah]

no-one gives trigger warnings for the things that have fucked me up

 

[Idris2002]

Behold:

Laurie Penny ‏@PennyRed 3 hrs
When I see 'trigger warning for eating disorders' on a blog, I still read it, I just make sure to have lunch beforehand. It's that simple.

Jesus fuck that's appalling.

 

[killer b]

Not to put too fine a point on it (in other words, I'm going to be blunt!), what sort of eggshell-personality, fearful and temulous whining milksop wimps are not going to have experienced enough trauma in their lives that they evince trauma from reading a fucking text? Wankers who've been insulated by mummy and daddy's money, that's who!
I've had to read G-dawful stuff that's made me sick to my stomach and made me cry, but I needed to read it to understand a subject (forensic psychology), and to allow me to better-understand the subjects of the subject. If those texts hadn't explained particular horrors, I would have had a much harder time grasping the psychological effects that those horrors can and do cause. I despair for a future where we have too few psychologists, because prissy pissy wankers were scared of being traumatised by the subject!

That’s a bit harsh VP – people who suffer the effects of PTSD are not whining milksop wimps, they suffer from a debilitating and distressing condition.

However, I’m not sure if trigger warnings are the best response to what is, after all, a relatively rare condition – while on the face of it they sound like a reasonable idea, I think they lead to the kind of nonsense we’ve seen above.

Surely it’s the responsibility of the sufferer to take whatever action is necessary to avoid being ‘triggered’? As my cousin who suffers from a peanut allergy does to avoid coming into contact with peanuts?

 

[DotCommunist]

thats got to be hard work given the themes covered by most mainstream drama, books and in media. Even something like Emmerdale covers some triggerish themes

 

[killer b]

Yep, and I think the warnings they have atm for the more serious stuff - rape & domestic violence for example - are a good idea. But if you're getting panic attacks from reading about eating disorders then you need to take ownership of that yourself, I think.