“Microaggressions”, “Trigger Warnings”, and the New Meaning of “Trauma”

Generations of Americans experienced actual trauma. Our greatest generation survived the Depression, then fought the worst war in humanity’s history, then built the United States into the most successful nation that has ever existed. They didn’t accomplish any of that by being crystal eggshells that would break at the slightest provocation, they didn’t demand society change to protect their tender feelings. They simply dealt with the hardships of their past and moved on. Even my great uncle, the Korea Marine, never expected us to tiptoe around him. He wouldn’t talk about his experience, but he didn’t order us not to.

So again, fuck your trauma. If your past bothers you that much, get help. I honestly hope you come to terms with it. I hope you manage to move forward. I won’t say anything meant to dredge up bad memories, and don’t think anyone should intentionally try to harm your feelings.

But nobody, nobody, should censor themselves to protect you from your pathological, and pathologically stupid, sensitivities.

Read the whole thing.

In the comments Joyce said:

Maybe I’m not paying attention, but I have never heard a trigger warning used in any other way. And today is the first time I have ever heard the term microagression – although the concept the term describes is certainly familiar to me.

One final word…you say “our universities” and go on to cite the goings-on at UCLA. I have worked on a university campus for 13 years and can assure you with 100% certainty that UCLA is an outlier and is most definitely not representative of what occurs on campuses elsewhere.

That's interesting because I have been reading a great deal about this subject on the Internet. The author replied:

You’re the second person who works at a University who’s told me they’ve never heard of these problems on campus. I’m encouraged by that, but these concepts (along with “white privilege”), seem to be most pervasive at colleges. Last month a Georgetown University student wrote an essay saying he’s not angry at the two young men who robbed him at gunpoint, because his white privilege means he deserved it (my interpretation).

So the question occurred to me: who is making a big deal about this? The MSM which publishes these kinds of articles? If so, what is the objective? To make this kinds of Liberal group think go mainstream? Or to make this kind of thing ridiculous? These are not mutually exclusive options. It's entirely possible that the people in the press believe that this new form of psychobabble is legitimate. But, not realizing how far removed they are from the mainstream, they end up making it - and its practitioners in academia - ridiculous. One can only hope.