Original: Lukianoff/Haidt are too harsh in saying completely abolish trigger warnings. These men are fixed on the idea of freedom of speech but apparently have no compassion for what these freedoms might incur within students. Freedom of speech is extremely important so long as you are not harming those around you. Part of being human is having experiences that change you and it is the duty of your peers to make sure that they aren’t causing more distress to you in the name of free speech.  If someone makes it abundantly clear what their triggers are and someone insists on bringing them that is pure malice, that is not helping someone overcome their trauma. There is a strong lack of compassion in older generations that find trigger warnings as tedious and irksome.  Times change and now people are allowed to show their feelings. One does not need to hide everything away and struggle on their own.  It is the people in their life that must help them grow slowly out of their fixed mindsets.    

Revised: Lukianoff/Haidt are too harsh in saying completely abolish trigger warnings. These men are fixed on the idea of freedom of speech but apparently have no compassion for what these freedoms might incur within students.  Lukianoff/Haidt state, “Thomas Jefferson, upon founding the University of Virginia, said: ‘This institution will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.’ We believe that this is still—and will always be—the best attitude for American universities. Faculty, administrators, students, and the federal government all have a role to play in restoring universities to their historic mission” (final paragraph). They are essentially saying that free speech should be utilized, no matter what it will cause in reaction.  Freedom of speech is extremely important so long as you are not harming those around you. Part of being human is having experiences that change you and it is the duty of your peers to make sure that they aren’t causing more distress to you in the name of free speech.  If someone makes it abundantly clear what their triggers are and someone insists on bringing them up, that is pure malice, that is not helping someone overcome their trauma. There is a strong lack of compassion, especially in older generations that find trigger warnings tedious and irksome.  Times change and now people are allowed to show their feelings. One does not need to hide everything away and struggle on their own.  It is the people in their life that must help them slowly grow out of their fixed mindsets.    

Explanation: I added a quote from L/H to support the claim I made. I also added explanation for that quote in regards to what it meant and how it fit into my claim.

Original: The idea of trigger warnings, according to Lukianoff and Haidt, is an abomination. They believe that trigger warnings can do no good and only cause more harm.  Lukianoff/Haidt state, “According to the most-basic tenets of psychology, helping people with anxiety disorders avoid the things they fear is misguided” (paragraph 4). They believe allowing people to be shielded from their fears and anxieties is simply digging them into a deeper hole and everybody who allows the use of trigger warnings is complicit to their downfall. While there may be some truth riddled among these sentiments, I believe that trigger warnings do, in fact, have some good use. The problem I see is the dependency upon them. These people have become accustomed to the bubble they have created around themselves by calling for trigger warnings. Perhaps in the beginning it was truly necessary for someone to have a semi-normal day without extreme anxiety.  Unfortunately, people then get used to how easy life is when avoiding their fears and they then, in effect, lower their mental tolerance to fear.  They believe that they can and will never get past these anxieties. This is them becoming stuck in a fixed mindset.  In the Ted Talk hosted by Carol Dweck, she claims that, “From their more fixed mindset perspective, their intelligence had been up for judgment, and they failed. Instead of luxuriating in the power of yet, they were gripped in the tyranny of now” (00:35).  Dweck believes that they, meaning the students, are so entrapped by their current thoughts that they cannot fathom overcoming them.  This mindset is like tunnel vision.  You cannot see anything around you or in front of you, only how you are feeling at that moment.  When trigger warnings are used people only feel that safety or that fear that a trigger word might be spoken and suddenly they are no longer safe.  As Dweck said, they cannot see the yet. They cannot see their recovery or their ability to overcome their triggers and anxieties.

Revised: The idea of trigger warnings, according to Lukianoff and Haidt, is an abomination. They believe that trigger warnings can do no good and only cause more harm.  Lukianoff/Haidt state, “According to the most-basic tenets of psychology, helping people with anxiety disorders avoid the things they fear is misguided” (paragraph 4). They believe allowing people to be shielded from their fears and anxieties is simply digging them into a deeper hole and everybody who allows the use of trigger warnings is complicit to their downfall. While there may be some truth riddled among these sentiments, I believe that trigger warnings do, in fact, have some good use. The problem I see is the dependency upon them. These people have become accustomed to the bubble they have created around themselves by calling for trigger warnings. Perhaps in the beginning it was truly necessary for someone to have a semi-normal day without extreme anxiety.  Unfortunately, people then get used to how easy life is when avoiding their fears and they then, in effect, lower their mental tolerance to fear.  They believe that they can and will never get past these anxieties. This is them becoming stuck in a fixed mindset.  In the Ted Talk hosted by Carol Dweck, she claims that, “From their more fixed mindset perspective, their intelligence had been up for judgment, and they failed. Instead of luxuriating in the power of yet, they were gripped in the tyranny of now” (00:35).  Dweck believes that they, meaning the students, are so entrapped by their current thoughts that they cannot fathom overcoming them.  This mindset is like tunnel vision.  They cannot see anything around them or in front of them, only how they are feeling at that moment.  When trigger warnings are used people only feel that safety or that fear that a trigger word might be spoken and suddenly they are no longer safe.  As Dweck said, they cannot see the yet. They cannot see their recovery or their ability to overcome their triggers and anxieties.

Explanation: I did not change much. I am happy with how i have organized everything.