James O'Brien expertly details why trigger warnings are a good thing
Putting LBC listeners in the shoes of university lecturers, James O'Brien powerfully explains why trigger warnings are a good idea.
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Universities have come under fire for placing "trigger warnings" on books which detail sensitive themes.
The Times on Wednesday reported that over 1,000 texts have had warnings placed on them to make students aware of issues of violence, sexual abuse or slavery being discussed. All texts are still available in University libraries, even if they have been swapped out of English Literature curricula.
"If i'm being generous, this is perhaps the misunderstanding that lies at the heart of this reporting," James O'Brien said when reflecting on the story.
"Let's say there are 500 people in a university lecture hall at the beginning of the year, you run through the reading list...one of the books contains a very violent and very graphic description of a rape.
"There are two people in your cohort of students that have been raped. Are you going to warn them that the book they're taking home to read may well bring back the most unbearable and horrible memories that have happened to them very recently – or even decades ago?"
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Is it strange that of all the outrageous things discussed on @mrjamesob show on @LBC so far today the most upsetting/bemusing thing to me is only 2% of the U.K. (1.4M) listen?
— Alex 🦠💉😷 (@Alex997tt) August 10, 2022
Without question, if more ppl listened regularly to the show, we wouldn’t be where we are now.
@mrjamesob @LBC summed up well. If it helps/gives a heads up to even one person then it is absolutely worth it.
— Daniel Simpson (@DSimmie97) August 10, 2022
No one should be getting angry over this
James went on: "That is a trigger warning. It is concern for people's mental health. It is protection from the haunting memories of disgusting and horrible things that have happened to them.
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"It is a quick and innocuous heads up that the door we're about to go through, on the other side of it , we're going to come across things you may find it really difficult to deal with."
He pointed out that the presence of a trigger warning, or replacing texts in a university module as the article described, by no means stops students from reading the texts if they so wish.
@LBC It's a question of empathy. Trigger warnings are just a heads up from folk who care about other people's feelings. What can possibly be willing with that?
— Tony Garrett (@T_j_Garrett) August 10, 2022
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"We are not locking the door, or papering over the door, or extinguishing the door, or removing the door, we are simply warning you that some of the stuff on the other side might give you nightmares and bring back your nightmare that you have lived through and endured."
LBC listeners were moved by James' analogy, as he concluded that the attempt to demonise these warnings "is just gross."