2. “These examples may seem extreme, but the reasoning behind them has become more commonplace on campus in recent years” (para. 26). Explain this reasoning in your own words and quote from the text in your response. Also, consider the claim critically. Do you agree? Why or why not? Give reasons!
There are many instances on campuses that have shown that people say things without thinking or caring about how people who hear them say this will feel about what they are staying. In the article the authors give the readers very detailed descriptions of events that have happened on campuses and how people say or do things without thinking about if their actions will hurt someone else. The article talks about several instances on campuses of people being racist or doing things that will be harmful for others. “In a particularly egregious 2008 case, for instance, Indiana University–Purdue University at Indianapolis found a white student guilty of racial harassment for reading a book titled Notre Dame vs. the Klan. The book honored student opposition to the Ku Klux Klan when it marched on Notre Dame in 1924. Nonetheless, the picture of a Klan rally on the book’s cover offended at least one of the student’s co-workers (he was a janitor as well as a student), and that was enough for a guilty finding by the university’s Affirmative Action Office” (Paragraph 26) this is quote from the text which is an example of repercussions to a student because of their behaviour, even if they did not know that they were being offensive to another student. I agree with the quote from the text because these students need to know aht is right and what is wrong to have, or talk about, on campuses but I do not agree with their ideas to completely remove sensitive topics from the curriculum. Hard conversations need to be had and hardships that happened during our past need to be talked about as well. But if everyone is going to be “triggered” then those conversations are not going to be able to be had. We need to learn from past mistakes made and learn how to create a better future for ourselves and others. But that starts with having that difficult conversation.
3. What’s wrong with “fortune telling and trigger warnings” (para 31+). This question invites you to say what the authors think is wrong with them AND to think about it for yourself. It’s ok to disagree with the text – with reasons!
A fortune telling is “‘anticipat[ing] that things will turn out badly” and feeling “convinced that your prediction is an already-established fact’”( Paragraph 31) and trigger warnings are “alerts that professors are expected to issue if something in a course might cause a strong emotional response” (Paragraph 2). These are two words that are heard a lot on college campuses. They are what protects everyone from difficult conversations that could put them in a situation that they may not like. Many people do not think before they speak or act, they just do whatever they please and do not care if those actions are going to hurt someone that is around them. And as a society we do need to be more conscious of the things we do or say because they can hurt others very badly. But we are becoming a society of sheltered people with very thin skin, people who cannot have a conversation without saying that the other person is triggering them or saying something that is offensive to them. We have become a society of people who are soft. “Attempts to shield students from words, ideas, and people that might cause them emotional discomfort are bad for the students. They are bad for the workplace, which will be mired in unending litigation if student expectations of safety are carried forward” (Paragraph 58) this is a quote from the text, talking about how if we continue to shield ourselves from real conversations and topics that make us uncomfortable, so that we can find easy ways to understand our past, we are going to have a generation of people who are not going to be able to handle those conversations. Situations that make us uncomfortable are not things we need to run from, we need to be able to have adult conversations about things and be able to learn from others through their experience. If we immediately say that something is “triggering” us, we are never going to be able to grow as a society. I do not agree with the disappearance of tough conversations in classes or on campuses. Those conversations are where you learn and learn about the hardships others have gone through in their lifetime. But if we hide from this conversation, we will never learn how to correct the behaviour of the past.
