Know Your Trigger

I was mildly amused to see my name mentioned in the entry for "Trigger" on Know Your Meme.

"On April 13th, 2010, the news site True/Slant[16] published an article by writer Susannah Breslin, who criticized feminists for using the phrase too generously."

via FFFFOUND!

It referenced a post I wrote for True/Slant in 2010, "Trigger warning: this blog post may freak you the f*** out."

An excerpt:

"After some in-depth research (like, half an hour, maybe?), I was able to conclude that, for whatever reason, the feminists are all over their TRIGGER WARNINGS, applying them like a Southern cook applies Pam cooking spray to an overused nonstick frying pan. It’s almost impressive, really. I guess the idea is that blog posts are TOTALLY SCARY, and if you are EASILY UPSET, if you see a TRIGGER WARNING coming, you can look away REALLY FAST, or click elsewhere, so you won’t, you know, FREAK THE FUCK OUT."

Depressingly, Sia recently felt compelled to apologize for a video that some considered "triggering":

"I apologize to those who feel triggered by #ElasticHeart My intention was to create some emotional content, not to upset anybody."

How embarrassing. The point of art is to make you feel. Especially things you did not know you feel. Or don't know how to feel. Or are unwilling to feel.

"One eye sees, the other feels." -- Paul Klee

We all live in the Valley of the Triggers. Without them, we are merely shooting blanks.