Triggered: Why I refuse to use this new buzzword.

The phrase 'triggered' has leapt kicking and screaming into the lexicography of 2016 and seems to have been universally adopted already. Apart from the fact that it sounds ridiculous there are very good reasons why its use should be shunned by right-thinking people.

A google trends search for the phrase illustrates how recently this word has entered common usage. Up until April 2016 it was barely registering worldwide. Since then it has absolutely skyrocketed in use:

Google Trends

Prior to this explosion, the word was typically used in a specialised concept of 'trauma trigger'

If you live with PTSD, you may be fine for a while with no symptoms. Then something may provoke memories or emotions you might not expect. Examples include:

* A certain smell, sound, or sight that reminds you of the event you experienced
* The anniversary date of the event
* Seeing or reading a news report about it
* Seeing a person related to the event Bad dreams or nightmares

www.webmd.com...

Clearly, this is a real issue for PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) where trauma triggers (or trauma stimulus, trauma stressor) represent a real and major problem for those attempting to live with the disorder. Trauma triggers can result in complete loss of control, emotional breakdown and severe depression. The concept of belittling this by distilling it down to someone getting a little bit peeved by someone else's actions is an extreme trivialisation that just doesn't sit right with me.

However, for me, there is another aspect to this word that I find distasteful whilst also representing much of what is wrong with an awful lot of society at present. That concept is: blame and responsibility.

Triggered is an externalisation of a loss of control or decorum. In PTSD this is exactly what happens; the sufferer is unable to synthesise the traumatic experiences with the normal world and reacts in a way that is disproportionate to the stimulus. If you aren't a sufferer of PTSD and are claiming to be 'triggered' by something you are tacitly acknowledging that your reaction is overblown but (and this is the important part) you are placing the blame EXTERNALLY when the true issue is INTERNAL. This may seem a small distinction to some, but it is hugely important because it represents the fact that we are slipping slowly closer and closer to narcissistic personality disorders becoming the norm in western society. The ability to take internal personal responsibility for one's own emotions is an important part of growth and personal development. One can argue it is the main difference between an adult and a child.

It is no real surprise that the current use of the word originated from the liberal arts SJW types who struggle incredibly with the concept of not being special snowflakes.

Summary for the TLDR generation: By using trigerred you are attempting to shift blame from your own underdeveloped sensibilities onto someone or something else. That sucks!

So, ATS. Anyone with me on this?

I find it both entertaining and often quite accurate. When PC types use it against counter-PC people its most entertaining then, actually.


TRIGGERED:

a reply to: cheesyleps

I'm with ya, even though I don't use the word because it sounds ridiculous when you're trying to have an adult conversation and as you said, it's a buzzword that has already been played out. Whenever I hear or read it, I cringe.

I'm from the uk , what triggered you to write this ?

Come on, The U.K referendum has triggered Brexit, God damn it.

Snowflakes gonna snowflake....

Yet your use of the term SJW seems to have automatically triggered your use of the word snowflake.
As Ignoranceisn'tbliss has pointed out in various other threads, much of what we think of as our own thinking is really only automatic thought processes brought on by external stimuli.

Yet I agree with you, it is being used as an excuse. And while I also agree with your assesment of PTSD and it's triggers as much more dramatic examples of this triggering, it also occurs much less dramatically in our everyday lives. Our modern neuro-sciences are bringing forth these insights into human behavior and pointing out that we are not the fully cognizant and always conscious actors in this game we use to think ourselves to be.

I think you bring up a good point about PTSD.

It's a shame the word has been hijacked.

a reply to: ColaTesla

So vet's suffering with PTSD are snowflakes?

originally posted by: Cobaltic1978
Come on, The U.K referendum has triggered Brexit, God damn it.

Don't you mean triggered the government into triggering brexit ?

originally posted by: Swills
a reply to: ColaTesla

So vet's suffering with PTSD are snowflakes?

You're making stuff up again, That is not what i said. Do you always get "triggered" by your own imagination?

a reply to: cheesyleps
Wasn't it also used in the context of epileptic fits? E.g. referring to the dangers of strobe lighting?
Maybe the 2016 buzzword is a development of that usage.

Yes, I found this definition;

Triggers are situations that can bring on a seizure in some people with epilepsy

www.epilepsysociety.org.uk...-RRAjVD2th

Personality disorders are usually a result of neglect early in life as well as there being a social and environmental factor it is also possible that there is genetic predisposition. This means that an increase in PD's is generally because of an increase of poor parenting, now how you make a link between trending words and personality disorders i don't know...

originally posted by: Denoli

originally posted by: Cobaltic1978
Come on, The U.K referendum has triggered Brexit, God damn it.

Don't you mean triggered the government into triggering brexit ?

That's triggered me to concur with the sentiment that the vote triggered the Government to trigger the exit.

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

True, we are all social creatures who are influenced by our peer groups and the media. Both SJW and Snowflake are also 'buzzwords' which are usually used to signpost a particular political stance or tendency (in fact, I would self identify as a liberal though I know that phrase doesn't quite carry the same connotations in the UK as it does in the US). Primarily though, the SJW and snowflake phrases are inherently external. It would be very rare for someone to describe themselves as a 'special snowflake'. Because it is intentionally and inherently negative it only really exists as a form of disparagement.

Personally, I found the 'triggered' usage to be particularly interesting because it really should carry a whole ream of similar negative connotations to do with emotional maturity; yet it is being used almost as a shield to deflect personal responsibility for one's own actions.

Where we particularly seem to agree is that words are important and our use of particular words and phrases can tell people an awful lot moe about our inner selves than we perhaps intend to show. In effect, anyone saying that they have been 'triggered' by something (usually trivial and usually as a form of defence of their own actions) then they are signposting that they are not fully in control of their own emotions and are unable to take responsibility for their own actions (which is exactly what happens in PTSD and is why it is such a powerful disorder).

a reply to: cheesyleps

Well, I for one agree with you, but I disagree with any mordernisation of the English language, and almost every addition to it, including the word "Googling". I also detest the fact that America has its own version of the language, and that as a result the word Aluminium is not correctly pronounced in more than half the English speaking world.

English as she is today, is a beautiful and versatile language. As she will be tomorrow, she will be an ugly collision of all the things that made her great from yesteryear, with all the things I hate and more about the modern vernacular. Frankly, I think that the last dictionary I read that I did not have a problem with, was published the year I was born. I feel absolutely no shame about that, and I take this sort of problem quite seriously.

a reply to: thomadom

Easily, though I only referred to a connection; I certainly didn't infer any causation.

Narcissistic personality disorder manifests itself in many different ways but at its core is an increased sense of self importance and a decreased ability to recognise one's own flaws and detriments. Personally, I believe the use of this word as a shield or defence used to offload blame (as it often is in recent months) represents a glimpse into that particular mindset.

The point where we move from instantly reacting to any criticism with "it wasn't me" or "I didn't do it" towards "that wasn't my intention" or "sorry, I didn't realise..." is an important point in anyone's development as a human being; as an adult. Hiding behind words that place blame upon others rather than oneself is simply a different manifestation of the "I didn't do it" mentality.

It is one of the reasons that personally I struggle to accept the current discourse and methodology of many of those attempting to work towards more even societies. Those people who really are SJW (in the non-perjorative sense) are unfortunately being drowned out by many within their own movements (be it black groups, feminist groups etc) who prefer to hide behind the negativity of 'oppression'. Rather than working to bridge the current divide they look only to pull those on the other side into a shared chasm.

a reply to: TrueBrit

I can understand that point of view, but personally, I know I have mellowed (or come to accept the inevitable) on it in recent years.

Language is an organic, fluid mechanism to communicate that is inherently rooted within the cultural context in which it is used. Regional dialects are a perfect example of this. As a native scouser I know there are whole reams of words and phrases which if I were to use in my current location would be met with blank-eyed incomprehension, yet just an hour down the M6 would be understood perfectly.

Shakespeare; that model and bastion of the English language was rightly criticised in his own time for creating new words and phrases which were seen as modern and vulgar yet now seem to form a critical part of the rich tapestry of heritage that this language possesses. One can make an argument that one of the reason's for English's success as a global language is its ability to change and incorporate the new. It is inherently a bastardised language filled with leftover Greek, Latin, French and German.

The alternative is the Academie Francaise approach. Attempting to stifle modern development and creativity by setting an authorised version of the language upon a pedestal and guarding it closely. The result is that French teens are spending more and more time conversing in English. Attempting to guard the language actually speeds up its demise!

a reply to: cheesyleps

In effect, anyone saying that they have been 'triggered' by something (usually trivial and usually as a form of defence of their own actions) then they are signposting that they are not fully in control of their own emotions and are unable to take responsibility for their own actions (which is exactly what happens in PTSD and is why it is such a powerful disorder).

And again you correctly point out a drawback in our understanding of what makes us tick(another word going back to a time when the newly invented clock was taken as the symbol of human nature).
And yes, I agree that they are excusing themselves from taking responsibility for their own action. But let me think a moment and muse here if you will.

The question of just how much of our actions are and are not subject to what we like to think of as free will, and hence need to take responsibility for, is a question that is now being warred over in judicial courts. At just what point is an individual responsible for their actions. As a society I guess we are waiting for those answers, but for me those answers are much more paramount.

To me, the issue is not that I am in control or not in control of my own thoughts and actions. My thoughts respond to previous thoughts and previous thought patterns that I have either consciously or unconsciously accepted over my life time. And while I do not lay claim to much of what I think as being original with myself, I do believe that drawing the line between thought and action is the chalk line.

As we think and at times get excited and confrontational it is that moment where our thoughts need to rest, to take a breath, to reflect rather than react. Yeah, acting out our generally failed trigger moments are failures of will, failures of our own consciousness. So, I personally use the trigger concept, if not the word, for my own self development. When I recognize those moments in myself I find them to be tools to releasing myself from my own antagonisms. Calling out others as being triggered is useless. All it does is infuriate the other who has no recognition of them within themselves.

That is I think. As I said, I was just musing for a moment and how pertinent any of that was is questionable. Thanks for the sounding board.

a reply to: cheesyleps

I believe your inference is unfounded. PD's are debilitating for those who suffer from them and to use them to make a link between a decline in empathy and an increase in narcissism is entirely confusing. Would it interest you to know that NPD's or narcissism in general has been on the rise for decades?
While i believe the need to fit in has led to people adopting words that they previously didn't use (at least in the context it is currently being used in) this in no way means that these people will or have developed a PD. You can be a narcissist without having a mental illness is all i'm saying.