On "Trigger Words" and Mind Control

Recently I was asked on ATS if a certain word was a "trigger word" for me in an attempt to say I was being irrational. It seems to me this term is being used more commonly than before. In fact, in my memory, prior to the last year or two, I've only heard the word used in reference to hypnosis. Given the context I heard it used in, I was assuming it meant that a word was used that was so offensive it provoked an emotional, perhaps violent, response. Apparently, I was somewhat mistaken. Apparently, the term itself can be quite prosaic, it is dependent upon the person hearing it. According to the Urban Dictionary (urbandictionary.com) the term "Trigger Word" is defined as: A word that when you hear it gets your attention. Link to definition

Here is the example it gives:

TextPerson 1(in a convo with someone else): The new episode of "RWBY" was sooo good, you should watch the show.
Person 3(sitting nearby texting): I love RWBY!!! When you brought up RWBY it caught my attention, it's one of my trigger words.

So in this sense, a trigger word can cause a positive emotional reaction as well. I personally haven't seen it used that way, but I'm old and unhip.

So delving a bit deeper on the site, I found the following definition for the word "trigger":

A word used often by idiots on Tumblr to justify their bitchy attitudes, most of whom don't know what a real traumatic experience is.

And the example given:

OMG STAHP SAYING THE WORD "PINEAPPLE"...IT'S MY TRIGGER WORD YOU CIS-LOVING SCUMBAG!!!!!!! RAAAAAAAAAAPE!!!!!!

Link

That seemed a lot closer to how I've been seeing the term used. So I went to Dictionary.com to see what they had to say:

1.
a word that initiates a process or course of action

Link

Correlating the last two definitions lead me back to my original understanding of the word, a word submitted to the subject during a hypnotic trance that would cause a specific action upon being heard after the subject is removed from the trance. Not artfully worded, so a better definition:

A post-hypnotic suggestion is a command you give to your subject which is intended to be triggered sometime after the trance, usually by a phrase you say or by some other signal. It can also given to your subject in such a way that it automatically triggers either at a specific time or in certain circumstances.

Link

I consider myself a fairly mature adult. I alone am responsible for my own emotional reactions. Other than in fight/flight situations, where animalistic instinct kicks in, I should not blame my actions upon the words of someone else. Innumerable are the times that I had corrected my children as they were growing up that no one can make you mad without your choosing to be mad. I've taught my children not to give anyone else that power over them.

Of course, we are emotional beings. There are times and circumstances that many of us lose our cool because someone has "pushed out buttons." However, when I do let my Irish get up, I am the only one responsible for it. It is not a defense to anything I have said or done.

A caveat here: I am not a minority. I'm an educated, white, middle-aged, middle-class male. I do not pretend to put myself in anyone else's shoes. Perhaps this entire post is just me not "checking my privilege".

Having said that, if the use of a word or a combination of words can force you to lose your cool and act irrationally, I suggest you are allowing other people to control you. As the adage goes, "sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me."

So is the growing use of this word an acceptance by the general public, or at least some of the youngsters, that we will allow others to control us? Or is it even more nefarious than that? Not sure of the etymology of the term, but it suggests a person is subject to his will being overridden by use of hypnosis. It suggests mind control.

There are numerous exposés about various forms of mind control and the research into them, which I assume most ATS'ers are familiar with. Whether it be MKUltra, the Tavistock institute, Monarch Mind Control, etc. etc., they all have certain things in common. One method of indoctrination of mind control is appropriate in this discussion:

Brainwashing through Social influence: An individual is placed only among successful “converts” to the abuser or cult, who profess the belief system of the group, while the person is isolated from family and previous support systems and activities.

Link

In my mind, given the current modes of communication, it isn't even necessary to isolate the person from family etc.. People are so electronically insulated, set themselves into these electronic echo-chambers, and have been brainwashed for decades into believing a certain thing, that they are controlled by that idea. Their friends and family believe as they do and the thought is never challenged. If/when they enter higher education, instead of having their norms challenged, they are further inculcated into the mindset.

There are innumerable examples I could give relative to race, ethnic, or religious name calling. To avoid controversy, I won't use any of those. I will give the example of a person who grew up in a white middle-class family in middle-America. The persons parents were union workers, or public employees, or worked for a local business. They'd vote but weren't overly political. However, they love America. They stand and remove their hats for the national anthem. In all ways they respect this great land and what it has provided to so many. Every one, or most everyone, in town agrees. When someone challenges that a particular war the US is involved in might be unjust, they bristle with contempt. Everyone they know and care about echoes the anger.

There are three paths the person can take as the war drags on, little to no progress is made, and the body bags keep coming home. The person can be apathetic, chose to close off his/her mind to counter arguments and remain with the "America, love it or leave it" mentality, or challenge him/herself to look deeper into the issue and see if he may've been wrong.

In a mind control situation there is no option. One sticks to the original belief and allows nothing in that disagrees. Is this occurring? Perhaps? No one should call another a racial slur. However, if one is called a racial slur, can one choose to ignore it?

The fact that the term used to describe this situation is straight out of hypnotic suggestion/mind control is amazing to me. Are there college professors using this term in a way that deems it acceptable. Are there politicians? Parents?

Was this term used as leakage from a mind control program? Can we say that people are not being hypnotized by their smartphones? Or is this the same argument our parents made about tv?

More musing than theory. I look forward to any comments/additions.

a reply to: TobyFlenderson

"Perhaps this entire post is just me not "checking my privilege".

I think you have the definition correct.....the quoted phrase got my attention and I felt a little triggered. I have just composed myself enough to make this reply.

S&F nice well thought out thread.


I'll be the jerk in the room who points out "triggering" used to only happen to people who legitimately have PTSD, or Anxiety disorders or people who suffer Migranes or Allergies or Epilepsy. I'll assume it originally came from the Medical field and has now morphed into "whatever you need it to be".

Sadly it's overuse has rendered it meaningless.
Sometimes using your Doctors buzzwords goes badly.

a reply to: TobyFlenderson

Humans love patterns, so when a pattern is broken we tend to want to fix or restart that pattern. A "trigger" could be a break in the pattern that causes one to act to restore the pattern. Like a bowl of green M&M's with one red one at the bottom. The red M&M is the trigger that cause one to dig through the bowl to pull out the red M&M, preserving the uniformity of the all green bowl.

Pattern conditioning is what I thing is going on with this all or nothing mentality that the media puts out. Once you get a majority of people on one side it is easy to start sorting out the red M&M's. So once we get a nice green bowl of M&M's anything that is not green is a trigger.

There are certain things that an M&M can say which makes them part of the bowl. If anything or anyone says or acts different then what's allowed that's a trigger for the group and individuals in the group to react.

Humans also have a deep need to belong, so they will attach themselves to any group that gives them positive attention.
So if your not giving positive attention pulse you use words or actions that are not accepted by the group then the individual will feel obligated to defend the group making sure to distance themselves as far as they can from anything that might look like a red M&M. Also confirming thier loyalty to the green M&M's, ensuring the pattern is maintained. This bring about confirmation bias, circular reasoning, hypocritical behavio we see happening all over social media.

Not sure if that makes any sense but something I have observed.

Great thread thanks for posting.

a reply to: TobyFlenderson

Interesting.

I know for a fact I definitely have both positive and negative internal reactions to certain words, but thank heavens my logic filter is there to help mediate my reaction. I generally try to remain calm and stoic, and can't really thing of any "trigger word" per se that would launch me into a tirade like some folks present themselves to their associations.

What I don't understand about some folks in the Tumblr community is how they always seem to voluntarily fly into a fit over what they perceive to be their "trigger".

In a case of true Mind Control scenarios, the subject wouldn't even be consciously aware of such a thing. The very fact that these individuals claiming "triggers" respond the way they do shows a voluntary consent of sort, an awareness of the situation, but it's almost as if they pride themselves on an opportunity to fly off the handle at minutia....or at least that is how it comes across to me.

Any sane and rational person wouldn't immediately react in such a manner to a mere word....unless of course they have so ingrained a negative association to such themselves as a way to cause a dramatic scene and attempt to rationalize their explosive tempers and antisocial outbursts.

When it comes to the spoken word, however, INFLECTION has a lot to do with how one reacts to a word.

If the word in question is delivered with malice and/or hateful overtones, it is more likely to be received and responded to negatively. The same word said in a friendly or lighthearted manner would have a different and opposite effect.

I think these kids on Tumblr who lash out over a written word are responding to their internal narrator, which, with a little cognitive behavioral therapy and focus of willpower, they can easily move past a negative internal association.

The problem is, most give the impression that they don't want to lose their "triggers".

In a way, they are convinced it sets them apart and makes them special, in a socially dysfunctional sort of way.

Honestly, as someone who experiences an unwanted and disabling mental illness every day, I cannot for the life of me understand why so many youths would voluntarily seek to create a schizoid mentality voluntarily for attention.

I really hope all this "trigger" outbursts are just a phase, a trend of sorts, and they eventually grow out of their obsessive fascinations and grow into adulthood with a little more grace and dignity in regards to their overall attitudes and social contributions.

Regardless of what may or may not come to pass, it certainly is an interesting phenomena.

a reply to: TobyFlenderson

Like Caver78, I think it probably came from a medical field, but how it became widespread, I don't know.

I think it was probably used first by a pseudo-intellectual in an effort to validate their emotions (by likening their emotional reaction to something that demands special care). But because of the absurdity of such an argument, I think it was picked up and used as an insult: as a way to call someone mindless and without self-control or as a way to say that someone's irrationally is a symptom of a deeper, more systemic, disorder (but only in name [calling]).

Just to clarify: I think every action we make is "triggered", even thinking itself is where we are "triggered" to use our free will and awareness to choose, and so the use of trigger/triggered: it should only be thought of legitimately when referring to actual disorders and symptoms thereof. I mean, you can't use "triggered" so broadly and expect special treatment - that too, is irrational - instead, you should just stop being irrational and grow up.

p.s. I meant "you" in a nonspecific way - not you, "TobyFlenderson".

a reply to: Caver78

In the medical areas you mentioned, can the triggers be mere words?

Regardless, the point you make is interesting. Instead of some sort of mind control, it could actually be mass mental illness. This raises the obvious question, from where does this seemingly widespread mental disorder rise?

a reply to: Observationalist

Many good points. Thank you.

a reply to: GENERAL EYES

Agreed in hoping that it's just a sort of trend in the less mature members of society. Unfortunately, it seems that the behavior, on occasion, is being enabled by more mature and educated folks. What spurred this musing was that when the person asked a word had triggered me, my immediate thought associated it with me being hypnotized.

a reply to: Bleeeeep

Good stuff. In fact the term was used toward me in rhetorical flourish to attempt to denigrate my argument. You're summation is perfect, unfortunately large portions of our society don't seem to get it. Thanks for your comments.

I believe y'all may be beating a dead horse.



Trigger & Bullet

Buck

a reply to: WilliamtheResolute

My attempt was to make the post as apolitical as possible. Perhaps it's my own biases, but it seems to me that the term is more commonly used by people with a particular mindset politically. The use of the phrase you object to was a sort of failsafe attempt to forego any of the political nonsense that would lead the discussion askew.

a reply to: flatbush71

In what sense?

originally posted by: TobyFlenderson
a reply to: WilliamtheResolute

My attempt was to make the post as apolitical as possible. Perhaps it's my own biases, but it seems to me that the term is more commonly used by people with a particular mindset politically. The use of the phrase you object to was a sort of failsafe attempt to forego any of the political nonsense that would lead the discussion askew.

No explanation necessary, I just happened to find the use of the phrase humorous and chose to responded in kind. I don't get triggered...I usually am the trigger.

a reply to: TobyFlenderson

A lot of the recent successes of 'trigger' words were born in the playground.

School kid singing: Johnny is gay! Johnny is gay!

Johnny: I am NOT gay!

School kid: Aww what's up Joh...nny? You gonna cry??

The (ahem) 'adult' version is the same. Gay is now 'snowflake' and 'you gonna cry' has been switched for 'Awww you need a safe space?'

The adults enjoy it just as much as the young children. We had thousands of posts on ATS doing this for months and some still do.

The broader points of your OP have interested me since the buzzwords and 'triggering' started. Being on ATS means seeing a buzzword appear in a handful of posts and then be in every other post 48 hours later. Dozens of posts and threads appear with the same key words. 'Snowflake' was the most virulent and 'safe space' was an obvious partner to it - like salt and pepper. 'Triggered' has brought joy to many because it combines the play ground beauty of pulling someone's hair and turning it on them with the all-time classic, "Are you gonna cry?"

I've often wondered where they originated from. I mean, I've got a pretty good idea of the 'where,' but it's the *who* or the *what* that really catches my attention.

These words have usefully cleaved the political debate into genuine, existential division. They arrived at the right time to turn the gas up and raise the temperature of political discourse. Don't get me wrong, most people use them because they're very useful and not because of anything deeper. The source itself is the point of interest for a ruminator like me.

a reply to: TobyFlenderson

In the linked video, Vinny Eastwood is talking with Douglas Dietrich, military Hostorian about the super solider (victim child) program and how the US Military works them.

Just to help you understand how people can be set off by key words here is a small excerpt from it.

Super soldiers start out in life as orphans in orphanages.

A child is taken from an orphanage and taken to an animal refuge and chooses, for example, a kitten, This child is allowed to have the kitten until the child bonds with the kitten. The controllers then make the child kill the kitten under threat of severe physical pain.

They then go on to another orphanage and are encouraged to bond with another orphan. When the bonding has taken place, the targeted child this ordered to kill the child they have bonded with. All the while the child is having code words inserted into their subconsciouness.

When put into ‘service’ such as into child prostitution to politicians, the politician is then blackmailed but is also then told that by the use of code words the victim child does not even remember, they the controllers, can get the child to kill the politician or other target of corruption.

This places the corrupted politician is into the hands of the controllers (the US military) for ever as they can threaten to destroy not only the politician themselves but also their son or daughter politician, or their son or daughters political aspirations.

The victim child being an orphan, as no family to turn to at any time, so they are totally at the mercy of the controllers.

The politician or other target is always photographed with the child on numerous occasions. This ensures the politicians will always vote for more money for the military, as it’s the military that runs this program.

From: Vinny Eastwood 27 March US Military Pedophile Rings Pull The Presidents Strings_2013,

www.youtube.com...

Link

a reply to: Azureblue

That sounds like the movie "Kingsman: The Secret Service".

Too close to be a coincidence actually. Someone is using someone else's work.

a reply to: TobyFlenderson

I completely agree with you.

In my opinion a lot of it is lazy, thoughtless behavior and poor social conditioning (society and self generated).

Kandinsky summed it up the phenomenon nicely.

The behavior does seem to be intrinsically hardwired in a lot of folks subconsciously, a learned behavior they never grew out of it.

Peer pressure, or group identity may be a contributing factor.
The desire to fit in as the motivator.

It's almost like then someone hears the jingle for a specific product and fill in the rest of the sales pitch automatically in ones mind, advertising catch phrases, song clips, etc....automatic stimulus recall, automatic ingrained response. Repetition and association has a lot to do with it in a lot of cases.

Just curious - when you say you had an encounter with your own trigger word, do you mean you had the sensation of recall of being hypnotized previously in a different encounter or was it more of a sensation that the person was trying to hypnotize you at that immediate point?

Any elaboration on that part would be greatly appreciated.

Look into NLP. Its called Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and its used on us daily by the MSM, end even our bosses, managers, and superiors in the work place, and even salesmen and repairmen.
Its not anything supernatural, just some very slick ways to impose a certain reaction from an individual.
For example, when watching the news you hear the phrase: "BREAKING NEWS" youre ears perk up and they now have your attention. Using another MSM example, if they wish to get you in a defensive mode, they will throw in a phrase about "the children", like "who will protect our children from this....", or such and such allegedly, "took place in front of children".
The word 'children' will (for the most part) put people on the defense because they think of their children. Or in my case where i dont have any children, i think of my nephew and neice, or friends' children. Thinking that children may be exposed to anything unpleasant makes us want to defend them.
Workplace examples vary from job to job. Larger companies even send their higher ups to courses on how to use NLP to increase production, loyalty, and dedication.
Check out NLP on a simple google search, and youll be quite suprised!
Its just a lil psychology used in a non conventional manner.

a reply to: Bleeeeep

But in the movie, the bullets were blanks. This entire super-soldier thing seems to be based solely on individual testimony with no hard or circumstantial evidence to back it up. So I try to stay away until something tangible comes out.