Am I the only one disgusted by this "triggered" internet meme? (TWs for days)

[Errorzone]

Forgive me if this thread is irrelevant to this section, I'm new here and a moderator can feel free to move it to wherever (s)he feels it would be most appropriate.

Perhaps I'm just an inferior p**sy for having emotions, as I've been told so many times before, but I've noticed something pretty sickening and pervasive on the internet in recent months that virtually no one is talking about, and that is the fact that being "triggered" has somehow become a sick joke in the eyes of so many.

So let me give a little context: "triggered" is an internet meme that's often used by keyboard fascists who associate PTSD with gender egalitarians and so-called "social justice warriors" (calling someone an "SJW" is basically the 21st century equivalent of calling them "n**ger-lover", if you've ever read To Kill a Mockingbird). The implication is that a person who's offended by anything a person says - regardless of whether it's for a good reason or not - is a weakling and crybaby and subhuman. This revolting attempt at humor essentially paints people with PTSD as the laughing stock of the whole world, acknowledging that the very notion of triggers originates from PTSD and still carrying an explicit intention to do emotional harm. Plus, it is a double insult, as it connects this mental illness with the aforementioned SJWs (yeah, as if believing in an egalitarian society makes me a terrible person. Go f**k yourself.)

Look, these are the kind of people who want to make The Turner Diaries a reality, and they're far more common than you would think. I've seen their atrocities first hand. They bully people into killing themselves and then celebrate their deaths. They believe that things like the Holocaust, rape, acid throwing and lynchings are justified. They have a pathological obsession with ripping apart ANYone who is against the oppression of people of color, LGBT people, women, the mentally ill and disabled, the poor, Muslims, Jews, etc. Some of my friends have screamed out at entire groups of people to their faces that they deserve to be pumped full of Zyklon B. God forbid I call them out on it though, because they'll scream bloody murder about how I'm a "degenerate" and "cuck". Am I the only person who gives a damn about just how cruel this is, and that they're getting away with it?!

My mother savagely beat me after finding out (without my consent) that I was bisexual. She mocked me as a "diaper-wearing sissy" constantly. I never knew what it was like to have emotional validation for my identity, or just the basic acceptance that so many others take for granted, and because of this (and a myriad of other factors) I developed CPTSD and depression. After I came of age and exited those circumstances, this sadistic culture of bigotry and defamation is the world I had to enter. It's literally adding insult to injury.

Sometimes I feel like nothing in this world is worth saving, not even myself. Especially not myself. I constantly am bombarded with exposure to this cancerous herd mentality which defames people with an ounce of logical thought, who see what's wrong with the world and actually have the audacity to stick up for the disenfranchised. I can hardly begin to even comprehend the disgusting heartlessness people exhibit, and the fact that this is reality. I don't believe in supporting freedom for the people who have consistently denied it to others. My only criticism of the people that are accused of being social justice warriors is that they aren't literal warriors. I think it's high time that the fascists are given a taste of their own medicine and the oppressors finally become the oppressed for once. If your ideology advocates the outright genocide of minorities, then you are the only one who deserves to be the victim of genocide.

I'm sorry if this comes off as ranting or angry. But I really am so paralyzed by the heartlessness of others, and am sickened that I'm unable to call them out on it. Seems as if anywhere I go abusers and traitors follow. But can anyone relate to how it seems like the whole world has made a sick joke out of the fact that you exist? Am I just crazy, or is it a little messed up that compassion and reason are incessantly mocked and seen as signs of weakness?

[mourningdove]

But can anyone relate to how it seems like the whole world has made a sick joke out of the fact that you exist? Am I just crazy, or is it a little messed up that compassion and reason are incessantly mocked and seen signs of weakness?

Yes, I can relate and do think that is more than a little messed up.

You are not "crazy" at all. There are a lot of ignorant, insensitive people out there who can't deal with their own problems and therefore scapegoat others - usually people who are in a more vulnerable position than themselves. I think there is good reason to be angry about that.

And it was so sad to read about the way your mother treated you. That was so wrong of her. You are worthy of respect and love exactly as you are. There is nothing weak about being sensitive to the pain of others.

Thanks for the info about trauma having become a joke in some very troubled and misguided circles. I was not aware of that, but I can't say that I'm all that surprised.

[Tewaz]

I'm right there with you!
I grew up being called a "pansy," or "sissy," or much worse, for being compassionate (real men don't love animals, they kill and eat them, etc..), so the exact attitude you describe sends me into a rage as well. Since when did being a decent * person equate to being a p**sy?
Don't let it get you down. I spent my whole life believing them, till I realized that they are the cowards, the ones who live I constant fear and lash out at everything different than them.
It is a mark of courage to envision a better world and to work and live to make it happen. It is bravery to show compassion when callousness is so much easier and less risky.
It is a mark of strength, in a world that tries it's best to make us hard and thick with callous and scar, to refuse to be hard, to choose to be kind and gentle and to show empathy.
That's a real man, a real woman of character and strength and courage and integrity, not that bulls**t Hobbesian barbarism that passes for mcTough these days.

[kbell]

The schoolyard bullies have grown up...and now technology allows them to hide in a room and attack the world and vent their self loathing without fear of so much as a return punch.
My best friend is a gay man from a irish catholic family who has mostly disowned him. Whether it is a church or a computer screen, or countless other dark corners, it seems when they have something to hide behind, humans turn feral and rabidly vicious.
Perhaps why my animals reign supreme in my life..? They are so much more civilized...

Good luck

[Three Roses]

Welcome, kbell! Glad to have you with us. 

[Danaus plexippus]

My gay friends that I went to grammar school with are all dead now. My mother freaked when she found out my friends were gay. This was before AIDS, before Stonewall. I never did understand what upset her so. At the funeral of one of my friends, his father said "I just didn't want his life to be so hard. I only wanted him to have a good life. Stop viewing hate sites. Hate is contagious.

[SweetFreedom]

Vengeance Absolute, I'm really sorry to see all that you have gone through.

I can totally understand where you're coming from. Being traumatized is not a joke. And there is a lot of Cyber-Bullying out there fore sure. I see it a lot on many of the sites I'm on.

But I think it's also important to not take the internet personally, and to take it in context too. And to separate out all the "cuck" talk and general shaming (which is pretty obviously other people being abusive or venting online because they are wounded themselves)-- to separate all that from the rebuttal against the extremes of SJW rhetoric. I do think SJW's can be over the top, and having an angry rebuttal to that does kind of make sense.

To be honest, I often see it the other way around-- that many times, there are people who may not legitimately have PTSD who are hiding behind 'triggers' as a way to hide from difficult discourse. It becomes a shield they hide behind.  And that wouldn't be so bad if they were fair in their approach to talking out issues. But often, these "SJW's" become abusive themselves and lash out at ordinary people in the status quo for feeling or thinking the way they do. One peoples set of conditioning attacking another people's set of conditioning...  So the 'language' of PTSD becomes a tool for manipulation, and there are a lot of people who are on the receiving end of this kind of double-talk and abuse who are fed up with it, and rightly so. There is a significant chunk of SJW's who behave like abusive covert-narcissists. It's sad and counterproductive to any healthy dialog about collective change. I've lost friends who went off the deep end of SJWism and began to attack me just to prove their politics.

I think It's really easy for victims to become transgressors if they are not doing their healing work. That's how the cycle continues. Most transgressors were victimized too-- which isn't to say that lets have a pity party for those who harm people-- but rather, people who take a victim role can easily become tyrants that harm others. It's a very tempting thing to do when we are hurting, and there are a lot of SJW's out there that are clearly organized around feeling hurt, and demanding that the world adapts to THEM so that they do not have to feel pain. But that's insane. To the people who are not SJW's, this is offensive because everybody has pain. And yet the rest of the world does not demand that everybody stops and bends to their sensitivities. The world can be a tough place, and life wont' always adapt to our sensitivities.

To me, healing work is about becoming balanced and whole. And I think that means we must learn to be strong as well as vulnerable. I think it's part of the work of traumatized people that we learn to not take our pain out on the world, but become strong enough to deal with the world in a healthy, sane, balanced way. It's my goal to be in touch with my sensitivities and honor them-- to speak them when necessary, to take action to protect and honor myself-- but at the same time, own them as mine and not take them out on everybody around me. I think that when we do this, we become forces of healing out there in the world.

I think it's unconscious and disrespectful for SJW's to cling to PTSD language from a place of abusing the term. It minimizes the real thing. I think that anyone who does legitimately have PTSD should do our best to take ownership of that and not beat other people up with our own victimhood. We need to heal first. If SJW's want to engage in emotionally charged political conversations about Racism, Gender Politics, etc, then they need to be in a strong enough place to communicate from sanity, open mindedness, empathy, and vulnerability. And if they're not, then they shouldn't be in public discourse IMO. It's okay to be wounded. But it's not okay to take our wounds out on the world.

If all that were the case, I don't think there would be so much talk about "crybabies"-- if it were clear that these people were doing their best to be fair and strong, to be respectful of people who disagree with them.

And remember that it's part of the wounding to be caught up in what other people think and feel too much. That's the codependency creeping in. There will always be haters out there on the internet. People can be nasty (when they haven't healed themselves). And so we've got to be smart about what we allow in to impact us. And as we heal, these kinds of ridiculous things impact us less and less. It does hurt to see all the unnecessary emotional violence out there in the world. Anonymity is a blessing and curse.

[samantha19]

Yeah the triggered meme pisses me off so much. I see it a lot where it seems to be mocking Tumblr kids, like people think we say we get triggered because it's cool / hipster / trendy. A lot of these same people are mocking the LGBT+ community and those fighting for social justice (which is perfectly decent and worthy and those taking the piss just want to silence them and be a * because they're * grr).

I can't say triggered to people without cringing now, or explaining myself in detail about it. It's fed my inner critic and wariness.

The self hatred I get when triggered by people mocking triggers is darkly ironic.

I just think of what others would think a lot, and I feel like they would find it hilarious and pathetic that I believe I'm triggered by them mocking the concept of being triggered. It's disgusting really, if people would only stop and think about what they're saying, stop and care.

I do believe that some people are arseholes doing it but also that others just pick up on what others say without thinking, a lot of people aren't very consious.

It makes me so uncomfortable though and it should be taken more seriously.

[samantha19]

Also I just read that post fully and I wanna say the people who have mocked you in your life are also *.

You sound like a caring, considerate, smart individual who has unfortunately been surrounded by very conservative, nasty people.

Have you ever heard of activist burnout? I know you haven't said you're actively fighting for social justice or whatever, but even learning about it and being hyper aware can take its toll. It can be healthy to take a step back for self care, maybe that could help.

I recently watched a YouTube video where someone spoke about our culture wide perception on the world. It feels like it's going to sh*t doesn't it? You watch the news / read social media - more death, more cruelty, more destruction. But in reality the world is better than it's been before it seems, the good stories just don't get all the attention. According to this video at least poverty has massively decreased and there were other things, like healthcare massively improving etc.

There are good people too, I like the story about this little boy being upset by the news and his mum saying "but look for the helpers. There are always helpers." And it's so true. People come out in their masses to help following atrocity. People are increasingly educated on social issues and changing their lifestyles and attitudes as a result of our good friend the Internet.

Pete Walker speaks about how non abused children grow up with a sense of love and wellbeing so the horrible news is another world to them, yano? But for the abused child it becomes like "oh my gosh, the entire world is bad!"

But it's not. Perception is everything and ours has been repetitively tarnished.

I know what it is to feel consumed by the darkness but the stars always come back.

All the best in seeing them again <3