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Post by tangent on Jul 29, 2014 22:15:36 GMT
So why did university students from several American universities think that warnings were required? This was not one crackpot group.
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 29, 2014 22:56:38 GMT
Because there are interfering wusses everywhere. Attempted censorship is an ongoing American pastime....just think of "Banned in Boston". These students have also probably all been exposed to the sanitized versions of innumerable stories which have been 'adapted' by the likes of Disney. so much so that they now think that they are entitled to sanitized versions.
Also...I have some severe doubts that many of the students actually read the literature. There is an entire ancillary industry associated with secondary and higher education institutions...test preparation...the industry which spawned Cliff Notes.
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Post by ProdigalAlan on Jul 31, 2014 14:02:28 GMT
So why did university students from several American universities think that warnings were required? This was not one crackpot group. In total honesty I would have to surmise that they had either: A) failed to do the background reading that I would expect any university student to do prior to an in depth textual analysis B) failed to understand the very nature of a degree course in literature
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Post by ProdigalAlan on Jul 31, 2014 14:06:47 GMT
How does one decide which books should have warnings? 'Triggers' come in a million different ways, depending on your life experiences. For example, I've just re-read 'The Subtle Knife' (a fantasy book for teenagers) with some trepidation, because of this passage, when one of the characters gets caught by a 'Spectre' which are a bit like a dementors from Harry Potter: 'She felt a nausea of the soul, a hideous and sickening despair, a melancholy weariness so profound she though she was going to die of it. Her last conscious thought was disgust at life: her senses had lied to her; the world was not made of energy and delight but of foulness, betrayal and lassitude. Living was hateful and death was no better, and from end to end of the universe, this was the first and last and only truth.'I first read that years ago when I happened to be coming out of a period of depression. It shook me up badly at the time, as it was closest description of depression I've ever read. Should it have come with a 'trigger' warning? No, the book does not need a trigger warning, but if you are disturbed by any of the aspects of Pullman's writing, just close the book and put it away. You are not studying this as part of a degree course, you're reading it for pleasure and if it does not give you pleasure put it away - we've all done that with a lot of books.
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Post by juju on Jul 31, 2014 15:40:26 GMT
No, the book does not need a trigger warning, but if you are disturbed by any of the aspects of Pullman's writing, just close the book and put it away. You are not studying this as part of a degree course, you're reading it for pleasure and if it does not give you pleasure put it away - we've all done that with a lot of books. Yes, exactly. Or keep reading, as it may even be cathartic and help resolve the feelings. My point was that triggers come in all sorts of places depending on people's life experiences, and can never be planned for.
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Post by Alvamiga on Jul 31, 2014 16:54:51 GMT
These days it could be done with technology. The warnings could all be in a database and all you'd need to do is scan the bar-code. It could then set off a loud klaxon sound if the book is not for you (ideal in a library environment!)
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 31, 2014 18:17:46 GMT
These days it could be done with technology. The warnings could all be in a database and all you'd need to do is scan the bar-code. It could then set off a loud klaxon sound if the book is not for you (ideal in a library environment!) Holy squat, man....That would be a huge metadata nightmare, considering the breadth and depth of types of possible triggers to which juju is referring, somebody would have to input ALL of those warnings to ALL of those potential triggers. I think that verges upon impossibility.
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Post by juju on Jul 31, 2014 18:39:27 GMT
Might make library trips more exciting though
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Post by JoeP on Jul 31, 2014 18:56:16 GMT
Metadata nightmares have rarely prevented governments from embarking on such projects.
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 31, 2014 18:58:11 GMT
Metadata nightmares have rarely prevented governments from embarking on such projects. Embarking...no, they haven't been prevented. Completing such projects are a different matter entirely.
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Post by whollygoats on Jul 31, 2014 19:01:37 GMT
Might make library trips more exciting though LOL....I could see adolescents going to the library just to open books and make lots of library noise.
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Post by Alvamiga on Aug 1, 2014 9:52:19 GMT
Instead of shushing everyone, there would be cries of "Wuss!"
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Post by Alvamiga on Aug 1, 2014 9:53:10 GMT
Metadata nightmares have rarely prevented governments from embarking on such projects. Or Google! They must have more meta data that that!
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