The Liberal Canadian government, led by Justin Trudeau, has again made a mockery of itself.
After siding with social justice warriors in declaring GamerGate to be a sexist movement, along with more recently refusing to respond to any future attack on its citizens by ISIS, they have bowed to the leftist ideal of “trigger warnings.” According to MRCTV, they’ve created a national crisis hotline for anyone triggered by reading certain government websites.
The warning on the top of the website for the “National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls” informs the reader that it “may cause trauma … due to its troubling subject matter” and that the Canadian government recognizes the need for safety measures to “minimize the risks associated” with the article.
Warnings about traumatic content are not new, nor are they all entirely pointless. When watching the news, it is common to hear a warning before violent or disturbing scenes are played on screen – given that children may be watching these programmes, this is an entirely legitimate usage.
Likewise, warnings about flash photography serve a purpose in preventing people with epilepsy from suffering an attack. However, the new usage of trigger warnings that is perpetuated by leftists and implemented by the Canadian government in this case goes much further than any of the above mentioned examples.
Firstly, reading an article online is hugely different to casually watching a news network and a story suddenly being mentioned. You have to actively visit the site containing this material. Secondly, and more importantly, a slight content warning is hugely different to setting up a hotline for anyone who is “triggered.”
A 24/7 free hotline for people who are a little upset over reading something is a massive waste of taxpayers’ money and steps over the line from being generally courteous to viewers/readers into the government providing a security blanket to people who can’t handle their feelings.
Now we have to ask, what exactly is the next step? So far, the Internet has been a good predictor of what mainstream society will accept. Given that there are requests for triggers to be added for things like certain types of food, then soon we may see Mr. Trudeau offering his personal mobile number up to those who felt fat-shamed by government health websites. Only time will tell.
Jack Hadfield is a British libertarian writer who just can’t control his cishet white male privilege. You can follow him on Twitter here: @ToryBastard_.
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