"A “trigger” is a form of overreaction crucial to the conflation of Conflict with Abuse. We react constantly through life. Breathing, noticing, thinking, swallowing, feeling, and moving are all reactions. Most reactions are not really observed because they are commensurate with their stimuli, but a triggered reaction stands out because it is out of sync with what is actually taking place. When we are triggered, we have unresolved pain from the past that is expressed in the present. The present is not seen on its own terms. The real experience of the present is denied. Although reacting to the past in the present may make sense within the triggered person’s logic system, it can have detrimental effects on those around them who are not the source of the pain being expressed, but are being punished nonetheless. They are acting in the present, but are being made accountable for past events they did not cause and cannot heal. The one being falsely blamed is also a person, and this burden may hurt their life. The person being triggered is suffering, but they often make other people suffer as well. There is narcissism to Supremacy, but there is also a narcissism to Trauma, when a person cannot see how others are being affected. Although the triggered person may be made narcissistic and self-involved by the enormity of their pain, both parties are in fact equally important. And it is the job of the surrounding communities to insist on this."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
LGBT peopleLGBT rights activistsWomen academics from the United StatesWomen activists from the United StatesActivists from New York City
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sarah_Schulman
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Sarah Schulman
98 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Sarah Schulman →
Related Quotes
"The police are often the source of violence, especially in the lives of women, people of color, trans women, sex work…"
"In the embodiment of the good group, through the therapist, a person can be helped to understand their own motivation…"
"There are options, and even though anxiety may make the reality of choices elusive, they still exist. Recognize the e…"
"Resisting unjustified punishment is not Abuse. And people who are being asked to stand by and passively allow shunnin…"
"What was even more distracting and confusing was that the job of punishing the expressions of patriarchy, racism, and…"
"Anxiety is best addressed by support and love in trying to understand those reasons, not the false “loyalty” of aggre…"
"We should not isolate, denounce, and punish people for being human."
"When anxiety is at the wheel, we tragically project, blame, and then separate. We flee reality, which is the fact of …"
"Truths can be multiple and are revealed by the order of events. [...] Each moment is a consequence of the previous mo…"
"We have learned over and over again, through the almost mechanistic co-optation of a wide range of radical movements …"