Georgina Hope, 28, an actress from London, was wiping away tears. “I felt sick most of the time. It was the gore and the commitment of the performers. You feel part of it, they really get you involved.”
from Oscar Quine, ‘Got the stomach for Titus Andronicus?‘, The Independent, 2nd May 2014
the speeding van, the deafening noise of glass and metal exploding around me. For four nights in a row, I relived the shock of that van as it slammed into the passenger side of the car, where I was sitting. These were not like any memories I have ever had. I had not sought them, and they had not been triggered by some external stimulus—a smell or taste or sight or sound. They just came, and when they came, they were not in the past but in the present. The thing that had happened, happened again.
Siri Hustvedt, The Shaking Woman, or, A History of my Nerves (London: Sceptre, 2010) p. 43
Please note! In keeping with Shakespeare’s play our production of Titus Andronicus includes scenes of sexual violence and mutilation. Some audience members may be upset by the scenes and parental guidance is strongly advised.
Cambridge Live Tickets, ‘Cambridge Shakespeare Festival – Titus Andronicus’
At one of the most dreadful moments of King Lear, in which we have watched untold horror, a son tells his father who has had his eyes gouged out: ‘Men must endure their going hence, even as their coming hither.’ […] If we can not ‘endure’ reading or studying such works, how can we be expected to endure the very real tragedies which afflict our world — and to do so with the dignity of those we most admire?
A. N. Wilson, ‘Cambridge Students who need “trigger warnings” about sex and murder in Shakespeare may as well need Noddy’
Cognitive behavioral therapists treat trauma patients by exposing them to the things they find upsetting (at first in small ways, such as imagining them or looking at pictures), activating their fear, and helping them habituate (grow accustomed) to the stimuli.
Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, The Coddling of the American Mind (London: Allen Lane, 2018) p. 29
Direct exposure therapy needs a great deal of preparation in order for you, as the client, to endure the process without experiencing overwhelming anxiety, suicidal thoughts, or intense fear. […] However, the extent of pain that can be caused by exposure therapy or overexposure to the traumatic event is too great to include i t as part of the work in this workbook. This description of exposure therapy is included here strictly as information about another way to process what has happened to you.
Mary Beth Williams and Soili Poijula, The PTSD Workbook 3rd edn (Oakland, California: New Harbinger, 2016) p. 88
Severe emotional reactions triggered by course material are a signal that students need to prioritize their mental health and obtain evidence-based, cognitive-behavioral therapies that will help them overcome PTSD.
Richard McNally, quoted in The Coddling of the American Mind p. 29
When you start the film, begin it at the point just prior to the traumatic event, seeing yourself as you were before it occurred. Remember, you are sitting in the movie theater to watch the film, but you are also in the projection room watching yourself in the theater as you watch the film. Play the film at its normal speed. Stop the film when you realized you were going to survive or when your memory begins to fade.
PTSD Workbook, p. 65
“Can I go now?” I asked.
“Come here,” he said. “Kiss me good-bye.” It was a date to him. For me it was happening all over again.
I kissed him. Did I say I had free will? Do you still believe in that?
Alice Sebold, Lucky (London: Picador, 2002) p. 21
A pattern, precedent, and lively warrant
For me, most wretched, to perform the like.
—Die, die, Lavinia, and thy shame with thee,
And with thy shame thy father’s sorrow die!
William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, 5.3.43-6
Truly it’s horrible and unnerving to fall victim to a point and shriek assault by an hysterical, vengeful, feminist Social Justice Warrior.
James Delingpole, ‘Delingpole: My Horrible, Horrible Encounter with a “Rape Culture” Cry Bully at Cambridge University’, Breitbart, 30th June 2018
SJW bodysnatchers have penetrated Hollywood, Western govts, college administrations, the video game industry, and a shit ton more
‘@rednek_scholar’, tweet, 8th April 2018
They tolerate our boisterousness, our bad jokes, even our clumsy passes because they recognise that while men have their flaws, our many countervailing virtues generally make the hassle more than worthwhile.
‘Delingpole: My Horrible, Horrible Encounter’
That trunk of humours, that bolting-hutch of beastliness, that swollen parcel of dropsies, that huge bombard of sack, that stuffed cloak-bag of guts, that roasted Manningtree ox with pudding in his belly, that reverend vice, that grey Iniquity, that father ruffian, that vanity in years.
Taken from Milo Yiannopoulos’s book, a.k.a. ‘Exhibit B’: available on New York State Courts’ website, Milo Yiannopoulos vs Simon & Schuster, case number 654668 (2017), p. 56
What really frightens and dismays us is not external events themselves but the way in which we think about them. It is not things that disturb us, but our interpretation of their significance.
Lukianoff and Haidt, The Coddling of the American Mind, p. 33
We could just as easily have quoted Buddha (“Our life is the creation of our mind”) or Shakespeare (“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”) or Milton (“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven”.)
The Coddling of the American Mind, p. 34
methinks
There is an air comes from her. What fine chisel
Could ever yet cut breath?
William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale, 5.3.77-9
Oh, she’s warm!
If this be magic, let it be an art
Lawful as eating.
The Winter’s Tale, 5.3.109-11
discussions about literature 