As a default, trigger warnings are incredibly important. Letting audiences know what potentially triggering things are present in every media form is a nice thing to have. However, I believe it can go too far. For example, if someone who faints at the sight of blood goes to see a horror movie, then yes, I believe they should get to know ahead of time if that movie has graphic violence. In contrast, if someone sees a movie named “Horror Mcbloodyguts the Serial Killer,” there should be some personal responsibility in self-selecting what media you interact with based on your own knowledge of your brain.

As a final point, if you, the reader, ever create a piece of media you intend to share with anyone, and it contains something that might be triggering, put a trigger warning. It does not matter how redundant it seems. If you have to choose between an extra two minutes of effort and potentially triggering your audience, always err on the side of caution. To wrap this up, I don’t control you. You can go see a movie you know will trigger you. But I ask for people to take trigger warnings a bit more seriously. Also, I do control the rights to “Horror Mcbloodyguts the Serial Killer.” I will be copyrighting it later this year; it’s mine.

In the words of Pink Floyd: “We don’t need no thought control” (as stated in “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2”). School censorship is a very important issue, but it mainly boils down to the restriction of information, views and beliefs within school walls. There are several arguments on whether it is a good thing for students, and it is essential to look at both sides to understand what school censorship really means.

Some upsides and pros to school censorship are that it protects students from content that may be harmful to them or others, such as violent, explicit or inappropriate behavior from out-of-school sources. It can also prevent bullying and hate speech towards students, creating a safer and more inclusive learning environment and increasing students’ learning ability.

The cons of school censorship are just as important to look at as the pros, telling two sides to the story. 

One of the biggest cons is that school censorship limits the freedom of student expression in schools, making students unable to share and express their beliefs with classmates and peers, leading them to have narrow-minded thinking later down the line. It also restricts students from discussing important topics that may need to be addressed, even if they may be seen as controversial, like race, gender and politics, which could cause students to be underprepared for life after school. Another con of school censorship is that if students are not allowed to discuss some topics in school, they may turn to faulty sources on the internet that don’t give them appropriate answers and just cause the spread of misinformation should students share what they find online.

A good response to school censorship and censorship in general is the use of trigger warnings. They can help give students warnings about the content they are about to consume, giving them a good idea of what they would and wouldn’t want to hear. Trigger warnings allow students to opt out of something they may not want to be a part of, allowing the students who do want to discuss something to do it freely without the risk of offending someone else.

Weighing both the pros and cons to decide what should and shouldn’t be censored in a school setting is very important to keeping students safe and letting them learn in an environment that benefits them. Students will find information no matter what, but what they do with that information usually depends on the guidelines they’ve learned to follow at school.