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You Couldn’t Make It Up

(244 Posts)
MayBeMaw Mon 29-Nov-21 09:19:18

I sometimes think we need a “You couldn’t make it up” forum.
But in its absence - how about this from the department of stating the bl**ding obvious at a well- known and respected university

Students warned over kidnap scene in ‘Kidnapped’
Trigger warnings have been added to classic novels by the University of Aberdeen, including a warning for students that Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped  involves an abduction
Several Shakespearean texts are among those to have been flagged, as well as two Jane Austen novels and a number of other classics. A trigger warning is a statement that is made before sharing potentially disturbing content
The university, whose alumni include broadcaster Nicky Campbell and Tessa Jowell MP, has told students that Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, presents “sexist attitudes” and its plot centres on a murder A warning about Charles Dickens’s 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities states that it “contains scenes of violence, execution and death
Perhaps their English department could advise on definitions of “kidnap” and “abduction” and how “execution” might have something to do with “death”.
Oh and maybe the History department could lay in copies of the Ladybird Guide to the French Revolution.
But perhaps I am being picky. hmmhmm

PamelaJ1 Mon 29-Nov-21 09:23:25

But MayBMaw surely it obvious that if no warning is given the students will suffer mental health issues.
They must be protected ??‍♀️

Sarnia Mon 29-Nov-21 09:33:08

It gets worse, doesn't it? When you think of some of the violent computer games this age group happily play, it makes no sense to me.

Kalu Mon 29-Nov-21 09:35:43

I have read your post in disbelief Maw. How we all survived without warnings at every turn is remarkable!

Similarly, warnings before viewing a film, TV series.
Contains - Smoking, Alcohol, Sex, etc., etc.! Not necessary when we can just turn off/change channels if we can’t cope with the contents. Duh!

Marmight Mon 29-Nov-21 09:36:26

Aaaw. The wee pets. ?

GrannyGravy13 Mon 29-Nov-21 09:40:45

Flipping heck…

Germanshepherdsmum Mon 29-Nov-21 09:41:20

Cambridge University have done the same. It beggars belief.

Pantglas2 Mon 29-Nov-21 09:44:11

Surely those warnings, if they need to be given, should be issued in primary or secondary school- that’s when I read those books.

These students are adults who’ve grown up with more information at their fingertips than any past generation and they’re being mollycoddled on the final hurdles before real life hits them....lawdy?

MayBeMaw Mon 29-Nov-21 09:49:40

It’s not just the warnings though- ridiculous as they are.
If you read a book called “Kidnapped” - it’s not going to be about knitting patterns is it? The clue might be in the title .
And “execution and death” - tautology or what?
(I’m still racking my brains to think what anybody needs to be warned about in a Jane Austen novel too! )

MaizieD Mon 29-Nov-21 10:00:50

(I’m still racking my brains to think what anybody needs to be warned about in a Jane Austen novel too! )

Me too, Maw.

References to slavery, perhaps?

Or Captain Wentworth's prize money 'earned' by fighting the French, which must have involved death... (nothing changes, does it? We're still fighting the French grin )

annodomini Mon 29-Nov-21 10:01:00

MayBeMaw, All I can think of in Jane Austen's work might be in Pride and Prejudice: Lydia's elopement - under-age sex. hmm

MaizieD Mon 29-Nov-21 10:14:26

annodomini

*MayBeMaw*, All I can think of in Jane Austen's work might be in Pride and Prejudice: Lydia's elopement - under-age sex. hmm

Wasn't she 16 by the time they eloped?

Then there's an absentee father - the love rat Willougby in S & S.

GrannyGravy13 Mon 29-Nov-21 10:20:29

Should A.A.Milnes’ Winnie the Pooh books have a disclaimer as Ee-ore is a manic depressive?

varian Mon 29-Nov-21 10:23:44

I remember reading many utterly gruesome tales from Greek mythology in primary school -with no warnings at all.

Calistemon Mon 29-Nov-21 10:24:57

You Couldn’t Make It Up

But someone, somewhere, somehow has!

???

Cotton wool at the ready!

Peasblossom Mon 29-Nov-21 10:28:40

Moonfleet!

I remember the English teacher giving it to us (age 11) just because of the horror element in it.

(It’s haunted me to this day?)

Parsley3 Mon 29-Nov-21 10:30:32

Michty me, Maw but we should be warned that Mansfield Park contains scenes of bullying and a name that some people may find offensive.
Still, I was comforted by Netflix warning that some programmes contained smoking and therefore was prepared when I had to to avert my eyes.

luluaugust Mon 29-Nov-21 10:33:02

I think I read that Persuasion gives an over romantic view of war!! It is interesting that the GC seem to spend a lot of time in history learning about the WW1 and WW2 and the Cold War, do history teachers spend the whole lesson giving warnings of death and destruction?

Calistemon Mon 29-Nov-21 10:38:26

I hear that Macbeth has been re-written especially for university students.

The witches are just ordinary, happy people dancing round a maypole, there are no murders, ghosts don't appear because no-one dies and everyone has a group hug and lives happily ever after.

The End

Urmstongran Mon 29-Nov-21 10:40:35

Why do they do this? Is it because they fear litigation for ‘mental harm’ or is it all virtue signalling as in ‘look how caring we are and mindful of your sensibilities’? Who sits around a conference table (or tedious Zoom) on fat salaries discussing this nonsense? Whatever is driving this, it’s becoming endemic.

Alegrias1 Mon 29-Nov-21 10:43:23

Why does this make everyone so angry?

Urmstongran Mon 29-Nov-21 10:47:43

I’m not angry. I just think it’s superfluous nonsense.

MaizieD Mon 29-Nov-21 10:48:19

Alegrias1

Why does this make everyone so angry?

Are you going to defend it, Alegrias?

I don't think people are angry about it; just bemused.

And slightly amused by its absurdity.

JaneJudge Mon 29-Nov-21 10:50:50

I suppose it is only like the warnings on the telly about some graphic content which may be upsetting for some viewers.

Lincslass Mon 29-Nov-21 10:52:48

Absurdity rules in University Education today. Poor little darlings, how are they going to survive once away from those hallowed halls.