“Trigger.” That’s one of the latest buzzwords leftists are using to explain why free speech only applies when they like it. If you say something a lefty doesn’t want to hear and she goes nuts, it’s your fault because you “triggered” her.

For example, earlier this month this happened at the University of California Santa Barbara when a professor didn’t like a pro-lifer’s sign:

The prof, Mireille Miller-Young, now faces vandalism, battery, and robbery charges. And if the report from the UCSB Police Department is any indication, she’s having a tough time admitting she might have done something wrong.

Some highlights from the report:

“In essence, Miller-Young told me that she felt ‘triggered’ by the images on the posters.”

“Miller-Young said that she found this material offensive because she teaches about women’s ‘reproductive rights’ and is pregnant.”

“[T]he situation became ‘passionate’ and… other students in the area were ‘triggered’ in a negative way by the imagery.”

“Miller-Young said that she ‘just grabbed [the sign] from this girl’s hands… I’m stronger so I was able to take the poster.’”

“The poster had been taken back to her office… Miller-Young said that she was ‘mainly’ responsible for the poster’s destruction because she was the only one with scissors.”

“Because the poster was upsetting to her and other students, she felt that the activists did not have the right to be there.”

“I asked if she felt anything wrong had happened this afternoon. Miller-Young said that she did not know enough about the limits of free speech to answer my question.”

“Miller-Young argued that she set a good example for her students… likened her behavior to that of a ‘conscientious objector.’”

“I asked Miller-Young what right the group had violated. Miller-Young responded, ‘My personal right to go to work and not be in harm… I work here, why do they get to intervene in that?’”

So there you have it. If you don’t like what someone is saying and you’re stronger than her, you can do whatever you want. And at all times, you are the victim. Because you’ve been “triggered.” Other people’s rights end where your right not to be “triggered” begins.

Speaking of Orwellian euphemisms for shutting people up, Miller-Young is being supported by a group called UCSB Microagressions. In case the term is unfamiliar, “microaggression” is another way of saying, “I don’t like what you just said to me, however harmless and innocent it might be, so I’m going to tell on you.”

UCSB Microaggressions’ statement begins:

We, as students of UCSB, are in solidarity with Professor Miller-Young and urge our student body, staff, faculty, and community members to provide as much support as possible. We do not condone the hate speech and media attention she has been actively receiving.

You can read the rest here, if you think that’s a good use of your precious time on earth. The point is that they think Miller-Young’s behavior is justifiable because she was “triggered” by this “microaggression.”

Wouldn’t it be great to do whatever you feel like and then blame the victim? It’s easy: Just enter academia.

Just hope the victim doesn’t get you on video.

(Hat tip: Tom Blumer)