basilisks
Basilisks are information or questions where even hinting at their existence provides (potentially problematic or unwanted) information. They are so tough to deal with because you can’t tell anyone about a basilisk, due to their very nature.
Examples:
- A book includes depictions of eating disorders. The book begins with “content warning, this book discusses eating disorders”, but it’s possible that in extreme cases, the content warning itself could cause anxiety in people.
- You want to be romantic with someone, but you don’t know if they feel the same way. Asking “Would you like to go on a date with me?” will tell them about your feelings.
- You are angry at someone, but don’t know if they can handle a serious conversation because of their mental state. Asking “are you ok to talk about something serious” will let them know that there’s something serious to be talked about, and may even trigger anxiety if you correctly assumed they are in a bad mental state.
So much social anxiety comes from dealing with basilisks.
And no, I will not explain why this note is called basilisks, as that is a basilisk in itself.
