Hector Martin

Meta-commentary: I think we all need to keep our loop gain under control when it comes to social issues like these. Runaway negative feedback is how society becomes more polarized and oscillates out of control. Discussion is worth having, but keep it positive!

I don't think bringing it up at all is the issue; in this case I think you jumped to assuming malicious intent. I agree it's a stupid/insensitive joke, but I think he's poking fun at those who have (unfortunately) co-opted the term "trigger" to mean "think I don't like".

You used the words "out of his way" and "deliberate"; that implies intent. Sure, intent does not matter if you look at it from purely the point of view of impact, but it does when you're trying to establish a dialogue about the issue.

The way it came across to me is that you implied he knew about psychological triggering and was at best mocking the concept and at worst deliberately trying to invoke a trigger response in certain people.

The thing is, I know for a fact that people have explained the implications of PTSD triggering to him both before and after that incident and he’s taken the view of “I don’t have any responsibility; anything I say will offend _someone_”, and refuses to change.