Recently, a friend posted the following meme about the Boston Tea Party on Facebook after the presidential inauguration:
There was no commentary from her but there were paragraph long comments.
Here is the one that stuck out to me the most:
Don't want anyone replying to your liberal garbage views? Don't post liberal garbage views!! Unless this space is safe, I will leave snowflake.
Historically, the term was used as a political insult in the 1860s to describe white people who did not support the abolition of slavery.
Currently, "Special Snowflake" and "Snowflake" are jabs thrown at social justice warriors, liberals, and millennials on social media.
There are two definitions. The first reference of "special snowflake" appears in the movie "Fight Club", which means to believe you are unique, special.
The most recent definition of "snowflake" is used by aggressive internet trolls and white supremacists:
"A person is too easily insulted or is too sensitive to the opinions; people who are incapable of using their intellect and their words to make their point in an intelligent manner."
I am not offended by this insult. I have seen it time and time again.
But I am here to reclaim it. I am redirecting the narrative.
To be a "snowflake" means having the courage to be vulnerable. It means to be empathetic to those around you and to be compassionate towards people in communities different than your own. It means speaking up when there are jokes or threats about taking away the rights of our neighbors and fellow Americans. It means we listen when everyone else is shouting. We hear stories of injustice, hate, oppression, violence, silenceand fear. We understand our privileges, and step aside when necessary so more voices can be heard.
We are not afraid of diverse ideas and opinions. We are afraid of people losing rights to their bodies, religion, lands, safety, and in some cases, their lives.
The First Amendment protects you from being silenced by the government. However, your freedom of speech does not give you freedom from consequences.
So you can keep bullying and harassing us on comment threads...
But you cannot silence the storm.
