Generation 'Snowflake'

[Bluewolf]

The Cambridge Dictionary defines the Snowflake Generation as:-

A way of referring to the type of young people who are considered by some people to be too easily upset and offended

I can get on board with that, especially given the direction that the modern thinking world seems to be moving in.... I don't think a day passes by that we are not reading about something or someone causing offence to someone else and for me it does tip the balance a little bit too far in favour of the over sensitive and over emotional among us.. Being of the older generation I have seen such a huge swing toward these over emotional people who without thinking first react to something rather than pause for breath and give it proper consideration before jumping on the nearest social media platform to air their grievances and condemnations... 

The reason I have put this up is because I was reading an article this morning where one University has drawn up a list of 'trigger words' in books that are likely to cause offence or upset and are demanding their removal from the libraries... There is however a much needed blocker coming in that is attempting to control this... 

Students at some universities have drawn up a list of 'trigger words' and demanded books containing them should be removed from the library, Jo Johnson has said. The universities minister warned institutions they have four months to clamp down on student zealots who restrict free speech on campuses. Mr Johnson said he has seen too many ‘worrying’ incidents of groups trying to ‘stifle those who do not agree with them’.

He warned institutions that they have a duty to intervene and ensure differing points of view can be heard – however controversial.

And speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Johnson said students at one university had created an extensive list of 'trigger words' and demanded any books containing them be removed from the library. 

A new regulator, the Office for Students, will come into being in April 2018 and will have the power to punish universities which do not adequately safeguard free speech. Those falling short could be fined or even deregistered – rendering them effectively unable to operate.

It follows incidents in which student unions and societies have banned speakers because they deemed their views ‘offensive’.

Chairman Sir Michael Barber said the Office for Students will force institutions to allow diverse opinions to be heard amid concerns that some views are being shut down In a speech to the Limmud Festival in Birmingham, Mr Johnson said free speech and open debate must be a central principle of all universities. ‘Universities should be places that open minds not close them, where ideas can be freely challenged,’ he will say. ‘In universities in America and worryingly in the UK, we have seen examples of groups seeking to stifle those who do not agree with them. We must not allow this to happen.

‘Young people should have the resilience and confidence to challenge controversial opinions and take part in open, frank and rigorous discussions.

‘That is why the new Office for Students will go even further to ensure that universities promote freedom of speech within the law.’ As a condition of registration to the Office for Students, the Department for Education is proposing that universities benefiting from public money must show that their governance is consistent with the principle of free speech.

The OfS will have a range of powers if freedom of speech is not upheld, including ‘monetary penalties’ and deregistering institutions. When a university is deregistered it means it is not recognised as an English higher education provider, cannot receive direct Whitehall funding and will not be able to award its own degrees.

Many student unions believe universities need to be ‘safe spaces’ where young people can be shielded from views they may find upsetting. But critics say being shielded from the realities of the world does not prepare students for the challenges they face after graduation.

However, Mr Johnson also reiterated that free speech must not be used as a ‘smokescreen’ by those who wish to limit the rights of others. 

He said universities must ensure there is no place within higher education for ‘hatred, extremism or any form of discrimination or racism, including anti-semitism’.

He said: ‘A racist or anti-semitic environment is by definition an illiberal one that is completely in opposition to the liberal tradition of our universities.’

 

I completely agree that there is no place in the modern free thinking world for hatred or racism and stamping that out is alright by me but lets not get carried away with the other stuff.... What kind of a future are we trying to create??  

 

 

 

[SirBalon]

Top post!

For me the generation snowflake is the offspring of the PC mandates that started in the late 80s and went hardcore as the 90s drew on. Political Correctness is all about feeling offended and what offends. So the rest is inevitable. 

[Danny]

Generally the term is used by people who dislike being steretyped or grouped as something that is deemed negative and slates their personal views so they use terms like snowflake as a response to terms like racist or xenophobe.

Theyre generally people who's views on immigration and societal issues are based on emotion and masculinity and is an opponent to people who's views are generally based on logic and progressive thinking. No doubt the whites who marched with the blacks in the 60s would have been cast as something similar.

The big thing though is that it's generally part of an argument between people who are distinctly right wing and people who are distinctly left wing and who are both overly emotional.

Much like your Antifa sorts will largely be young people represented largely by people of specific groups that are either seen as progressive or discriminated against, young, gay/lesbian, vegan/veggies, intellectual types the people using a term like generation snowflake constantly will most likely be older and/or bigots who vote Tory/most likely UKIP.

[SirBalon]

It’s bleaching and eradicating natural human interaction and robotically creating a society of extremities. The far left is identical to the far right in terms of extremism and cultural terrorism. 

[Danny]

Assuming I've just read the same story as the story  that that text is extracted from, Cardiff Met has banned/discouraged (there's no info on how staff/students are reprimanded?) students and staff using gender related terms (fireman, manpower) and only allowed/encouraged to use gender neutral terms (firefighter, workforce). I think if anything it's an attempt to eradicate terms that don't cause great offense but act as language mechanisms to help promote an unconscious segregation between women and the positive life/career opportunities that aren't openly available to them. It plays into the mindset that a driven man who takes no shit is a successful person in whatever profession he is in, but a driven woman who takes no shit is a "ball buster".

[Fairy In Boots]

My sister is a corbynista / snowflake type who’s vegan etc etc. She told me at the Xmas dinner table that “the redistribution of wealth is fair, that’s why I vote JC” and half hour later “suddenly wants more than her fair share of the inheritance from the folks” 😂.

Which by the way I tried to explain to my 3 sisters who were carving up mom’s estate in front of her, it will most likely have to be sold to cover care costs because I know full well none of them will have her with them and care is expensive. 

There’s some genuinely clever people on the left side of the argument who make great points, there very rare below aged 35 though, it’s mostly just a bunch of ignorant young people who think anybody who doesn’t share their option is a cunt. 

Small point but I’d never use the term progressive and Antifa in the same sentence, they may well see themselves as progressive but they’re exactly the opposite 

[Bluewolf]

22 minutes ago, Danny said:

Assuming I've just read the same story as the story  that that text is extracted from, Cardiff Met has banned/discouraged (there's no info on how staff/students are reprimanded?) students and staff using gender related terms (fireman, manpower) and only allowed/encouraged to use gender neutral terms (firefighter, workforce). I think if anything it's an attempt to eradicate terms that don't cause great offense but act as language mechanisms to help promote an unconscious segregation between women and the positive life/career opportunities that aren't openly available to them. It plays into the mindset that a driven man who takes no shit is a successful person in whatever profession he is in, but a driven woman who takes no shit is a "ball buster".

That's an interesting observation but I might have thought that the wording they wished to be removed would be a bit more offensive or upsetting than things along the lines of gender neutrality surely???  Its a shame we don't have the list to pick through as it would give us something to go on... If that were the case though wouldn't half of the worlds books need to be re-written, removed/destroyed if we are seeking to remove anything related to non gender neutral material?? 

[Chaaay AFC]

Antifa, progressive? You can't be for real mate. They are one of the most backwards groups going. They have been known to attack and protest anyone who is against their view point and are totally against free speech. They refuse to listen to opposing views and just seem cause massive ball-aches to authorities, especially in America.

I do like and agree with this thread though. People are just far to easily offended these days and they take absolute bullshit as gospel. The real problem for me is people don't educate themselves on issues before making their mind up on something. Also not everyone will be in agreement and people do seem to forget you can disagree with one another. 

[Danny]

3 minutes ago, Bluewolf said:

That's an interesting observation but I might have thought that the wording they wished to be removed would be a bit more offensive or upsetting than things along the lines of gender neutrality surely???  Its a shame we don't have the list to pick through as it would give us something to go on... If that were the case though wouldn't half of the worlds books need to be re-written, removed/destroyed if we are seeking to remove anything related to non gender neutral material?? 

Well I don't necessarily think they want it removed from everything...just the terminology used in an educational environment.

And I don't think it's so much about being upset, there's no real outrage or riots caused over it (at least not where the articles are concerned) but more about creating a more inclusive environment. You're talking phrases and words in a list longer than your arm in general terms, as an example look at girls who like sport or don't wear skirts/dresses who are considered tomboys. It's not an offensive term but it is used as a tool to tell young girls they don't belong on a football pitch or "with the boys". A term doesn't have to be overly offensive to be a negative tool be used to encourage one gender and discourage the other. 

There was a topic on this forum where people thought that half caste was an acceptable thing to call someone who's mixed race simply because it's not calling someone the N word even though the term specifically states that the person is not pure in race, that they are half the people of those who are considered just white or just black.

The issue with how this is portrayed is that it's an intellectual assault on language used to subconsciously subdue one group of people whilst enabling another and is portrayed as "sensitive snowflakes outraged again". 

When you simply play it out that words that associate men with career choices (fireman) or positive imagery (manpower, sportsmanship) and are used in every day life I don't think you can make a solid argument that these words don't promote an element of sexism and segregation even on a subconscious level, but because the topic is not as simple as something as openly sexist i.e. women can't study this topic or have this job then it creates the illusion that words like that are completely harmless and that people who disagree are obviously too sensitive when they're actually more likely to be think critically than those who call them snowflakes because it resonates emotionally with them, gets an anger off their chest as it were.

[Batard]

I’ve got something to chuck into the fire, is this just the next cycle of humanity? Is society evolving this way due to the dismissive nature of the extreme right and left, is it a by product of lacking the respect they feel they are owed whether or not they have earned it? It concerns me as it’s going to impact upon politics over the coming decades - and given our primal instinct for war - but I trust sanity will prevail and the offended for being offended sake nonsense is as short lived as 90s haircuts.

[Danny]

Disclaimer: @Chaaay AFC And @Fairy In Boots I said seen as progressive, I didn't say I see them as progressive 😂

[Batard]

27 minutes ago, Fairy In Boots said:

My sister is a corbynista / snowflake type who’s vegan etc etc. She told me at the Xmas dinner table that “the redistribution of wealth is fair, that’s why I vote JC” and half hour later “suddenly wants more than her fair share of the inheritance from the folks” 😂.

Which by the way I tried to explain to my 3 sisters who were carving up mom’s estate in front of her, it will most likely have to be sold to cover care costs because I know full well none of them will have her with them and care is expensive. 

There’s some genuinely clever people on the left side of the argument who make great points, there very rare below aged 35 though, it’s mostly just a bunch of ignorant young people who think anybody who doesn’t share their option is a cunt. 

Small point but I’d never use the term progressive and Antifa in the same sentence, they may well see themselves as progressive but they’re exactly the opposite 

I do think the distribution of wealth in Britain is a problem, the class system here is out of touch with modern society. I’m entirely pro working to achieve your own success, but the notion of being born into a more privileged family and benefiting so immensely from it belongs somewhere pre-WWII, society has moved on. 

[Honey Honey]

As I have half jokingly pointed out before the emotional sensitivity and over reaction that defines snowflakes would on this forum best describe some posters response to things like gay pride shoe laces. Trivial and yet a few people ball their eyes out over it and get very irritated. 

Being politically correct does not require being a snowflake. More often than not political correctness could just be called common decency. Beware those who rave about all political correctness generically. In the pub the other week this bloke lamented that coppers aren't allowed to beat people up anymore in their cells or give them a clip around the back of the head because of political correctness 

Some now pretty much justify themselves being a cunt and rancid person by deligimising opposition to their own behaviour as "PC", a term they have now come to believe is some sort of world gone mad.

[Batard]

2 minutes ago, Kitchen Sales said:

As I have half jokingly pointed out before the emotional sensitivity and over reaction that defines snowflakes would on this forum best describe some posters response to things like gay pride shoe laces. Trivial and yet a few people ball their eyes out over it and get very irritated. 

Being politically correct does not require being a snowflake. More often than not political correctness could just be called common decency. Beware those who rave about all political correctness generically. In the pub the other week this bloke lamented that coppers aren't allowed to beat people up anymore in their cells or give them a clip around the back of the head because of political correctness 

Some now pretty much justify themselves being a cunt and rancid person by deligimising opposition to their own behaviour as "PC", a term they have now come to believe is some sort of world gone mad.

I quite liked those laces. I think people are naturally irritated by symbolism that doesn’t resonate with them. We’re very tribal beings after all. The whole homophobia and racism in racism issue in this day and age shouldn’t be. Why should anyone be upset by those things In 2017.

[Danny]

1 minute ago, Batard said:

I quite liked those laces. I think people are naturally irritated by symbolism that doesn’t resonate with them. We’re very tribal beings after all. The whole homophobia and racism in racism issue in this day and age shouldn’t be. Why should anyone be upset by those things In 2017.

For me that sort of thinking legitimises racism, it's a bury your head in the sand type tool. It's essentially saying "how can we be racist?" and not aiming this at you, but allows bigoted thinking to flourish so that when someone does call something racist they can be more easily laughed at.

[Batard]

Just now, Danny said:

For me that sort of thinking legitimises racism, it's a bury your head in the sand type tool. It's essentially saying "how can we be racist?" and not aiming this at you, but allows bigoted thinking to flourish so that when someone does call something racist they can be more easily laughed at.

I meant the opposite, I meant why would we even allow it 

[Danny]

Just now, Batard said:

I meant the opposite, I meant why would we even allow it 

Yeah I was more just aiming that at when that point is made singularly, rather than what you were saying as a whole.

I think you'd be surprised at what you allow yourself, the psychological reactions to things that have set into us since childhood. Like when people suddenly racially abuse someone and are shocked by it themselves because it's a reaction they learnt years over without even realising it. Not saying everyone is prone to racial abuse but prone to bigoted thinking that's a lot lowerdown on the scales that they don't believe or want to believe wrong.

[Danny]

6 minutes ago, Batard said:

I meant the opposite, I meant why would we even allow it 

Yeah I was more just aiming that at when that point is made singularly, rather than what you were saying as a whole.

I think you'd be surprised at what you allow yourself, the psychological reactions to things that have set into us since childhood. Like when people suddenly racially abuse someone and are shocked by it themselves because it's a reaction they learnt years over without even realising it. Not saying everyone is prone to racial abuse but prone to bigoted thinking that's a lot lowerdown on the scales that they don't believe or want to believe wrong.

Ha 6 replies from me in 2 hours, can you tell I'm putting off filling up the dishwasher? 😂

[SirBalon]

I heard there’s a group of university students that want Sleeping Beauty deleted from the curriculum because she is asleep and the Prince kisses her without her consent... I kid you not, this is for real! 

[Bluewolf]

35 minutes ago, Danny said:

Well I don't necessarily think they want it removed from everything...just the terminology used in an educational environment.

And I don't think it's so much about being upset, there's no real outrage or riots caused over it (at least not where the articles are concerned) but more about creating a more inclusive environment. You're talking phrases and words in a list longer than your arm in general terms, as an example look at girls who like sport or don't wear skirts/dresses who are considered tomboys. It's not an offensive term but it is used as a tool to tell young girls they don't belong on a football pitch or "with the boys". A term doesn't have to be overly offensive to be a negative tool be used to encourage one gender and discourage the other. 

There was a topic on this forum where people thought that half caste was an acceptable thing to call someone who's mixed race simply because it's not calling someone the N word even though the term specifically states that the person is not pure in race, that they are half the people of those who are considered just white or just black.

The issue with how this is portrayed is that it's an intellectual assault on language used to subconsciously subdue one group of people whilst enabling another and is portrayed as "sensitive snowflakes outraged again". 

When you simply play it out that words that associate men with career choices (fireman) or positive imagery (manpower, sportsmanship) and are used in every day life I don't think you can make a solid argument that these words don't promote an element of sexism and segregation even on a subconscious level, but because the topic is not as simple as something as openly sexist i.e. women can't study this topic or have this job then it creates the illusion that words like that are completely harmless and that people who disagree are obviously too sensitive when they're actually more likely to be think critically than those who call them snowflakes because it resonates emotionally with them, gets an anger off their chest as it were.

Not heard that used since the mid to late seventies... 

[Batard]

1 minute ago, SirBalon said:

I heard there’s a group of university students that want Sleeping Beauty deleted from the curriculum because she is asleep and the Prince kisses her without her consent... I kid you not, this is for real! 

Outside the confines of a fairy tale, it is a bit rapey. But it’s a bloody fairy tale! 

[Danny]

Just now, Bluewolf said:

Not heard that used since the mid to late seventies... 

I hear it now and again but generally from people you'd expect to hear it from...

[Bluewolf]

3 minutes ago, SirBalon said:

I heard there’s a group of university students that want Sleeping Beauty deleted from the curriculum because she is asleep and the Prince kisses her without her consent... I kid you not, this is for real! 

Yea I read that as well just a bit before Christmas but the one I was reading was a random person and not anyone in education... But it's another example of going a bit far with things.. Based on that Disney might as well pack up shop and head for the hills... Rapunzel is another one that needs to go.. Pulling on someones hair is a sign of abuse and or Domination ( depending on what your kink is ) so where does it all end?? 

As Harvey put it, Political Correctness does not have to be a bad thing if it does indeed lead to some common decency but I see a lot of common sense things getting blown completely out of proportion and giving some people and inch means they come back and want the whole mile.. We just need to allow the sensible and keep control of the ridiculous...  

[Chaaay AFC]

46 minutes ago, Danny said:

Disclaimer: @Chaaay AFC And @Fairy In Boots I said seen as progressive, I didn't say I see them as progressive 😂

Oh sorry mate, misread. 

[Bluewolf]

10 minutes ago, Danny said:

I hear it now and again but generally from people you'd expect to hear it from...

Old school fuckers like me you mean.... 

You have to be some brain dead individual that can carry things from that long ago and still hold that kind of view in this modern world.. At the time things like that were not challenged and were generally accepted in society but not these days..