Generation Snowflake

c68zapdsm5i1ru

I've just been reading an article about a new book called 'I find that Offensive' by a 56 year old author writing about 'Generation Snowflake' .

She says:

“This generation has been reared to believe that safety trumps all. When they were growing up they were stopped from going out on their bikes because there were ‘probably paedos on every street corner’. In short, they were brought up to believe that everything was scary. This is coupled with the trend of catastrophising every social problem.

"By giving importance to every perceived slight felt by the younger generation, they grow up unable to deal with the hardships of the world. And when every jibe or insult is treated as a serious offence, it trivialises more important issues."

Just wondering if people agree or disagree with her.

py2006

Apparently we are all to be offended by Adele at Glastonbury yesterday.

me_irl

Sorry, but After Hours is my Safe Space. Please do not post anything like this as it will trigger me.


f*ck this world

timmy_mallet

Utter nonsensical generalisation.

Moo Moo Land

Generation Snowflake? There is truth in that alright. I like it.

Winterlong

Our parents probably also thought we were soft as ****e too.
Growing up in houses with running water, electricity, cars and heating.

Harry Fit Roadwork

Harry Fit Roadwork wrote: »

I've just been reading an article about a new book called 'I find that Offensive' by a 56 year old author writing about 'Generation Snowflake' .

She says:

“This generation has been reared to believe that safety trumps all. When they were growing up they were stopped from going out on their bikes because there were ‘probably paedos on every street corner’. In short, they were brought up to believe that everything was scary. This is coupled with the trend of catastrophising every social problem.

"By giving importance to every perceived slight felt by the younger generation, they grow up unable to deal with the hardships of the world. And when every jibe or insult is treated as a serious offence, it trivialises more important issues."

Just wondering if people agree or disagree with her.

First things first, what are her qualifications in sociology, psychology etc?

If it's just a book of her observations about "things", meh.

jigglypuffstuff

timmy_mallet wrote: »

Utter nonsensical generalisation.

aww, did that offend you snowflake?:o

c68zapdsm5i1ru

She used to be a mental health social worker, apparently.

smash

You can even get reprimanded for slapping a waitress on the arse these days. The world's gone nuts!

Duggy747

A good aul nuclear war will get everyone to harden da fúck up.

aaronjumper

I think there is a grain of truth to it alright but like everything else it gets blown out of proportion.

Duggy747 wrote: »

A good aul nuclear war will get everyone to harden da fúck up.

Do I get to push the big button though? It's so shiny!

me_irl

Duggy747 wrote: »

A good aul nuclear war will get everyone to harden da fúck up.

The extra limbs might help.

the evasion_kid

I'd agree,easy to pick out,all you have to do is criticise them and it's like sending out the bat signal,they all arrive to tell you how wrong you are..

silverharp

its funny that people don't get the irony in the term "micro aggression "

Fleawuss

It will be great when all this hard older generation are dependent on the working younger generations for their health care and pensions: the snowflakes can then say that ye are so hard ye don't need pensions and such. Do without. Harden the **** up.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

First things first, what are her qualifications in sociology, psychology etc?

If it's just a book of her observations about "things", meh.

Couldn't disagree more.

Auguste Comte, the father of sociology, dropped out of university with no qualifications.

It's the same in many fields of the social sciences and the arts. How many of the great architects of the 20th century had architecture degrees? None of the big names, as far as I am aware. I believe Le Corbusier started his career as a watchmaker.

That's another problem with Generation Snowflake: the notion that a university degree entitles its bearer to respect and authority. No, your ideas rely on their own intellectual rigour, and not on the amount of alphabetic characters you attach to your name.

osarusan

I lose respect for people who throw about labels like 'snowflake'.

cantdecide

osarusan wrote: »

I lose respect for people who throw about labels like 'snowflake'.

You take that back.

RWCNT

Where the **** did this "Snowflake" term grow from?

FizzleSticks

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c68zapdsm5i1ru

I agree with Fizzlesticks. Often people get offended on behalf of others who actually don't have any problem with the way someone has spoken or acted.
Some people just love showing off their PC credentials, even when they haven't a clue what they're talking about.

Badly Drunk Boy

RWCNT wrote: »

Where the **** did this "Snowflake" term grow from?

I'm sure it's just about snowflakes being delicate and unique.

kneemos

py2006 wrote: »

Apparently we are all to be offended by Adele at Glastonbury yesterday.

****ing Adele.

Mr. Farage

I have a friend who installs and fixes those electric gates in peoples driveways. He started the business in 2005 and even through the recession his business has grown year on year. He now employs 12 people and has plans to expand. So what's that got to do with the OP's post I hear you cry?

People are more afraid now than they have ever been and the vast majority of the houses installing these gates are normal three and four bedroom houses not country mansions who's owners have been programmed by main stream media to believe ISIS are going to behead them or every second man is a possible pedo. Fear is used as a weapon and we see it everywhere around us. People have health insurance, life insurance, house insurance, travel insurance, gadget insurance etc.. it's like we can't ever take a risk "just in case". We live in a mixed social and private housing estate and the number of parents from the private houses who won't let their kids outside to play is obvious compared to the kids from social housing who spend most of their time you know just being kids.

Hope things change and people can just learn to stop being so offended and worried about every little thing as life is far too unpredictable and special to spend it worrying.

Permabear

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NiallBoo

Ahh...this is one of those delightful topics where everyone believes it's the other folks that are in the wrong and nobody really considers the other persons point of view.
Everything goes round in circles until everyone's slightly pissed off and more polarised in their opinions.

Good times.

twin_beacon

I'm actually waiting for that book to be delivered at the moment, really looking forward to reading it.

The so called "generation snowflake" seems to be a sub set of the current 18-25 year olds. I have lived with one (thankfully not any more), and I must say it was like living with a child throwing toys out of the pram anything she was under stress, or she came across something that didn't up to her ultra high PC standards.

Once she lost the plot with me for calling one of my mates a "big girls blouse" when he ran away from a wasp. Apparently the biggest insult I could have given him (a man) was calling him a woman. She wasn't too happy when I told her to man up!

Mr. Farage wrote: »

every second man is a possible pedo.

I know what you mean, one of my mates gets strange looks when he brings his daughter to the play ground. he lets her off, and he sits there until she is finished.

FizzleSticks

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KungPao

Sure, you can't even call your dog N*gger any more.

Even Blackie is too much for some.

me_irl

RWCNT wrote: »

Where the **** did this "Snowflake" term grow from?

A term to ridicule overbearing parents that think their crotchspawn (or semen demon) is going to invent the cure for cancer.

BBDBB

And so the pendulum starts to swing back the other way, by the year 2056 The works Bernard Manning will be required reading for schools

Duggy747

Permabear wrote: »

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I dunno, for someone that's 20 years old and in college I think you can still pull that adult up for throwing a strop because they're unable to appropriately deal with a piece of literature, especially one that's used in an academic environment.

Otherwise you're removing the responsibility from them to deal with things beyond their own emotions, allowing their "victimisation" to be encouraged and bleed unchecked onto other things.

Fleawuss

Harry Fit Roadwork wrote: »

I agree with Fizzlesticks. Often people get offended on behalf of others who actually don't have any problem with the way someone has spoken or acted.
Some people just love showing off their PC credentials, even when they haven't a clue what they're talking about.

And people get offended on behalf of others who don't have a problem with how they were treated because they have been broken by years of abuse and mistreatment. And sometimes they don't realise how much they have been dominated by bullying abuse. It's called solidarity.

There is Pc madness out there. But there is also the truth that until someone, someone says "you're not treating me that way anymore" and throws a punch or a chair or "calls them out" things will never change.

RobertKK

RWCNT wrote: »

Where the **** did this "Snowflake" term grow from?

Notice terms like 'snowflake' and 'salty' have become popular lately.

riclad

People now have 1 or 2 kids, instead of 3 or 4 ,in the 70,s ,80s,
so their kids may be a bit spoiled .
teens now are digital natives ,
they grow up using facebook, youtube, etc
When i was growing up if you got a job you,d probably have it for life.
i never heard of interns , you either got paid a full wage or you were on the dole .
People wait a lot longer to get married .
i,m in favour of equal rights and womens rights .
Someone gets triggered by reading hamlet,?
look at tv every night ,in crime drama,s theres loads of violence .
Maybe the present generation is more aware of their rights .
When i grew up shops did not sell condoms ,
contraception was hard to get,
maybe thats the reason why people had large familys . Teens face of world of uncertainty ,unless you are in the civil service theres no gaurantee of a gauranteed job,
many jobs are being replaced by automation .

Trent Houseboat

Oh look another thread of people in a rush to be outraged by people in a rush to be outraged.

inforfun

And after "snowflake" the fun really starts with the generation that grew up winning participation trophies.

A Tyrant Named Miltiades!

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Couldn't disagree more.

Auguste Comte, the father of sociology, dropped out of university with no qualifications.

It's the same in many fields of the social sciences and the arts. How many of the great architects of the 20th century had architecture degrees? None of the big names, as far as I am aware. I believe Le Corbusier started his career as a watchmaker.

That's another problem with Generation Snowflake: the notion that a university degree entitles its bearer to respect and authority. No, your ideas rely on their own intellectual rigour, and not on the amount of alphabetic characters you attach to your name.

I did not limit my enquiry to university degrees at all.

That's another problem with Generation Snowflake. Missing the point and rushing to conclusions. And then overstating them by firing in references to architects and intellectual rigour.

tritium

Fleawuss wrote: »

And people get offended on behalf of others who don't have a problem with how they were treated because they have been broken by years of abuse and mistreatment. And sometimes they don't realise how much they have been dominated by bullying abuse. It's called solidarity.

There is Pc madness out there. But there is also the truth that until someone, someone says "you're not treating me that way anymore" and throws a punch or a chair or "calls them out" things will never change.

I could probably get behind a lot of that concept if the current crop weren't themselves full of bullying hypocrites who often want to silence anyone who isn't attuned to their personal dogma, preferring echo chambers to evidence based debate and routinely touting poor or discredited research.

Basically as bad as the other lot

Permabear

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NiallBoo

Permabear wrote: »

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It began when one homo-erectus said ook and the other one didn't like the way they said it.

IMO we're all inclined to think this way about others and it's nothing to do with generations, it just easier to blame other generations (or whatever) because the more different they are the less it gets reflected back on ourselves.

OldNotWIse

I remember when I was in college the (then) LGB society had countless meetings about adding a T and then more meetings about adding a Q, people spending hours on end (more hours than they spent in lectures some of them) being offended by the various suggestions and arguments for and against a fúcking letter. The T was fairly non-controversial, but the Q caused outrage, with half the people arguing it was a derogatory term, and the other half shouting about "owning" the term and thus detracting from its derogatory effect. FFS. How cute and protected we were within the capsule of third level safety.

smash

When will she be releasing 'Generation Cuck' and 'Generation SWJ'?

donegaLroad

molly-coddled generation

alchemist33

There are certainly more people willing to be offended by less and less, but it's a bit harsh to imply it's a whole generation, as this term does. It's like those other generational labels (Baby Boomers, Generation X) which I don't understand, largely because implying everyone in a whole generation shares traits is extremely lazy science. They might have more of a tendency towards certain attitudes, or, on average, show more of a certain attitude if you had a valid tool to measure it, but it loses all validity when you use the shorthand of labelling people as "Generation {insert title}"

Whispered

I recently started reading a book called "cotton wool kids" and in one of the first chapters the author points out that in our quest to protect our kids we do them more damage. Eg. Too dangerous to play outside unsupervised so sit there and watch tv. Obesity related illness is much more of an issue than the chances of abduction but people prefer to take their chances with encouraging a sedentary life.

Another example on the opposite swing of the pendulum is how some parents endeavour to keep their child busy all te time. Rushing from school to sports to dancing to whatever. Child never gets bored, rarely has actual unstructured down time. Apparently this causes stress, starting from a very young age.

Parenting a young child, it's hard to know what to do. Things are so studied, there are recommendations for absolutely everything and I feel that many people have lost the ability to parent instinctively because they're so busy trying to do everything "right".

On the idea of "snowflakes", I think as usual there are extremes on both sides. Those who are "triggered" by every little thing and those who have not got a modicum of sensitivity and shout down or label anybody who they deem to be weak.

Renegade Mechanic

Permabear wrote: »

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Yes you can. And I will. As someone born only a few years earlier.
See it.
Study it.
Denounce it.
And fight every single front someone attempts to force it upon you, tooth and nail.

But the majority won't, because it's easier to be mollycoddled, perpetually offended and outraged at everything. Because everyone else is.

Permabear

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WildWater

alchemist33 wrote: »

There are certainly more people willing to be offended by less and less, but it's a bit harsh to imply it's a whole generation, as this term does. It's like those other generational labels (Baby Boomers, Generation X) which I don't understand, largely because implying everyone in a whole generation shares traits is extremely lazy science. They might have more of a tendency towards certain attitudes, or, on average, show more of a certain attitude if you had a valid tool to measure it, but it loses all validity when you use the shorthand of labelling people as "Generation {insert title}"

You are right but what is at play here is not science but marketing. 'Generation Snowflake' is going to generate more air time (this thread for example) and hence move validity and potentially revenue than 'Some Young Adults Today are Snowflakes'. Even if only because the generalist title fulfils its design objectives and offends more people!

harry Bailey esq

aaronjumper wrote: »

I think there is a grain of truth to it alright but like everything else it gets blown out of proportion.

Do I get to push the big button though? It's so shiny!

Good flake usually has a shiny look of it,hard to find any that hasn't been danced on though,on the off chance you do find some,you'll pay through the nose for it.