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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

I really hate the term, Snowflake

39 replies

gandalf456 · 27/06/2020 11:17

Anyone else?

I hayebit because it seems to be bandied around the Internet by right wingers who wheel it out to anyone who might try to produce a counter debate.

OP posts:
GCAcademic · 27/06/2020 11:21

I agree, but I assume you also hate the terms Gammon and Karen,which are used in exactly the same way by the Left.

redcarbluecar · 27/06/2020 11:22

I hate it, and gammon, and Karen. Lazy, boring insults.

Mrhodgeymaheg · 27/06/2020 11:26

Most people who use the term are privileged and lazy in both think and doing. I think if they had to put up with half the crap young people have to now they would be the first person to complain.

It is a good tool for sorting through the dickheads though. As soon as I hear the word uttered by someone, I know they have nothing to offer and aren't worth talking to.

sst1234 · 27/06/2020 11:28

To be fair, snowflake doesn’t have an obvious link with right wingers, it describes anyone who is self indulgent and lacks perspective. People on the right can act like snowflakes too. It’s just that the left takes offence at everything, so nothing is acceptable, even ‘woke’. And therein lies the problem.

WhenISnappedAndFarted · 27/06/2020 11:29

YANBU

It's just a lazy way of putting someone down who you don't agree with.

I agree with the PP who said it is a good tool for sorting through the dickheads.

JustC · 27/06/2020 11:34

Snowflake, millenials, gen-z, karen, gammon, woke, epic etc. All these internet overused words and expressions.

wowfudge · 27/06/2020 11:35

I got called a snowflake on a local Facebook page this week because I objected to a racist term being used. Admin removed the posts.

iklboo · 27/06/2020 11:37

It's as bad as 'OK Boomer'. Responses from people who can't form a reasoned argument. It's not funny or clever and makes the person look like a pillock.

Original poster
gandalf456 · 27/06/2020 11:41

Omg, wowfudge, this happened to me, too - censored by the far right for debating the White Lives Matter banner. Not argued with. Just deleted.

Yes, I do hate the term, Karen, too. I have met plenty of Karens who aren't like that and I'd hate it even more if I were actually called, Karen

OP posts:
funinthesun19 · 27/06/2020 11:58

What’s the Karen thing all about?

D4rwin · 27/06/2020 12:04

I don't think it's right or left wing. They're generally the sort that find having a political opinion too challenging.
Any of these insults are used by those with no imagination to come up with either a useful response or creative insult.

D4rwin · 27/06/2020 12:05

The Karen thing is a "new" way of criticising women who complain. I believe it's replaced "calm down dear"

heartsonacake · 27/06/2020 12:06

@D4rwin

The Karen thing is a "new" way of criticising women who complain. I believe it's replaced "calm down dear"
It’s not new, it’s been around for years.
Wolfgirrl · 27/06/2020 12:08

Yep. My in laws use it all the time. They were calling for martial law yesterday to prevent people breaking lockdown or protesting.

redcarbluecar · 27/06/2020 12:16

Snowflake is often used as a way of dismissing people’s views by suggesting they’re too easily offended. It amuses me when people who use the term in this way are also very easily inflamed.

Puds11 · 27/06/2020 12:21

Wtf does gammon mean??

Ponoka7 · 27/06/2020 12:25

@sst1234
"To be fair, snowflake doesn’t have an obvious link with right wingers, it describes anyone who is self indulgent and lacks perspective. "

That might have been the original meaning, way back, but now it's used against people who want people to be treated decently and have human rights respected.

Argue against any human rights abuse, against inappropriate sexual behaviour towards women and it's used.

CathyComesHome · 27/06/2020 12:27

Snowflake is near exclusively used by far right wingers who are - ironically - extremely over sensitive and prone to throwing tantrums whenever anyone expresses an opinion they dislike.

Ponoka7 · 27/06/2020 12:28

Puds11 middle aged white men, who were right wing or supported Brexit, Tommy Robinson etc.

However even that is thrown at reasonable opinions around immigration. I've seen it forums.

ShebaShimmyShake · 27/06/2020 12:30

It's originally from Fight Club: "You are not a unique and beautiful snowflake."

It's now shorthand for someone being precious, but needless to say, someone who thinks everyone else is a snowflake is, well....

funinthesun19 · 27/06/2020 12:31

Some people have a real problem with Millenials and the term Snowflake is very often used to describe them.
They think Millenials have no reason to complain about anything but life is still HARD. They might not be living on liver and onions and they can have a bath more than just once a week, but it doesn’t mean their lives are stress free.

mornington444 · 27/06/2020 12:34

It is overused in my opinion. Started off as a valid criticism of over sensibility but now is used just as abuse against younger people.

funinthesun19 · 27/06/2020 12:35

mornington444

Exactly!

BackforGood · 27/06/2020 12:37

I'm not keen on mass generalisation, or linking people together as if they all have one thought between then, as a whole...... you know, like I hate it because it seems to be bandied around the Internet by right wingers who wheel it out to anyone who might try to produce a counter debate.

wowfudge · 27/06/2020 12:42

OP - the offending post and subsequent conversation were removed. I reported them to the group admin. The guy who bullied me wasn't the person who posted the offensive term.