You're Goddamn Right I'm a Snowflake

[Content Note: Harassment; privilege.]

You may have heard, possibly because you have been on the receiving end of it, that Trump supporters refer to progressives as snowflakes.

If "cuck" is the insult of choice for the alt-right to lump together and dismiss establishment conservatives, "snowflake" has become the go-to for enemies on the left. There is not a single political point a liberal can make on the Internet for which "You triggered, snowflake?" cannot be the comeback. It's purpose is dismissing liberalism as something effeminate, and also infantile, an outgrowth of the lessons you were taught in kindergarten. "Sharing is caring"? Communism. "Feelings are good"? Facts over feelings. "Everyone is special and unique"? Shut up, snowflake.

Snowflake is basically the new "Social Justice Warrior" (or SJW), which we were also supposed to consider an insult, despite the fact that it was an "insult" many of us wore proudly.

I have been called a snowflake countless times on Twitter and in my inbox, by the most pathetic projectionists who are aggrieved at my mere existence, but accuse me without a trace of irony of being intolerant and oversensitive.

There is, perhaps, nothing more perfectly indicative of the grim intersection of their aggressive arrogance, comprehensive rejection of self-reflection, and pitiable lack of imagination than wielding "snowflake" as a pejorative.

Snowflakes are fucking beautiful, each one a unique creation that melds fragility with the ferocity of survival on a planet that generally does not support its existence.

As snowflakes move through the environment, encountering different temperatures and pressures, their complex and individual shapes emerge. And once they fall to the ground, accumulating with other snowflakes, they undergo a metamorphosis and coalesce into a snowpack, which itself becomes stronger—and more resistant to being moved—than any individual snowflake.

This does not sound like an insult. This sounds like a pretty solid description of a vibrant and diverse resistance.

At protests, there are increasingly signs carried by "snowflakes" which contain some variation on: "Damn right we're snowflakes, and winter is coming."

Fucking right it is.