‘Is anybody else getting sick of the term ‘snowflake’? I know I am’

When the history books look back to 2016, they will likely mark it as one of the 21st century’s defining moments of political and social change. The election of Donald Trump, the realisation of a Brexit and the rise of far-right leaders in Europe. A working-class revolt, an annus horribilus, an electorate in search of change; there are many phrases and terms which may be bandied about to define our time – but there is one word which I hope does not stay around long enough to be remembered: Snowflake.

Generation snowflake, snowflake girls, infantilised youth, privileged adult children – the list of derogatory generalisations of our nation’s youth in today’s media continues. Anybody else getting sick of it? I know I sure am.

Collins dictionary defines Generation Snowflake as “the generation of people who became adults in the 2010s, viewed as being less resilient and more prone to taking offence than previous generations”.

Despite the fact there may have been some truth to this idea of the eternally offended, politically correct protester, its proliferation to define an entire age group has set a dangerous precedent. The term is now being used to dismiss an argument simply because it comes from a young person.

How can an entire generation be excluded from debate purely because of their age? How can we all be responsible for a small cohort’s specific set of beliefs? How can you tell me that I am a liberal, far-left cry baby simply because I fall into this age bracket?

It is this same practice of generalisation which has lead to the demonisation of entire races in the Trump campaign and the fear of globalisation during Brexit. Make America Great Again. Vote Leave and Take Back Control. Generation Snowflake.

In this clickbait culture of snappy headlines, we have mindlessly allowed ourselves to oversee fact and instead get caught up with slogans and soundbites. If there was ever a time in history in which fair, reasoned and well-argued debate should be upheld and admired, it is now.

Using generalisations such as Generation Snowflake is lazy, offensive and alienating for vast swathes of young people.

Now more than ever, we need to put a halt to stereotyping in national media and instead listen to voices from across the spectrum, not just those at either end of the vastly differing poles. There is an increasing trend of needing to label people – to put them in the box of either liberal or far-right; misogynist or ultra-feminist, snowflake or racist.

Surely there is space for opinions of those in the middle, those whom you cannot put in either box? The reality is the group in the middle is larger than those at either end, so it seems strange that we don’t we hear more from them.

In October this year The Irish Times, ran a poll on Ireland's view on abortion, which found that 55 per cent of people favoured limited access to abortion in the cases of rape and fatal foetal abnormality. At opposite ends of that register, 18 per cent said the Eighth Amendment should not be repealed, while 19 per cent said it should be repealed to allow for abortion in all cases.

Yet if you were to look at the opinion pages of any Irish newspaper, the majority of views we see are those on either end of that vastly differing scale. That is simply not good enough – we need to listen to the people in the middle and not try to hem them into a particular group.

Those who voted for Donald Trump are not all misogynists; those who favoured a Brexit are not all racists. To generalise about a massive, varied group of people based on their electoral choice is unfair and serves to foolishly ignore their frustrations. We should be listening to their views, trying to figure out why they chose the route they did. If not, we run the risk of unfairly demonising a massive cohort of people who may have legitimate – not hateful – concerns.

I certainly do not think all of those who voted for Trump and Brexit are idiots, but by lumping me into the bracket of Generation Snowflake you are saying I am petulant and unaccepting of an election which did not go the way I hoped – and for many of us, that is simply not the case.

Not all people in their 20s agree that everyone who voted for Trump are racist/misogynist/xenophobes. We are not all stomping our feet at an election which didn’t go our way. So why is it that I am being told I am the same as them, simply because of my age?

Not everyone born in the late Eighties and early Nineties are all infantilised snowflakes, offended easily and bereft of life experience and any idea of hard work. Generation Snowflake might serve as a nice soundbite for careless columnists, but its overuse is symptomatic of an age which insists on making generalisations to the detriment of public debate.