What It Means To Be Called A “Snowflake” Today

Every day a new term pops up on social media platforms. One that has been used a lot lately is the weird term “snowflake.” No one really knows what it means, but it became known after the 2016 presidential elections.

The term can have many different meanings. It can be from an insult, a compliment or something completely vague, depending on the context in which it is being used. At times it is incorrectly compared to adolescents, millennials and other people. But why?

Luckily, like a snowflake, everyone is unique in a certain way. However, when trying to explain the term in general, someone can get confused because people don’t seem to agree what it means to be a snowflake. It is often associated with the negative aspects of millennials like being selfish or being unable to take criticism.

“Snowflakerism,” a term used in politics, is mostly said by Republicans to criticize liberals or just people in general who oppose any of their ideas. The same can apply to Democrats criticizing Republicans. But this term is so vague and incorrectly used because both Democrats and Republicans who disagree with one another can be referred to as a snowflake.

This term itself is very contradictory because the president of the United States himself can be considered a perfect example of what a “snowflake” is, yet someone who opposes him can be characterized as a snowflake.

To 19-year-old Julia Souza, a recreational therapy major at West Campus, snowflakes are: “everyday people with their own style and way of living, and even when they pick a political party, they remain unique, each one with different beliefs or perspectives.”

A snowflake can be a piece of snow, an offensive term, or someone or something unique. It depends, but just like these little flakes, we are all different. Whenever you have a large number of these unique flakes together, determined to achieve the same goal, the so-called snowflake movements such as the women’s march and strikes against the travel ban and transgender bathroom issues may happen, and like snowstorms, it will make your life confusing.

“[What] I think being called a snowflake [refers to is that] the meaning of it depends on the way people mean to say it to someone,” said Mariela Gallardo, a 19-year-old biology major at West campus. “Calling them a snowflake will probably not offend that person. It will just make him or her confused and they probably won’t know if they should feel flattered about it or not.”