The Snowflake Movement
I do not reflect fondly on any aspect of my childhood, which actually deprived me of any trace of «joie de vie» before I even knew what that meant. However, in comparison to the emerging millennials currently spreading their wings, a substantial evolution has transpired. It would be fair to say that discipline was the major feature in post-war Britain, as we muddled through in the university of life. We began on the lowest rung of any available ladder in an abhorrent job that paid £6 a week. Nowadays many young people are stimulated to advance their life’s prospects at university, rather than expose themselves to the forbidding reality of working life. It doesn’t per se mean that one is suitable for an academic vocation, or that it will even help to pursue a meaningful career. But hey-ho, if Mummy and Daddy are steering them through the troubled waters of the campus towards a rosy future, why disparage them? Which brings me to the sensitive term of «snowflakes»: the contemporary depiction of young adults, who are forthright in their opinions, swiftly offended and with a penchant to gather in large, safe numbers and less resilient to the norm.
Recent news exposed throngs of youngsters malingering under the auspices of a young and rather poorly, Swedish «Greta» in her «Fridays for Future» cult. She generated millions for her father by whinging about climate change, whilst parading around the globe on any platform her lucrative sponsors arranged. But let’s not let facts disrupt the raw emotion. The visible products of this condoned school truancy, was a 4-day school week and mounds of take-away debris in the wake of their demos. Then again, who needs five days in school when today’s kids are so astute? The aim of the venture seems to condemn the more discerning of us, and decant us to the disgraced archives of a lost generation, for erroneously going about our daily lives, paying our taxes and apparently ruining their planet. Our soul aim has been to rebuild the planet in readiness for these children of God and upscale their lives for them, while living a quite austere existence. Whilst we all applaud attempts to live greener lives, there needs to be a more scientific and economic approach to this worthy cause. The quintessence: Not a single perceptible proposal from Greta, but a worldwide Green Tax to badger the already afflicted middle class.
Ah, the snowflakes – we witnessed them in their flocks, tossing teddy bears to welcome migrants from other continents. Their passionate reception for these strong, young men may have instigated unprecedented expectations in the minds of these total strangers, many of whom we will never glean their true identity. We older and wiser ones could simply step back and await the not-totally-unexpected cataclysm.
And the recent subject of Black Lives Matter has exposed profuse righteous indignation among their ranks. Rather than promoting equality, they seem resolved on incubating hatred among all people of whatever shade, as they gravitate like sheep towards their agenda of the month. There seems to be the incarnation of an unruly revolution among certain tribes, which has witnessed statues being toppled and woke warriors demanding to ostracize those who dare defend the tone of their white skin with which they were issued upon birth.
On the one hand, it’s refreshing to know that these young people have the time, space and energy to dedicate themselves so wholeheartedly to their rage of the moment. It’s also evident, that on a global scale, they will never exhaust the catalogue of grievances to trigger off a happening. Some universities have become notorious for their left-wing political agenda, for which impressionable aspirants in the bloom of youth absorb like dehydrated squeegees. It is however disquieting to realise that we will be passing onto them the fruits of our hard work some time, to manage the planet. As potentially destructive events seem to be accelerating and becoming more global, it would be rewarding to discover that our battalion of snowflakes could channel their resources into rather more constructive and tenable solutions. That is after all, the aim of their itinerary: to improve this planet!
Photo: Pexels / quang-nguyen-vinh