GENERATION SNOWFLAKE?

Author(s): Andrew Hunter Murray

Source: RSA Journal , Vol. 164, No. 4 (5576) (2018–19), pp. 44-47
Published by: Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and
Commerce

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Society

GENERATION
SNOWFLAKE?
Young people today are often denigrated for being
overly sensitive and humourless. But how true, or fair,
is this characterisation?

by Andrew Hunter Murray

@andrewhunterm

T
o anyone over the age of 35 reading this: grave that the Shakespeare they are studying contains spicy
news. There is a group of people who are out to themes. At Cambridge, students demanded that a
get you. They like trigger warnings, safe spaces college hosting an ‘Africa-themed’ dinner should cancel
and campus bans, and they have no sense of humour the meal. Where will it stop? In 2018, The Sun even
at all. They dislike cultural appropriation, linguistic appointed a short-lived comedy correspondent, ‘Jon
violence (whatever that is) and if you say anything Snowflake’, to cover the wacky things young people
‘problematic’, they will call you out, shut you down find offensive these days. (And he was sort of funny, to
and have you cancelled. They are snowflakes. the really determined reader.)
That is the bad news. The good news is: almost none The denunciation of these revolting youths is not
of them are real. just a journalistic talking point. It reaches the heights
The two most important things to know about the of government. Last year, in a strong contender for the
snowflakes of popular journalism are that they are least intellectually coherent government policy of the
a) easily offended and b) young. They are po-faced past decade, the then Minister for Higher Education,
undergraduates at Sussex and SOAS, the new Red Sam Gyimah, announced that, to protect free speech,
Guards who live to tear down statues of the Good universities that try to prohibit controversial speakers
Chaps of the last century and replace them with from visiting will face government intervention.
Brutalist Menstrual Art or similar nonsense. They (I am eagerly waiting to see precisely how this will
are the spiritual descendants of the Loony Left, the be policed.)
Wimmin of Greenham Common and the soft-headed The conditions of this new cultural Cold War have
teachers who banned “Baa Baa Black Sheep” for fear even prompted a new political movement, the charming-
it was racist. sounding Turning Point USA, which exists to teach
The metastasis of ‘snowflake’ – from a synonym students about the free market and to challenge ‘safe
for fragility to an age-based mark of prudery – took space culture’. In December, its representatives arrived
place around 2015 in the UK, and it has prompted a in the UK. The group’s communications director,
journalistic bonanza. These snowflake kids cannot cope Candace Owens (herself a millennial), told Telegraph
with watching Friends on Netflix because it contains readers unsmilingly that, “Students have gone soft.”
Andrew Hunter
Murray is a jokes about fat people and cross-dressing. They do not Worse still, the snowflakes were even coming for the
journalist and like Bond movies because the suited spy comes across famous British Sense of Humour. “The Left has killed
comedian. He as a bit of a sex pest. They want to get rid of statues comedy,” she darkly warned. The group’s founder,
writes for Private
Eye and is a of Cecil Rhodes, murals of First World War heroes and Charlie Kirk (aged 25), agreed: “Monty Python would
QI Elf Kipling’s verse. Some students receive ‘trigger warnings’ not be allowed in this politically correct culture.”

44 RSA Journal Issue 4 2018–19

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www.thersa.org 45
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 after a minor kerfuffle over the admittedly doltish
reduction of the cuisines of several dozen countries to
a single three-course meal.
In part, there are journalistic economics at work here.
Stories like the Friends one can be based on a handful
of tweets, and most newsrooms are so desperate for
copy these days that a small story like that can go
round the world. That is even before the columnists
and pundits get their teeth into it. (I will not make the
obvious point that the middle-aged hacks spending
thousands of words and earning thousands of pounds
being extremely offended by thin-skinned students do
not exactly come across as terribly resilient themselves.
Some fish should be left swimming around the barrel.)
As for ‘no-platforming’, it does happen, but only
up to a point. There are precisely six organisations on
the official ‘no-platform’ list of the National Union
of Students (NUS), including such unlovely chancers
as the English Defence League and the pro-caliphate
Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir. In 2016, ChangeSU,
The origins of snowflakes which provides resources for student union managers,
How did we even get here? Most dissections of the asked 50 student unions whether they had banned a
modern snowflake start with Fight Club, Chuck speaker in the past 12 months. None had. The NUS
Palahniuk’s 1996 novel, in which we are told: “You points out that student unions are private bodies with
are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the right to invite whomever they like to speak. Not
the same decaying organic matter as everyone, and being invited to speak is not the same as being banned.
we are all part of the same compost pile.” Perhaps.
But Mr Palahniuk’s iteration had nothing to do with Statistically speaking
age, nor with offence. I personally date the modern Enough anec-data, what about the stats? They, too,
usage of ‘snowflake’ to 2008, to a brilliant cartoon are a sad letdown to the Candace Owens of this world.
from the xkcd website. A man (I’m presuming here) Polling by YouGov found that two out of three Britons
sits alone, looking at a computer screen. A voice from agreed with the statement: “Too many people are easily
offstage calls: “Are you coming to bed?” “I can’t,” he offended these days over the language that others
replies. “This is important. Someone is wrong on the use.” Specifically, they agreed with that statement over
internet.” Right there – in our inability to share a civil the rival statement: “People need to be more careful
space, albeit online, with a perfect stranger whose about the language they use to avoid offending people
opinion differs from our own – was a vivid harbinger with different backgrounds.” Not only that, there was
of the red-raw state of current discourse. very little variation between age groups. The youngest
And when the age-based angle took root a few group surveyed, those aged 18–24, actually showed
years ago – soon after the publication of a book slightly less sensitivity on this matter than other
Sculptures by Liz Howard. Photography by Pixeleyes

called I Find That Offensive!, which suggested young cohorts. Score one to the anti-snowflakes. In the US,
people had been cosseted until they turned into YouGov asked a broad range of Americans, broken
hyper-ventilating, hyper-sensitive, censorious types – down by age, whether it was offensive for someone
snowflakes metamorphosed into journalistic catnip. to dress as a geisha, or a Native American, or in a
And yet, and yet. Most of these protests are just Mexican sombrero, if the wearer was not part of that
that: protests. The statue of Cecil Rhodes that Oxford culture. The youngest group were likeliest to think it
students campaigned against? It is still there. The offensive – 34% of those aged 18–34 said it was – but
mural of white men at Southampton University, the even in this group, 37% said it was not.
removal of which was demanded by the student union Finally, in June 2018 a British YouGov survey
president herself? That is still there as well. When it was examined whether students were likelier than the general
pointed out that the mural actually commemorated the public to think someone with views they found offensive
First World War, she issued a grovelling apology. The should be banned from speaking at a university. They
Africa-themed dinner at Cambridge? It went ahead, found it rather depended on the opinion. Students were

46 RSA Journal Issue 4 2018–19

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more likely to want to ‘ban’ a speaker who claimed small core of the terminally outraged, the flurries
vaccinations caused autism; non-students were more listed above are mostly well-meaning attempts to
likely to want to ban a speaker who believed in the ensure other people are comfortable and happy. On
abolition of the monarchy. But the overall non-trend an individual level, this sounds rather closer to old-
was pretty plain; as YouGov put it: “The results do not fashioned ‘good manners’ than anything else.
find any evidence that students are more hostile to free Where these protests do exist, they are frequently
speech than the general population.” about more than the pretexts the newspapers seize on.
The irritation over a Cambridge ‘African dinner’ or a
The ‘right’ to be offended large statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oxford may be more
So the anecdotes are not true. The statistics do not to do with a prevailing feeling that BAME students
bear it out. What, then, are we saying when we call are not made welcome at Oxbridge. This matters,
someone a snowflake? In effect, the term says only even if you think that the existence of a hunk of stone
this: the causes you think important are unimportant, does not. It would be a civilised society that tried to
and you have no idea what really matters. Offended understand these debates and the underlying causes,
by something cultural, or social? Grow up. There are rather than simply laughing at what is perceived to be
wars on. Just as in the old gag that anyone driving students’ hang-ups.
slower than you is an idiot and anyone driving faster
than you is a maniac, today anyone more socially A history of snowflakery
aware or sensitive than you is a snowflake, and To anyone still worried, here is one last crumb of
anyone less aware is a bigot. comfort: snowflakery has been around a long time.
Ah, but, the thing is, kids today are offended by the But, just as today, there was generally a reason for it.
wrong things. The 1968-ers and their successors were Consider Nahum Tate, a 17th-century poet laureate
protesting about Vietnam and apartheid. These were and playwright now remembered chiefly for rewriting
real social ills. Today the message to students who kick King Lear with a happy ending. Tate is mocked
up a fuss is that there are people dying in Syria while today, but a bit of context reveals his motive: in
they are worrying about Halloween costumes. It is 1681, with Charles II on the throne of an England
easy to pretend people can only care about one thing torn apart by civil war in living memory, society was
at a time, but it is manifestly untrue. In the absence understandably a little prickly about plays in which
of a pan-global calculator of suffering that measures kings are deposed and killed. Context matters, just as
exactly which evils we should be most outraged it did to the Reverend Thomas Bowdler, who re-wrote
about, people make their own messy lists, generally Shakespeare without the rude bits. Was Bowdler
prioritising matters closer to home. just another Victorian dog-collared god-botherer
The core conflict is over what ‘should’ matter to who could not stand the crudity of England’s finest
people in their own societies. But, the aforementioned playwright? Well, up to a point: but he explicitly
blockheaded policy idea put forth by the UK made clear that his edition, The Family Shakespeare,
government aside, there is no state intervention here. was one in which “those words and expressions are
This is the exercise of free thought and dispute over omitted which cannot with propriety be read aloud
language – and, yes, statues and murals – and how in a family”. Content warnings in Shakespeare, all
they make different members of society feel welcome the way back in 1807! It is easy to laugh, but this
or excluded. Rules on what is ‘offensive’ can only was explicitly Shakespeare to be read en famille. Is
apply universally in relatively constrained, uniform this really snowflakery? If you genuinely take the
societies. It is part of the remit of modern western position that all Shakespeare is appropriate for all
society – which accommodates an extraordinary ages, I have some Titus Andronicus tickets to sell to
range of opinions – to contain these debates without your six-year-olds.
violence. In the absence of violence, or threats of Where does this leave us? Young people today are
violence, what is going on here is society. not more likely to want to ban speakers, or worry
Arguments over the language we use – or the make- about offensive language. Those protests that do
up of our universities and civil spaces, whether we happen frequently have substantive underlying causes,
name buildings after slave-owners or decide not to even if this is often lost in news coverage. Patches of
honour those memories any more – are not worthless. snowflakery undoubtedly exist but, for the most part,
The real, subliminal concern of so many journalists this is an enjoyable element of the ongoing debate
is that the rules are changing. It can be disconcerting. that runs through modern society. Take a seat and
I myself am frequently disconcerted. But outside a enjoy the scrap.

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