A few threads have been in my head lately on intellectual insulation and the ‘snowflake’ phenomenon. When I say snowflake, I mean the belief that you’re a unique snowflake with your wholly your own qualities that no one else has.
The internet is a harsh reality for the snowflake crowd, as anyone who has ever read a Reddit thread could tell you, there will always, always be another comment that has exactly the thought/comment that was in your head, given enough comments. Point being, you’re not really unique.
Most people, as they grow and mature, realize this and move on, hopefully realizing that being a snowflake is not the only way to have a meaningful life. Some people, however, end up going whole hog on the snowflake idea, and the result is this. People arguing over which type of sexuality they are, assigning a color spectrum to it, etc.
Snowflakes see people as a diverse group, then slap a label to each difference and claim uniqueness. It’s tiring, and it’s widely viewed as ridiculous, even if they create an awareness campaign and get some type of concession for their uniqueness, the vast majority of people are just ceding ground because they view it as polite. And, assuming that’s the case, are you really gaining anything as a snowflake?
Tangentially related to this is the mass victimhood of all college students, and the rise of ‘trigger warnings’ and ‘safe spaces’. I vacillate between thinking this is some type of guilt mechanism or it’s some type of snowflake-like mentality that validates the ‘my-middle-to-upper-class-life-was-hard-too’ crowd. Ultimately I think it’s a blend of the two, trying to atone for the sins of your class, as imputed to you by pretty much every liberal authority figure encountered during your childhood (teachers, news, celebrities, etc).
This article in the NYT gives several great examples of insulation on college campuses. What’s concerning, but not altogether surprising, is the extent to which college administrations are caving to the students seeking protection. The example below is just one of many demonstrations of how these ‘protections’ are effectively limiting any intellectual discussion.
Last fall, the president of Smith College, Kathleen McCartney, apologized for causing students and faculty to be “hurt” when she failed to object to a racial epithet uttered by a fellow panel member at an alumnae event in New York. The offender was the free-speech advocate Wendy Kaminer, who had been arguing against the use of the euphemism “the n-word” when teaching American history or “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” In the uproar that followed, the Student Government Association wrote a letter declaring that “if Smith is unsafe for one student, it is unsafe for all students.”
“It’s amazing to me that they can’t distinguish between racist speech and speech about racist speech, between racism and discussions of racism,” Ms. Kaminer said in an email.
By this standard, walking into a Starbucks lately with their lame #RaceTogether campaign probably ‘triggered’ those same students. The more pervasive this behavior becomes the more ill-equipped these people will be to dealing with the real world.
A simple thought experiment demonstrates how ridiculous and self-indulgent these ‘protections’ really are: replace the abstract philosophical discussion of race with an economic downturn, and imagine that the student graduated and is now working in the finance group of some business.
The student, now employee, asks to be excused from a meeting with lenders discussing how the company will manage the downturn on the basis of being ‘triggered’ into recalling their family’s struggle during a recession in which their parents lost their jobs. Assuming an extremely patient and accommodating manager allowed for that, consider that nothing in this situation has changed; the downturn is still a downturn, the business will have to make cuts (likely our snowflake employee after that performance). The only thing that’s been achieved by avoiding the ‘trigger’ is that the employee is ignorant of both the situation and the knowledge that was on offer by an interested party with expertise.
The world continues to turn, and by removing yourself as a snowflake, you’re destined to have little to no impact on it. If a college degree was previously a prerequisite for employment, it’s going to quickly become an obstacle if this insulation continues.
