Who’s Afraid of a Snow Flake?
What is a Snow Flake? It is a multi-sided crystalline of frozen water, falling from the sky when temperatures are below freezing. No snowflake is the same, they are diverse, by definition.
In “Trump World,” Snow Flake is used to describe a “liberal”: someone who “melts” at the first sign of trouble, who cannot stand up for what they believe. They are “bleeding hearts”, “lovers of strays”: ones who cannot turn away from the problems of others. Snow Flakes are defined as scared, bullied, unable to deal with differences “like a man,” (often because they are in fact, women); unable to take care of themselves without the “nanny” state.
And yet in our current society, who is most “scared?” Snow Flakes aren’t the ones claiming they need guns to “protect their homes.” Snow Flakes aren’t frightened of the challenges of diversity, of the “browning” of America, of the reality that gender identity is gray, not black and white. Snow Flakes are willing to accept differences, and work to learn how others live, not demanding that “the different” hide themselves. And Snow Flakes aren’t scared of the economic challenges of a changing world, they don’t need to build walls of steel, or tariffs, to protect America.
Snow Flakes aren’t challenged by young African American men, kneeling in solidarity with their brothers at an NFL football game. Snow Flakes recognize that there are grays in our society: it isn’t a binary choice between supporting “the thin blue line” or “Black Lives Matter.”
Snow Flakes see the American flag as a symbol for what makes America great, and that the ability to speak out, even for an unpopular cause, is one of the hallmarks of American greatness. As the French philosopher Voltaire is misquoted as saying; “I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” (It was his biographer, Evelyn Beatrice Hall, a woman!!)
And Snow Flakes aren’t indifferent to Americans in crisis, even though they may be Hispanic Americans living in Puerto Rico (they know Puerto Ricans are US Citizens.) They aren’t willing to accept a government that won’t take care of the less fortunate, and they aren’t interested in tax cuts for the wealthy.
In fact, Snow Flakes are pretty hardy, willing to stand up for those who cannot: not melting down at the first challenge to their preconceived notions. They aren’t afraid of Muslims, gays, the city, or immigrants. And Snow Flakes aren’t afraid to get to the facts of what happened in the 2016 Presidential election. In fact, when you really get down to it, who IS melting down in our current political situation? It doesn’t seem to be the Snow Flakes.
