British ThinkTank Boss Rages Against "Generation Snowflake"

originally posted by: athousandlives
I predict a world in a not too distant future, ruled by snowflake government.
Freedom will mean that you have the right not to be upset and the freedom to sue anyone who you dont agree with, or that has said something mean to you. You may also destroy their lives and make sure they never find work again.
You will have the right to cry and make sure that all in the internet knows about how you have been hurt.

God forbid you speak your mind and have unbiased opinions!
Are you an actor or artist, sure you are, just make sure you act only in accordance to your ethnicity and/or social background. And dont depict anything that doesnt belong to your heritage in your artistic output.

What next, forbid the flying of your flag at the World Cup?
Abolish st Patricks day because it might offend people who don't like Guinness or Leprechauns?
Sue Nintendo for their depiction of an Italian Plumber in a game? (Im surprised that hasnt happened yet tbh)

Indeed

And THIS will be the result

a reply to: TonyS

but it is being reported out of practically every major university in the country

It is? I'd love to read something that has quotes coming from every major university rather than a blog or a youtube video simply saying that.

a reply to: Kali74

Not to be argumentative, but........I just did a google search on search term "demand safe space" and came up with dozens of reports of demands for safe space.
This is just one incoherent example: www.syracusenewtimes.com...
I say incoherent because of how poorly written the report is.

Then there's this: nypost.com...

And this: dailycaller.com...

I don't know about "dailycaller", but the search term pulls up multiple references.

a reply to: Kali74
I think that it is a news item pumped up by the media and not as widespread as it is made out to be. A few examples of ridiculous behavior by anguished lassies and angry minorities make for great entertainment for the masses and give the people something to talk [and complain] about. The snowflakes seem to be students studying sociology and related subjects as they have far more free time than those studying partial differential equations or organic chemistry. The STEM students tend to be fascinated with the exploration of physical reality and plan to use their skills in that arena. What do the Sociology/Black Studies/Gender Studies students have? Careers of social work at $10/hour? Drug counselors?
As the snowflakes go down the educational rabbit hole, they seem to become comfortable with ideas that they may have rejected before they were slowly subverted and forced to accept the dogma of the faculty thought police.

I wonder if, after slogging through four years of classes and discovering that their college degrees are not worth much in the market, they are angry at just about everyone. Do they feel betrayed and used by the colleges as fodder for departments of dubious worth? It is a wonder that more guidance counselors are not the victims of physical assault.

a reply to: pteridine

I gotta tell you: I pitched a story-idea to our department head the other day, which is -- at its heart -- a story about how the numbers of grads we push out in 2, 4, Masters and PhD programs does not jibe with the number of jobs we create annually in this country (and that doesn't even begin to get into the certificate / vocational jobs, which are all competing for the same 675K jobs / year our 2.5 million college grads are competing for). He liked it, and gave me the go ahead to write it for publication in both school papers.

I honestly expected a lot more push-back on this one. So far, so good.

originally posted by: ScepticScot

originally posted by: crazyewok
a reply to: awareness10

Simple solution is to stop all student loans for Art and social "degrees" if the students want to waste time doing those they should fund them themselves.

On the flip side the money saved from BA deadbeats who can’t get a job after graduating and so cant pay their loan can instead go on subsidizing vital degrees.

You seem slighty confused by concept of a loan.

They are funding it themselves.

LOOOOOOOOOOOL

a reply to: 0zzymand0s

Population increases exponentially, whilst jobs actually decrease with technology. It's either basic income, mass culling, some weird new field that opens up and creates an unheard of number of jobs, or properly redistributing the wealth that's already there (which is more than enough) from the rich to the poor. I wish people would understand this. As a species we need to move away from the "you're worthless without a job" mentality, or 99% of the population will end up as glorified slaves.

The only reason the sjw or snowflakes is an issue is some people make it one, if nobody gives them the time of day, nothing will happen, they will keep on crying and the world will still go round and round.

But good job keeping them in the spot light by crying over there cries.

Bitching about bitching.

Good times.

originally posted by: crazyewok

originally posted by: ScepticScot

originally posted by: crazyewok
a reply to: awareness10

Simple solution is to stop all student loans for Art and social "degrees" if the students want to waste time doing those they should fund them themselves.

On the flip side the money saved from BA deadbeats who can’t get a job after graduating and so cant pay their loan can instead go on subsidizing vital degrees.

You seem slighty confused by concept of a loan.

They are funding it themselves.

Except in the UK that loan is subsided by the UK taxpayer and they don’t have to pay a penny unless earning over £18,000 a year and even the it’s like £7 a month and after 25 years the loan is written off. There is no effect on credit score or really any pressure to pay the loan back.n

Which mean people that get useless BA and then live on minimum wage jobs will get there education for free. On the other hand people that got a REAL degree and have proper jobs that pay real money have to pay our loans back.

If a Degree not going to get you a real job the student shouldn’t get these subsidised loans. If they want to do it they should either get a traditional loan or self-fund.

Yes because I am sure that there are huge numbers of students choosing to go to uni for years with the intention of never earning much more than minimum wage. We must immediately crack down on these people.

Can you also tell me who is going to make these predictions about what degrees are going to guarantee a job at the end of course and what qualifies as a real degree?

I never had a collage degree, never went hungry, always had a roof over my head, clothes on my back, money in my pocket, the times I did not have a job was because I did not want one, raised three fine sons, had a reasonable happy life (I am now past my biblical use by date), was never bored, or envious, thankfully, so, I just cannot understand 'snowflakes' and 'normal' grads, some who seemed to me to be 'not all there'.

originally posted by: ScepticScot



Yes because I am sure that there are huge numbers of students choosing to go to uni for years with the intention of never earning much more than minimum wage. We must immediately crack down on these people.

If your doing a degree in Art history or some other art degree then it pretty clear its not going to be usefull for the general job market. Why would I want to employ someone who did there final in african jungle art or who did a course on david beckham?

originally posted by: ScepticScot
Can you also tell me who is going to make these predictions about what degrees are going to guarantee a job at the end of course

The job Market!

Biotic and Pharma jobs are one of the few growing manufacturing industries in the UK so Chemical engineers, Bioscientists and pharmacists are AWLAYS in needs.

UK has a massive shortage of Doctors, Nurses and Midwives.

Engineers have a very high employment rate.
Why spend all the money getting 100,000 mediocre students through arts degrees with students debts they probably won’t ever pay back when we could spend that money to Train 5,000 doctors or 10,000 nurses without student loans but with grants and scholarships who will not only bring the investment back but greatly profit the taxpayer?

Instead of sending mediocre students to university to do useless degree, better to train them in college to do ACTUAL practical skills that will make them useful.

originally posted by: ScepticScot
and what qualifies as a real degree?

The ability to find employment and prosper after leaving education.

A Degree with a 90% employment rate and which jobs provide equal or more to recommended cost of living would be useful.

A degree with a below 50% employment rate with the average job being under the cost of the standard of living would be useless.

a reply to: pikestaff

What year were you born in?

Things are different to how they were back then. The work market especially.

People need to relax. Eventually a generation is born into war, I mean that's the reality in many places all over the world. Eventually even the manchilds, feminazis, and spoiled extremists in general have to face reality.

I get that this generation some are taking longer to come to terms with reality as it is. They are given options to remain in a bubble further into their early adulthood years. This will pass.

I think bitching about the bitching is a little hypocritical, and we all need a healthy dose of perspective. Most people are not spoiled manchilds and feminazis, most people are tempered by experience in the real world.

a reply to: TonyS

Thank you for taking the effort. The NY Post article, though venomous in it's spin, did point to the Yale students' petition about the dead white poets. It may seem silly (it is actually silly but there's a big but) but the funny thing is that other so called snowflakes (a term that can mean feminist, minority advocate, leftist and any other damn thing the Right doesn't like) are pushing back. Lots of articles written in Slate and Salon address student activism.

What I think is important to note is that this is nothing new. Students, especially freshman students go through this... it's fledging and it's okay, it won't break society, it never has and it's nothing more than young kids challenging authority which is a good thing. What has changed is how administrations handles this challenge, boards have become terrified of losing loans, grants and parent provided funding... they don't want their gravy train to stop.

These initial forays into challenging authority are often very silly and absent of critical thought, it used to be that older students, upper classmen, professors and deans would, through discussion, get these young students to see that poking is good but their aim was terrible. It seems no one wants to let that process happen anymore and we're now stuck between greedy assholes that give in to keep the money flowing and just plain assholes that want to insult young people for being young... and perhaps behind the latter there's something a little more sinister at play a notion being projected through the archetype of The Fool (name calling, laughing at)... and that's to stop thinking, stop poking, stop challenging... conform.

a reply to: Kali74

Why the hell are you making this a left vs right thing? You don't think lefties can see the absurdities as well?

a reply to: pteridine

Great points.

Though . . . they are angry at everyone . . . much earlier . . . around ages 2-6 . . . because of . . . [insert stock answer #1]

And until those issues are at least mostly resolved at a foundational and interpersonal level . . . as well as a rewired brain . . . they will continue to be contrary, angry, at cross purposes with others and the world.

a reply to: Kali74

Thanks for that reply; very well crafted and insightful.

I noted: "These initial forays into challenging authority are often very silly and absent of critical thought, it used to be that older students, upper classmen, professors and deans would, through discussion, get these young students to see that poking is good but their aim was terrible."

That brought to mind the question of whether or not its possibly the case that the upper classmen, professors and deans have become reluctant to engage these people and are, in fact, avoiding them and the subject to the extent they can.

In terms of how this #hit storm has erupted and how its communicated/organized, I began to consider that its probably spreading via Facebook. According to a recent college graduate I spoke to at a party a few weeks back the young women he'd met at the State University, (and he didn't engage with that many, per his own admission), the young women live in a near closed loop Facebook interface "community" of friends and friends of friends. He had a Facebook account, (its apparently mandatory), but simply didn't have the time to deal with it, (he's a pre-med student). He noted that young college women won't date anyone they haven't been introduced to and vetted via Facebook.

Odd isn't it. Apparently "social media" is actually isolating people from one another.

originally posted by: Eilasvaleleyn
a reply to: 0zzymand0s

Population increases exponentially, whilst jobs actually decrease with technology. It's either basic income,

That's part of the plan . . . for the surviving serfs and, more accurately, slaves.

mass culling,

That's also scheduled . . . down to 200-500 million globally. Though, mercifully, they will "only" succeed at exterminating a bit less than half what they start with--1/3 initially and a bit later another 1/3 of what was left from the beginning of the cull.

some weird new field that opens up and creates an unheard of number of jobs,

They COULD engineer that. There's plenty of exotic technologies hidden away to support that. But it's not their preference. They recognize that a vast population of educated folks threatens their tyrannical hold on power.

or properly redistributing the wealth that's already there (which is more than enough) from the rich to the poor.

Yeah, one family's $300 TRILLION alone would make a big dent in that--particularly after a massive cull. However, though they plan to do some of that--it's more by reducing all the serfs and slaves to the lowest common denominator. The elite will not suffer any significant loss of anything . . . until they begin to reap what they have sown.

I wish people would understand this. As a species we need to move away from the "you're worthless without a job" mentality, or 99% of the population will end up as glorified slaves.

I don't think that's their plan. They want to return most of the geography to its natural state . . . with only several large cities remaining . . . and the serfs and slaves housed in Soviet style rabbit warren types of apartments. . . . with just enough population of serfs and slaves left to keep the gears of things oiled for the pleasures of the elite. They don't realize that all the wheels are going to come off their vast plans.

originally posted by: pikestaff
I never had a collage degree, never went hungry, always had a roof over my head, clothes on my back, money in my pocket, the times I did not have a job was because I did not want one, raised three fine sons, had a reasonable happy life (I am now past my biblical use by date), was never bored, or envious, thankfully, so, I just cannot understand 'snowflakes' and 'normal' grads, some who seemed to me to be 'not all there'.

You noticed.

Likely, their parents were not all there either--i.e. very poor in reality testing. . . . living in a world George Orwell saw . . . carefully constructed in fantasy land by decades of very calculated propaganda.

a reply to: TonyS

One problem is

their profs are, likely as not, as thoroughly air-headed as they are . . . or worse.