The Swamp logo

Snowflakes

A List of Offenses

By Randi AbelPublished 5 years ago 6 min read
Like
Photo: Starbucks

"Fucking libtard snowflakes."

"Fucking entitled Millennials."

"Pathetic, butthurt, overly offended and overly sensitive weaklings fucking 'triggered' by everything."

***

Starbucks cups.

Not eating Chick-fil-A.

Participation trophies.

Trigger warnings.

Women.

Protesters.

The Little Mermaid.

Not being able to say the r-word anymore.

The singular they.

Her emails.

Acknowledging racism and diversity instead of “not seeing skin color.”

Wanting to hear the voices of historically marginalized people instead of straight, cis, white men, who've enjoyed several millennia of their turn.

People on “high horses” who don’t find racist/sexist/homophobic/antisemitic/etc. jokes funny and say so.

So-called “do gooders.”

White male privilege.

Toxic masculinity.

Intersectionality.

Anyone or anything that challenges your position of power and privilege and cherished beliefs about reality and morality.

***

Queerness of any kind.

Rainbows.

Wedding cakes and marriage licenses for same-sex couples.

People going pee in the bathroom of their choice.

Preferred pronouns.

Trans women don’t rape women and children in women’s bathrooms, and trans women are actually more likely to be the ones assaulted in a bathroom.

Hatred and intolerance are not teachings of Jesus nor justified by the Christian bible.

Extending freedoms and human rights to historically oppressed people does not mean that Christians and Christianity and the straight and cis and white majority are under attack.

***

The Cheeto-in-Chief and his family are capable of any wrongdoing whatsoever.

Calling him the Cheeto-in-Chief.

The so-called leader of the free world is a sexual predator, racist, instigator/provocateur, bully, and makes fun of “unattractive” and/or fat women and people with disabilities.

Making fun of people or putting them down for any reason is not cool.

***

Sexual assault is real and complicated and never the victim’s fault.

Trauma is real and complicated and never the victim's fault.

The government does not belong in a person’s uterus but does belong in programs that improve the welfare of its citizens.

A fetus is not a baby.

Birth should not be forced.

Forcing someone to give birth but not helping to care for the baby or mother after said birth while simultaneously relishing in children living in cages is h.y.p.o.c.r.i.t.i.c.a.l. Not to mention immoral.

Affordable and accessible and high-quality healthcare is a human right and we are all responsible as citizens of America to look out for each other and ensure that every citizen has this right.

Sensible gun laws are effective and necessary for a free and safe society.

"Thoughts and prayers” are meaningless platitudes.

Assigning more value to weapons than the lives of children is not pro-life.

Being "pro-abortion" is not a thing.

Being "anti-choice" is.

Feminists are not the same as misandrists.

***

Immigrants are not stealing your jobs or responsible for poverty in any way.

Undocumented immigrants are not eligible to receive social welfare benefits granted to American citizens, and so cannot possibly be scamming the system in the way you think they are.

Illegal immigration and seeking asylum are not synonymous.

People on welfare are not all lazy, drug-addicted scammers.

Mothers of color are not the only people on welfare. Plenty of people of all genders and colors are on welfare. The Black "Welfare Queen" is a myth.

It is not your nor our government's right or responsibility to punish poor people for being poor.

If you or your parents were "self-made" and "came from nothing," that does not make you or your parents inherently better than others who may be struggling to do the same today.

A salary of $40,000 in 2019 is not equal to a salary of $40,000 in 1979.

You would actually do the jobs that many undocumented immigrants do—such as cleaning toilets or picking fruit.

Someone else having a hard time due to oppression does not negate your own struggles.

Someone else having a hard time is not responsible for your own struggles.

***

Gentrification is not a good thing.

Cosmopolitanism is the mark of a progressive and evolved society, not isolationism and xenophobia.

Populism and nationalism are ingredients in every war in human history.

The "War on Terrorism" is not about terrorism.

The "War on Drugs" was a failure and never about drugs.

***

Capitalism is flawed.

America is not the greatest country in the world and there are many other places around the world that are functioning better than we are in various ways, and the suggestion of adopting these techniques/policies/systems or simply admitting that they are better than us in any way is not abhorrent.

The "good old days" do not exist.

America cannot be made great again because it has never been truly great for every person and community who live here.

Corporations routinely prioritize profits over the safety and welfare of their customers and employees.

Challenging this is not a gateway to communism.

Socialism is not what you think it is.

Education is not “indoctrination.”

Scientists and intellectuals have value.

Colleges and universities are not cesspools of repression that stifle free speech, but epicenters of free thought, collaboration, and critical thinking.

History does in fact repeat itself.

There are very clear similarities between America in 2019 and Germany in 1939. Ignoring them will be our hubris.

Fox News is Faux News.

Corporations are not people too.

Russia is an adversary, not an ally.

Same goes for North Korea.

Russian interference in our elections and social media is real.

***

Climate change is real. Humans are making it worse.

Cows and pigs and chickens do not exist solely for our consumption.

We are not lords over all earthly life with the right to kill other species and destroy habitats for our own gain.

Anything to do with helping the planet.

***

Black Lives Matter. Until all Americans acknowledge that Black lives matter, all lives do not matter to all Americans.

The reality of mass incarceration, privatization of prisons, the school-to-prison pipeline, modern-day slavery and indentured servitude, and concentration camps on our soil.

The inherent racism and classism in these systems.

Residential and educational segregation exist and are the foundations of racial inequality.

People of color are systematically oppressed and all white people benefit from this system of inequality in both obvious and subtle ways, even when we don't want to or realize it's happening.

The sense of white supremacy is ingrained in us almost from birth and reinforced throughout our lives.

Racial biases exist in all of us, in our unconsciousness if not overtly, and guide many of our daily decisions and interactions.

Representation matters.

Our police system is broken and people of color die at the hands of police more often than white people, and if people of color are shot/beaten/killed by police, they did not do anything to deserve that level of violence or their death.

Most people of color are not criminals.

White people can be domestic terrorists.

Black and Brown folks should not be stuck in prison for selling weed while white people now enjoy profiting from it freely.

Judicial sentencing is absurdly harsher and more unjust for people of color than for white people.

Reverse racism is not a thing or even possible.

***

All humans are entitled to certain inalienable rights, including safety, respect, a living wage, acceptance for who they are, accommodations if necessary, proper healthcare and affordable medications and treatments, access to healthy and nutritious food that is affordable for all incomes and free of toxic ingredients, dignity, kindness, and help from their community when they are struggling to survive.

***

You are gullible and easily manipulated by the media and narcissistic, self-interested political leaders and corporate billionaires who don't give a shit about you.

You are unwilling to think critically about the status quo because you benefit from the status quo daily, or have been manipulated to think you do.

You are guilty and complicit.

***

Feeling triggered yet?

art
Like

About the Creator

Randi Abel

Poet and storyteller currently based out of Denver, Colorado.

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.