The recent election has unsuspectedly triggered my interest in politics and the social movements that have been involved around it. I have read numerous articles, watched countless videos and listened to hours of podcasts from NPR, BBC, and WBEZ. Though I try to diversify my sources and listen to all perspectives headlining the news, it was very difficult avoiding overly-biased media content such as the Final Thoughts by Tomi Lahren. Her adamant defense on many controversial topics had left an irreparable impression, her words being, at times seemed quite over-the-top audacious and into the territories of rather brash. And her frequent rendering of the word ‘Snowflake’ to describe Leftist movement was what had caught my interest in her substantial influence over Facebook and Twitter. This derogatory term is used to describe an overly sensitive person, of whom most often fights as an activist on a particular injustice issue. Snowflakes depict those who believe that they are unique amongst the millions of other snowflakes out there believing that they have the right to be protected, all too oblivious and afraid of their imminent disintegration into the sewers.

In specific case of Lahren’s show, she constantly denounces the Leftist movements by contradicting their claims and outlining the lack of jurisdiction over these matters. Once the heat of the argument is removed from her segment, however, it is not hard to relate to a lot of what she says. In all fairness, she does bring up some good points, and summarizes why so many people voted for Trump’s presidency.

Among the many groups that position themselves on the front lines of this constant, political battle, I want to specifically talk about so called ‘Snowflakes.’ This name has been brought up numerous times before by Lahren and many members of Right Movement activists. Off the bat, the name implies a very interesting aspect of their identity. Although they are unequivocally unique by their nature, fact is that the substance of their matter makes them incredibly fragile and vulnerable to even the slight current in the social atmosphere. However, they are often portrayed this way because of their defiance to the hegemony and hegemonic perpetrations. Many of whom, that are called whiners, are actually misrepresented social activists that stand against Patriarchy, white supremacy, and the persecution of certain stereotyped religions.

On Inauguration Day, there have been few parts of the protests organized by Leftist groups where symptoms of riots have shown. Local retailers suffered damages and a limousine was caught on fire as well. While majority of the protests around D.C. were quiet and peaceful, it was those few glimpses of violence that were exploited and shown on national TV to provide “alternate facts” to opposing side of the argument. Nonetheless, men and women in red were infuriated by this negative portrayal of the protest, whom in many ways, so obviously failed to include the complete coverage of that day. The very next day, Women’s March movement took place at the same location and had a record breaking number of peaceful protestors, but without any arrest. Why was it that these two protests, that happened within the span of just two days by similar groups of people with similar interests, have drastically different results? What were the key factors that differentiated those two movements?

I consider myself a Democrat, a Liberal, and even though I may not confidently label myself an activist, there’s not doubt that my work revolves heavily around social issues. I try to focus my abilities to represent both sides of the story in the ways most acceptable without miscommunication. What disappoints me the most is the inability and unwillingness of both parties to listen to opposing statements beyond the awareness of their biases. Political beliefs have been used to judge far more of one’s characteristics than it can possibly prove and yet, many are victimized by this prejudice. For example, not everyone who votes for Trump is a racist and not all Liberals are hypocrites but they are being labeled in that manner. To come to these conclusions, there were so many factors ignored to simplify the justification of imposing a definition on their other side. With this misunderstanding, they will only continue to fuel the anger.

The reason why I advocate and criticize both parties on a regular basis is because I’m never able to agree with one or the other. There is nothing about my character that absolutely dictates my political belief and frankly, this is not an uncommon anomaly. Like many intangible characteristics, our political views lie on a spectrum of variation. Citizens may attack each other to prove that one is more wrong than the other but there are no definitive “correctness” to this madness. And while disagreement comes easy, it becomes unnatural and unfaithful to leave the conversation at an end without pushing the efforts of persuading your opponent towards your side. Once the mutual respect for the disagreement is breached, the conversation can take a violent turn into a dogged conflict.

With the rise of Social Media websites, such as Facebook, came a rise of trend news such as Buzzfeed, Now This, and Attn:. They may be extremely effective in spreading news headlines across mass of people, however, a lot of their content becomes susceptible to misrepresentation of a specific group of people by the time it reaches a substantial audience. These short videos have had enormous impacts on the method of news delivery. To thoroughly understand a news story, it’s very crucial to look beyond the headlines and research over multiple sources from both sides of the argument. Many people seem to forget the latter process and enter straight into the chaos of political mess. I often refrain myself from becoming too politically involved. My fear is that the lack of my own education in these issues will create possibilities for my words to be used against me. If there is deficiency of comprehensive investigation and analysis of the source beforehand, it becomes an easy target to nullify my argument, stigmatize all my political associations, and lose credibility as a whole. The stand that I take must provide factual evidence, and my answer must have a profound reasoning beyond my own perspective.

Although millions of social media users have stayed active on social media to defend their position on any particular issue, their unfounded opinions have created a lot of noise and complaints rather than a directive voice on the problems. Before their credibility is established, they share ideas or thoughts that may or may not be beneficial to the rest of their social network. Though I absolutely agree with the activists spreading awareness or hegemonic oppressions that predetermine what is bound normal versus what is being normalized, seldom do their Facebook posts turn into some kind of action. Noise without voice becomes irrelevant and awareness without action does not make a change. Only through action will others believe in something outside of their realm of principles. It’s time to take words out of my mouth and keep our hands and feet moving forward.

It’s time to turn off popular culture and listen to the world around us and to focus on the subjects that we all tried so hard to ignore. Our eyes are open, but actually looking at what is ahead of us, the grave position that we have placed ourselves in. Most of us stand within a current to hitting against the decks of the opposing winds. Our lives may be jeopardized by our beliefs and the words that we spit out on the inter-web of society. So maybe it's not that we are offended but that we are standing up for what we believe in. Damages will be suffered in the rebuilding process of this nation, but no emotional suffering will ever be able to kill us.

Many Liberals, including myself, are often called a snowflake, however, we are not a snowflakes. While there are so many individualities that stand out are are all equally valuable to society, not all are going to stick around to see the day of tomorrow and not all will achieve the American Dream. So, we stick together and stick with each other to achieve something much greater than we could ever achieve alone. In the time of crisis, words will only speak as loud as your actions. Organizing marches and pushing for reforms -- making change can happen in any way possible. These are the characteristics of a social activist. Do more than what your words say, you will do and “be the change.” We are not snowflakes, we are an iceberg. This is a blizzard and the winter is headed our way.