Snowflakes & Participation Trophies

Where do these terms originate from? who first coined them? I ask this because The Trump crowd (at least 90% of) cannot argue without saying these terms. Even though they don't actually mean anything. I'm 21 years old. I've had about 4 Participation Trophies throughout my childhood everysingle one i threw out. They only lasted as long as my mom (Typical Trump follower age group) made them last. How are (most) of you going to blame the young peoples aggression on them being spoiled when your the ones who spoiled them? it also seems to mesh nicely with this weird Fetish about Trump? these are 40 year old straight men borderline fantasizing about him. I personally know a guy who posted Heart-Eye Emoji's on Facebook about him. its just plain weird. He's a presidential candidate, Not the newest Member of NSYNC.

originally posted by: StookieWilliams
Where do these terms originate from? who first coined them? I ask this because The Trump crowd (at least 90% of) cannot argue without saying these terms. Even though they don't actually mean anything. I'm 21 years old. I've had about 4 Participation Trophies throughout my childhood everysingle one i threw out. They only lasted as long as my mom (Typical Trump follower age group) made them last. How are (most) of you going to blame the young peoples aggression on them being spoiled when your the ones who spoiled them? it also seems to mesh nicely with this weird Fetish about Trump? these are 40 year old straight men borderline fantasizing about him. I personally know a guy who posted Heart-Eye Emoji's on Facebook about him. its just plain weird. He's a presidential candidate, Not the newest Member of NSYNC.

I just see this and can't help to consider it just another form of brainwashed masses.


P.S. I Didn't vote for Hillary, Never even seen a safe zone, Not a "Cuck", not a liberal, not even a democrat. Not a republican either.

Funny, there's a post on the front page right now calling Trump the Snowflake-in-Chief... and it isn't from the Trump crowd.

I always just assumed the whole phenomenon of "participation trophies" were an exaggeration of the liberal soccer mom agenda etc. However, you have received FOUR of these?? Then you wonder where these terms originate from??

LOL. Welcome to reality, kid. You are in for a crazy ride! Everything you THINK you know, is about to be challenged. Buckle up.

There was a time the winner would get a price, then the top 3, and in the 80s they started giving everyone trophies so they don't feel bad for losing, because participation is wining in itself.

You do nothing but you still get rewarded, that's from where participation trophy comes.

Special snowflakes started from a line in fightclub, Durden says you are not a special snowflake, and then it became a meme to derrogative call anyone that feels its unique, around 2006.

I guess the idea is that if you look careful with A microscope a snowflake they are all unique, but if you see them all as they are in bulk they are just undistinguishable white dust, all unremarkable part of the collective.

Memes are dumb and people like to have dumb fun

Glad to hear that you didn't vote for Hillary lol
I don't know exactly where those terms originated but it seems that the "participation trophy" probably came from some kid or kids in Little League had an absolute meltdown or couldn't stand that they lost or that they came in last place and some wise guy introduced trophies for everyone.
Could be wrong but it was probably something like that.
When I played Little League baseball and football in junior high and high school, now you are talking in the late 70s and early 80s btw...just turned 51 on the 16th...when you lost, you lost. Yeah it sucked but you held your head up and said "we'll get them next time" or some other rah-rah type of crap and you went out the next time and tried to beat the hell out of them. And if you lost again, you said the same thing.
There was no 2nd place trophies...there was the winner and there was the losers.
If I may ask, the trophies you received, what were they for?

originally posted by: RazorV66
Glad to hear that you didn't vote for Hillary lol
I don't know exactly where those terms originated but it seems that the "participation trophy" probably came from some kid or kids in Little League had an absolute meltdown or couldn't stand that they lost or that they came in last place and some wise guy introduced trophies for everyone.
Could be wrong but it was probably something like that.
When I played Little League baseball and football in junior high and high school, now you are talking in the late 70s and early 80s btw...just turned 51 on the 16th...when you lost, you lost. Yeah it sucked but you held your head up and said "we'll get them next time" or some other rah-rah type of crap and you went out the next time and tried to beat the hell out of them. And if you lost again, you said the same thing.
There was no 2nd place trophies...there was the winner and there was the losers.
If I may ask, the trophies you received, what were they for?

I'm 29. When I was growing up, there were so many kinds of trophies that everyone got a trophy. "Most improved" which was always given to the worst kid on the team (usually me) and was embarrassing, participation... Every kid got something.

If your team couldn't make the top 3, you had separate playoffs with the teams just as bad as your's... So every team got a top 3 trophy, no matter how good.

a reply to: RazorV66

yes that was the origin of the actual participation trophy i just want to know who first used it to describe any one not falling for Trump because now, that and "Special Snowflake" are the primary arguing points of anyone who supports Trump. I find the fact that these people are largely unable to even communicate their logic without the use of these terms hilariously aggravating

Oh and by the way, i got one or two for literally just being on a T-ball team at like 5 years old (the trophies literally just said T-BALL 2002) and a couple for coming in like 3rd one year and 2nd the next at a Pinewood Derby

GenX'er here and I am a GenY sympathizer. Why, Because they are taking the fall for the Boomer's and my generations crap.

Millennial's don't see them selves as special little snowflakes, THEIR PARENTS see them as special little snowflakes. Their parents are the ones who wanted to live vicariously through their children via participation trophies. Their parents were the ones sitting in the bleachers screaming and picking fights with other sports parents. Their parents were the ones who pushed for individuality so they had bragging rights when their child blended into the crowd.

Show's like Toddlers and Tiaras and Dance Moms exist because of the parents.

The older generation love to talk about personal responsibility, but all I see is them shifting the blame.

And really when you think about it, participation trophies are nothing more than souvenirs. Kids know when they get something they didn't earn, and they don't feel special for receiving the same thing every other child got.

a reply to: calstorm

That's why when I get a participation trophy I start trashing everyone's else, there can be only one...

ETA: thank you for the participation star!

a reply to: calstorm

I dig your posts, I really do. Most of the time. You are right that the parents are responsible to a point. But these "kids" aren't kids anymore, and real life is staring them in the face. At THIS point, personal responsibility is a MUST, anything else is a pipe dream.

These "kids" can no longer blame their parents for their shortcomings, just as you and I can't do that anymore.

originally posted by: StookieWilliams
a reply to: RazorV66

yes that was the origin of the actual participation trophy i just want to know who first used it to describe any one not falling for Trump because now, that and "Special Snowflake" are the primary arguing points of anyone who supports Trump. I find the fact that these people are largely unable to even communicate their logic without the use of these terms hilariously aggravating

Well I am a big Trump supporter and I am sure there are a few people sick of seeing my posts in the Liberal Trump bashing threads, but I never really use those terms very much.
Whoever first used them probably saw the flat out, hysterical reaction to Trump and decided it had to have a special term for that reaction, it was long before he won though.

i remember participation trophies were starting out in elementary schools when i was in high school in california.so that would be sometime between 1996-2000. it wasnt pushed by parents, in fact there was a decent push back from many parents about it and how the kids needed to learn that your not always going to succeed. it was the liberal agenda of the education systems administration. i think your line about how u threw out your participation trophies says something. even you didnt believe they were worth a thing cause u didnt need to do anything to get them thus they were worthless to you. i placed second in my first karate tournament when i was a whitebelt and to this day i still have that trophy and am very proud of my accomplishment. at the time i had many conversations with family and friends about the future consequences of this type of behavior within the education system and now were starting to see the consequences of it since those kids reached adulthood. many studies are coming out from major corporations and businesses that are having massive problems with their employees from that generation. Many of us saw this coming. hopefully they arent past the point of no return and can learn how to pick themselves up when they get knocked down and dont succeed. on a random note, anyone else find the nsync comment abit before the time of a 21 year old

i has lost the will to even participate any more - can i still have a prize ?

a reply to: ignorant_ape

Only if you hang out with Liberals.

Is it really worth it?

I blame the parents, the parents are the ones who decided that every kid should get a reward just for being there.

if you do the math the parents were born in the late 60`s early 70`s ,maybe losing the Vietnam war had an impact on the parents when they were kids and that`s where they got the idea to give everyone a participation reward?

a reply to: StookieWilliams

When I was a kid, every baseball team in Little League got trophies - 1st, 2nd and 3rd place got larger trophies (1st being the largest), the rest got small, trophies. This was in the 1980's - it's nothing new. Not a single kid was satisfied that he got a "participation trophy" - everyone wanted the championship. The same goes today - kids don't need to have a boot on their neck and their faces rubbed in (scat.) They need praise for their efforts and encouragement to improve. There's nothing wrong with "participation trophies", as long as there's an understanding that "trying" isn't the same as "winning."

a reply to: StookieWilliams

You really cannot connect the dots between the use of the terms and what they mean when applied to certain groups of people?

I'm concerned that 'reading between the lines' is a lost form of critical thinking, if you really can't figure it out (that's not an ad hominem attack, just a point). Something tells me that you're just trying to bait people into some overly-discussed conversation on the issue? I mean, you can google the terms and get your answer on your own, ya know:

Wikipedia: Generation Snowflake

It has been suggested that "Generation Snowflake" is derived from the term "snowflake", which has been used to make reference to parents reportedly raising their children as "special" and "precious" snowflakes. This usage of "snowflake" may originate from Chuck Palahniuk's 1996 novel Fight Club, which became a hit film in 1999. Both the novel and the film include the line "You are not special. You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake."

Now, as far as the origin of the usage of "participation trophy" to describe the immaturity and apparent need to always be recognized for doing average things of certain groups, there doesn't really seem to be an origin story for that, per se, but many discussions about it exist online that should give you the answer. There certainly has been a noticeable decline in the acceptance of the reality that winning is something that should be celebrated, and the participation-trophy phenomena seems to have blossomed in stride with that fairly recent (started around the late '90s or so) mentality.

And for the record, getting a trophy or other award for coming in 2nd or 3rd in a competition is perfectly acceptable. Be proud of your pinewood derby skills! I have a ribbon somewhere for one of those...maybe. It probably started it's lengthy decomposition in a landfill years ago.

a reply to: dogstar23

But this is different--over the past few decades, there has been a growing disdain for celebrating and rewarding winning in some circles of society, thinking that every participant should be put on a pedestal, so to speak, just for trying.