It sort of depends if something happens, and someone actually turns to such a person expecting defense. What happens then?
It also has a whiff of “White Savior” to it. All of the people of color at my work are like “Uhhh…I can take care of myself, stop sending me pics of fucking safety pins.”
Sounds like the makings of an SNL skit: someone from a vulnerable group turns to someone sporting a safety pin when they’re threatened with violence, and the “defender” trips over their tongue as they try to explain that they aren’t really capable of offering anything more than moral support…
If I were the type of person who wanted some sort of badge to represent my opposition to Trump and all that he represents, I think I’d try to find one that DID NOT call to mind a fastener used for a poopy diaper on a crying, screaming baby.
Slavtiviam was pretty effective at getting us in this situation to begin with. How much of this whole mess was a result of stupid Facebook memes? Token gestures aren’t a substitute for real action, but they can be a powerful way to help set the nation tone.
This is the stupidest goddamn thing. It’s a way for affluent white liberals to tell affluent white liberals how great they are and try to escape conversations about Trump’s demographics. It’s not quite the same, but it reminds me a lot of #NotAllMen.
If you’re going to help people, just fucking do it. Write letters to congresspeople, step in when someone is being harassed. But don’t wear some special stupid pin on your chest. Especially not with a trend that’s extremely publicized and very easy to imitate out of malice by people who want to cause harm.
I prefer to wear a big button saying: “I have several black friends”
I went for “meh”. Heard about this idea for about a day after the Brexit vote, on Facebook. A few people put the pin on and collected their likes, and this is the first time I’ve heard of it since.
What made me feel a little bit better about the country at the time the post-Brexit attacks were going on, was the videos of multiple people standing up to the racists, telling them what a waste of space they are and protecting the attacked; and the unanimous denouncements of the attacks and pledges to stop them that happened in PMQ. Not the people posting on the internet about wearing a safety pin.
This is a point as well. Right now, if people are wearing one because they believe in it and it means something to them, fair enough. If it becomes treated like the poppy sometimes is where people start saying “where’s your pin?! Are you a bigot?!” it’ll lose what little meaning it had.
And what do you think the chances of this are?
Precisely never. Facebook memes don’t last and it peaked awhile ago, anyway. Kids don’t care about Facebook.
I’m thinking of just wearing a Hillary hat for the next four years. I’ll bet I can get a deal on one at HillaryClinton.com.
ETA: No sales, but free shipping.
Well it’s just hypothetical for if the trend were to get popular enough for that to happen, which seems highly unlikely.
Then you know they ARE going to “prick” you 
Interesting split between love, hate and meh.
FTR I haven’t seen it in ‘real life’ though I have a couple of SJW-y friends who’ve posted pics of themselves wearing one.
Well, my Facebook feed is already full of essays by people saying, in effect, “Hey, white people, the safety pin thing doesn’t help me.” Well, that’s over.
I can just picture a bunch of Klan members led by their Imperial Hobgoblin wearing full regalia adorned with safety pins trying to set a trap. I’m not imagining much success.
I’ve worn one after running errands on Friday and wondering how many of the people I encountered were feeling frightened and alone: the woman in the hijab who filled my prescription, the Hispanic family in line with me at the grocery store, the lesbian couple opening an account at the bank etc. Were they thinking that everyone was against them?
I’ve been an outcast and bullied. I know how lonely and frightening that can be. And that was just junior high–not the entire fucking country. I also know how much it means to have someone let you know they’re on your side. And the pin was just a message: not eveyone wants you gone. Just a gesture to hopefully help someone feel a little less alone.
I was meh, until I realized it could have real, practical value occasionally in my community. There have been a couple of racially/religiously motivated incidents, and the victims really did need to know to whom they could turn for help.
We had multiple white kids get blocked from entering our high school for being Trump supporters even though the assumption was only because they were white. Didn’t make the news though and the administration did a pretty good job of squashing it quickly.
People who want to show they are sympathetic to Trump supporters who are being discriminated against can wear gold (plated) safety pins.