Science Greta Thunberg Megathread - Dax Herrera says he wouldn't have a day ago (I somewhat doubt that)

Why is Greta Thunberg so triggering? How can a 16-year-old girl in plaits, who has dedicated herself to the not-exactly sinister, authoritarian plot of trying to save the planet from extinction, inspire such incandescent rage?

Last week, she tweeted that she had arrived into New York after her two week transatlantic voyage: “Finally here. Thank you everyone who came to see me off in Plymouth, and everyone who welcomed me in New York! Now I’m going to rest for a few days, and on Friday I’m going to participate in the strike outside the UN”, before promptly giving a press conference in English. Yes, her second language.

Her remarks were immediately greeted with a barrage of jibes about virtue signalling, and snide remarks about the three crew members who will have to fly out to take the yacht home.

This shouldn’t need to be spelled out, but as some people don’t seem to have grasped it yet, we’ll give it a lash: Thunberg’s trip was an act of protest, not a sacred commandment or an instruction manual for the rest of us. Like all acts of protest, it was designed to be symbolic and provocative. For those who missed the point – and oh, how they missed the point – she retweeted someone else’s “friendly reminder” that: “You don’t need to spend two weeks on a boat to do your part to avert our climate emergency. You just need to do everything you can, with everyone you can, to change everything you can.”

Part of the reason she inspires such rage, of course, is blindingly obvious. Climate change is terrifying. The Amazon is burning. So too is the Savannah. Parts of the Arctic are on fire. Sea levels are rising. There are more vicious storms and wildfires and droughts and floods. Denial is easier than confronting the terrifying truth.

Then there’s the fact that we don’t like being made to feel bad about our life choices. That’s human nature. It’s why we sneer at vegans. It’s why we’re suspicious of sober people at parties. And if anything is likely to make you feel bad about your life choices -- as you jet back home after your third Ryanair European minibreak this season – it’ll be the sight of small-boned child subjecting herself to a fortnight being tossed about on the Atlantic, with only a bucket bearing a “Poo Only Please” sign by way of luxury, in order to make a point about climate change.

But that’s not virtue signalling, which anyone can indulge in. As Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, and their-four-private-jets-in-11-days found recently, virtue practising is a lot harder.

Even for someone who spends a lot of time on Twitter, some of the criticism levelled at Thunberg is astonishing. It is, simultaneously, the most vicious and the most fatuous kind of playground bullying. The Australian conservative climate change denier Andrew Bolt called her “deeply disturbed” and “freakishly influential” (the use of “freakish”, we can assume, was not incidental.) The former UKIP funder, Arron Banks, tweeted “Freaking yacht accidents do happen in August” (as above.) Brendan O’Neill of Spiked called her a “millenarian weirdo” (nope, still not incidental) in a piece that referred nastily to her “monotone voice” and “the look of apocalyptic dread in her eyes”.

But who’s the real freak – the activist whose determination has single-handedly started a powerful global movement for change, or the middle-aged man taunting a child with Asperger syndrome from behind the safety of their computer screens?

And that, of course, is the real reason why Greta Thunberg is so triggering. They can’t admit it even to themselves, so they ridicule her instead. But the truth is that they’re afraid of her. The poor dears are terrified of her as an individual, and of what she stands for – youth, determination, change.

She is part of a generation who won’t be cowed. She isn’t about to be shamed into submission by trolls. That’s not actually a look of apocalyptic dread in her eyes. It’s a look that says “you’re not relevant”.

The reason they taunt her with childish insults is because that’s all they’ve got. They’re out of ideas. They can’t dismantle her arguments, because she has science – and David Attenborough – on her side. They can’t win the debate with the persuasive force of their arguments, because these bargain bin cranks trade in jaded cynicism, not youthful passion. They can harangue her with snide tweets and hot take blogposts, but they won’t get a reaction because, frankly, she has bigger worries on her mind.

That’s not to say that we should accept everything Thunberg says without question. She is an idealist who is young enough to see the world in black and white. We need voices like hers. We should listen to what she has to say, without tuning the more moderate voices of dissent out.

Why is Greta Thunberg so triggering? Because of what she represents. In an age when democracy is under assault, she hints at the emergency of new kind of power, a convergence of youth, popular protest and irrefutable science. And for her loudest detractors, she also represents something else: the sight of their impending obsolescence hurtling towards them.

joconnell@irishtimes.com
https://twitter.com/jenoconnell

https://web.archive.org/web/2019090...certain-men-1.4002264?localLinksEnabled=false
Found this thought-provoking indeed.

 

[Iwasamwillbe]

“We will no longer be known as the kids fighting the apocalypse. We will be known as the solution to the climate crisis.”

This is pretentious and unwarrentedly self-important on a whole different level.

 

[Stoneheart]

Isnt she a smartie?

 

[Pixy]

This is pretentious and unwarrentedly self-important on a whole different level.

Mind you, it's part of their propaganda to convince more kids to support their 'Climate Strikes' and whatnot. 'We're making history' is the same line used by Extinction Rebellion, militant vegans, and a number of other unsavoury groups.

 

[Oh Long Johnson]

Did this goblin mention declaring jihad on Bolsonaro the Treekiller?

 

[MAPK phosphatase]

Why do people elevate children as moral arbiters and political experts? I see this happen in fiction as well, where the writer/director will use a child as their mouthpiece talking down to and being right in the face of all the adults.

 

[Never Scored]

Hey adults, I just want you to stop polluting the atmosphere.

And also I want a new iPhone every year.

And also I want 24/7 access to the internet and social media

And also I want to fly around the world when I'm done highschool

And also I want to buy whatever fruits and vegetables I want at the grocery store 365 days a year

And also I want to replace my wardrobe once a year

And also I want minorities in my country and everyone in poorer countries to have access to all those things too


So yeah, I just want you to stop polluting the atmosphere and those other things.

tia

 

[LatinasAreTheFuture]

Water is wet. Not even kidding.

Why is nuclear so bad in their minds? Do they really think that it, Oh idk, pollutes more on average than coal? Or is their hate purely ideological?

 

[CWCissey]

Why is nuclear so bad in their minds? Do they really think that it, Oh idk, pollutes more on average than coal? Or is their hate purely ideological?

They're retards that can't grasp the fact Chernobyl was caused by shitty Commie equipment and science and Fukushima was caused by a fucking tsunami.

 

[Sīn the Moon Daddy]

Why is nuclear so bad in their minds? Do they really think that it, Oh idk, pollutes more on average than coal? Or is their hate purely ideological?

Oil money. Exxon will cut off welfare payments to the environmentalists if they push for nuclear power.

 

[Silence of the Troons]

Brace yourselves burgers & company. If you think English speaking journos are obnoxious when it comes to Greta, you haven't seen enough of the drivel that Swedish journos have written about her (and they have been writing extensively about her for a long time; actually, ever since her strike began in August last year). Example of an article that was published recently and in which the article writer talks about how seeing her on the Daily Show makes him cry floods of tears because "She goes right through the woody wall of broken dreams, clotted ideals, shameful selfishness, failures, cynicism and powerlessness that makes up the thing called Life After Growing Up.": https://www.expressen.se/kultur/daniel-sjolin/jag-grater-over-mig-sjalv-inte-greta/ (the headline is "I'm crying over myself – not Greta")

 

[Pope Negro Joe the XIIIth]

Brace yourselves burgers & company. If you think English speaking journos are obnoxious when it comes to Greta, you haven't seen enough of the drivel that Swedish journos have written about her (and they have been writing extensively about her for a long time; actually, ever since her strike began in August last year). Example of an article that was published recently and in which the article writer talks about how seeing her on the Daily Show makes him cry floods of tears because "She goes right through the woody wall of broken dreams, clotted ideals, shameful selfishness, failures, cynicism and powerlessness that makes up the thing called Life After Growing Up.": https://www.expressen.se/kultur/daniel-sjolin/jag-grater-over-mig-sjalv-inte-greta/ (the headline is "I'm crying over myself – not Greta")

You guys have nuclear weapons right?


Detonate them and do us a favour.

 

[CWCissey]

You guys have nuclear weapons right?


Detonate them and do us a favour.

I don't think the Meatballs even have Yankee nukes on their soil.

 

[Brundlefly]

Now who is gonna be brave enough to go to the next big Climate Strike in 2 days?

Global #ClimateStrikeOnline - Art, Training & Actions for climate strikers

Stay safe, stay strong. Use this site to help you keep striking for climate justice and a just recovery from Covid-19 for everyone.

globalclimatestrike.net

The last one allegedly had 1.5 MILLION people around the world.

 

[JambledUpWords]

I don’t know how long she’s been a vegan, but it’s probably messing with her hormones (especially if she’s ingesting a lot of soy)

 

[2WokeB4BrainPills]

Why is nuclear so bad in their minds? Do they really think that it, Oh idk, pollutes more on average than coal? Or is their hate purely ideological?

Basically, the problem is that they are in the business of selling themselves (democrats) as the saviors to fight the big scary global warming monster... but only if you send them your checks and your votes. If the solution to this problem was allowed to be as easy as "lol just build nuclear stupid" then they are screwed. They've spent a metric fuck-ton of time and energy creating "climate change" as a new issue that voters care about, and that they can beat republicans on. If it actually were to get solved, the issue becomes moot and voters move on to caring about the economy or foreign policy, or other shit that they know they can't win on.

Thus, real solutions can't be allowed. The only things that can be discussed are things the republicans will never agree to (because they are stupid boondoggles), and which will never actually make the issue go away for good even if democrats take power and no longer can blame republicans for blocking (because they are stupid boondoggles). All the while, their propaganda outlets (literally all of the mainstream media sans Fox) can continue to hammer the story of the heroic democrats battling to save our children into voters' skulls.

The risk is that, the foot soldiers aren't all in on the scam. Some of them might get too big for their britches and actually try to *gasp* solve the problem. Yang, for example, seems not to understand the unwritten rules.

 

[Honka Honka Burning Love]

And also I want minorities in my country and everyone in poorer countries to have access to all those things too

That is something they absolutely don't want, they want to kick the door closed on the third world so they keep shitting in ditches. We can't let the blackies get civilization after all.

 

[Autocrat]

How cucked does a country have to be to ask children to chastise them and applaud them for it? Foreign children at that. This little whore has no idea what she's talking about, admits she's not an expert, and we're treating her like she's important.

 

[Clop]

Why is nuclear so bad in their minds? Do they really think that it, Oh idk, pollutes more on average than coal? Or is their hate purely ideological?

What industry benefits from nuclear not taking off?

Just because coal and oil result in more deaths and more pollution doesn't mean they don't have enough money to keep paying for bullshit to keep the public misinformed about the safety of modern nuclear power. Similarly much more expensive alternatives feel the same way; Why fund nuclear when you can fund a bunch of bird-grilling solar panels?

Fuck, even the recent television show about Chernobyl admits behind the scenes that they're exaggerating their numbers for drama - I can hardly blame them, nobody can force them to be factual when they're just doing a TV show. The entertainment industry loves nuclear power in the same way that Jaws loved sharks. The Simpsons alone managed to make the average person think that everyone's a single Homer away from getting blown up.

 

[JohnLenin]

Now who is gonna be brave enough to go to the next big Climate Strike in 2 days?

Global #ClimateStrikeOnline - Art, Training & Actions for climate strikers

Stay safe, stay strong. Use this site to help you keep striking for climate justice and a just recovery from Covid-19 for everyone.

globalclimatestrike.net

The last one allegedly had 1.5 MILLION people around the world.

Imagine all the left over trash and signs "activists" will leave only push more recycling or some shit on people.

 

[The Pink Panther]

View attachment 940371

How cucked does a country have to be to ask children to chastise them and applaud them for it? Foreign children at that. This little whore has no idea what she's talking about, admits she's not an expert, and we're treating her like she's important.

Maybe they aren't laughing with her, but at her.