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.

 

[The Pink Panther]

"socially liberal and fiscally conservative" aka "I like to smoke weed but fuck poor people"?

Hey, hey. Being fiscally conservative is more complex than just fuck poor people. It's all a matter of hiearchy and CASTE that needs to be maintained.



But seriously fuck poor people.

 

[Rupin]

I'm somehow skeptical on the climate change, like look, I believe in science (not a hard left fuck everything socialism is cool shit) ,I'm a Christian myself (not a hard right one) but this whole ,,drama'' is actually getting way out of hand. There is no doubt that there is pollution, heck, well known enviromental threatening countries like China produce things like crazy without thinking about consequences, but that's supported by alot (more like 99%) countries of the world, including USA. Where I live, the temperatures have risen over the past years, especially in the summer, but that might not be actually accurate on the whole debate.

What caught my attention is : "Let science be heard" thing, uuuhhhh, Mrs.Thunberg, science has been heard since ages, that's why we have PC's, relatively good medical care etc. If you have done your research as you tell people, then why don't you study more about the atomic experiments (let alone Hiroshima and Nagasaki) that have been done secretly, some of them not even known by many people, (etc) and their impact on nature and human kind? Isn't that part of science as well? And more specifically, what have YOU done to save THIS planet? Like, most of these leftist people only talk about the situation, but in any essence they are procrastinating on big money and NGO funding from obscure people... And if Trump is that bad, or anyone else from the political spectrum, then WHY you DON'T IGNORE THEM and do your own scientific expertise on the mater? It's not like you have the Gestapo on your ass stoping you. And lastly, if this is such a big deal or how ever you describe it, then why don't you and your other screaming little girls/furries/gays/etc including people who are involved in this circus as well, promote climate change for free? Afterall it is our planet and that sure matters million times more than getting your ''donations'' from the NGO's.

In the 70’s they were worried about our planet going into an ice age, now it’s global warming. Still the goal is the same, to control your mind.

 

[Silence of the Troons]

That speech looked like something straight out of a hostage video. I thought she was going to get a psykbryt

i wish the left would stop telling us "peasants" how dirty we are and need to change. how about you send your child puppet to china or India and since they far more polluted then the west is.

That would be swell, but unlike some of the other hotshots who wanted to take pictures with her, I doubt Xi the Chinaman is going to even pretend that he gives a shit anytime soon

 

[Hechter]

All in all, this is just another hype in the likes of Kony 2012. We all know what happened to the guy behind that...

 

[JambledUpWords]

I read on her twitter page that she is aspie. She never smiles, she is young, yet looks like she is 30 and she has a mental disorder? She is the perfect avatar for the Left.

It doesn’t look like Greta has had any early intervention for her autism. If she did, she’d be able to hide it better. Greta has claimed to have selective mutism as well and only started speaking out when she “became an activist”. She stands out more because of it, but is easily taken advantage of due to her autism. She seems too deep into the climate alarmism dogma and due to extreme obsessiveness (classic autism trait), there might be little chance of convincing her that she is being used.

Spoiler: Powerlevel

As a sperg myself, it is very easy to get taken advantage of if you have autism. Autists will trust authority or try to fit in, even if it ends up hurting them in the end. The trusting nature can be really bad if not kept in check.

 

[Claude Speed]

In the 70’s they were worried about our planet going into an ice age, now it’s global warming. Still the goal is the same, to control your mind.

True.

Elon used to give me a ladyboner but now that he's rooting for Greta he's just another idiot. The guy has six kids, how can he say he is fighting against climate change if the biggest problem is overpopulation?



Also Greta needs to fuck off to her hugbox.

Elon Musk is just a puppet who is trying to look smart but the thing is others are working for him, he's just there to distract people from other important maters.
I still laugh at the Tesla brand, using the name of a man who died a long time ago and actually contributed with something for technical advancements so he can get people's attention.

 

[Hechter]

Agreed. Tesla would turn is his grave.

 

[Dynastier]

TIL that Stalin was fighting climate change

Well he did reduce the population, so indirectly I gu

I'm somehow skeptical on the climate change, like look, I believe in science (not a hard left fuck everything socialism is cool shit) ,I'm a Christian myself (not a hard right one) but this whole ,,drama'' is actually getting way out of hand. There is no doubt that there is pollution, heck, well known enviromental threatening countries like China produce things like crazy without thinking about consequences, but that's supported by alot (more like 99%) countries of the world, including USA. Where I live, the temperatures have risen over the past years, especially in the summer, but that might not be actually accurate on the whole debate.

What caught my attention is : "Let science be heard" thing, uuuhhhh, Mrs.Thunberg, science has been heard since ages, that's why we have PC's, relatively good medical care etc. If you have done your research as you tell people, then why don't you study more about the atomic experiments (let alone Hiroshima and Nagasaki) that have been done secretly, some of them not even known by many people, (etc) and their impact on nature and human kind? Isn't that part of science as well? And more specifically, what have YOU done to save THIS planet? Like, most of these leftist people only talk about the situation, but in any essence they are procrastinating on big money and NGO funding from obscure people... And if Trump is that bad, or anyone else from the political spectrum, then WHY you DON'T IGNORE THEM and do your own scientific expertise on the mater? It's not like you have the Gestapo on your ass stoping you. And lastly, if this is such a big deal or how ever you describe it, then why don't you and your other screaming little girls/furries/gays/etc including people who are involved in this circus as well, promote climate change for free? Afterall it is our planet and that sure matters million times more than getting your ''donations'' from the NGO's.

Scientists who do independent climate research tend to find themselves added to lists that keep them from getting to do any more research.
Hell, research that climate change believing scientists say is true still gets you blacklisted just for being skeptical.
But maintaining blacklists is just good science, obviously...

 

[Hechter]

I have ASD myself, yet I've managed to get two master degrees in uni and have a normal social life while looking put together and attractive. It's only made me more blunt and cynical really. Greta hiding her clear mental retardation under the aspie moniker makes me livid.

 

[Claude Speed]

I have ASD myself, yet I've managed to get two master degrees in uni and have a normal social life while looking put together and attractive. It's only made me more blunt and cynical really. Greta hiding her clear mental exceptionalism under the aspie moniker makes me livid.

I learnt something in Psychology, people with autism tend to be more receptive to groups that are 'favorizing' their kind, even if it gets them into trouble or blindly using them in public for deceptive purposes. But there are many people with Asperger who did the contrary, they are stronger and actually stood up for themselves, afterall, we all choose how we live our lives, even if you have a syndrome, or not.

 

[Larry David's Opera Cape]

I have ASD myself, yet I've managed to get two master degrees in uni and have a normal social life while looking put together and attractive. It's only made me more blunt and cynical really. Greta hiding her clear mental exceptionalism under the aspie moniker makes me livid.

To be fair, I don't think she's high-functioning enough to be responsible for hiding anything herself. It's her parents and handlers exploiting her obvious mental retardation and claiming that it's all due to Asperger's because that sounds more prestigious than "spergery plus her mom hit the sauce a lot while preggo and also the poor thing is malnourished and was dropped on her head a lot."

 

[Hechter]

I learnt something in Psychology, people with autism tend to be more receptive to groups that are 'favorizing' their kind, even if it gets them into trouble or blindly using them in public for deceptive purposes. But there are many people with Asperger who did the contrary, they are stronger and actually stood up for themselves, afterall, we all choose how we live our lives, even if you have a syndrome, or not.

It's a spectrum. Low iq and comorbidity such as ADHD make people more gullible. Had Greta had a high iq she would have come up with solutions.

I was diagnosed only aged 25 so I've never been coddled the way she is.

 

[Product Intervention]

Eleven pages Jesus Christ. What is it with this Greta kid that twists peoples' fucking panties so much?
She's a retard. Nothing she says holds any weight. Why does she provoke a response like this?

Well-adjusted people generally don't like to see children used as pawns.

 

[Hechter]

Well-adjusted people generally don't like to see children used as pawns.

That, and her face just makes me want to slap her.

 

[Gravityqueen4life]

her mother should have stopped having her Friday red wine when she was pregnante.

 

[Claude Speed]

Maybe she has a little private affair with soros thus getting her the status she has right now.

I would expect that son of a bitch to be into children.

 

[Silence of the Troons]

It doesn’t look like Greta has had any early intervention for her autism. If she did, she’d be able to hide it better. Greta has claimed to have selective mutism as well and only started speaking out when she “became an activist”. She stands out more because of it, but is easily taken advantage of due to her autism. She seems too deep into the climate alarmism dogma and due to extreme obsessiveness (classic autism trait), there might be little chance of convincing her that she is being used.

Spoiler: Powerlevel

As a sperg myself, it is very easy to get taken advantage of if you have autism. Autists will trust authority or try to fit in, even if it ends up hurting them in the end. The trusting nature can be really bad if not kept in check.

Very true. When you're a sperg, it can be easy to become obsessed to the point where you don't care much about anything else, and in Greta's case, she happens to be surrounded by adults (including her parents) who just can't help themselves but take advantage of that, I mean encourage her and also have the resources to do so. I suspect she's going to have a new breakdown sooner or later because of all the pressure (and it's not just because of the 'tism, it's not good for any sixteen-year-old to face so much pressure for a long period of time)

 

[The Grognard]

It's a spectrum. Low iq and comorbidity such as ADHD make people more gullible. Had Greta had a high iq she would have come up with solutions.

I was diagnosed only aged 25 so I've never been coddled the way she is.

I don't think having a high IQ would help her because she's under immense pressure from family and politicians to perform her role to the best of her abilities. Even if she wants to rebel, consequences would be rather immense for her.

 

[Claude Speed]

Even if she wants to rebel, consequences would be rather immense for her.

Like getting her thrown into a mental asylum and make all the people forget about her in a mater of seconds and then establish a new kiddo puppet? Seems n i c e.

 

[Super-Chevy454]

Maybe she has a little private affair with soros thus getting her the status she has right now.

I would expect that son of a bitch to be into children.

That might explain why she did that face when she visited the EU parliament. https://9gag.com/gag/aNYj3Z0/greta-thunberg-visits-the-european-parliament-for-the-first-time