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.

 

[Hux]

Greta is like the only example I can name of a person that looks 8, 18 and 28 all at the same time

 

[Spicy Tacos]

Where did you read about that?

I’m trying to find it again, but it may have been a Swedish article that I translated into English.

Here’s the article that’s close to what I found previously, and which I read when it was first published.

Self-Harm Versus the Greater Good: Greta Thunberg and Child Activism - Quillette

Greta is eleven years old and has gone two months without eating. Her heart rate and blood pressure show clear signs of starvation. She has stopped speaking to anyone but her parents and younger sister, Beata. After years of depression, eating disorders, and anxiety attacks, she finally...

quillette.com

 

[Webby's Boyfriend]

When you are a 16 year old girl that's a bit different
AND have a religion forming around you
AND have Forbes writing an article saying that you have superpowers + are smarter than the seasoned adults around you, it's a little difficult to not join the X-Men, okay?

Sounds like astroturfing on a cosmic scale to me.

The top rated comments are about killing politicians and executives as well as destroying infrastructure.

Oh, that are just those coffeeshop rebels who dream of throwing CEOs under the guillotine on Reddit, but in real life, lack even the willpower to boycott Amazon or Chick-Fil-A.

 

[Claude Speed]

I was looking for a reference of Greta’s previous self harm when I noticed all this discussion on Reddit.

The top rated comments are about killing politicians and executives as well as destroying infrastructure.

As long as doing that saves the future, it’s ok. Bravo Greta and Company. /sneed

r/worldnews - Greta Thunberg warns world leaders that 'we will not let you get away with this' | Addressing the UN climate summit in NYC, she said: "This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you?"

91,062 votes and 13,649 comments so far on Reddit

www.reddit.com

LMAO all the comments in here remind me of the Bolshevik revolution.
"Grrrr RICH OIL COMPANIES DESTROY THE PLANET".
Yet no mention of China.

 

[Rupin]

LMAO all the comments in here remind me of the Bolshevik revolution.
"Grrrr RICH OIL COMPANIES DESTROY THE PLANET".
Yet no mention of China.

These entitled snowflakes only like attacking soft targets. When shit gets rough, that’s when they wanna play victim.

 

[Webby's Boyfriend]

Yet no mention of China.

Because that would be "racist".

 

[ICametoLurk]

I like how people who talk about how evil Big Oil is don't know "progressive" stuff like PBS, Greta Thunberg (EU was made by Industrialists), RT, Telesur, Al Jazeera, Press TV, and etc are all supported by Oil. Wesley Clark who was against Iraq War was chairman of a company that made synthetic fuel from coal deposits, wrecked Serbia to get Kosovo's coal deposit.

Industrialists rule the World.

 

[Claude Speed]

Because that would be "racist".

Black people can't be......oh wait wrong race.

 

[Webby's Boyfriend]

Industrialists rule the World.

Webby and I work for one. @TrunksFromDragonballGT

 

[Freddy Freaker]

Because that would be "racist".

This. There's an issue in Ohio right now over a bailout of FirstEnergy's nuclear plants. An alternative scheme involves a company buying up/building plants that took a big loan from a bank owned by the Chinese government. The Cleveland Plain Dealer put out an article saying the people who don't support the alternate plan and the tv ads currently airing saying this would give China a foothold in Ohio's grid are just racist xenophobic bigots.

 

[mr.moon1488]

Ya gotta admit though, it's always kinda funny when adults exploit exceptional children.

It would be kind of interesting to have a documentary on tard babies who've outlived their usefulness.

 

[Recoil]

Greta is being used for that age old leftist trick form Alinsky's 'Rules for Radicals'. Inducing shame.
Every other gushing article makes mention of crying, blubbering contrition.
We all should PANIC, remember? We're NOT TRYING HARD ENOUGH.

It's the guilt trip wedge on a massive scale. Maybe her parents are spreading their own guilt around for having spawned an FAS poster child.

 

[Spicy Tacos]

LMAO all the comments in here remind me of the Bolshevik revolution.
"Grrrr RICH OIL COMPANIES DESTROY THE PLANET".
Yet no mention of China.

This article is really good and brings up the Children’s Crusade as well China under reporting it’s carbon emissions for years. Basically, according to their science, we’ve already gone past the point of no return.
https://archbishopcranmer.com/the-weird-cult-of-greta-thunberg-shes-not-the-green-messiah/


The tale of the 15 year old prophetess, Nongqawuse, and the Xhosa Cattle-Killing movement of 1856-7 is what I think of when I think of Greta and the massive changes she may demand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nongqawuse

 

[Ahriman]

 

[LordofTendons]

Another thing to remember about autism spectrum disorder and these super intense interests is that people can drop them just as quickly and intently as they got into them. Next week this kid may decide she's into lime-flavored cupcakes shaped like Sean Penn and she doesn't want to do this other stuff any more, and there won't be a damn thing anyone can do to change her mind to continue to be the climate change Christ child. She'll find out what it is to have someone standing over her making her do stuff THEN.

 

[Spicy Tacos]

Here’s a few of my favorite tweets about Greta and how she’s Jesus/God/the savior.

Pray to Greta

Sarah Silverman saying Greta is Jesus

Climate Jesus

If the Bible was rewritten today Greta would be Jesus and Trump the anti-Christ


savior of the planet

Another thing to remember about autism spectrum disorder and these super intense interests is that people can drop them just as quickly and intently as they got into them.

Unfortunately, she’s been doing this for over a year.

 

[XYZpdq]

Greta Thunberg is Demon-possessed and in need of an Exorcism – Leo Za…

archived 24 Sep 2019 02:44:56 UTC

archive.fo

Fun bit of schizophrenia about this bitch

 

[Obligatory Keeper Option]

Greta "Fetal Alcohol Syndrome" Thundertard is quickly wearing out her welcome & people's patience.

Screaming kids are not how you fix environmental disturbances.

 

[Ahriman]

Breitbart on Instagram: “@gretathunberg”

7,654 Likes, 5,015 Comments - Breitbart (@wearebreitbart) on Instagram: “@gretathunberg”

www.instagram.com

We didn't do shit, tell that to your parents, sweaty. They're the ones pimping you out and parading you like a freakshow.

 

[Pixy]

Greta Thunberg joins climate change activists filing complaint at UN summit against carbon-polluting countries
By Claire Knox, wires
Updated about 2 hours ago


Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg has captured the world's attention in a fierce and passionate speech at the United Nations headquarters, accusing world leaders of failing to act on climate change.



The UN event was aimed at mobilising government and business to break international paralysis over carbon emissions, which hit record highs last year despite decades of warnings from scientists.

"This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean, yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you," said the 16-year-old, her voice trembling with anger at times.

"You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.

"We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth."

Ms Thunberg told the UN that even the strictest emission cuts being talked about only gave the world a 50 per cent chance of limiting future warming to another 0.4 degrees Celsius from the current level, which would meet the global goal of 1.5C — the benchmark temperature rise laid out by the 2015 Paris Agreement that will limit the impact of warming on world weather systems.

Those odds were not good enough, she said.

"We will not let you get away with this," Ms Thunberg said.

More than 50 global leaders — with the exception of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and US President Donald Trump — were set to take part in the summit by announcing climate finance measures and transitioning from coal power.

Mr Trump dropped in briefly and listened to one of the speakers. Ms Thunberg stared down the US President when the two crossed paths.


Leaders were only permitted to speak at the event if they could offer up new climate action plans.

Inspired by Ms Thunberg's solitary weekly protest outside the Swedish Parliament a year ago, millions of young people poured onto the streets around the globe last Friday to demand governments attending the summit take emergency action.

After her speech, Ms Thunberg and 15 other young climate activists filed a complaint with the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child alleging that world leaders' inaction on the climate crisis had violated children's rights.

The petitioners, who range in age from eight to 17 and hail from 12 different countries, teared up as they presented their complaint at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) headquarters and gave personal accounts of how their lives and homes have been upended by climate change because of politicians' inaction.

The complaint accuses the respondent countries — Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and Turkey — of knowing about the impact of their carbon emissions on the climate and doing nothing to mitigate it.


PHOTO: Donald Trump did not speak at the summit, but briefly listened in to one of the speeches. (AP Photo: Evan Vucci)


The respondents are a few of the biggest carbon emitters out of the 45 countries that have signed a protocol allowing children to seek redress under the 1989 Convention of the Rights of the Child, a treaty that declared the unassailable civil, economic, social, political and cultural rights of children.

Other major carbon emitters such as the US and China have not signed the protocol.

'The biggest cost is doing nothing'
Global warming caused by heat-trapping greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels has already led to droughts and heatwaves, melting glaciers, and rising sea levels and floods, and scientists say the crisis has intensified since world leaders signed the 2015 Paris Agreement to combat climate change.

A new report from the World Meteorological Organisation released ahead of the conference warned the world was falling far behind in the race to avert a climate disaster.

The last five years have been the hottest on record, the report said, with ice sheets melting and sea levels rising at an unprecedented rate.

"I was very struck by the emotion in the room when some of the young people spoke earlier," French President Emmanuel Macron told the summit.

A cohort of leaders from the Pacific, which has borne the brunt of the climate impacts such as extreme weather in recent years, also warned the summit that enough was not being done to stave off climate change, calling it a "living nightmare".

"I think that no political decisionmaker can remain deaf to this call for justice between generations."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who organised the one-day event, had warned leaders only to turn up if they came armed with concrete action plans, not empty speeches.

"There is a cost to everything. But the biggest cost is doing nothing. The biggest cost is subsidising a dying fossil fuel industry, building more and more coal plants, and denying what is plain as day: that we are in a deep climate hole, and to get out we must first stop digging," he said.


Nevertheless, there were few new proposals from governments for the kind of rapid change climate scientists say is now needed to avert devastating impacts from warming.

The summit has, by contrast, been marked by a flurry of pledges from business, pension funds, insurers and banks to do more.

"There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today because these numbers are too uncomfortable and you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is," Ms Thunberg said.

"The eyes of all future generations are upon you, and if you choose to fail us, I say we will never forgive you."


PHOTO: "We will not let you get away with this," teenage activist Greta Thunberg told world leaders in New York. (Reuters: Lucas Jackson)


ABC/Wires