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.

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

Yes, because I've taken Econ 101. Or read like, the first few chapters of an econ book. Or literally watch some fucking videos on youtube about it. You should to! Its really easy to understand why an elastic good's tax incidence falls largely on the corporation.

People get really dumb about this stuff. But yeah, the way you levy a tax, or how big the tax is, has NO effect on the tax burden. It's the elasticity that determines which percentage goes to the producer and which percentage goes to the consumer. And more specifically, the ratio of the elasticities to each other.

 

[neverendingmidi]

Greta is now the "Successor of Christ" according to the Swedish Church. All bow to her glory!

 

[Stoneheart]

Greta is now the "Successor of Christ" according to the Swedish Church. All bow to her glory!

they will burn if true...

 

[CWCissey]

Greta is now the "Successor of Christ" according to the Swedish Church. All bow to her glory!

No Malena, you can't claim the foetal Greta turned all that water you drank during pregnancy into wine.

 

[Barnard]

It's not the Swedish Church, but a Swedish church in some district of Malmö.

 

[Stoneheart]

It's not the Swedish Church, but a Swedish church in some district of Malmö.

its still heresy.

 

[X Prime]

It's not the Swedish Church, but a Swedish church in some district of Malmö.

That's right. What's this though?

Antje Jackelén on Twitter

“Intervjuad av @KarinSorbring om Svenska kyrkans klimatarbete och biskopsbrevet om klimatet. Och så varför man kan se Greta Thunbergs engagemang som profetiskt. #svenskakyrkan https://t.co/RAF8pWa3AY”

twitter.com

Translation:

Interviewed by @KarinSorbring about the Swedish Church's climate work and the Episcopal Letter on Climate. And so why you can see Greta Thunberg's commitment as prophetic.

---

So yeah. It's not just that one church. The above was retweeted by this account:

Svenska kyrkan (@svenskakyrkan) | Twitter

The latest Tweets from Svenska kyrkan (@svenskakyrkan). Vi som twittrar här är redaktörer på kyrkokansliets kommunikationsavd. https://t.co/KDyL9y6u3l Pressjour: 018-169475. Uppsala, Sweden

twitter.com

 

[Silence of the Troons]

Woody Harrelson i Greta-tröja skapar debatt i USA - DN.SE

Hyllandet av Greta Thunbergs gärning som miljöaktivist fortsätter i USA. Inte minst artistvärlden applåderar henne nu.

www.dn.se

Kek I love this picture

 

[Guntburglar]

Todd is IRLing.
Who is laughing now?

 

[teriyakiburns]

If you want to control a population most effectively, you instil it with guilt and fear about something that is necessary for the ongoing survival of that population, or something that they have no way to control.

Carbon Dioxide is absolutely necessary for the ongoing survival of all life on this planet, not counting a few extremophiles at the bottom of the ocean. It's also something that the individual cannot, in any way, realistically exercise any control over, even in aggregate. It is the perfect "sin". It is required to feed us, to clothe us. We literally create it in our own bodies when we breath.

A minor change in a trace atmospheric gas is being used to manipulate us into accepting fundamental changes and intrusions into every aspect of our lives in the name of "saving the world", so that we can be taxed more efficiently and reduced to compliance with the wishes of an elite who have openly declared that our civilisation is a blight that must be destroyed.

It's been fascinating to watch this whole shitshow develop over the last thirty-odd years, knowing that the end result would be abused, traumatised children like Greta being used as the next stage of manipulation.

 

[Big Nasty]

The Swedish Church used to be an actual government authority, but nowadays it is a crypto-political association that is increasingly being remote-controlled by the Ecumenical Church, a baptist congregation that is closely tied to the Social Democratic Party.

 

[Positron]

Greta is now the "Successor of Christ" according to the Swedish Church. All bow to her glory!

"...many false prophets will appear and deceive many people... At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect." -- Matt. 24:11; 23-24​

 

[PS1gamenwatch]

They needed this guy speak:

 

[Nick Gars]

Greta is now the "Successor of Christ" according to the Swedish Church. All bow to her glory!

Can we crucify her now?

 

[Dr. Dingo DVM]

That's right. What's this though?

Antje Jackelén on Twitter

“Intervjuad av @KarinSorbring om Svenska kyrkans klimatarbete och biskopsbrevet om klimatet. Och så varför man kan se Greta Thunbergs engagemang som profetiskt. #svenskakyrkan https://t.co/RAF8pWa3AY”

twitter.com

Translation:

Interviewed by @KarinSorbring about the Swedish Church's climate work and the Episcopal Letter on Climate. And so why you can see Greta Thunberg's commitment as prophetic.

---

So yeah. It's not just that one church. The above was retweeted by this account:

Svenska kyrkan (@svenskakyrkan) | Twitter

The latest Tweets from Svenska kyrkan (@svenskakyrkan). Vi som twittrar här är redaktörer på kyrkokansliets kommunikationsavd. https://t.co/KDyL9y6u3l Pressjour: 018-169475. Uppsala, Sweden

twitter.com

They're Episcopalians, probably the most progressive Christian sect. It doesn't surprise me they would move on to climate change after succeeding in pro LGBT measures.

 

[vertexwindi]

View attachment 955039

Todd is IRLing.
Who is laughing now?

I don't get it. What does Todd have to do with nine pics of Greta?

 

[Gravityqueen4life]

she coolerd her hair now. she has taken the first steps to become a fullblown SJW.

 

[Zarkov]

Can we crucify her now?

I'd rather have her burned at the stake for heresy, but think of all the carbon monoxyde it would release. Your solution is more eco-friendly.

 

[BlancoMailo]

Greta Thunberg doesn't understand 'complex and different' modern world, says Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday dismissed Greta Thunberg’s recent speech at the United Nations, where the Swedish teenage climate activist denounced world leaders for failing to combat climate change.
“I may disappoint you, but I don’t share the common excitement about the speech by Greta Thunberg,” Putin said at an energy forum in Moscow, according to Reuters’s translation of his remarks.
“No one has explained to Greta that the modern world is complex and different,” Putin continued. “People in Africa or in many Asian countries want to live at the same wealth level as in Sweden.”
Putin said children who are passionate about environmental issues, like Thunberg, should be supported. But he also accused her parents of exploiting that passion.
“When someone is using children and teenagers in personal interests, it only deserves to be condemned,” Putin said. “I’m sure that Greta is a kind and very sincere girl. But adults must do everything not to bring teenagers and children into some extreme situations.”
Thunberg’s mother, Malena Ernman, is an opera singer; her father, Svante Thunberg, is an actor. They wrote a parenting book, called “Scenes From the Heart,” that chronicles their daughter’s climate awakening. An English-language version, under the revised title “Our House Is on Fire,” is due to be published next year.
Last month, Thunberg excoriated attendees at the United Nations climate summit for their inaction.
“This is all wrong,” Thunberg said, reading from a piece of paper. “I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean, yet you come to us young people for hope. How dare you.”
“People are suffering,” she continued through tears. “People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are at the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you.”
President Trump, whose administration has rolled back environmental protections and withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate accord, seemed to mock Thunberg in a tweet that included a video clip of her speech.
“She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future,” Trump tweeted. “So nice to see!”
The 16-year-old responded by changing her Twitter bio to read: “A very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future.”
Thunberg, who has been nominated for a Nobel Prize for her work raising awareness about climate change, has become an inspirational figure for fellow teens. Last month, she sailed from Europe to the United States on a zero-emission yacht.
Before her U.N. speech, Thunberg testified on Capitol Hill, urging lawmakers to “listen to the scientists” who say climate change is real and that humans are responsible — conclusions that Trump has resisted.
“I want you to unite behind science,” Thunberg said. “I want you to unite behind science. And then I want you to take action.”
“This is not political views or my opinions,” she added. “This is science.”

Greta Thunberg doesn't understand 'complex and different' modern worl…

archived 2 Oct 2019 22:34:05 UTC

archive.fo

 

[heathercho]

Xiaxue not sorry for calling Greta Thunberg 'so damn cringe'

PHOTO: Instagram/xiaxue, Youtube/PBS NewsHour

KIMBERLY ANNE LIM
ASIAONE

Sep 26, 2019
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Xiaxue has landed herself in the midst of a social media storm again. This time, she's got beef with climate change activist Greta Thunberg.
The 35-year-old blogger was slammed by netizens after she posted an Instagram story calling 16-year-old Greta "so damn cringe".

Xiaxue's criticism of Greta came after the teenager's emotional speech during the United Nations Climate Action Summit on Sept 23.

Calling on world leaders to take action and stop climate change, Greta teared up as she said, "You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words, and yet, I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing."

Besides raw emotion, Greta also delivered sobering statistics about carbon emissions, imploring world leaders to "tell it like it is" and come up with better solutions.
Greta's speech was lauded as powerful and electrifying by many, including Time magazine, but Xiaxue was not one of them.

Photo: Instagram/xiaxue
Besides labelling Greta as "cringe", the blogger, who has over 607,000 followers on Instagram, also took issue with Greta's passion for environmental issues, saying, "can we please just stop it with these young kids who are so freaking passionate over issues that they view so one-dimensionally".
She then went on to make fun of Greta's tears, asking, "Is climate change going to stop because of her crying?"
Naturally, her comments resulted in backlash from Singaporean netizens.
While some found her attack on Greta embarrassing, others speculated that she was simply courting controversy to remain relevant.

@niosuccs
https://twitter.com/niosuccs/status/1176886263669854208

Oh my god breathing the same air as Xiaxue gives me second hand embarrassment.......

14
1:48 AM - Sep 26, 2019
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Erna Mahyuni

✔@ernamh
https://twitter.com/ernamh/status/1176872226248749056

Guys Xiaxue built a reputation of saying mean, hateful things so people reacting to them is precisely her intention.
So IDK don't bother getting enragedlah can

51
12:52 AM - Sep 26, 2019
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awkwardamirul@awkwardamirul
· Sep 25, 2019

If you ever thought xiaxue(?) is ever gonna listen or have a thoughtful and fruitful conversation, u are wasting ur time. She has brand everything as "snowflake logic" and is plainly ignorant. Stop supporting these "influencers", especially those who are Trump supporters.

Syukri LeBeau@SHOOKyourWORLD

In a world where influencers are popping up every second, one must go the extend to remain relevant. Sad to see she chose to be rude, just to stand out.

3
2:23 AM - Sep 26, 2019
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As the criticism against Xiaxue mounted, she continued to fan the flames, posting a string of Instagram stories that hit back at hate comments and labelling the people calling her out as "greenies" and "giant hypocrites".

Photos: Instagram/xiaxue
She also stood by her initial comments, saying, "That crying girl is cringe AF and nothing you say can make me change my mind."
No matter how Xiaxue feels about Greta and her speech, there's no denying that the teenager's tears and passion have made a very real impact on others.
Greta has been at the forefront of a global environmental movement inspiring young people from all around the world to take to the streets and demand change.
In fact, we've seen it on our own shores, with the very first Singapore Climate Rally that was held on Sept 22.
That's not all. Greta has also been chastising politicians left and right and demanding more accountability from the people in power.
To put things into perspective, while Xiaxue has been busy supporting Donald Trump and posting Carrie Wong's leaked texts, Greta has been too busy changing the world to pay haters any mind.

Greta Thunberg

✔@GretaThunberg
· Sep 26, 2019

Replying to @GretaThunberg
I honestly don’t understand why adults would choose to spend their time mocking and threatening teenagers and children for promoting science, when they could do something good instead. I guess they must simply feel so threatened by us. ->

Greta Thunberg

✔@GretaThunberg

But don’t waste your time giving them any more attention.
The world is waking up. Change is coming wether they like it or not.
See you in the streets this Friday!#fridaysforfuture #schoolstrike4climate #climatestrike #aspiepower

204K
4:48 AM - Sep 26, 2019
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Pretty Asian Influencer calls Greta "So Damn Cringe".