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.

 

[AltisticRight]

Her social media accounts are run by Indians.

That explains the quality of it.

 

[Fork Cartel]

When can we stop talking about this person? Okay, I know the real answer is when she finally commits a gaffe and gets memoryholed but I'm getting exhausted of hearing of her

 

[frozenrunner]

Oh noes.

View attachment 1048702

Exactly why they chose her as a mouthpiece, of course.

Trump is the best

 

[neverendingmidi]

When can we stop talking about this person? Okay, I know the real answer is when she finally commits a gaffe and gets memoryholed but I'm getting exhausted of hearing of her

Probably not until she's 18 and a legal adult. Maaaaybe 20, but really most figureheads disappear once they can't be classified as "children" anymore.

Which is why she might stick around until 20. 18 & 19 are still "teens" so people can whine that mean people are picking on an innocent teen. See any incident where a 6'7" 19 year old robs a store at gunpoint "Teen arrested for public disturbance" level of horseshit.

 

[AltisticRight]

When can we stop talking about this person? Okay, I know the real answer is when she finally commits a gaffe and gets memoryholed but I'm getting exhausted of hearing of her

We can't. Especially in a thread titled "Stupid 16yo HS dropout megathread".

 

[reinhard von lohengramm]

Full Metal Panic! Creator Shoji Gatoh Apologizes for Greta Thunberg Tweet, "I'd Feed Her Steak and Watch Her Cry" - Nicchiban

Shoji Gatoh (the creator of Full Metal Panic! and Amagi Brilliant Park) has apologized for disparaging comments against environmental activist Greta Thunberg. The now-deleted tweet reportedly was in reply to an NHK article about the activist. It allegedly said “I dislike this girl. If I ruled...

nicchiban.nichegamer.com

Shoji Gatoh (the creator of Full Metal Panic! and Amagi Brilliant Park) has apologized for disparaging comments against environmental activist Greta Thunberg.

The now-deleted tweet reportedly was in reply to an NHK article about the activist. It allegedly said “I dislike this girl. If I ruled the world from the shadows, I would take everything from her and sneer at her when she hits rock bottom. Then I’d make her eat a delicious, piping hot steak and watch the tears of frustration on her face. I really want to see it.”

His comments generated some backlash; including Full Metal Panic! 0 ‐ZERO‐ manga artist Tetsuro Kasahara, who allegedly tweeted he would not be drawing any sequel mangas to Full Metal Panic!.

Full Metal Panic! illustrator Shikidouji also commented to Shoji’s tweet “I feel like I saw the moment a villain was born “Are you actually a good person!?”” A tweet a few days later indicates Shikidouji did not realize Thunberg was vegetarian, and he apologized- though what for is not exactly clear.

Shoji later deleted the tweet and apologized. “It was a terrible thing to say against a young woman. I’ve reflected and deleted it. For the time being, Twitter activity will be suspended. I apologize for the inconvenience to many people due to my speech and lack of respect for others.”

Thunberg made her speech to the UN Climate Action Summit in September 2019. Since then she has been both praised and denounced. Her strongest critics take issue for many reasons, including (but not limited to) allegations that her parents were manipulating her, accusations that she is suffering from a learning disability (such as autism or fetal alcohol syndrome), her alarmist attitude combined with unrealistic solutions, fear-mongering, and hypocrisy due to her wealthy background and protesting via a round the world trip (and not going to school).

 

[Marco Fucko]

Don't apologize you doofus. Otherwise pretty based.

 

[heyilikeyourmom]

That’s not a controversial tweet followed by an apology, that’s multiple personality disorder.

 

[SiccDicc]

That’s not a controversial tweet followed by an apology, that’s multiple personality disorder.

I think it's more a... "Shit, my Face Meter is down, what did I do?!" kind of thing.

Either way I think he might have a sadistic feeder fetish.

 

[No Exit]

That’s not a controversial tweet followed by an apology, that’s multiple personality disorder.

I think it's more of a sign that cancel culture is getting it's claws into Japan.

 

[heyilikeyourmom]

I think it's more of a sign that cancel culture is getting it's claws into Japan.

I dunno, I feel like you don’t go this hard in your initial attack if you give a modicum of a shit about cancel culture in the first place. The disconnect between the attack and apology is massive.

 

[No Exit]

I dunno, I feel like you don’t go this hard in your initial attack if you give a modicum of a shit about cancel culture in the first place. The disconnect between the attack and apology is massive.

From what I gathered there's some sequels of his series going on and I assume he's getting some sweet royalties from it. I've never seen FMP! but I've heard it mentioned a lot so it's most likely a popular series. With one of the artists threatening to cancel a continuation I imagine he had to back down or lose his income. Apologizing is just a way to try and backpedal as hard as he can.

 

[Dolphin Lundgren]

Exactly why they chose her as a mouthpiece, of course.

Trump is the best

I get a kick out of the shame attempt posts, honestly.

 

[Dom Cruise]

Fucking based.

 

[Thumb Butler]

Who cares? Greta and her PR crew are insulting a lot of people every day, but screw them right?

 

[La Luz Extinguido]

It sounds borderline fetishistic, I'm worried about the autism of both, her soyboy army of pedos and the deranged lunatics that hate her guts.

 

[Tism the Return]

If only he didn't apologize, dammit Shoji.

 

[CivilianOfTheFandomWars]

>Then I’d make her eat a delicious, piping hot steak and watch the tears of frustration on her face. I really want to see it.
This is one of the best things ever Tweet by man.

 

[Dysnomia]

You must mistaken me, I hate Greta and her campaign to stop climate change because her followers are so obnoxious.

To quote Bob Page "Why contain it?"

The whole thing makes me not want to care about climate change because they are so damn insufferable.

 

[AverageAnimeWatcher]

Eh, for me Greta is just the latest in the long line of kids being used as useful tools for politicians. We've seen this dozen of times. Once she is old enough, someone else will take her place.

Kids are passionate, stubborn and can even make grandiose speeches with proper training, but they have no idea how problems are more complex than Captain Planet villain = bad. They think we just need to stop the eco-villains to save the world instead of dealing with the reality that politics, laws, money, jobs, and other factors that are at play.

I don't doubt she actually believes what she says, but to say she got all those ideas and publicity on her own is ridiculous. We are just being sold the story of an "underdog" kid that will teach these cynical adults a lesson. This would make for a good Christmas movie plot, but in the real world, often adults do know better.

I'm not getting into whether her message is good, or bad. I'm not against taking care of the environment and recycle etc.

Just saying that she is the product of powerful people that are exploiting her optimism, naivety, and idealism, and even if the intent was good, the means are not. Surprise! Politicians only truly care about kids when they can use them for their own ends.