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.

 

[CWCissey]

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.

Malala could have done good (what happened to her?), but by God did she open Pandora's Box.

 

[Hatoful Dandy]

Malala could have done good (what happened to her?), but by God did she open Pandora's Box.

A few months ago, she claimed the current situation in India and Kashmir caused girls there to miss their exams on Aug. 12th because schools were closed and pleaded with the UN to seek a peaceful settlement with India . There is just one problem: that date occured during Eid holidays so schools are closed anyway...so obviously people started being suspicious of her motives as a result.

Where Malala pleads for Kashmir, but Eid blooper is a giveaway

www.outlookindia.com

 

[Suburban Bastard]

Daily Mail Online on Twitter

“Greta Thunberg tells cheering crowd 'we will make sure we put world leaders against the wall' https://t.co/oefLd7JAo1”

twitter.com

Greta Thunberg says 'we will put world leaders against the wall'

The Swedish eco-activist addressed the crowd at the 'Fridays for Future' demonstration this afternoon and accused world leaders of 'running away from their responsibilities'

www.dailymail.co.uk

Big Sister Is Watching You

 

[ditto]

So the MSM is going to play dumb and pretend this isn't advocating violence.

 

[Hatoful Dandy]

So the MSM is going to play dumb and pretend this isn't advocating violence.

Look, Greta is just really passionate about saving the world despite offering no real solution and is in fact an exceptional individual arching her eyebrows and shrieking till she gets her way...

 

[ditto]

despite offering no real solution and is in fact an exceptional individual arching her eyebrows and shrieking till she gets her way.

I expect her aspie frustration will eventually boil over into saying something publically that hasn't been vetted by her handlers. Sustaining that level of fear is emotionally exhausting, especially as she starts to fade into obscurity.

 

[northstar747]

So does she care about her fame or is she a true believer?

 

[ditto]

So does she care about her fame or is she a true believer?

I'm sure she started off as a true believer, but all that fame has got to be addictive.

 

[Mola Ram]

Daily Mail Online on Twitter

“Greta Thunberg tells cheering crowd 'we will make sure we put world leaders against the wall' https://t.co/oefLd7JAo1”

twitter.com

Greta Thunberg says 'we will put world leaders against the wall'

The Swedish eco-activist addressed the crowd at the 'Fridays for Future' demonstration this afternoon and accused world leaders of 'running away from their responsibilities'

www.dailymail.co.uk

Big Sister Is Watching You

You know, at this point I wish Trump would bully her more.

 

[Judge Holden]

Daily Mail Online on Twitter

“Greta Thunberg tells cheering crowd 'we will make sure we put world leaders against the wall' https://t.co/oefLd7JAo1”

twitter.com

Greta Thunberg says 'we will put world leaders against the wall'

The Swedish eco-activist addressed the crowd at the 'Fridays for Future' demonstration this afternoon and accused world leaders of 'running away from their responsibilities'

www.dailymail.co.uk

Big Sister Is Watching You

Flonuld Flumpf: Lol this tardkid has rage issues

Everyone: HOW FUCKING DARE YOU BULLY A DEFENCLESS INNOCENT SAINTLY AUTISTIC LITTLE GI..

Gretabolg, Goblin Chief of the North: "WHEN MY HORDES CONQUER YOUR LANDS, YOUR KINGS AND PRINCES SHALL ALL BE SLAUGHTERED AND FED TO THE WARGS, YOUR STREETS SHALL RUN RED WITH THE BLOOD OF MEN, AND YOUR WOMEN AND CHILDREN SHALL BE RAVAGED BY THE HARADARIM!"

 

[Kacho]

Daily Mail Online on Twitter

“Greta Thunberg tells cheering crowd 'we will make sure we put world leaders against the wall' https://t.co/oefLd7JAo1”

twitter.com

Greta Thunberg says 'we will put world leaders against the wall'

The Swedish eco-activist addressed the crowd at the 'Fridays for Future' demonstration this afternoon and accused world leaders of 'running away from their responsibilities'

www.dailymail.co.uk

Big Sister Is Watching You

At least she's being honest. Oppression and purging of undesirables has always been the goal of these eco fascists. But yeah tell me again how bad orange man is for mocking them.

 

[Super-Chevy454]

You know, at this point I wish Trump would bully her more.

Yeah, and Greta some more like a bully than bullied. https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/12/greta_thunberg_starts_to_sound_bloodthirsty.html ( http://archive.ph/FlTBg )

Greta Thunberg starts to sound bloodthirsty
By Monica Showalter
Time magazine's Person of the Year is starting to sound a little bloodthirsty:

Greta Thunberg told cheering protesters today 'we will make sure we put world leaders against the wall' if they fail to take urgent action on climate change.
The Swedish teen activist was addressing the crowd at a Fridays for Future protest in Turin, Italy.
She arrived there from Madrid where she had been attending the UN climate summit but said she feared the event would not lead to change.

Against the wall? It's kind of in line with Bernie Sanders' vow to put bankers in jail, except that it sounds more like something a totalitarian fanatic like Hitler or Lenin or Castro would say. Line 'em up and shoot 'em if they don't do what young Greta says? No disagreement, no civil discourse, no talking things out, no selling the idea? Just kill the dissenters, who, by the way, were democratically elected? Problem solved.

And you can bet that the next thing that rolls out of her mouth will be even more bloodthirsty. Pol Pot, call your office.

This poor wretched person is getting worse and worse, the more famous she gets. For awhile there she was adamantly calling for "action" as if no facts other than her own existed. Go green or I will hold my breath and turn blue! She's since swung to Marxism, as we noted here, coming off as a new re-embodiment of "Children of the Corn." Now she's calling for the most logical and there-like-clockwork extension of Marxism, which is mass killings of democratically elected leaders. That's what Marxists do. That's what all totalitarians do. This suggests more than ever that she's one manipulated young person in the throes of some kind of totalitarian death cult.

Totalitarians have always found the bloodthirstiness of youth a useful thing, whether it was Che Guevara's killing minions, FARC's targeting of children as the best child narcoterrorist soldiers, the MS-13's recruitment of 14 year-olds as gang members, or the Hitler Youth. Kids make the best fanatics, the best killers, the best hysterics, and in Greta's case, the shadowy green lobby financing her has hit pay dirt. But now it looks as though they've unleashed a Frankenstein's monster who will stop at nothing until destruction is achieved. Everyone knows that youth are easily manipulated into Lord of the Flies behavior if sufficiently deracinated of any values.
Here's how the Soviets did it:

Children in the Soviet Union held a special place in the hearts of citizens and the Party. They represented not only the innocence of youth, but also the promise of the socialist future; in order for the international Marxist Revolution to succeed, the youth had to be treated well and educated politically. Communist authorities took many routes to achieve this goal. Primarily, the Communist Party fostered a cult of childhood, much like Stalin’s cult of personality, which idealized Soviet childhood. The Communist Party formalized this cult through youth organizations such as the Komsomol, Young Pioneers, and Little Octobrists.

Much as Lenin did in his 1920 speech to the Komsomol, this cult relied on a juxtaposition between “true” Communist children and everyone else. By institutionalizing this reverence for childhood, the Communist Party isolated those children who did not join such groups, and were in fact able to create a radical other, or class enemy, before citizens even entered the workforce. The force of this institutionalization was seen most strongly in the formative years of the Soviet Union, and was perfected under Stalin. The effect these groups had is undeniable; the Communists created secondary communities for children to align themselves with. Rather than attach themselves most strongly to their families, Soviet children were taught to prioritize Communism above all, and these youth organizations provided the very first encounters with socialism. This had the significant effect of diminishing the role of the family structure, and these groups became the primary outlet for self-expression among Soviet children. To carry the identity card of the Komsomol was to declare oneself a loyal Communist.

The left has attempted to compare her to Joan of Arc and the Virgin Mary, leading the charge for global warming and a full government takeover, but this sounds more like one of the crazy evil children of Soviet lore, an evil little Pavel Morozov lionized for snitching on his parents to the state, getting them (and himself) killed. In the end, he become a Soviet saint, a lesson on a statue pedestal to all other Soviet children to put nothing before the communist party, nothing, not even the lives of your parents.
As the late great Eric Hoffer used to say:

Add a few drops of venom to a half truth and you have an absolute truth.

This Greta thing is starting to get creepy.

 

[HOMO FOR LIFE]

Lmao trump resurrected this kid from nothingness.

HEIL trump.

 

[oldTireWater]

This is actually kinda funny.

 

[BrokenWokenBespoken]

You know, at this point I wish Trump would bully her more.

Best way to bully her is to go build another oil refinery or do a trade deal with Brazil, not getting into twitter piss fights.

 

[Dante Alighieri]

This is actually kinda funny.
View attachment 1050756

It's more like the reverse though. Trump is just shitposting while Greta and her sycophants are genuinely angry.

 

[HOMO FOR LIFE]

Best way to bully her is to go build another oil refinery or do a trade deal with Brazil, not getting into twitter piss fights.

I feel like you are asking for this.

 

[Tasty Tatty]

The only one who's gonna be against a wall will be Greta once they're back in Sweden and she's married off to some Jihadi to make her an ISIS bride.

She deserved being told to fuck off by Trump. I hope his next tweet is "Hey, Greta! I know you like to live off millionaires, I'm one too. I can get you an eco-friendly boat for you to sail to China and discuss pollution!".

Come on, Trump. Make my day.

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.

She's not optimist and idealistic, though. She's been scared into believing the world is ending. If she actually believes what she's saying, she then also believes that if we don't do anything, she and everybody she loves will die. Her speech is not about optimism or positive: it's violent. And if I knew all my beloved will die, I'd be equally violent.

A few months ago, she claimed the current situation in India and Kashmir caused girls there to miss their exams on Aug. 12th because schools were closed and pleaded with the UN to seek a peaceful settlement with India . There is just one problem: that date occured during Eid holidays so schools are closed anyway...so obviously people started being suspicious of her motives as a result.

Where Malala pleads for Kashmir, but Eid blooper is a giveaway

www.outlookindia.com

Malala is another one-trick dog, tbh. I'm sure that, if anyone were to investigate moer about her, they'd find shady things. For instance, she's still defends many of the radical ideology that almost got her killed. Then, she said she became a feminist after listening to Emma Watson. That's the most stupid thing I've heard anybody say.

 

[AverageAnimeWatcher]

She's not optimist and idealistic, though. She's been scared into believing the world is ending. If she actually believes what she's saying, she then also believes that if we don't do anything, she and everybody she loves will die. Her speech is not about optimism or positive: it's violent. And if I knew all my beloved will die, I'd be equally violent.

To clarify, I wasn't making a judgment on her message/speech as I said earlier in my comment.

My intent with that line is to say that politicians are exploiting the inherent optimism, and naivety of a child which is why I described how kids feel when they feel they are doing activism. It's true even for some young adults.

I mean optimism in the sense that a child thinks complex issues can be solved with cartoonish and simple solutions, like simply nagging world leaders, that feeling they can change the world, not in the sense that she is a beacon of hope and her message is optimistic.

 

[bippu_as_fuck_ls400]

Greta Thunberg apologizes for "against the wall" comment
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/greta-...vist-apologizes-for-against-the-wall-comment/ (http://archive.vn/Kj30d)

Greta Thunberg apologized on Saturday for a comment that some interpreted as a threat of violence against politicians who ignore climate change. Thunberg said she was merely translating a Swedish expression into English and apologized for the way her comments may have come off.

"Yesterday I said we must hold our leaders accountable and unfortunately said 'put them against the wall,'" the 16-year-old climate activist tweeted on Saturday. "That's Swenglish: 'att ställa någon mot väggen' (to put someone against the wall) means to hold someone accountable."

"That's what happens when you improvise speeches in a second language," the Swede continued. "But of course I apologize if anyone misunderstood this. I can not enough express the fact that I — as well as the entire school strike movement — are against any possible form of violence. It goes without saying but I say it anyway."

The expression in English is often a euphemism for executions. It refers to putting someone in front of wall before they are killed by a firing squad.

Thunberg, who was recently named Time's Person of the Year for 2019, made the comments during a speech in Italy on Friday while talking about world leaders who aren't helping to fight climate change.

"We have to make sure that they cannot do that," she said. "We will make sure they, that we put them against the wall, and that they will have to do their job and to protect our futures."

Thunberg has gotten under the skin of several world leaders, including United States President Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Mr. Trump tweeted earlier this week that Thunberg "must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill!"

Former first lady Michelle Obama, meanwhile, tweeted a message of support to Thunberg, writing "don't let anyone dim your light."