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.

 

[It'sallabitsillyreally]

I mean at least they now have a good answer for why Greta doesn't travel to India to deliver her rants.

 

[Sprocket]

Anyone else notice this?

 

[Terrifik]

Anyone else notice this?

No,but yess it itchs the theory the activist girl sang in hindi to not be putt harsh labor jail while slam & shame Greta Thunberg & selling Greta up the river.

 

[Sprocket]

No,but yess it itchs the theory the activist girl sang in hindi to not be putt harsh labor jail while slam & shame Greta Thunberg & selling Greta up the river.

Can anybody translate this to English?

 

[Terrifik]

Can anybody translate this to English?

Sorry , The Activist gave info to india goverment for a lenient sentence.

 

[Adjustable Autism]

Sorry , The Activist gave info to india goverment for a lenient sentence.

Maybe they checked her phone when she got arrested. Or - to get super tinfoily - they made the whole thing up to present something to the public.
And even if she did give out the info for a more lenient sentence: Good for her. She will be more or less okay and the worst that could happen is a sternly worded e-mail to the Swedish government and India banning the Friday rich teen sperg parade (sorry, I mean sooper effective strike).

 

[Terrifik]

Can anybody translate this to English

Maybe they checked her phone when she got arrested. Or - to get super tinfoily - they made the whole thing up to present something to the public.
And even if she did give out the info for a more lenient sentence: Good for her. She will be more or less okay and the worst that could happen is a sternly worded e-mail to the Swedish government and India banning the Friday rich teen sperg parade (sorry, I mean sooper effective strike).

I was wrong the activist might be super fucked because of Greta Thunberg might of gave her life in inda Prison .

 

[Sprocket]

I was wrong the activist might be super fucked because of Greta Thunberg might of gave her life in inda Prison .

View attachment 1926257​

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. If someone was planning a bank heist in minecraft and recruited a retard into the crew, what could possibly go wrong?

 

[BlueSpark]

 

[Hatoful Dandy]

 

[Windows XP Home Edition]

Do you think Greta understands that this Disha Ravi person was arrested as a consequence of her actions?

No, the mainstream media and the other blind climate activist worshipping followers will just excuse her and treat her as if she's still a minor. I'm tired of people coddling Greta Thunberg. She's now an 18 year old woman that should be able to engage with adults about the issue of climate and environmental issues properly instead of finger-pointing others and having tantrums.

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

How is it that I was offline for two days and I now read about the fact that Greta Thunberg would OBVIOUSLY have an activist toolkit that looks more and more like an actual script that her handlers have told her to follow?

I don’t wish to be a conspiracy theorist today because the weather and climate keeps changing and what not, but how is it not eye opening that these climate change activists are just frauds that may/may not be working for and reaping the benefits of the government while not even caring about so called “climate change”?

 

[Adjustable Autism]

No, the mainstream media and the other blind, climate goblin worshipping followers will just excuse her and treat her as if she's still a minor. I'm tired of people coddling Greta Thunberg. She's now an 18 year old woman that should be able to engage with adults about the issue of climate and environmental issues instead of finger-pointing others and having tantrums.

While I agree with you I can't help but still feel a bit sorry for her. Not to go too deep into the pl, but I had a close encounter of the third kind with her and it was bizarre. I think both the media and her brainless followers who declared her the new messiah share a huge chunk of the blame here. And of course her inept parents, who (judging by the book and a scsne in the film trailer [sic]) taught her that just pouting and throwing tantrums gets her what she wants.

How is it that I was offline for two days and I now read about the fact that Greta Thunberg would OBVIOUSLY have an activist toolkit that looks more and more like an actual script that her handlers have told her to follow?

I don’t wish to be a conspiracy theorist today because the weather and climate keeps changing and what not, but how is it not eye opening that these climate change activists are just frauds that may/may not be working for and reaping the benefits of the government while not even caring about so called “climate change”?

I do think she cares. But she has no idea about the bigger picture or politics and that shit is more complex than she can comprehend. For her it is "just reduce the Co2 emissions to zero. Boom, problem solved". Without providing anything resembling a plan how to do this or even acknowledging other, more damaging greenhouse gases like methane.

I'd be interested in how much her three year tantrum has actually achieved. How much of the totally for realsies protesters have actually changed their lifestyle or are actually doing things other than ditch school write angry letters to local politicians?
How many small initiatives or activists are actually viewing the whole FFF circus in a negative way, since their plans to achieve change differ , yet every opinion not kissing Greta's ass gets called a "hater" and "climate change denier"? I know it happened to some people I know. They are gung ho about saving the environment, but disagree with the divisive tone and finger pointing. Their social circle lost their shit which then made them say "go fuck yourself". I don't believe they are the only ones.

 

[AnOminous]

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. If someone was planning a bank heist in minecraft and recruited a retard into the crew, what could possibly go wrong?

If you recruit some autist who doesn't have any idea how anything works or what the consequences are to people in shitholes like India, don't be surprised when they obliviously do dumb shit that incriminates everyone else, without even having any clue why what they're doing is dumb.

 

[Windows XP Home Edition]

While I agree with you I can't help but still feel a bit sorry for her. Not to go too deep into the pl, but I had a close encounter of the third kind with her and it was bizarre. I think both the media and her brainless followers who declared her the new messiah share a huge chunk of the blame here. And of course her inept parents, who (judging by the book and a scsne in the film trailer [sic]) taught her that just pouting and throwing tantrums gets her what she wants.

I do think she cares. But she has no idea about the bigger picture or politics and that shit is more complex than she can comprehend. For her it is "just reduce the Co2 emissions to zero. Boom, problem solved". Without providing anything resembling a plan how to do this or even acknowledging other, more damaging greenhouse gases like methane.

I'd be interested in how much her three year tantrum has actually achieved. How much of the totally for realsies protesters have actually changed their lifestyle or are actually doing things other than ditch school write angry letters to local politicians?
How many small initiatives or activists are actually viewing the whole FFF circus in a negative way, since their plans to achieve change differ , yet every opinion not kissing Greta's ass gets called a "hater" and "climate change denier"? I know it happened to some people I know. They are gung ho about saving the environment, but disagree with the divisive tone and finger pointing. Their social circle lost their shit which then made them say "go fuck yourself". I don't believe they are the only ones.

While I do somewhat admire Greta and like how she's brought up the issue of climate change (in some ways), one serious problem with Thunberg is that she has a wide plethora of mental health/neurological disorders ranging from OCD to the autism spectrum. This is a young woman who has gone through bouts of depression, anxiety disorders and panic attacks, and has severe issues communicating things or seeing others' point of views. We have no idea what goes on in her mind, and she could be in constant distress and panic 24/7. Having a developing brain alongside these very concerning issues, she does not view or think all of these things in a completely rational way. There's no point of telling people to act accordingly without any plan or ideas while still crying wolf and urging others to panic. It's really sad how none of the people propping her up (including her parents) actually think about how she'll be doing in a few years' time and what good this will do for her.

 

[soy_king]

If you recruit some autist who doesn't have any idea how anything works or what the consequences are to people in shitholes like India, don't be surprised when they obliviously do dumb shit that incriminates everyone else, without even having any clue why what they're doing is dumb.

Calm the fuck down. I remember asking you how exactly the farmers' protests were related to climate change, and so far you have yet to provide a connection.

 

[AnOminous]

Calm the fuck down. I remember asking you how exactly the farmers' protests were related to climate change, and so far you have yet to provide a connection.

Why do they have to be related to climate change to be legitimate?

 

[soy_king]

Why do they have to be related to climate change to be legitimate?

The only reason the Goblina is involved is ostensibly because of climate change, or has she diversified her autistic outrage?

 

[AnOminous]

The only reason the Goblina is involved is ostensibly because of climate change, or has she diversified her autistic outrage?

I'm not defending Greta's participation. I don't think their cause in general has been helped by foreigners with ulterior motives.

 

[Adjustable Autism]

While I do somewhat admire Greta and like how she's brought up the issue of climate change (in some ways), one serious problem with Thunberg is that she has a wide plethora of mental health/neurological disorders ranging from OCD to the autism spectrum. This is a young woman who has gone through bouts of depression, anxiety disorders and panic attacks, and has severe issues communicating things or seeing others' point of views. We have no idea what goes on in her mind, and she could be in constant distress and panic 24/7. Having a developing brain alongside these very concerning issues, she does not view or think all of these things in a completely rational way. There's no point of telling people to act accordingly without any plan or ideas while still crying wolf and uging others to panic. It's really sad how none of the people propping her up (including her parents) actually think about how she'll be doing in a few years' time and what good this will do.

Oh, we agree here. I am all for raising the issue of climate change and bringing more widespread attention to it. I am just disagreeing with her methods. Urging people to panic and accusing basically an entire generation of failing her (despite living in peace and absurd wealth). I also don't get the hero worship. She didn't do anything, but sit in front of the swedish parliament. Something a ton of kids have donefor various causes before her (protesting is like a national pastime in some European countries). And even the school strike bit isn't really true, since there is no mandatory attendance for her. The only thing that sets her apart is that her parents called a ton of media people to publish her story. And when Luisa Neubauer (who is a cow in her own right) caught wind of it, it kinda spiralled.
Judging by the stuff I've seen, I do think she is in constant distress and a latent state of fear. And her parents are to blame for it. I know I sound like a broken record, but the book is really eye opening (I thought about reading it again and highlighting interesting stuff in the lolcow thread. But I just can't ingest enough booze to make it bearable). Greta is deeply disturbed and I feel sorry. But in a way, she is holding her entire family hostage. And her parents are just going along with it. They never put their foot down, they never talk to her in a matter of fact way. It is all drama and helplessness. The kids demand, the parents deliver.
And mommy's narcissism is in full force (btw, she contradicts herself a couple of times). Problems get externalized. The family is in shambles, bacause society is. If everyone treated the environment better, Greta would be happy (unlikely, but okay).

Greta herself said a couple of months ago that they haven't achieved anything. First, I don't think it is true, the attention is a good thing. I would also like to know: What did she expect? That her unoriginal speeches and frowny face is going to scare hardened politicians into dropping everything to fulfill her demands? I know the media implied it in their hype and her parents aren't the candidates to keep her grounded.
My prediction is that she is going to spiral eventually. Maybe the whole international activism shtick was her trying to keep the anxiety at bay.