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.

 

[Ivan Shatov]

That's the useful idiots, people like Greta's father would latch into any popular political position that would allow them to assert their dominance over the masses.

It's funny, the people who complain the most about capitalism are the ones who prove the need for capitalism.

There's going to come a point where we need to shut down entire countries to make this problem go away.

 

[The best and greatest]

Spoiler: Here is what Greta will look like 50 years from now.

View attachment 1097832

If you don't eat yer bugs, you can't have any pudding.

Hair has too much life and color in it. The eye-bags aren't big and dark enough. The despair in her eyes is too reserved. Fake and gay.

 

[Freddy Freaker]

It's funny, the people who complain the most about capitalism are the ones who prove the need for capitalism.

There's going to come a point where we need to shut down entire countries to make this problem go away.

The people who bitch the hardest about capitalism also tend to consoom the hardest. Givin me a big ol thunk

 

[Jann_Hörn]

The people who bitch the hardest about capitalism also tend to consoom the hardest. Givin me a big ol thunk

They are often incapable of regulating their own consumption so they want big daddy government to do it for them.

It is the cyclical nature of climate science. Doomsday prediction -> Protests -> Agree or you are a science denier (despite the science often not being sound) -> Beg government to do something. Government does something small or even get just mega fundraising bucks. Rinse and repeat until more and more control asserted on small business.

Shame that they have to always use children to push their agenda

 

[Quantum Diabetes]

You think Greta will still be alive in 30 years?

I barely give her 10.

I don't think any of us will be alive in 30 years, but before then we'll definitely see a Greta bukakke video.

 

[Webby's Boyfriend]

"On Facebook Greta looks 16, but secretly identifies as two grown men"

No way does she look 16.

 

[TowinKarz]

She actually identifies with an unassailable position of moral authority.....

Too bad she's just a kid who's been publicly playing hooky for a year now....

 

[LetThemEatCake]

If this faggot wanted to be a climate change activist, he should get up there and make those speeches himself instead of shielding himself behind his sped daughter. What a fucking pussy.

But that's the trick of it all. If he had, he would hav blended into the greater mass of climate agitators. Greta on the other hand, stands out and commands endless attention. Job done. Greta is a novelty, and the media adores a novelty.

The story with Greta wasn't 'climate change' it was 'OH LOOK GUYZ A CHILD GENIUS IN OUR MIDST!! There is some real cultural weakness to the alleged 'wisdom of children' , 'out of the mouths of babes' etc etc, the belief in an innocent child knowing stuff the mean, cynical adults have forgotten because of the corruption of the world. This trope is strong, and easily played-upon to sway people emotionally.

People erroneously believe kids are emotionally pure and are incapable of lying, and thus will always speak the truth from their precious innocent hearts, and could never be trained from the ground up and used unwittingly to spread an agenda, despite history being crammed with just such examples. It's why people think Desmond the Amazing isn't a puppet of his crazy, Club Kids-obsessed stage mother, but just doing what he loves with the 'support' of his parents.

The second trick is by using a wittle speddy, whey-faced, undersized girl as his mouthpiece, her parents were ableto deflect all critique of what she (or rather they) was actually saying with 'HOW DARE YOU PICK ON A WITTLE GIRL!?" All criticism was met with endless protective screeching that attacking her ideas was basically picking on a child. Who picks ona child? A MEAN, NASTY BULLY WHO SHOULD BE ASHAMED, that's who.

God, I know people who are normally quite cynical about the media, grown men who should know way better, getting angry with those of us who have attacked Greta's message on any level because they've fallen for the 'protect wittle girls' meme the parents have manipulated them into.

What really gets me with Greta is he pure theatrical nature of how she presents, to make her look MUCH younger than she is. Those fucking long, droopy, mousy plaits with the harsh centre part, like some fundie Christian girl ... no normal 16 year old girl wants to look like that. The scrubbed face, the wittle girly clothes .... her parents are entertainers and know the power of personal presentation in putting across a message. If she dressed like a normal 16 year-old girl, used make-up, did her hair fashionably, wore clothes indicating she was approaching normal adulthood, well ... she wouldn't look as pure and inncent, would she? She wouldn't inspire such protectiveness if she weren't so sexless-looking. It's all such a grotesque manipulation.

 

[AnOminous]

People erroneously believe kids are emotionally pure and are incapable of lying, and thus will always speak the truth from their precious innocent hearts, and could never be trained from the ground up and used unwittingly to spread an agenda, despite history being crammed with just such examples.

Have any of these people even met a child? A child will stand there with frosting all over his face and crumbs on his hands insisting he didn't eat the last piece of cake, but that the baby did.

 

[BrunoMattei]

But that's the trick of it all. If he had, he would hav blended into the greater mass of climate agitators. Greta on the other hand, stands out and commands endless attention. Job done. Greta is a novelty, and the media adores a novelty.

The story with Greta wasn't 'climate change' it was 'OH LOOK GUYZ A CHILD GENIUS IN OUR MIDST!! There is some real cultural weakness to the alleged 'wisdom of children' , 'out of the mouths of babes' etc etc, the belief in an innocent child knowing stuff the mean, cynical adults have forgotten because of the corruption of the world. This trope is strong, and easily played-upon to sway people emotionally.

People erroneously believe kids are emotionally pure and are incapable of lying, and thus will always speak the truth from their precious innocent hearts, and could never be trained from the ground up and used unwittingly to spread an agenda, despite history being crammed with just such examples. It's why people think Desmond the Amazing isn't a puppet of his crazy, Club Kids-obsessed stage mother, but just doing what he loves with the 'support' of his parents.

The second trick is by using a wittle speddy, whey-faced, undersized girl as his mouthpiece, her parents were ableto deflect all critique of what she (or rather they) was actually saying with 'HOW DARE YOU PICK ON A WITTLE GIRL!?" All criticism was met with endless protective screeching that attacking her ideas was basically picking on a child. Who picks ona child? A MEAN, NASTY BULLY WHO SHOULD BE ASHAMED, that's who.

God, I know people who are normally quite cynical about the media, grown men who should know way better, getting angry with those of us who have attacked Greta's message on any level because they've fallen for the 'protect wittle girls' meme the parents have manipulated them into.

What really gets me with Greta is he pure theatrical nature of how she presents, to make her look MUCH younger than she is. Those fucking long, droopy, mousy plaits with the harsh centre part, like some fundie Christian girl ... no normal 16 year old girl wants to look like that. The scrubbed face, the wittle girly clothes .... her parents are entertainers and know the power of personal presentation in putting across a message. If she dressed like a normal 16 year-old girl, used make-up, did her hair fashionably, wore clothes indicating she was approaching normal adulthood, well ... she wouldn't look as pure and inncent, would she? She wouldn't inspire such protectiveness if she weren't so sexless-looking. It's all such a grotesque manipulation.

Not to be a sick fuck but I wonder if they force her to not eat meat and tape down her breasts for the little girl look?

 

[Mola Ram]

Have any of these people even met a child? A child will stand there with frosting all over his face and crumbs on his hands insisting he didn't eat the last piece of cake, but that the baby did.

How dare you! It was not a vegan cake! How dare you!

 

[BrunoMattei]

Also, while re-watching The Beyond for over the 100th time I just now noticed that the little red headed girl looks almost exactly like Greta.

 

[Super-Chevy454]

Also, while re-watching The Beyond for over the 100th time I just now noticed that the little red headed girl looks almost exactly like Greta.

View attachment 1101405

Very troubling coincidence, that's for sure. Just imagine the possible memes mixing The Beyond and Greta.

 

[BrunoMattei]

Very troubling coincidence, that's for sure. Just imagine the possible memes mixing The Beyond and Greta.

The little girl in the Beyond loses her sight when both her parents have been taken and later she is taken by an unseen malevolent force of evil... JUST LIKE GRETA!

 

[Syaoran Li]

Not to be a sick fuck but I wonder if they force her to not eat meat and tape down her breasts for the little girl look?

Honestly, I would not be surprised if that was the case. Her parents clearly don't give a shit about her well-being and she's obviously being exploited as the new flavor-of-the-month mascot for the "green" crowd.

 

[lottalove]

I didn't see this brought up earlier in the thread, but there was a bug on Facebook for a couple of hours that showed who was posting on various accounts. Apparently, Greta's Dad has been the one posting on her Facebook.

Busted! Facebook Bug Reveals Greta Thunberg's Posts Are Written by Her Father

Privacy Adviser: "People who run sensitive Pages from their own Facebook should now consider that their identity may be known."

www.redstate.com

It's pretty obvious that Greta has just been a mouthpiece for climate activism, but seeing proof that it was her own father using his daughter as a shield for his shit takes is something.

I hate the omnipresence of Greta. But it isn't only her parents, who exploit her. There are indications for Greta and the climate movement being pushed and installed by certain actors of some industries. Mainly the nuclear hydrogen industry uses her as tool for their agenda. As irritating as that sounds to me, but the Green party when in power in Germany promoted the development of "better, clean nuclear power" for "the hydrogen age", somewhat behind the scenes. There are strong interests at work, big profit interests and therefore it's useful to push the sense of urgency. Plans have been made, studies written but the people still need to be persuaded to accept some tens of thousands nuclear reactors worldwide. Bill Gates is invested in Terrapower (nuclear technology) also.

 

[CWCissey]

Mainly the nuclear hydrogen industry uses her as tool for their agenda.

What the fuck are you on about?

Greta tends to shill the windmills, and runs away when people bring up thorium reactors.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

The entire enviromental movement is currently run by big corporations. If the group wasn't peddling bullshit they'd go against mass consumption, fighting polluting countries and going against the constant movement of resources around the globe to save a few pennies in assembly.

Instead they want you to consume more. Buy new shit that is now 10% more enviromentally friendly rather than reuse old shit that was already produced. Have corporations waste fuel to show you how fuel efficient they are. Make new energy plants that cost a fortune, need harvested rare metals to work and only supply a fraction of a regular coal energy plant. Make new legistation that forces people to buy new shit and put regulations that will only apply on small competitors.

It is beyond bullshit. The amount of corruption makes me completely skeptical of global warming because you'd think people in the academia would have said something rather than raise a plan to make women in Africa study coding, because when you have an "imminent threat" the first thing you want to do is make a plan that will take decades to have an effect.

 

[lottalove]

What the fuck are you on about?

Greta tends to shill the windmills, and runs away when people bring up thorium reactors.

Isn't it a typical PR campaign like all those before. When a war has to be promoted or something. Burning bushland and all urgency aside:
Somewhere the money has to come from.

And remember that very well worded FB post of last march, where they proclaimed the nuclear solution at first and later relied on the IPPC for nuclear energy as being part of the "scientifically best" solution. Haha, as if ever "best science" has been implemented just by and for itself. (Then we wouldn't have some problems today). To brush the backlash over they deflected from the accusation to not absolutely exclude nuclear energy via postponing the question. And posing as "being personally against it, but". I don't buy it. Some more insight will be found eventually. https://www.facebook.com/gretathunb...3630957004727/793436521024170/?type=3&theater

It is all so pure and clean - it stinks. Because she is not the first womanchild used in these manoeuvres.

 

[Xolanite]

I read that heart disease, suicide, and epilepsy are leading causes of death for those with the ‘tism Asperger’s is no longer acknowledged as a disorder, under the DSM-V. It’s just autism. Hopefully, little Greta won’t live to see 20. archive.is/0uTRe