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.

 

[Coldgrip]

GRETA THUNBERG NOMINATED FOR 2020 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

Two Swedish MPs have nominated Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, and the Fridays For Future protest movement she began, for 2020’s Nobel Peace Prize, TT agency reported citing a letter from Swedish parliamentarians.

Young climate activist Greta Thunberg and the global environmental movement Fridays for Future, are nominated for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize by two Swedish lawmakers, the statement said. According to the publication. two Swedish MPs Jens Holm and Hokan Swanneling came up with this initiative.

According to politicians, the main reason why a girl deserves to receive an award is because “despite her young age, she worked hard to get politicians to pay attention to the climate crisis.”

According to parliamentarians. Climate change is crucial because it can lead to conflict and “create flows of climate refugees” .

Earlier, speaking in Davos at the World Economic Forum , Greta Tunberg made a statement that the environmental situation is only getting worse and therefore urgent action is needed to combat climate change.

She began “School Strike for the Climate” project outside the Swedish parliament in August 2018, and has since inspired and mobilized millions of young people to get involved.

Nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize must be submitted by February 1st to the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

As if this award couldn't be any more meaningless.

 

[Icasaracht]

This entire thread is a hate-boner for a teen-aged girl accomplishing more than themselves with autism.

 

[neverendingmidi]

GRETA THUNBERG NOMINATED FOR 2020 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

Two Swedish MPs have nominated Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, and the Fridays For Future protest movement she began, for 2020’s Nobel Peace Prize, TT agency reported citing a letter from Swedish parliamentarians.

Young climate activist Greta Thunberg and the global environmental movement Fridays for Future, are nominated for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize by two Swedish lawmakers, the statement said. According to the publication. two Swedish MPs Jens Holm and Hokan Swanneling came up with this initiative.

According to politicians, the main reason why a girl deserves to receive an award is because “despite her young age, she worked hard to get politicians to pay attention to the climate crisis.”

According to parliamentarians. Climate change is crucial because it can lead to conflict and “create flows of climate refugees” .

Earlier, speaking in Davos at the World Economic Forum , Greta Tunberg made a statement that the environmental situation is only getting worse and therefore urgent action is needed to combat climate change.

She began “School Strike for the Climate” project outside the Swedish parliament in August 2018, and has since inspired and mobilized millions of young people to get involved.

Nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize must be submitted by February 1st to the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

I'm gonna laugh if she becomes the DiCaprio of the Nobel Peace Prize, constantly being nominated, yet never winning.

 

[Pickle Dick]

GRETA THUNBERG NOMINATED FOR 2020 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

Two Swedish MPs have nominated Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, and the Fridays For Future protest movement she began, for 2020’s Nobel Peace Prize, TT agency reported citing a letter from Swedish parliamentarians.

Young climate activist Greta Thunberg and the global environmental movement Fridays for Future, are nominated for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize by two Swedish lawmakers, the statement said. According to the publication. two Swedish MPs Jens Holm and Hokan Swanneling came up with this initiative.

According to politicians, the main reason why a girl deserves to receive an award is because “despite her young age, she worked hard to get politicians to pay attention to the climate crisis.”

According to parliamentarians. Climate change is crucial because it can lead to conflict and “create flows of climate refugees” .

Earlier, speaking in Davos at the World Economic Forum , Greta Tunberg made a statement that the environmental situation is only getting worse and therefore urgent action is needed to combat climate change.

She began “School Strike for the Climate” project outside the Swedish parliament in August 2018, and has since inspired and mobilized millions of young people to get involved.

Nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize must be submitted by February 1st to the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

i thought she already won a nobel peace prize?

 

[neverendingmidi]

i thought she already won a nobel peace prize?

Nah, she got nominated for whining at people, but fortunately lost to a person who actually is working to create peace. Granted it's a guy from Africa, so flip a coin to see if he's going to be charged with corruption within 10 years, but at least he's actively doing something, not just traveling around with celebrities and scolding people.

 

[Dante Alighieri]

This entire thread is a hate-boner for a teen-aged girl accomplishing more than themselves with autism.
View attachment 1123893

I've done more for the environment than her by picking up trash.

You know, since she's flown around on jets and rode in yachts.

 

[Antipathy]

The constant elevation and use of literal children as mouthpieces is equal parts despicable and stupid. Not once, in any of the constant green rallies I've seen, has a viable solution been floated. I say nuclear, everyone hates that, for some stupid reason.

I fucking give up about the energy system now. When the oil runs out and the world descends into panic mode, I won't fucking do anything other than say "I FUCKING TOLD YOU SO".

Fuck the upper classes who perpetuate this shit, and fuck everyone who keeps falling for this shit.

 

[AnOminous]

No, the guy picked up a tranny and gets super pissed.

Rent Boy picks up the underage girl, which he doesn't know at the time. Begbie picks up the tranny and gets super pissed, but he's always super pissed.

What's required to address the problem of climate change is not autistic screeching, it's the kind of big brained thinking that said 'We're going to land an man on the moon this decade' and then making it happen.

Autistic screeching is all they're capable of.

This entire thread is a hate-boner for a teen-aged girl accomplishing more than themselves with autism.

She's accomplished as much as the wax statue of herself.

 

[LetThemEatCake]

As if this award couldn't be any more meaningless.

Nominated by Swedish MPs. What a shock.

It has held zero value nor the Nobel panel credibility since they gave it to Saint Obama for being a)black and b)not George Bush, about 2 1/2 seconds into his Presidency. The man then went on to create an extra-judicial kill list and dropped more bombs than Dubya ever had and continued his wars as well as destroying Libya which in turn helped create the migrant crisis. They even admitted they gave the prize to Obama not on the basis of anything he'd DONE, but to 'strengthen' him politically. They even openly said they regretted it later.

So the goal of the Nobel Committee is to interfere in politics using the peace prize as some weird strategical move. It's pure nonsense and I can believe they would give it to the Swedish Muppet to promote their precious climate 'emergency'.

Nobel chief regrets Obama peace prize

The decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama in 2009 failed to live up to expectations, the committee's ex-secretary says.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Jarolleon]

The constant elevation and use of literal children as mouthpieces is equal parts despicable and stupid. Not once, in any of the constant green rallies I've seen, has a viable solution been floated. I say nuclear, everyone hates that, for some stupid reason.

I fucking give up about the energy system now. When the oil runs out and the world descends into panic mode, I won't fucking do anything other than say "I FUCKING TOLD YOU SO".

Fuck the upper classes who perpetuate this shit, and fuck everyone who keeps falling for this shit.

*Puts on tin foil hat* The oil companies not only back climate change denialism, but also Greta-style hysterics, so more sane solutions to the problem never reach the public consciousness and we default to using fossil fuels year after year because the only proposed alternative is essentially mass suicide by suffocation of industry.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Did no one come with the idea to carbon tax the ever loving shit out of private planes and ships? You'd think this will be the first step in climate change (since it is a luxury item) but you'd sooner see carbon tax on regular cars.

 

[X Prime]

There is a certain arrogance in the way that these people live, I've had the opportunities to meet a few in my time and the common concern of the average person doesn't even come into their mind, and if anything there is a level of not just elitism there but also contempt especially from white liberals because they usually have low expectations of people of color, but they really do hate white trash/working class types of people.

This is the part I never understood.

Where does this pity for poor PoC come from in the rich, while simultaneously hating poor whites? It makes absolutely no sense.

 

[Overly Serious]

She was part of a Kids swimwear fashion show. The rest of them look like kids.

Then I don't know which is worse. That there's a 12 year old who looks like a 17-18 year old, or that there are people who want to look at 12 year olds in a swimwear fashion show.

Actually, now that I've typed it, it's way obvious which is worse. One is just an extreme outlier. The other is fucking creepy.

I've done more for the environment than her by picking up trash. You know, since she's flown around on jets and rode in yachts.

Do you think jets and yachts are harmful to the environment? Are you a proponent of AGW?

 

[Dante Alighieri]

Do you think jets and yachts are harmful to the environment? Are you a proponent of AGW?

They cause pollution and aren't nearly as efficient for travel as a commercial airline. I get needing to travel but when you're a proponent of saving the world it's less hypocritical to use a private jet or yacht.

 

[Untrue and Dishonest]

Greta Thunberg nominated for 2020 Nobel Peace Prize

Posted in r/worldnews by u/PrivacyPolicy2016 • 20,932 points and 4,125 comments

old.reddit.com

What the fuck happened to this Reddit thread? Aren't they like treating her as some kind of goddess? Multiple top comments are suddenly calling Greta out for being a puppet.

 

[ditto]

Greta Thunberg nominated for 2020 Nobel Peace Prize

Posted in r/worldnews by u/PrivacyPolicy2016 • 20,932 points and 4,125 comments

old.reddit.com

What the fuck happened to this Reddit thread? Aren't they like treating her as some kind of goddess? Multiple top comments are suddenly calling Greta out for being a puppet.

Maybe the censor bots have kicked in, but I'm seeing a lot of "that'll piss off Trump" replies instead.

 

[Super-Chevy454]

Greta trademarked her name and movement. I really doubt she did that alone.

 

[turboNIG-3k]

*Puts on tin foil hat* The oil companies not only back climate change denialism, but also Greta-style hysterics, so more sane solutions to the problem never reach the public consciousness and we default to using fossil fuels year after year because the only proposed alternative is essentially mass suicide by suffocation of industry.

Apart from teenagers screeching about imminent environmental apocalypse, the other main type of people pushing for ALL SOLAR AND WIND, YESTERDAY are well-spoken renewable energy industry representatives.
The crucial difference is that the latter sort mostly argues with various green energy subsidies from EU our country would be eligible for if we went full speed ahead; by subsidies I mean both one time grants and subsidized price of energy from aforementioned sources.
I find this sort of argumentation fishy to say the least, since there is no guarantee how long these financial incentives will last for and we could find ourselves holding the bag down the line, so to speak. Not to mention that I have yet to see a renewable power plant that could replace the on-demand power generation of a coal or ideally nuclear one.

 

[Antipathy]

Greta trademarked her name and movement. I really doubt she did that alone.

Oh boy the strings are so clear now. An autistic minor is not going to trademark themselves. Otherwise we'd all be copywritten.

*Puts on tin foil hat* The oil companies not only back climate change denialism, but also Greta-style hysterics, so more sane solutions to the problem never reach the public consciousness and we default to using fossil fuels year after year because the only proposed alternative is essentially mass suicide by suffocation of industry.

I believe you.

 

[Iron Hamster]

Is it this one for beer, smokes, and fanny packs?:

TESS -- Error

 

[LetThemEatCake]

Oh boy the strings are so clear now. An autistic minor is not going to trademark themselves. Otherwise we'd all be copywritten.

Exactly. It's Greta Inc. She's a product, not a person. Like I said, stage parents and NGO political handlers. Probably the best accountants and somewhere a business manager.