Science Greta Thunberg Megathread - Dax Herrera says he wouldn't have a day ago (I somewhat doubt that)

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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
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Found this thought-provoking indeed.
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Beata Ernman will be playing Edith Piaf (Picture: PA; Greta Thunberg/Facebook)
Greta Thunberg’s younger sister has launched her new singing career and will be playing a young Edith Piaf in a musical alongside her opera singer mother.
Now we need Greta to join to make this a family event.

The climate change activist’s sister Beata Ernman will play the singer in a show which opens in Stockholm this year.
The 14-year-old is following the footsteps of her mother, Malena Ernman, and we just love a family that shines.

‘I have been dancing and singing for as long as I can remember,’ told news agency DPA.

‘To be able to perform her immortal music is a dream come true.’

Beata, who Greta has described her as her ‘super talented sister,’ comes from an extraordinary line of artists.
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Beata joined Greta for many strikes (Picture: Malena Ernman/Facebook)
Her mother is an internationally recognised mezzo-soprano, who represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2009 wth her opera song La Voix.

17-year-old Greta took her last name from their father, Svante Thunberg — who works as a screenwriter and film producer.

Svante Thunberg’s father, Fritz-Olof Thunberg, is a Swedish actor and voice actor with many film credits.

Oof, what a family.
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Greta calls Beata her ‘super talented sister’ (Picture: TT News Agency/PA Images)
Speaking of successes, Greta will be joining forces with the BBC for a new documentary series focusing on her as she balances her environmental work with being a teenager.

While a release date, title and episodes, are currently unavailable, BBC Studios announced plans for the project this Monday in Liverpool.

The series will see Thunberg continue her efforts across the globe to campaign for climate change efforts, while also dealing with autism, her school work, and her life balance.

BBC studios will create the series, but it’s currently unknown when to expect it.

‘To be able to do this with Greta is an extraordinary privilege, getting an inside view on what it’s like being a global icon,’ Rob Liddell said on the announcement (according to Deadline).
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article written by the incomparable Zara Woodcock

Edith Piaf
 
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Another goddamn goblin child in the spotlight, huh?
I guess Greta's parents weren't happy with one puppet to parade around for cash and asspats, no, they now need TWO little shits pretending to be clever.

These kids, and kids in spokesperson positions, inevitably hurt the movement they are in more than they help.
 
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Y2K Baby said:
Good for her, I suppose. Kind of weird how her sister's weird political publicity factors into this though.
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Mentioning it makes people who otherwise wouldn't recognize her or care sit up and take notice.

I'm rooting for her. I wouldn't want to spend a lifetime in that gremlin's shadow.
 
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