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.

 

[TowinKarz]

It should be noted that Greta. and her handlers. never advocated for this.
They never advocated for clean water.
They never advocated for urban renewal. (Which is unconsciously what most of the populous actually wants from greens.)
Instead shilled for taxes for cars and enormous subsidies for select "green" companies.
Instead they spindoctored attention onto CO2, misinterpreting it in a almost purposely unscientific way.
Instead they turned all the good will and actual work on air-quality and emissions done in 60s and 70s and made it into a giant corpo-government money-making scheme.

It also put the lie to the fact they kept saying nature can't recover, everything we've done wrong will be a scar on the planet forever and the only thing to do is save what little might be left.... true, we can't bring the Dodo back, but to say we can't clean up our messes and that you, personally, should wear a meter and pay for ever bit of CO2 you exhale because you, a living being of this planet, are just incompatible with it? And kill it with your mere presence?

Well, not only was that not true... but.

Nobody likes a downer.

Especially when they're proven wrong.

"Don't you wish there were more birds in the morning? And more fish in the rivers? We could make it happen.." would've worked better, but it also wouldn't have sold papers and lines of internet to peddle hope over "Hope you're happy you ruined the world, capitalist! If you have any decency left in your black heart, as your last action before that toxic smog cloud descends on you and chokes away your very life... VOTE SOCIALISM! Er, Green... yeah, that's it....."

 

[Adamska]

Had to check out this thread to confirm my suspicions, and yea... the world has pretty much forgotten about little Greta. F, hope her 15 minutes of fame don't ruin her otherwise average existence.

Given her awful, cowardly, and narcissistic parents controlling her and using her, oh I bet it's ruined. For them, and possibly her if she liked being famous for being a skiving tard.

It should be noted that Greta. and her handlers. never advocated for this.
They never advocated for clean water.
They never advocated for urban renewal. (Which is unconsciously what most of the populous actually wants from greens.)
Instead shilled for taxes for cars and enormous subsidies for select "green" companies.
Instead they spindoctored attention onto CO2, misinterpreting it in a almost purposely unscientific way.
Instead they turned all the good will and actual work on air-quality and emissions done in 60s and 70s and made it into a giant corpo-government money-making scheme.

Wonderful civic projects which bring you sights like this everyday. Literally everyday, they have to put people on bird clean up duty on all these wind farms.

Spoiler

View attachment 1251797

The video of the dolphins was of a timeline were all the man power and engineering of a generation could have gone into making that sight a daily occurrence.
Through urban renewal. Fixing our outdated sewer systems. Cleaning up the Hudson for fucks sake.
But that was what could have been. Instead the timeline we got was of that STEM manpower going to wind scam farms cutting up 100,000s of birds in the middle of nowhere to continue your ever dirtier, ever idiosyncratic, urban existence.
Don't even get me started on solar.

I don't mind wind or solar power, but they are secondary sources to Nuclear (the True and Honest clean energy). Fickle, disruptive to migration patterns, or just plain toxic to make for a supplement to the grid that can be quite fickle.

Also holy shit I'd love an urban renewal/sewer revival/cleanup of waterways. Waterways for sure, since it'd actually make seafood safer again without all that mercury.

 

[George Floyd Sneed]

There’s not much money Goldman Sachs or BlackRock could make with urban revitalization. They want quick and easy profit, something they can do by offshoring what’s left of western industry. Urban revitalization would involve issuing more bonds, which have low rates of return and who knows if these cities can even cover the costs in the long run. Better to just invest in Chinese industry moving to Africa, there’s more profit to be had. Endorse cap and trade so they can skim off the transactions. Fund more green boondoggles by buying credit from the fed at 1% and give loans to the next Solyndra at 12% interest.

 

[Antipathy]

A puppet nobody cares about anymore on the cover of a magazine nobody buys

Match made in heaven

"A puppet that can no longer be used is mere garbage"

 

[Webby's Boyfriend]

So, she dropped out of school and all her fame is gone. What's gonna happen to her next? I guess she'll just get on tardbux like Chris.

 

[din_far]

So, she dropped out of school and all her fame is gone. What's gonna happen to her next? I guess she'll just get on tardbux like Chris.

Her semi-famous parents will keep pushing her until she gets the fame they desire. Should it fail, Sweden is pretty liberal with the free money, especially for autism survivors and such.

 

[Rice Is Ready]

So, she dropped out of school and all her fame is gone. What's gonna happen to her next? I guess she'll just get on tardbux like Chris.

She goes on the Joe Rogan podcast.

 

[soy_king]

She goes on the Joe Rogan podcast.

Dude's made fun of her a lot though, and I'm pretty sure her autism and militant activism can't accept jokes.

I still want it to happen, just so she can sperg out at Joe for being a hunter.

 

[Matthew216]

That, or the Corona-Chan will have unwittingly saved the environment and invalidate her existence.

COVID-19 may have the unintentional effect of completely killing 80% of all Leftists arguments.


Not that the media will cover any of that.

 

[Adamska]

Dude's made fun of her a lot though, and I'm pretty sure her autism and militant activism can't accept jokes.

I still want it to happen, just so she can sperg out at Joe for being a hunter.

Her narc parents and handlers wouldn't let it stand I bet. Whenever she got hit on stuff that creepy indian man didn't write she struggled and failed to really counter.

Literal mouthpiece.

 

[Slimy Time]

CNN put an article out about her donating money.

Greta Thunberg is donating $100,000 to help children affected by coronavirus pandemic

By Alisha Ebrahimji, CNN

Updated 1737 GMT (0137 HKT) May 2, 2020

Swedish environmentalist Greta Thunberg says that like the climate crisis, the coronavirus threatens children's rights and well-being
(CNN)Climate activist Greta Thunberg is donating prize money she won to help fight the coronavirus pandemic and protect children from its potentially detrimental consequences.
Human Act, a Danish worldwide development organization, recently gave Thunberg $100,000 for her global activism, but now that money will go to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), according to a statement from the agency. Human Act has pledged to match Thunberg's donation by contributing another $100,000 to launch a campaign specifically aimed at safeguarding children's rights and welfare at this time.
The sum will support UNICEF's efforts to protect children from food shortages, strained healthcare systems, violence and lost school days, according to the release.
"I'm asking everyone to step up and join me in support of UNICEF's vital work to save children's lives, to protect health and continue education," Thunberg said

How to feed the hungry, protect health professionals, aid refugees and support service workers during the pandemic
"Like the climate crisis, the coronavirus pandemic is a child-rights crisis," Thunberg added, in an online statement."It will affect all children, now and in the long-term, but vulnerable groups will be impacted the most."
The effects of the coronavirus pandemic are expected to be the most damaging for children in poorer countries and those living in the poorest neighborhoods, according to a recent study by the United Nations.
Through the campaign, UNICEF will help fight coronavirus by providing essential items like soap, masks, gloves, hygiene kits, protective equipment and life-saving information to healthcare systems in need.

This reeks of "PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!!!".

 

[soy_king]

Her narc parents and handlers wouldn't let it stand I bet. Whenever she got hit on stuff that creepy indian man didn't write she struggled and failed to really counter.

Literal mouthpiece.

A man can dream though.

 

[ditto]

tfw when your media sycophants unironically draw you in the style of Stalinist propaganda posters

View attachment 1251698

They were complaining about climate change as far back as the infamous Boston Bomber edition.

 

[TowinKarz]

CNN put an article out about her donating money.

This reeks of "PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!!!".

More like "My Mommy and Daddy donated money in my name, so pay attention to me" which is somehow even more repugnant.

 

[Ginger Piglet]

I was playing Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri the other day. For the benefit of you zoomers, SMAC was the sequel to Civilization, setting out what happened when your spaceship arrived at Alpha Centauri and how humanity fractured along ideological lines in the face of a total death world. Excellent game. Better than all the Civilization games apart from possibly II (on which it was based). Go play it.

Anyhow. One of the factions is the Cult of Planet. They worship the death world, believe humans are the disease and the wrath of Planet in the form of mindworms and fungus and sealurks is justifiable retribution because of how the rest of humanity fucked up Earth. They believe that capitalism, democratic government, industry, and progress should be torn down in favour of going back to the Stone Age, and some may die in the process, if by "some" you mean every other human faction, ESPECIALLY the Gaians, who are traitors to environmentalism for not being hardline enough.

They are led by Cha Dawn, a creepy child prophet with foetal alcohol syndrome face.

Now where have I seen this in real life?

 

[It's HK-47]

I don't... Why does Climate Potato need to be there, exactly?

 

[CWCissey]

View attachment 1290821

I don't... Why does Climate Potato need to be there, exactly?

Because CNN just has to keep the deathcult of Thunberg going even during a pandemic.

 

[Hux]

View attachment 1290821

I don't... Why does Climate Potato need to be there, exactly?

Because she raises the collective IQ count of everyone present in the studio up by 80% just by being there

 

[AnOminous]

View attachment 1290821

I don't... Why does Climate Potato need to be there, exactly?

Something something fake news something.

 

[Adamska]

View attachment 1290821

I don't... Why does Climate Potato need to be there, exactly?

Her parents need their dopamine hits by vicariously living through their child. Don't worry, the creepy Indian man wrote what she's going to say.

Also I expect a lot of fucking dooming since CNN has been trying to run a scam by using a fake-sick Chris Cuomo to make you terrified and stay inside.

It's all a scam.