The Greta Thunberg Debate
I will also point out she is a 16/17 year old girl. Why are you suggesting she needs to be your idea of a mature adult? Part of advocacy is calling people out on their hypocrisy and getting others to listen and use their power, like voting, to make the issue relevant. And she has a solution: she want policymakers to listen to the science and for others to be involved in the issue of climate change. And that is the central issue: political will. Unless people are invested enough to start voting and acting in terms of climate policy, all the fine research in alternative energy and climate mitigation will never make it out of the lab or journal. Climate needs to be on the agenda.
She also has done exactly what you suggest. She has done what she has control over. That was the fundamental driver behind her protest.
As far as a representation of autism, from what I have read, her life has not been easy. And she is careful to identify her "superpower" as her moral compass. She does not downplay the negatives of her condition. I am not sure there is a metric to say which autistic people are autistic enough to represent the disorder. I am sure others here are more impacted by their autism than I am. Does that mean I do not have a voice? I can't speak about my experience because others are worse off? I have also traveled extensively. I can tell you that does not eliminate my autism. It does not go away. Yes, I have developed strategies to cope. Outwardly, I might appear fine, but please don't use outward appearance to decide if I am autistic enough. And I understand quite well that compared with others with more severe autism I am "lucky," but not lucky enough were my autism does not impact my life in very real ways. I do not think the severity of Greta's autism invalidates her experience or her voice.
I can tell you dislike Greta. That is clear. I just don't see much more than a personal dislike.
Dude, have you actually read what I've been writing? She hasn't gotten anyone to listen to her who didn't already agree with her, is my point. She didn't bring climate change to anyone's attention. And YOU are the one who demanded that I list other teenagers who have done as much as she has! Meanwhile, I asked you to provide me with examples of her actual impact, and since you haven't, I assume that you don't know of any specific accomplishments that can be credited to her specifically. I'm still open to hearing them. "People hear her" isn't an accomplishment. Anyone can yell loud enough to be heard - her noise needs to make an actual difference to be an accomplishment.
A large part of activism IS holding people accountable (all people, not just business interests), but her yelling has done nothing to further that goal. As Bacon said, in order to have a productive discourse, “men ought to find the difference between saltness and bitterness.” Thunberg is nothing but bitterness, and it just strengthens the barriers between activists and their opponents. Plus, she proposes no defined solutions for accomplishing her goals. "Zero emissions" is her demand. Can you explain to me, if you know so much about her activism, how exactly we're going to do that? Also, saying that we shouldn't expect a 17 (almost 18) year old girl to act mature is kind of condescending - she has assumed the role of an adult. Personally, I expect more of teenage girls.
She IS focusing on what she can't control - she can't control big business interests. No one can on their own, and no one should try by just yelling in their faces. It's literally just a tantrum - the power dynamic is fudged. Meanwhile, she CAN criticize her own generation for not trying harder to take responsibility into their own hands. She doesn't. She tells them not to do their homework, which is counter-productive. She demands almost nothing from our generation while castigating the adults for not doing more.
"Her life has not been easy" - yes, this upper class girl with mild autism has really struggled from the bottom, hasn't she? The vast majority of people with autism are incapable of doing what she (and yes, you) can do. That's just the reality of the disorder. While the media pushes for this sensational idea of autism as something that doesn't functionally impair a person, as something that is actually beneficial, that harsh reality is sidelined unfairly. I don't despise those who can do so much despite somehow being disabled "invisibly," whatever that means. But I do resent the fact that they embrace the idea that we should normalize a public image of autism as something superior or pleasant. You do so at the expense of those who need autism awareness the most. But who said Thunberg's mild case invalidates her message? You keep drawing ideas from my text that are completely unrelated to my points.
Honestly, you utterly baffle me. You call me out for having some kind of personal grudge, even when I've given you specific reasons for my dislike for Thunberg - none of which are personal and most of which are professional. Yet I've seen no reason for your love for her except your claim that "people hear her." YOU hear her. Because her message is already pleasing to you. It demands nothing. It forces no new ideas into your world. But as an activist, she doesn't exist for YOU to listen. She exists so that the people who can DO something about it will listen, and she has failed in that.
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Earlier this month, Thunberg set out in an open letter a list of demands that, if implemented, would make the economic effects of COVID-19 seem mild. Her co-signatories included assorted celebrities, activists, and, inevitably, Coldplay.
Climate catastrophists are clearly keen to get the alarmist show back on the road, perhaps because they have been eclipsed by the pandemic.
Source: Greta Thunberg’s Message Of Doom Is Religion, Not Reality
Once again, on climate, the less intoxicating and more cheeringly mundane reality is that human beings are ingeniously adaptive. We’ll find a way through if we all keep our heads.
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A very unique plan. As Dr. Paul Thompson wrote, "This is the very best paper on the virus I have ever seen."
Dear_one
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Climate catastrophists are clearly keen to get the alarmist show back on the road, perhaps because they have been eclipsed by the pandemic.
Source: Greta Thunberg’s Message Of Doom Is Religion, Not Reality
Once again, on climate, the less intoxicating and more cheeringly mundane reality is that human beings are ingeniously adaptive. We’ll find a way through if we all keep our heads.
Jimmy, you have it exactly backwards. Climate Denial is the faith-based position, opposed to scientific evidence. Nothing Greta is proposing now approaches the cost that will be paid if we don't change course. You have already declared yourself too old to change your mind, whatever the evidence, so you should stay out of the debate.
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Greta Thunberg Mocks Conspiracy Theorist Trolls In 18th Birthday Post
Thunberg, who turned 18 today, thanked fans for their birthday wishes, before joking that she'd be popping down to her local boozer to chat conspiracy theories.
"Thank you so much for all the well-wishes on my 18th birthday!" she wrote.
"Tonight you will find me down at the local pub exposing all the dark secrets behind the climate - and school strike conspiracy and my evil handlers who can no longer control me! I am free at last!!"
In an interview with the Sunday Times to mark her birthday, the climate change activist revealed that she asks to borrow clothes from friends if they have garments they don't need anymore, rather than purchase something brand new.
That was funny as hell.
What was that about Autistics and not understanding sarcasm?
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
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Author of Practical Preparations for a Coronavirus Pandemic.
A very unique plan. As Dr. Paul Thompson wrote, "This is the very best paper on the virus I have ever seen."
Yes I am old and I have formed my position over many years. Some might call it Wisdom. Unlike Greta I am a scientist and I do consider all the evidence. But I wonder if you already have your mind made up on this subject and have closed yourself off from considering the scientific evidence. As a matter of fact it appears that we are the same age. Has anyone ever suggested that you should STAY OUR OF THE DEBATE?
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Author of Practical Preparations for a Coronavirus Pandemic.
A very unique plan. As Dr. Paul Thompson wrote, "This is the very best paper on the virus I have ever seen."
Sorry, global heating is real. It is having huge impacts to our planet. The evidence is clear. So clear, that scientist came to a consensus a long time ago. Even the oil companies figured it out a long time ago. If you think you have found evidence contradicting global heating, you are probably looking a conspiracy sites.
Dear_one
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Yes I am old and I have formed my position over many years. Some might call it Wisdom. Unlike Greta I am a scientist and I do consider all the evidence. But I wonder if you already have your mind made up on this subject and have closed yourself off from considering the scientific evidence. As a matter of fact it appears that we are the same age. Has anyone ever suggested that you should STAY OUR OF THE DEBATE?
What debate? Your procedure is not science, it is ignoring any evidence that does not confirm your position. I saw the Banff glacier when a fine old stone hotel gave a great view of it. Now, the hotel is still there, but the glacier is a thin, distant white line. The news is the same all over. It takes a lot of heat to melt ice, and now that temperature and weather regulator is missing over vast areas.
She moans a lot and never comes up with any solutions to the problems she's so vocal about and also seems to have an extreme aversion to having a discussion on climate change. Instead she just goes on rambling and often bizarre monologues.
She just sounds like a run of the mill fruit cake.
Dear_one
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She just sounds like a run of the mill fruit cake.
Could you provide examples? What I hear her pointing out is that politicians are talking about mitigating climate change, but not acting to do so. She does not claim to be the scientist, but rather a citizen taking their predictions seriously and anticipating a dreadful future. She just seems to lack the wishful thinking that lets us put up with the situation.
She just sounds like a run of the mill fruit cake.
Sure she has a solution--listen to the scientists and take action.
She just sounds like a run of the mill fruit cake.
Could you provide examples? What I hear her pointing out is that politicians are talking about mitigating climate change, but not acting to do so. She does not claim to be the scientist, but rather a citizen taking their predictions seriously and anticipating a dreadful future. She just seems to lack the wishful thinking that lets us put up with the situation.
But pointing out is all she ever does. Her method of activism is just calling everyone a bunch of toss pots and high tailing it out before anyone can ask her questions in return. Every time I see her on the news it's never answering questions, only anger and hatred directed at people who are usually not even present to defend themselves. "Up against the wall" I believe she once said. Hardly someone to take seriously isn't she? It's the type of activism I despise.
She reminds me of a personified version of extinction rebellion. Complains about everything and everyone but themselves utterly useless at actually building the green revolution.
To be honest I think she's a repulsive person.
She just sounds like a run of the mill fruit cake.
Sure she has a solution--listen to the scientists and take action.
Telling everyone the problem and actually fixing it are two different things. If someone screams and shouts about the former but falls flat in explaining the latter then they're quickly on their way to discreting themselves.
She just sounds like a run of the mill fruit cake.
Sure she has a solution--listen to the scientists and take action.
Telling everyone the problem and actually fixing it are two different things. If someone screams and shouts about the former but falls flat in explaining the latter then they're quickly on their way to discreting themselves.
But you are misrepresenting Greta. First, listening to the science is how we fix this. Trying to paint her as irrational is simply false. She is articulate and very rational.
She just sounds like a run of the mill fruit cake.
Could you provide examples? What I hear her pointing out is that politicians are talking about mitigating climate change, but not acting to do so. She does not claim to be the scientist, but rather a citizen taking their predictions seriously and anticipating a dreadful future. She just seems to lack the wishful thinking that lets us put up with the situation.
But pointing out is all she ever does. Her method of activism is just calling everyone a bunch of toss pots and high tailing it out before anyone can ask her questions in return. Every time I see her on the news it's never answering questions, only anger and hatred directed at people who are usually not even present to defend themselves. "Up against the wall" I believe she once said. Hardly someone to take seriously isn't she? It's the type of activism I despise.
She reminds me of a personified version of extinction rebellion. Complains about everything and everyone but themselves utterly useless at actually building the green revolution.
To be honest I think she's a repulsive person.
I believe the UN was in session when she spoke to them. The UN could not defend itself? And she does answer questions. Unfortunately, you are simply misrepresenting her work. This conversation will be easier if you can come with some facts.