AIBU Greta Thunberg?

[onalongsabbatical]

AIBU to ask everyone who can to get behind Greta Thunberg, even if only online, as she's now getting a lot a lot a lot of hate. She clearly threatens people - especially her polar opposites, men, rich old men, powerful men (did I mention men?). Let's all give her the lurve and support she needs.
So on FB I challenged one just now - Why are you attacking a young woman? - and he disappeared. Funny, that.

Really Trewser. The oldies I know heat their houses to the max, go on more long haul holidays, drive more and eat more meat.

Such a nasty thread.

This is what I was responding to Mecc poster

She’s a puppet. Nothing more.

She’s an autistic child who made a few comments and now is the poster child for the climate change movement

It is a nasty thread

The emergence of Greta makes much more sense if you see her in her cultural context. Take it from a Swede. In Sweden, the voice of children and young people is much more prominent, valued and enquired after, the education system promotes a much wider engagement with the world through a broad-based curriculum, and young people generally take an active and engaged interest in current affairs. In Sweden, Greta does not stand out as 'precocious', nor does her dour earnest grate, young Swedes are used to being listened to. Greta isn't surprising in Sweden. She still gets hated on though, by fellow countrymen who would like to see Stockholm become a bit more like Barcelona.

I think she’s amazing! People can’t stand it when a 16 year old has done more in her short life than they will ever do in theirs 🤷‍♀️

I think those girls who convinced Burger King and Macdonalds to reduce plastic toys probably got more done for the environment.

Yes!

@AdultHumanFemale that's interesting, and I'm not surprised, I suspected as much. Thank you.

@AdultHumanFemale perhaps that’s it. I’m Dutch and we also teach children from an early age that they should share their opinions, and they should be listened to. It might explain why English-speakers are more likely to say that someone must be putting words in her mouth.

I’m Dutch and we also teach children from an early age that they should share their opinions, and they should be listened to

I am British and everyone I know is interested in their kids opinions about things

Not going by this thread we don’t.

Thats because mumsnet isn't real life.

Trewser, I think most parents and relatives of children are interested in those children's opinions, but I think it is different in some northern European countries. I won an essay writing competition about work experience initiatives, of all things, aged 14, and was invited to a series of conferences to deliver presentations to leaders of industry and trade unions. Not unusual. There is a big societal investment in empowering young people by encouraging participation in civic life, both at home and abroad.

Given what prompted the op to start the thread it sounds like it’s not just on here.

There is a bit of the Kumari Goddess about these young-girl led movements. I wonder what happens once they invariably drink, party, have sex, marry, bear children. Will they still have the cameras on them? Will we still listen?

And, no, I dont think a 16 year old boy would get the same attention.

I suspect less is expected of women so when a young woman achieves something remarkable (no matter your stance on the politics), it's somewhat politically fetished. For now. Wait til she appears as an adult. That will be the test.

@PicsInRed - I agree. Malala Yousefzai was only taken seriously because she wasn’t married and can speak English fluently (due to her wealthy family background). If she had been one of the poor and unfortunate girls from her region who routinely get married at 12, she likely wouldn’t even have been able to leave Pakistan for medical treatment.

I agree with you. I think the hate she's getting is disgraceful. She's a 16 year old girl!

I’m Dutch and we also teach children from an early age that they should share their opinions, and they should be listened to

Its not just childrens' opinions that aren't listened to here. There is a great deal of intolerance of differing opinions and of having views challenged in general.

@FreshwaterBay

it is unwise to invest such a vital matter on just one person. It makes the issue of climate change fragile

I agree with this. As the face or Messiah of saving the planet, we tie the cause in with her capability. She is human and fallible and a child. I think she is and has been awesome but if it's all on her and she falters it could loose momentum for the issue. I also hope she has lot of support (psychological as well as practical).

What confuses me is - who is facilitating, paying for and behind all of this? Who is providing the platform?

Can you honestly tell me that if one of our kids stood outside of their school with a poster for a month that they would have artfully produced photographs published, in the papers followed by a place to speak to the UN, expensive videos made for SM, meetings with high profile world leaders, boat trips (etc) around the world?

Hell No. Mine would have just been suspended or expelled, fined by the council and no-one here would have even noticed. Not a photograph would have been taken. (Maybe one "sad face" shot by the DM) Not even a spot on a morning show.
This is coming from somewhere.

But who cares where it’s coming from, as long as it works?

It’s not like Greta or Climate Change activists have an evil plan for world domination or self-glory. They’re campaigning to save everyone from mass extinction.

Well there is a huge environmental movement globally @opalinksi. I think the rest is social media and right place right time. If you're looking for a global conspiracy can i suggest the fact that the electric car and the petrol car were both invented around the same time? And yet we're still encouraged to think of the former as 'wacky', 'new technology' 'futuristic' ''will it ever catch on?' In 2019! There's something to get your teeth into.

I think there is a lot of sexism at play here. She’s a girl so it’s coming from somewhere else, she’s fragile, needs to be protected, she’ll end up drinking, having sex and children so what then....

Love Greta and yes will fight her corner on social media if I see distasteful posts. Thank you for the prompt.

She is great.

Also agree as a Scandinavian myself that Greta is not that unusual as she comes across here in the UK.

Do you honestly not see any concern in making a child saviour for the environment from a 16 year old who didn't eat for three months and saw no point in living because of the environmental crisis? Who has suffered since her preteen years from debilitating depression?

Totally agree. I find the whole thing baffling. Why are adults reacting to this vulnerable child as if she is some kind of messiah?

This is not going to end well.

She’s a girl so it’s coming from somewhere else
I was thinking this the other day, about how she’s compared to Joan of Arc.

I always believed that Joan of Arc used her “voices from God” as a defence against the fact that she too was a girl. And the same thing happens with Greta’s autism (something usually associated with boys) It gives her gravitas.

But girls and women (eg Naomi Klein) have been prominent in the fight against Climate Change which can be seen by many as a result of the world that men created.