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.

I can’t stand Trump but why should he stay to listen to her ? She doesn’t have anything new to say. Her manner atypical or not, won’t appeal to everyone. Same goes for anyone in the public eye, I do think as a child she should be guided appropriately. That’s not faux concern but my observation having worked in paediatrics for 20+ years.

I can't help but wonder that, if she were male, responses would be more positive...

Yes, I'm aware of that obligation. I was referring to her battle with depression.

“Battle with depression” where are you getting this info about a battle? She had depression years ago. Why does having depression need to define you for ever and write you off as weak?

Even Fox News have apologised for calling her mentally ill. It’s appalling.

Tinklylittlelaugh Some local people don't like it, think it looks messy. Personally I like seeing it slowly return to it's pre industrial revolution state.

Err, I think you might have to go back further in time if you're looking for natural native woodland. The pre-industrial revolution state was small enclosed fields over most lowland parts of the UK.

www.instagram.com/p/B2zKscWg1D9/?igshid=111hv660iwb7q

@Chatt3rb0x she is 16. She has several markers of someone vulnerable.

Doeant mean she is. But does mean she is more likely to be.

So weird how so many people are annoyed that people are concerned for. What's the motive?

Err, I think you might have to go back further in time if you're looking for natural native woodland. The pre-industrial revolution state was small enclosed fields over most lowland parts of the UK

.Again, not where I'm from in the South Wales valleys. It was largely beech woods in our valley, chopped down for pit props etc and part replaced by nasty conifer plantations.

@Chatt3rb0x not sure anyone is saying that she cant have an opinion because she has had mental health problems.

I am certainly not.

Besides which, I agree with her.

Still concerned about her well being.

@PineapplePower

I'm an advocate for nuclear as well. Places like Chernobyl and Fukushima are used as examples as to why we shouldn't go nuclear but Fukushima took the brunt of one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded and the ensuing tsunami and still didn't go into full meltdown. As far as I'm concerned that's a pretty big postive for nuclear safety.

I know people also throw up concerns with nuclear waste disposal, but like you say nuclear power stations have account for that and are held to very high standards.

What most people don't realise is that beneath every wind turbine is around 300tonnes of reinforced concrete and concrete is both toxic and radioactive. Yet it's fine to have masses of it sitting in the ground leeching into the surrounding area if it's for renewables.

Also regarding decomissoning I think it's mostly the turbine motor/windings/bearings that wear out (25-30 year life span) and can be replaced. The structures themselves can remain in place for longer.

FaerieKiss what are you talking about? 'Battle with depression'? What battle? She was depressed at the age of 8, before being diagnosed. That was a long time ago. She has overcome some of the challenges of living in a heteronormative world and found a purpose which is for the greater good. What is your problem with that? The faux-concern on this thread has a very nasty undertow. Where is your concern for other 16 year olds who might be in the public eye such as elite athletes or musicians? She is an amazing role model for adults, children, neurotypical and neurodiverse alike. Would that more people would actually take the environment seriously and be as committed as she is.

@ItIsWhatItIsInnit

Watch Cowspiracy

Cowspiracy has been debunked several times.

I'm not remotely uncomfortable witnessing angry women. I'm uncomfortable witnessing a visibly distressed 16 year old with MH issues being exploited

Well put

It seems to me that a little more guidance might be wise for this vulnerable lass; the train photos are a case in point, making me wonder who took them and was then foolish enough to make them public

Unfortunately this is the kind of thing which could all too easily lead to Peak Greta, and the backlash from that sort of situation isn't always attractive

Tinklylittlelaugh Again, not where I'm from in the South Wales valleys. It was largely beech woods in our valley, chopped down for pit props etc and part replaced by nasty conifer plantations.

I actually thought you must be from Cloud Cuckoo Land. You've got some fairly way out, extreme ideas going on there, justified by some disturbing world views ("get rid of the pets"). Bit disturbing to read. Please stop engaging with me on this. It isn't going anywhere.

I live in London, can I ask why we don't have climate change protestors on days like today, cold and pouring down with rain.

What a stupid thing to say. The Global Strike that took place in countries around the world on 20 September was planned months in advance. Extinction Rebellion are doing another protest from 7 October. It may well be rainy.

'Battle with depression'? What battle? She was depressed at the age of 8, before being diagnosed. That was a long time ago. She has overcome some of the challenges of living in a heteronormative world and found a purpose which is for the greater good. What is your problem with that?

This is incredibly naive. Firstly, recovery from mental illness is not linear and is rarely 'done and dusted' like you seem to suggest. Secondly, being very depressed since age 8 means her issues are deep seated.

Mental health issues are not solved by some storybook method of becoming a child saviour as engineered by a shrewd PR and branding team, ffs.

An external locus of control is a recipe for disaster when it comes to dealing with significant mental health problems - whether you are fixating on parental approval, for instance (to choose a common one) or whether you are fixating on saving the entire world from climate change.

If you read my earlier comments on this thread you can see that I think Greta is intelligent, well-educated and passionate about her topic. I am not disputing that. You can be all of those things as well as having to manage your mental health carefully. I certainly agree with Greta that as global citizens we are in for a shitstorm with the approaching environmental crisis - and that as ever, it will be the poorest people in the world who bear the brunt of things like the water wars and food scarcity in our future.

However, to dismiss the impact of a very high profile campaign which markets itself as being life or death, so very high-octane, on her mental health is NOT in her best interests. I'm very surprised at how determined people are to argue how 'empowered' she is by this campaign. Perhaps those people have little experience in either mental health issues, or perhaps they don't know the reality of the PR and media machines.

I'm really not ok with making a sacrificial lamb of a 16 year old girl, with the excuse that it's alright because she's inspiring and a breath of fresh air.

Where is your concern for other 16 year olds who might be in the public eye such as elite athletes or musicians?

I do especially if they have had depression, and aspergers and seem to straining under the massive spotlight on them.

And she has a massive spotlight.

But I though this thrrar was about hee and climate change. Not young people, in genera, in the spotlight.

Where has she said she had been very depressed since 8?

Why are people allowed to be experts on somebody else’s mental health? You wouldn’t profess to be an expert on her health if it was diabetes.

At best it’s patronising at its worst it’s faux concern.

And as for the the photo on the train. She was eating vegan food with reusable bottles and a paper cup. Somebody opposite was eating a pot of salad.Yes she was eating out of a pot of hummus( which can be re used or recycled) and a slice of bread out of a bag of bread but unfortunately as we all know buying groceries is often impossible to do plastic fees particularly when you are living a busy life. There is no need to pounce on it and belittle her work.

Free

Her mother's book details a lot of the struggles of her daughters for many years.

My concern is certainly not fake. Obviously you are free to think so, if that feels bizarrely comforting to you.

Why are people allowed to be experts on somebody else’s mental health? You wouldn’t profess to be an expert on her health if it was diabetes.

If someone has diabetes and starts to look unwell. I would be concerned.

An impassioned speech doesn’t make you look unwell.

Not my words, but those of a blogger I follow which I think are worth sharing:

Almost as soon as it was delivered the speech had the feel of an historic document. A time capsule for future academics to let them know that as the web of market failures and political inadequacy drove global emissions ever upwards there were voices screaming 'stop'.

It was also master class in oratory. The clipped sentences, the unyielding adherence to first principles, the laser-like focus on the audience's failures, the repetition of that defining challenge - how dare you? - all combining to leave world leaders speechless and squirming in their chairs. One of the many things that make Thunberg so special is the simple fact that she is better at political communication than most politicians.

There is also something uniquely unnerving about Thunberg's challenge that lies in her combination of familiarity and extraordinary talent. As I Tweeted earlier this afternoon, Thunberg's visceral anger and frustration is so recognisable - from completely different contexts - to anyone who knows, or indeed has been, a teenager. The righteous drama of her assertion that she "should be back in school on the other side of the ocean". The grandiloquent accusation that "you have stolen my childhood with your dreams and empty words". We all recognise such language from teenagers everywhere.

Even my four year old does it when his response to being told off is an anger so pure and accusatory it is genuinely unnerving. 'Why are you being mean to me?' he asks. It still stops me in my tracks every time.

The parental defence against this is always - and I mean always - "it's for your own good". "I'm stopping you doing what you want because I am the adult and I am acting in your long term interests." It is this rationale that makes the angry child's accusations of betrayal and frustration bearable.

But with Thunberg that defence has no power. "How dare you?" she asks. "We will never forgive you," she rages. It is the same old teenage accusation, but this time there is no defence. None. Just the terrible reminder we have failed the people we were meant to keep safe.

If someone has diabetes and starts to look unwell. I would be concerned.

I have type 1 diabetes, and I encourage any appropriate concern for me or my fellow diabetics in case we have a freak massive hypo out and about Always a worry that people would just ignore us and think us pissed as a fart!