Why do old white men hate Greta Thunberg so much?

[MotherOfDragonite]

My 65 year old uncle and friends of a similar age (and also white, though not necessarily all British -- others are American, German and Australian) seem to talk about her an awful lot with great vitriol and hatred.

They seem to have shared views about climate change, but I still can't understand why they hate Greta so much. Not only do they comment on her, but they post unpleasant memes about her. While I understand that they fundamentally disagree with the concept of climate change, I don't really understand why a 16 year old girl with Aspergers, who does not live in the UK and who clearly has good intentions even if they disagree with them, is the focus of so much of their ire.

What is it about Greta that older men find so very "triggering"?

I just can't stand her. The way she goes about doing what she does. I understand being passionate about the planet but the way she goes about it I don't agree with.

@Figmentofmyimagination You’re so right about the tabloid press. If she decides to have children, she’ll probably have to have a new identity. (Has she said anything about children, is that one of her pearls of wisdom?)

Creating more people who will further deplete natural resources must be one of the worst things one can do to the environment.

Well, I like her and I don’t doubt her sincerity. Why does everyone assume someone is controlling her?

Her message makes many people feel bad, so they come up with any excuse to shoot the messenger. It reminds me of the hostility shown to vegetarians and vegans and some really ridiculous arguments against vegetarianism.

It is quite possible that there is manipulation there as her parents are activists too. - there was a Scottish girl who took photos of her school meals and posted them on line to show how shit they were and to shame Argyll And Bute council into improving them. This was photographs on school property which is of course a crime agaisnt humanity and the council were attempting to prosecute. It all went quiet once the girl was directed to focus on saving children in Africa and focus away from Scotland / the UK.

Well, if she is being manipulated, I don't expect sharing mocking memes about her will help, so I don't think concern for her is the root of the issue.

I think there has generally been a rise in abusive language and personal attacks, not just about Greta but about everything :-(

Oh the irony ! Look at the racist, ageist and sexist language you used in your first post to describe your uncle and his friends and perhaps have some introspection. Change starts with you!

I hate Greta and I'm a 36 year old Mum of 4! She's an annoying gobshite
Spoken like a true annoying gobshite🤣🤣

Not sure I've ever seen so much concern about racism on MN before...

I wouldn't ever be verbally abusive to another person when I don't like them. I just put my thoughts down on here.
I'm also certainly not an annoying gobshite. I don't go around shouting about people stealing my childhood for instance. She's had a privileged upbringing and needs to consider what she is saying as it's very insulting to some people.
I do understand her being upset about climate change, I think we're all concerned but there's a more dignified way to go about it.
I apologise for using the word hate, it was probably the wrong word to use.

Basically it gets up certain people's noses that a slip of a girl "who should be in school" is making them feel uncomfortable and basically "telling them what to think". I read this here where I am also. And you get it especially from people who criticise her but always in the comfort of their armchair. Most people are never honest about what really buggers them about her. But it is the above.

I don't hate her. I admire her. When I was her age, all I was interested in was getting drunk and watching Top Of The Pops. Here is a girl who is not just taking an interest in the world we live in but is actually trying to do something about protecting our world. I don't agree with everything she says but good on her for taking on world leaders and trying to pressure them into taking urgent action which is needed.

SVRT19674 Mon 23-Dec-19 13:04:55
Basically it gets up certain people's noses that a slip of a girl "who should be in school" is making them feel uncomfortable and basically "telling them what to think". I read this here where I am also. And you get it especially from people who criticise her but always in the comfort of their armchair. Most people are never honest about what really buggers them about her. But it is the above.
.........
I agree with the above sensible post.

If people don't like her or share her views (applies to other people), just ignore. It's not difficult.

‘Raising awareness’ by protesting with no thoughts of solution gets up my nose. Hypocrisy, which used to be a career ending sin, gets up my nose a lot (although many now meet it with a shrug).

Why is Greta not protesting in China and India, where the real damage is being done? I am sure a billionaire could lend her a luxury sloop to travel there.

The reality is that, in the UK, we are leading the World in becoming carbon neutral, with an already ambitious target. This is being made possible by brilliant science (done by non shouty educated people, generally (although far from exclusively) led by.....guess who...middle aged white men). Could we accelerate the process? Maybe a little bit by reducing idiots driving massive trucks in cities (well not culling the idiots but taxing the hell out of large 4x4s in cities, especially London) and increasing taxes hugely on flying. However, most will never embrace either of the above (I imagine most defending Greta in here have not changed the way they holiday and many drive massive cars.

Change is rarely achieved by the shouty but by encouraging sensible choices by changing the economics. We are achieving this. Wind now requires zero subsidy and battery technology is coming on in leaps and bounds (although there are issues with the supply of rare earth metals and how they are mined.

In this country we should be celebrating our progress in this area and telling the shouty child to go and revise her Physics and Economics quietly at home.

I have more respect for those quietly doing beach cleans without posting it all over IG and having days off of school to do so.

Well said!

David Attenborough is saying the same but lauded as a national treasure Greta criticised particularly by older men. Misogyny alive and well sadly

MsT,

Anyone who hectors and badgers annoys people, regardless of sex. Also some respect should be given to age and life experience. It is only evidence of misogyny if you believe a 16 year old boy acting like Greta would be treated differently.

I don’t.

The ‘woke’ have come up with the ridiculously flawed logic that the World belongs to the young so we need to listen to them. To me, whether you have 2 years to live or 60, it is all a blink of the eye in terms of the remaining 4.5 billion years that our Earth could remain habitable. I love the Young for their enthusiasm and creativity. However, their often unqualified passion and enthusiasm needs to be tempered by experience and patience, which are more often attributes possessed by older people.

None of this message is new and I have been living my life for the past 40 years conscientious of environmental impact of my actions. I don’t take it well by a bunch of children acting like they have discovered the environment and all the adults have lived their life in a callous and selfish manner. Particularly when the voices spewing off the aggressive message are themselves guilty of creating a huge carbon footprint to spout their message.

Totally agree with this. I do my best to live an environmentally friendly life, as much as I can, and get sick of young people going to protests in cars, flying off on overseas holidays, buying rubbish and at the same time lecturing us on being green!

quite right @larrygrylls

And, just to remind everyone, it was IPCC 1.5 degrees which was the real catalyst for change.

It was written in clear language and showed how close we are to seriously changing our climate. This was a report written by mostly middle aged scientists, but summarised (brilliantly) in layman’s language with clear charts that all could understand.

The world belongs to everyone - but the ear of the politician belongs to the richest donor so we have lost out to oil producers and car manufacturers, also the agrifood industry. However, that has been with our support as we all want to heat our homes, drive a car, fly off on holidAy and eat cheap food.
How do we get people to adopt the more environmentally friendly life. It means sacrificing things. Lecturing and browbeating seems the only way to me unless someone can come up with a better one.
Banning donations from oil cos. to art galleries and museums feels like shooting yourself in the foot to me.

The gang of anarchists led by Thunberg are useful in drawing attention to the issue at hand, but it's market forces that are driving the shift from fossils to renewables.

I'm not a fan of Greta and I'm not an old white man. She's over-exposed and very preachy, and both of those things annoy me. I hate being harangued.

She has helped bring climate change into the mainstream, so credit to her there, but bunking off school is a bloody stupid idea.

Why is Greta not protesting in China and India, where the real damage is being done?

Because they’d laugh in her face most probably.

Per head of population their contribution is probably teeny compared to us - non car owners in a tiny flat.