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Original poster

Why do old white men hate Greta Thunberg so much?

705 replies

MotherOfDragonite · 21/12/2019 15:57

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"?

OP posts:
malylis · 25/12/2019 10:59

She dresses how she did before this all started.

And yes lots of ad hom and tu quoque fallacies here.

I think in reality Greta bothers people because they know she is right but its a very uncomfortable thing to admit, and making big changes to our lifestyles will no doubt hurt to begin with.

That and lots of men are only used to viewing girls of her age in a sexual way, pretty things to be objectified, she doesn't fit that paradigm.

Oliversmumsarmy · 25/12/2019 12:08

Greta dresses for comfort and utility - that's apparently a crime. I guess that means I am an unfit 40-something STEM scientist since I apparently dress like a 12 year old boy

But you aren’t trying to portray yourself as a 12 year old boy.
(I hope)

As for dressing for comfort, I am sure that a lot of those in her audience would rather be in jeans and a t.shirt.
If you want to address an audience and be taken seriously then like it or not how you dress and portray yourself is going to come under public scrutiny.
Especially if you talk down and berate your audience. It just puts peoples back up and the message is lost

malylis · 25/12/2019 12:12

She doesn't berate her audience she berates those in power who are doing nothing.

She dresses exactly as she did when she was doing these campaigns alone.

She seems to be taken seriously enough, its only no marks on MN and the internet who talk down her achievements

leckford · 25/12/2019 12:21

I don’t hate her, I feel she is being used by her parents. Climate change is happening, see Australia, people everywhere need to stop having more than 1 child so the human population can decrease. Humans need to stop destroying the world, over fishing, burning of forests etc.

They won’t do any of this but humans will start dying off, especially from new viruses and antibiotic resistance.

I don’t have any children for these reasons.

malylis · 25/12/2019 12:28

What evidence do you have that she is being used by her parents?

Hilda44 · 25/12/2019 12:30

Greta mother has written at least 2 books about her and her sisters mental illness, quite disturbing.

ginandbearit · 25/12/2019 12:33

I think the irritation is with the strident hectoring and blaming of the rest of the world as being in the wrong when actually massive benefits to the whole world have accrued from the efforts of previous generationsof scientists and businesses .

A simplistic and unrealistic demand to change , especially when echoed by very privileged young people and posturing middle classes who you know won't give up anything really but are enjoying their moment being rebellious; it does feel like being lectured by the great and good which just actually turns people off...a bit like Labour really .

malylis · 25/12/2019 12:40

What a load of guff, they've benefited from previous achievements so they can't complain now . Lots and lots of people are changing the way they consume and do things but it takes big business and government to make significant changes.

"A bit like Labour really" nah people liked Labour's policies except for the one on brexit.

Another example of the right wing playing victim here.

Daisydaysgoneby · 25/12/2019 12:42

Is this a Xmas cracker joke ?

Why did the agist racist sexist chicken cross the road ?

Fuck knows.

malylis · 25/12/2019 12:45

Her parents didn't agree with her school strike nor with the way the campaign grew.

Its just easier to dismiss her if you say that she's being manipulated

JohnMcCainsDeathStare · 25/12/2019 13:33

Oliviersmumsarmy

That's odd since when I gave a seminar at Oxford they seemed more interested in my content and research and not that I was in my casual lab clothes and safety shoes having just come from ISIS that day.

(trust me - you want to wear safety shoes at ISIS - I felt like Donkey Kong that weekend what with all the climbing around!)

AravisQueenOfArchenland · 25/12/2019 13:52

Sorry if this has already been shared

www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/why-is-greta-thunberg-so-triggering-for-certain-men-1.4002264

Elfnsafe1y · 25/12/2019 14:10

Great piece of journalism by Jennifer O,Connell - I note some of the comments are the usual diatribe.

Oliversmumsarmy · 25/12/2019 14:32

JohnMcCainsDeathStare

Am I presuming that the audience for your seminar was to world leaders dressed in suits

Or people who were dressed equally casually.

Did your seminar berate your audience on why your life was so rubbish,

The content of her speeches don’t really offer anything new.
Just a long winded telling off that ends up getting everyone irritated

malylis · 25/12/2019 14:39

Except you are projecting your own feelings onto everyone else.

She has inspired a whole movement.

BoneyBackJefferson · 25/12/2019 14:44

malylis

She has inspired a whole movement.

The movement was already there.

malylis · 25/12/2019 15:02

Not on the same scale.

If you claim she hasn't made a difference to the debate or to the attention the issues are getting you are doing so simply because you have personal dislike of her. You aren't being objective.

BoneyBackJefferson · 25/12/2019 15:10

malylis

You aren't being objective.

Neither are you.

Especially when you say things like "She has inspired a whole movement."

and ignore that what is being put forward as "fact" is a projection.

malylis · 25/12/2019 15:16

She has inspired a whole new movement of young people. Where there as many people interested in climate change just two or three years ago?

Nope.

BoneyBackJefferson · 25/12/2019 15:18

sophistry

malylis · 25/12/2019 15:20

Not at all. Fact.

Greta has inspired a whole new group of people into action, who were not part of the movement previously.

PettyContractor · 25/12/2019 15:24

I’d have more respect for her if she was ranting at the Chinese government. The ones who really need to do something.

Is this the same China that as of 2018 derived nearly three times as much power from renewables as the USA?

If she chose to be especially hard on China, she'd be perpetuating an ignorant and possibly racist meme.

PettyContractor · 25/12/2019 15:30

The blog link below shows China to be just behind the the UK when it comes to emissions per person, both are ahead of (in ascending order) Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Canada, Australia and, last, the biggest emitter of all, the USA.

www.economicshelp.org/blog/10296/economics/top-co2-polluters-highest-per-capita/

BoneyBackJefferson · 25/12/2019 15:44

malylis
Not at all. Fact.

Greta has inspired a whole new group of people into action, who were not part of the movement previously.

This is not inspiring a whole movement. It is adding people to an old one.

I can also state as a "fact" that greta has turned many young people of from the "movement".

Jillyhilly · 25/12/2019 15:58

She’s ridiculous, as are the politicians who seem to want her to give them a good scolding.