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"?

malylis

Yet more subjective reasoning.

Would you prefer that you put her on a pedestal?

Not at all.

Again that's your point.

You can't accurately rebut my original point so keep changing the argument and using lots of logical fallacies.

Campaigners like E.R have pulled similar stunts for years and it hasn't caused as much attention

Probably because they haven’t been in anyone’s way before.

The people young and old from all backgrounds that I know weren’t impressed about the protests

If anything they were mightily pissed off.

Having to take taxis because they couldn’t take the tube. Not only was it expensive but certainly did nothing for the environment.

And the message of do as we say not as we do. Was surely a joke

I’m young and female (by you s I mean mid 30’s) and can’t stand her

The people young and old from all backgrounds that I know weren’t impressed about the protests

The sheer arrogance, the lack of empathy of those protesters stopping normal people from getting to work was what really got to me. People who have zero hours contracts, who need to work to be paid, who don’t have the kind of jobs where you can take a week’s paid leave to flounce around in tents in Trafalgar Square. Privileged middle-class people effectively informing working people that they know what’s best for them. Vile.

malylis

My point has remained the same from the start that you have no proof to back up your "facts" because they are opinions and supposition etc.

Yet you are using the logical fallacies of strawman, Tu quoque etc.

@Jillyhilly totally agree. It's an inherently middle class movement. None of this crew have been bollocked or had their pay docked for turning up late to work, so they don't actually get what it means when that happens and you can't pay your rent because mummy and daddy won't sub you. Bunch of tossers, really.

How is your mental health impacted by trying to consume less or to be more eco friendly?
The extra mental load it takes. The save everything mentality is drowning. Our house was becoming unlivable with this mentality. Save wrapping paper, save packing, save gift bags and boxes, save jars and egg cartons, all a load of shit that was drowning us.
Resell or give away old good clothes, to who? no one buys here or expects free and delivered and i wont give to local op shop as they are church affiliated, i do not support ANY church.

I hate shopping, so wont waste time reading labels of eco this or that. Some days its a good day if i get to the shops, amazing if i remember to bring reusable bags, i got bigger issues, like dulling my anxiety before entering the shops

Ever tried to get a garden set up and maintained with someone with PTSD? yeah its bloody hard, some days they can barely get out of bed. Physically, i cant do it all, inside, outside and childcare. We have to pick whats best for our situation.
Its why we shop for convenience and price. We wont travel an hour to get the eco product when we can get the non version here and cheaper, nor is DP able to go on a product chase like that without a breakdown. We buy what we need, that makes us happy, eco friendly or not.

Over last few weeks ive literally gone Screw this eco shit, its doing my head in, its too hard. I got enough crap to worry about daily than to add another load

I did read what I replied to, mostly a jumble of words that didn't actually explain how trying to be more eco friendly was detrimental to her mental health

Screw You
You didnt read or simply dont have the ability to understand.
You just proved you are clueless and careless for others situations
Its people like YOU and greta that get many off side and saying shut up and piss off

wah my house is a cluttered mess because I can't find ways to adequately dispose of stuff (fucking easy)

I shall do dot points for you to make it easy
*the eco guilt trip crap led to us trying to save everything cos landfill supposedly evil
*It started to mentally kill us in our own home cos we guilted into not tossing stuff out
*so to fix the issue we did do the EASY OPTION and filled a trailer, will fill at least 1 more and it will go to the dump.

Wanna be eco and save, reuse and sit on crap to sell or give away? It takes space and time. I may have time but i dont have space, nor do i have the patience to deal with the crap. I dont have the strength to deal with buyers looking to haggle me down or not even show up, i dont wanna get dp with PTSD to drop of a load of clothes for a crappy 20 2 towns over then get haggled when he gets there.

The earth is being destroyed. Sadly my DGCs will see the mayhem that ensues due to that. Will they survive , if they survive will it be whilst watching others starve, drown whatever. Perhaps one country will release sarin , anthrax or similar to reduce the population, so that those that survive can start again.

Elf,

We cannot ‘destroy’ the world, merely change it.

If climate change is dramatic, it will reduce the population itself. At some point a new equilibrium will be reached with less people and more plants and carbon dioxide levels will fall.

Personally I am an optimist and am amazed how quickly our dependency on fossil fuels is reducing and, not only is it reducing, put the pace of reduction is increasing.

Ingenuity and incentives will ‘save’ humanity not ignorant hyperbolic 16 year olds.

I agree with your points larry Yes, people have made significant changes, but listening to some of the school strike and ER protesters arguing for countries to be carbon neutral by 2025 or whenever they dont quite appreciate what they themselves will need to do to achieve that aim if they want 'big business' and 'governments' to go carbon neutral in 5 years. That's ceasing huge amounts of production, no new clothes from Primark, no mobile phones or tablets, electricity switched off at dusk, no cars for them or their parents, no meat, no processed vegan food and definitely no flying away on holiday. I read one of the essays in the ER handbook. I'm not sure they publicise these things enough. It's easy to get some kids to bunk off school to tell governments to 'do something'. Its more difficult to get them to do it after you have explained the huge sacrifices they personally will have to make as a result. They should, because many of these things will have to he done by 2050 and they will be they ones doing it, but they dont because many of the ER protesters are middle class white men and women who are aldo the group of people buying 4 x4's, dwarfing any efforts made by people driving electric cars and flying off on 3 foreign holidays a year.

What have the school strikes achieved?

bugger all

We were away over Christmas and watched sky news a lot- only english channel on tv.
There were quite a few stories on the ER gang and their protests.
Each one had imported clothing, food, camping supplies.

squeekums, it is just some people today's equivalent of a religion in a sense; it makes them guilty, it affects and controls their behaviour.

The one thing we can all agre on however is that we are going to die. Never been any doubt about that one.

I like your post squeekums.

Wanna be eco and save, reuse and sit on crap to sell or give away? It takes space and time.

This is what I meant in an earlier post about the eco movement being a privileged middle-class movement and those people do NOT understand, or have any empathy for, other peoples’ lives. The modern environmental is at heart anti-humanist and I feel pushes personal responsibility to an absolutely pathological (even narcissistic) level. Young women choosing not to have children for “environmental” reasons? How on earth that help anyone? There is something about this movement which is deeply weird and unpleasant, and I think most people sense this and turn away from it.

The earth is being destroyed. Sadly my DGCs will see the mayhem that ensues due to that. Will they survive , if they survive will it be whilst watching others starve, drown whatever. Perhaps one country will release sarin , anthrax or similar to reduce the population, so that those that survive can start again.

I really hope you’re not brainwashing your grandkids with this crap.

The earth is being destroyed. Sadly my DGCs will see the mayhem that ensues due to that. Will they survive , if they survive will it be whilst watching others starve, drown whatever. Perhaps one country will release sarin , anthrax or similar to reduce the population, so that those that survive can start again.

What the fuck? Your poor grandkids being given anxiety by your stupidness.

How is her flying all over the place, lecturing people and wasting money put into her education that she is ignoring actually helping the planet?

She doesn't fly, hence the long boat trips across the Atlantic.

I believe she's going back to school next year.

I think she's great

Don't know if she's achieved much or will achieve much but a child leader of what is essentially a cult is ramping up the dystopian vibes nicely and I'm all for that

a child leader of what is essentially a cult is ramping up the dystopian vibes nicely and I'm all for that

That is definitely a novel take easyandy!

I believe she's going back to school next year.

She can’t do that. The planet has only been around for 4.5 billion years, however will it cope without her

GhostsToMonsoon

Its interesting how her quest to reduce emissions doesn't stretch as far as the actual building of the yacht or the humvee.

But what a big difference she made to emissions by not just getting on a plane that was going to her there anyway

it is just some people today's equivalent of a religion in a sense; it makes them guilty, it affects and controls their behaviour.
The one thing we can all agre on however is that we are going to die. Never been any doubt about that one

YES!, thats the feeling it get from hardcore ER or greta fans. Its the modern catholic church, complete with screaming hate at others while refusing to look at its own backyard.

This is what I meant in an earlier post about the eco movement being a privileged middle-class movement and those people do NOT understand, or have any empathy for, other peoples’ lives. The modern environmental is at heart anti-humanist and I feel pushes personal responsibility to an absolutely pathological (even narcissistic) level. Young women choosing not to have children for “environmental” reasons? How on earth that help anyone? There is something about this movement which is deeply weird and unpleasant, and I think most people sense this and turn away from it
Exactly, its a very cult like mentality and damn anyone who questions it, like oh i dunno religion lol
They have no idea on peoples day to day lives, what we experienced in life and then claim we the evil ones for not listening to their gospel and doing whats best for our lives day to day.
Its a middle class movement with no concern for anyone less than that