GT talks a lot of sense and has done masses to build awareness.
But clearly she is coming from a place of immense privilege. She is a middle class white woman who has never had to work a day of her life, in fact who has never had to do anything other than focus all her efforts on her special interest. That's privilege crystallised.
She comes not just from one of the richest countries in the world, but from one of the planets richest cities.
GT lecturing people about climate change is like me, as a city born person who has never lived outside a big city, lecturing people on the evils of cars. It's a bit easy for me to take that stance. I have friends who live in the countryside and they have two trains a day on a saturday. They need their cars.
It would be like somebody who basically just never really liked the taste of meat, using that fact as a platform to promote veganism. It's like a person without a sweet tooth making a big deal out of giving up chocolate for lent.
GT would have had more impact as an older working woman who had made a radical lifestyle change or sacrifices, resonating with everyday people and inspiring people to revolutionise their lives
As it is, her young age meant she was visually interesting from a media perspective: young face, small, pigtails, anorak. It's an easy, cinematic shorthand.
I'm not saying GT shouldn't be listened to. Just explaining why I think people have a knee jerk reaction against her.