Greta Thunberg - why would she be regarded badly?

[StrawberryDream24]

I've just met someone who was extremely scathing of a woman dressing as Greta Thunberg for an "inspirational women" dress up type thing.

She didn't elaborate, other than that it was ridiculous for someone to have done that and she had to hold her tongue in telling them so (and the circumstances allowed for no further discussion for me to find out why she felt that way).

I don't know a great deal about GT but what is this lady on about? Has anyone any idea? Is there something I'm missing?

Train spat

just adding this before the evidence police rock up

Look at the picture. Looking all forlorn and homeless, like a deeply poetic songwriter. Just sitting there, looking out onto snow top covered mountains, wondering where life is taking her. All you need is melancholic string instrumental playing in the background and the sketch is complete.

Honestly these clowns are so funny. It’s not real life, it’s satire.

Maybe she took tips from Magic grandpa Corbyn on the train floor thing. It’s not really that original.

The 'anti-semitic' part of that photo is the sensory octopus toy behind her. Nazi propaganda depicted Jews as octopus-like with all their tentacles taking from everyone, that was the fuss. And she 'blamed autism' by pointing out that it is a sensory toy she uses for her autism like countless others.

This is just a complete lie. People are deranged about her.
Mumsnet is a good example of the level of denial when it comes to climate change. The climate change board is full of inaccuracies and lies. They don't like that Greta is telling them the truth. The most replied to post on the Climate change board is very telling.

No, she's been on marches against genocide by Israel (a genocide recognised by Amnesty international, Human Rights Watch, and a UN committee in Dec. 2024) and against Israel's apartheid colonialist regime (as recognised by the UN, Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, B'Tselem, etc etc.)
She and 3 friends took a photo of themselves with signs saying 'ceasefire now' and she was holding a purple plushie octopus. Apparently octopus was, at some point, used as an anti-Semitic trope. Did you know that? I certainly didn't. It'd be like someone criticising Saudi or Iran and being told they were anti-Muslim because they had a Peppa Pig doll in the house 😂

This is what she (and thousands of others) were protesting against. And that is just one more reason the media are out to discredit her.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h8_18UuiAm4&pp=ygUXYW1uZXN0eSBpc3JhZWwgZ2Vub2NpZGU%3D

Do you know what culling is?!

Emmeline Pankhurst...

It's Malala Yousafzai.

This from a woman who can't get Emmeline Pankhurst's first name right.

She was effectively a 'child prodigy' - the only thing remarkable about what she was doing was that she was doing it at a very young age. Now she is in her 20s, there's nothing unusual or original about her activism.

To be fair, I am 35 years old and had to Google "Jewish octopus" to see what the anti-Semitic link was- this is despite having seen the propaganda poster in question several times as I teach World War Two every year!

I think it's more than possible it was just a very unfortunate coincidence, especially given how ubiquitous those octopus toys are.

I did know about the octopus actually. It's a fairly well-known anti semitic trope. We will have to take GT's word for it that she didn't know that herself, of course.

I’m sure somebody much older than her is pulling her strings, making her dance, and telling her what to say. It’s funny how she went quiet during the plandemic pandemic: she didn’t even show her face to say “you see, it’s not so bad, not flying”. The powers that be put her back in her box, because climate change wasn’t the threat of the day.

I was amused by a satire of her leaving a voicemail, just after Jeremy Corbyn decided to have a “period of reflection”:

”Mr Corrrrbyn, it’s Greta. For years, I have been spreading despair among young people, but you managed to spread despair among millions: in one day! How do you do it, Mr Corrrrbyn? Will you teach me???”

She shouts a lot in a silly emotive way with no solutions. She's child like in her approach.

There are loads of people who believe climate change is a hoax and it's yet another thing governments use to control us. These sort of people usually support Trump/Farage, are anti-immigration, anti-woke etc. It's part of a much larger mindset. They absolutely despise Greta and all others who speak out about climate change.

I think is a big part of the turn off, as well as being schooled by younger people with very little life experience.

And the hypocrisy - I see it in younger members of my extended family; very much pontificating about environmental issues or whatever the latest social media outrage is, whilst also jetting off on yet another Ryanair cheap deal to somewhere in Europe, and endless deliveries of clothes and other cheap tat from Shein.

I know. It’s stupid MN auto(in)correct.

I'm late to this thread. But, wanted to say I think Greta Thunberg is a heroine, and I'm appalled by the treatment she's received, mostly by much older men. Most people lead pretty selfish lives in the western world. She's leading a much more altruistic one, and people feel threatened by it.
I saw today that she's part of a crew on a flotilla bringing aid to Palestinians -

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/01/greta-thunberg-joins-aid-ship-sailing-to-gaza-aimed-at-breaking-israels-blockade

Incredibly brave young woman. People are even saying she's doing that as a virtue signalling stunt! Those critics probably haven't lifted a finger for Gazan kids. Greta's great!

Now what has Gaza done to deserve this?

Agree

Women haters want us to be quiet and docile. She's riling them up because she's pretty single-minded when it comes to causes she believes in.

But arguably if they didn’t do that, their message would be to a limited audience? What have you contributed to the climate change debate, and how great is your impact (limited I’m guessing, unless you’re actually a tv producer)

This.

@Dotjones Not sure whether you did this deliberately, but for clarification:
"She's the face of a movement. Change needs work, in the example of climate change it requires work in the form of technological advancements and/or radical political policies like culling the populations of Asia and Africa." -

This almost sounds like you're saying these are views espoused by Greta or indeed the climate movement. Which isn't true, of course. But we all know that. I really hope that @StrawberryDream24 's "What!?" response was one of incredulity and not the exclamation of someone actually believing this linguistic sleight of hand.

@Jabberwock But as far as her generation goes, 'older people' really have caused the climate emergency we find ourselves in. So she's right.

And it's not GT's job to 'bring scientists together'. As it happens, scientists working in the field have been busy for decades, and definitely not working in isolation. GT, when learning about climate change in school (as a result of the work of aforementioned oceanologists, glaceaologists, meteorologist etc), set about her Fridays for Future school strike in 2018, skipping Fridays to sit with a placard outside the Swedish parliament, and was eventually joined by others; a tiny grassroots movement to begin with.

And @GustyBaloo , if you know activists in jail, you'll also know that XR, JSO and HS2 groups have been stuffed to the gunnels with great activists from backgrounds far more privileged than Greta's, as well as those from more humble backgrounds, all of whom have done really courageous work in the name of the climate and adjacent issues. GT's parents are often touted as being 'rich' or 'famous', an assumption made by Brits who see these jobs through the lens of UK celebrity culture -not really such a big thing in Sweden- and think that being an actor or opera singer automatically equates to fame and fortune; doesn't work like that in Sweden. XR's founders were happy to share a platform with GT in London in October, 2018, a march which really moved the Overton window and launched climate activism onto the national agenda in a significant way. Most Brits seemed to think she was a cute kid then -it's only since she's consistently challenged the world's governments to take action on the climate that people have gone off her. She doesn't have a massive carbon footprint and is known for being really transparent about her travel arrangements for this reason.
Personally, I don't give two hoots if the person going to prison as a result of direct climate action is an heiress or an academic or an OAP or a student or a teacher; I'm just very, very grateful.