As you’re well aware, 16-year-old climate change alarmist Greta Thunberg is touring the U.S., and her arrival on our shores has been likened to no less than the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Here she is explaining why her climate strike encouraging students to walk out of class on Fridays makes sense; there’s no future to learn for is we don’t take control of the Earth’s thermostat now.
Greta Thunberg: "Why should we study for a future that is being taken away from us?… Some people say we should study to become climate scientists or politicians, so that we can, in the future, solve the climate crisis. But by then, it will be too late. We need to do this now." pic.twitter.com/FniqxySCla
— The Hill (@thehill) September 21, 2019
Plenty of people have called Thunberg nothing but a puppet, or a human shield against criticism (who’d argue with a 16-year-old girl with autism?). British radio presenter and author of the book “Radical: My Journey out of Islamist Extremism,” Maajid Nawaz, is familiar with the spotlight and expressed concern for Thunberg in a thread Thursday:
Personally, having become overly politicised myself at 16 & bearing the heavy cost of it, I’d discourage my child from such a stressful & unhealthy spotlight at such a young age, while not discouraging their political awakening in general. Tough,yes. But our own consistency isn’t
— أبو عمّار (@MaajidNawaz) September 19, 2019
And her age matters. It just does. It means maturity and experience: in life, dogma, pragmatism and realism. These things used to matter. Until we all became angry and joined the race to the bottom in recent years. We allstarted to behave a bit like… kids?
— أبو عمّار (@MaajidNawaz) September 19, 2019
To friends responding by saying “but most online criticism against her is personal”. Yes, and that’s wrong. But most online criticism against anyone &everyone is personal. We all know this happens,which is why I would discourage my 16yr old daughter from such an adult’s spotlight
— أبو عمّار (@MaajidNawaz) September 19, 2019
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Ultimately, such a burden and spotlight is not mentally nor emotionally healthy. It is hard enough for seasoned activists, let alone a child. And unlike Malala, this wasn’t thrust on her parents against their will. Anyway, that’s my two pennies worth. Best of luck to the her ??
— أبو عمّار (@MaajidNawaz) September 19, 2019
Exactly right. https://t.co/RKN7dKewYa
— Daniel C. Dolmar (@CDolmar) September 19, 2019
— Thomas Adamson (@tomthecamel2093) September 20, 2019
Perfectly stated – and perfectly fair ? https://t.co/wJYSyPmYeO
— You promised… (@11thEarl) September 19, 2019
Am I unkind to think that challenging her without civility is also acceptable? It is part of the adult world, after all. https://t.co/Q1GQFF3Uew
— Jonathan Shepherd (@shepherdjohn832) September 19, 2019
Yes, you are unkind and should remain silent. If you dare even joke about Thunberg CNN’s climate guy Bill Weir will have something to say about it.
But that's the whole point of recruiting child soldiers for this ideological war.
— Davey G (@Goldsteinm8ty) September 20, 2019
hiding behind children is a coward's way. it is shameful that the climate activists are doing it.
— Rani ~ Science Skeptic ? (@MilitaryRosary) September 19, 2019
It's almost like certain people are using her as a mouthpiece for their views because they can also use her as a shield from any criticism thereof. ? https://t.co/F3gdDl4DMD
— planefag (@planefag) September 19, 2019
She's being exploited
— Not fit for purpose (@mat_hard) September 19, 2019
She has Asperger's Syndrome, I think her parents need to be held accountable to a much greater extent.
I can't stand the fact that they let her take all the heat that comes with being in the spotlight at her age in this social media era.
— ? Alpha Music ? (@AlphaMusic94) September 19, 2019
Whoever is putting her up to this should stop.
— Joshua Kessler (@JoshuaKessler1) September 19, 2019
But it’s going so well.
Much of her fame comes from her obvious immaturity and vulnerability and there is little doubt that she is being exploited as a child-like saint, a sort of Joan of Arc. The Greta phenomenon makes me very uncomfortable.
— George Stanford ?????✡️ (@Sensible_George) September 20, 2019
I think she should be ignored, not criticized. But alas, the media won't let us ignore her, and are using criticisms of her to further fuel division.
— KingFoluofAfrica (@foluof) September 20, 2019
Look – what the people around her and the people that fawn over her are doing is just child abuse. Pure and simple. She’s a frightened girl with a learning disability. It’s shameful what they’ve done to her.
— underling 4 (@stringfella_) September 19, 2019
I am totally with her message but I would not be surprised to find in a few years time that she is depressed, feeling trapped by the message and her family. Context is always important and the thing about being a kid is that context is difficult due to lack of experience.
— Simon Baggs (@SBaggsy) September 20, 2019
I am on her side (though I hate the shrillness) but I think her tactics are like HAMAS. Lob missiles and then once Israel retaliates cry victim. 'Tis the strategy of our age.
— Радужные Гномы Джихада (@FiShMaN18) September 19, 2019
Thunberg is just the cute ‘front end’ of some seriously wrong opinions and ideas.
It’s obvious to anyone of sentience she writes not one word of her speeches.
She’s a mascot, nothing more.— Beautiful Yorkshire (@BeautifulYorks1) September 19, 2019
She's an autistic child being used to create mass hysteria amongst other somewhat impressionable children egged on by fanatics spinning a theory that science is debunking day by day. She needs to be ignored, and then disappear.
— Jonathan Anthony (@AnthonyJ_48) September 19, 2019
Now, do you really actually think she is anything but somebody else’s sock puppet? Really? Honestly? Come on now.
— John Mortimer (@JohnPMortimer) September 19, 2019
This is the problem with filling a kid's head with this alarmist garbage. Using this logic, doing almost anything other than freaking out about AGW all the time is pointless. https://t.co/y3B7D0R8C1
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) September 21, 2019
There’s whiff of fast money making too, with the sudden publicity, I noticed that there’s a book out by her, some 40 pages in huge print, hurriedly published and the book seems to be just snippets of her talks. Made me think how short the shelf life of these child wonders is
— Lucilla Lin ????? (@nurdunzzea) September 20, 2019
Yeah, they rushed out a book last Spring. We’re kind of surprised they’d cut down trees for a book, but there you go.
"albeit unfairly"
Given how appalling historical predictions of the always impending climate catastrophe have been, the level of debate and challenge is actually ridiculously low.
— Mr Barkley (@Barkley_uk) September 19, 2019
Instead of just letting her speak, is there any chance we could see a debate between Thunberg and a climatologist who doesn’t believe in her alarmism?
Related:
'It's all such a scam': Guess how teen climate activist Greta Thunberg's 'zero-carbon' yacht is getting back to Europe https://t.co/w8DsioVaPG
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) August 28, 2019
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