Greta Thunberg: Little Tyrant?

 

I’ve listened to portions of her speeches before the UN and Davos, and that’s what she sounds like, a little tyrant.

She’s manipulative as well. There was the case when she rode a German train she said was overcrowded, and where she posted a photo of herself sitting on the floor because she couldn’t find a seat. Turns out she had a first-class ticket with an assigned seat, and the staff on the train made every effort to courteously direct her to that seat.

Reading between the lines from this article on the BBC website, I see parents who are terrified that she will commit suicide if she doesn’t get her way. A comment by her mother on Thunberg’s Wikipedia page also confirms my impression — that she didn’t reduce her carbon footprint because of the climate, but concerns for her daughter.

Swedish child law makes it hard for parents to discipline their children with corporal punishment outlawed. I can see how parents of a difficult child like Thunberg would end up afraid of her. And with both their parents being celebrities in Sweden in their own right, they are especially vulnerable to cancel culture.

I originally thought of Thunberg as a child who was manipulated and brainwashed into what she has become. But if she was, I don’t know that her parents are culpable. They seem like victims who will breathe a sigh of relief when Thunberg is old enough to get out of the house. That won’t make them completely free of her — it will take about 10 years for that — but it will be a big step nevertheless.

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  1. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    Bill Nelson (View Comment):

    Thunberg first became known for youth activism in August 2018 when, at age 15, she began spending her school days outside the Swedish parliament to call for stronger action on climate change by holding up a sign reading Skolstrejk för klimatet (School strike for the climate). Soon, other students engaged in similar protests in their own communities.

    So good for her getting involved.

    Maybe if she spent some time in school actually learning she wouldn’t be so ignorant.

    • #61
  2. Cato Rand Inactive
    Cato Rand
    @CatoRand

    Al Sparks (View Comment):

    Bill Nelson (View Comment):

    Children are not, as a rule, ignorant, or myopic or self-centered.

    When it comes to kids, you have a much different perception than I do, and maybe most people do. I had to go back and reread your post for context to make sure you weren’t being satiric. That statement is incredibly wrongheaded. Also, most of this discussion has been about a 16-17 year old, which doesn’t fit the classic definition of child, though teenagers are often called children when it fits a political purpose. Thunberg is often called a child in an attempt to make her immune from criticism.

    So is she a child who doesn’t know what she’s talking about? Is she an almost adult who is wise beyond her years, and therefore can be criticized like any other adult? Can’t have it both ways.

    My mom was a 9th grade teacher teaching 14-15 year old kids. Occasionally she would have a parent come in and tell her, “My child would never lie.”

    Of course the teenager in question had lied to her. The first time it happened, she was speechless (not the lying of course, that was expected).

     

    I think she is a “child who doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” to use your words.  In fact that is a perfect synopsis of what I think about her.  The “wise beyond her years” assessment comes from the leftist hagiographies of her.

    • #62
  3. Cato Rand Inactive
    Cato Rand
    @CatoRand

    Al Sparks (View Comment):

    Cato Rand (View Comment):
    Then you’re not looking. She was Time’s person of the year for chrissake. It’s not like she’s some fringe issue that only rabid right wingers know about.

    Hitler had that “honor” too (and no, though I call Thunberg a little tyrant, I’m not comparing her to Hitler, though Hitler was short, and a tyrant).

    Time Magazine’s prestige is a fraction of what it used to be — it’s no longer read by people across the political spectrum — and they’ve gotten pretty loopy with their picks of person/people/planet of the year.

    I was simply responding to an assertion that she’s only an obsession on Ricochet.  I think that’s demonstrably absurd, given the amount of coverage she gets.  I used Time as an example.  But if I cared to spend the time I could fill pages and pages with links to coverage from other media sources as well, so if you don’t like Time, pick another one.  The fact that Time also had Hitler on its cover at one point is completely irrelevant to the point I was making – that Greta is a global media phenomenon, not a fringe character that only rabid right wingers are obsessed with.  It would be nice if you read the comment being responded to for context before picking one word out of the response and building a criticism about it.

    • #63
  4. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    Cato Rand (View Comment):
    I could be wrong, but I am still inclined to blame the adults around her.

    Me too. She’s being exploited by some grownups with agendas. I am disinclined to let her parents off the hook. Have you seen her mother’s music videos? It’s no accident her parents are oddball attention seeker.

    Man, I just took a look at that. She may be a talented opera singer–I wouldn’t know. But that video is (unintentionally) hilarious. And I haven’t even had a beer.

    Now you know where Greta got her stink-eye. 

    • #64
  5. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    Kozak (View Comment):

    Henry Racette (View Comment):
    I don’t know who is responsible for Greta, and I guess it doesn’t matter to me.

    Dad, Mom, and Spawn. Get the picture?

    Someone really needs to photoshop that t-shirt to say, “NARCISSIST ALL STARS.”

    • #65
  6. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    Cato Rand (View Comment):
    I could be wrong, but I am still inclined to blame the adults around her.

    Me too. She’s being exploited by some grownups with agendas. I am disinclined to let her parents off the hook. Have you seen her mother’s music videos? It’s no accident her parents are oddball attention seeker.

    Man, I just took a look at that. She may be a talented opera singer–I wouldn’t know. But that video is (unintentionally) hilarious. And I haven’t even had a beer.

    Now you know where Greta got her stink-eye.

    The look kind of reminded me of Eric Idle as the (now very, very un-PC) host of the Eurovision Song Contest on Monty Python:

    • #66
  7. Bill Nelson Inactive
    Bill Nelson
    @BillNelson

    Cato Rand (View Comment):
    I’m not inclined to praise her. She is a noxious influence. I just give her a break because of her age.

    She has no influence.

     

    • #67
  8. Bill Nelson Inactive
    Bill Nelson
    @BillNelson

    Kozak (View Comment):
    She’s a puppet of larger forces.

    I do not fear puppets.

    Except for Chuckie. Who was a doll.

    Heck, I don’t even think Prince Charles moves the needle. Al Gore certainly didn’t.

     

    • #68
  9. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    Bill Nelson (View Comment):

    Kozak (View Comment):
    She’s a puppet of larger forces.

    I do not fear puppets.

    Except for Chuckie. Who was a doll.

    Heck, I don’t even think Prince Charles moves the needle. Al Gore certainly didn’t.

     

    Wow, I think your gauge is broken. Al Gore started something that is now geopolitically significant — the Climate Change Hoax. People are wasting vast intellectual and property resources on carbon credits (indulgences), “research” consisting of producing fatally flawed computer models (there’s tax money going into this, you can be sure), carbon sequestration technology, fracking bans (California, Colorado to some extent, and New York; also a handful of European countries including the UK and Germany). 

    If it weren’t for fracking, we’d probably be at war with Iran and the Russians would have control of Ukraine and be advancing their interests to the west through energy extortion. 

    I think maybe you’re not serious.

    • #69
  10. Cato Rand Inactive
    Cato Rand
    @CatoRand

    Bill Nelson (View Comment):

    Cato Rand (View Comment):
    I’m not inclined to praise her. She is a noxious influence. I just give her a break because of her age.

    She has no influence.

     

    From your lips to god’s ears.

    • #70
  11. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Eridemus (View Comment):
    My first suspicion was when she said “nobody was doing anything.”

    Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, NEPA, CERCLA, RCRA, etc?  Hardly not “doing anything” . . .

    • #71
  12. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    Bill Nelson (View Comment):

    Cato Rand (View Comment):
    I’m not inclined to praise her. She is a noxious influence. I just give her a break because of her age.

    She has no influence.

     

    Nonsense.

    • #72
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