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| Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg was named Time Magazine's Person Of The Year, and some older white men are triggered again. |
Thornberg dominated headlines for much of 2019. with her activism, which really brought to the fore a youth movement that is holding much older world leaders' feet to the fire on the subject of climate change.
All this seems to have a special talent for triggering white, rich men.
A lot of people expected Thunberg to be named Time's 2019 person, including me. Also predictably, the Time magazine announcement on Wednesday triggered more, um, triggering among mostly older, white guys.
Donald Trump Jr. the president's son tweeted, "Time leaves out the Hong Kong Protesters fighting for their lives and freedoms to push a teen being used as a marketing gimmick."
Well, yes, there's lots to be admired about with the Hong Kong protesters, since they're pushing for democracy and all. The Hong Kong protesters seem to be more into democracy than Don Jr's father, but I will save that discussion for another day.
Seems Junior, the author a bad book called "Triggered," was himself triggered. Also predictable.
As usual, Junior was nothing compared to his father, the supposed president of the United States.
Today, our petulent president tweeted Thursday, "Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old-fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta Chill!"
Of course, Thunberg immediately clapped back at Trump by changing her Twitter profile to read, "A teenager working on her anger management problem. Currently chilling and watching a good old-fashioned movie with a friend."
This is the second time Thunberg made President Trump look like the hapless Looney Tunes coyote being played by the road runner.
During a September United Nations speech, Thunberg said, "People are suffering, people are dying, entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales and eternal economic growth."
Our beloved President Trump responded on Twitter (of course!) mockingly:
"She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!"
Thunberg immediately changed her Twitter bio to: "A very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future."
Yes, I know this is supposed to be a weather and climate blog, but I'm struck how a climate activist like Thunberg can make so many mostly middled aged and old white men so nervous.
Quartz earlier this year noticed this, too.
Says Quartz:
"In Australia, Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt has called Thunberg "freakishy influential...with many mental disorders. Sky News commentator Chris Kenny Described her as a "hysterical teenager." who needs to be cared for."
She's also been called a "mentally ill Swedish child," unstable and a "millenarian weirdo" who needs a spanking."
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| Greta Thunberg took Trump's mocking words toward her Thursday by changing her Twitter bio page in a way that threw Trump's words right back at him. |
All this over some teenager from Sweden who is outspoken about climate change, albeit one who managed to create a global platform for herself.
Conservatives have long railed against climate change activists. Just ask Michael Mann, an atmospheric science professor at Penn State and an outspoken advocate against climate change.
He's used to political and person attacks though he certainly doesn't like it
I suspect Thunberg is a threat to male conservatives because 1. She's a girl. 2. She won't shut up like "good girls" are supposed to do.
Instead, she claps back, as we saw with her Twitter war with Trump today.
Thunberg is also a sympathetic person, a youngster who has made herself into a poster child for how climate change will affect future generations. It's a "think of the children!" argument, one that skeptics of climate change really don't like.
Conversely, Thunberg is lionized by climate change activists, because of her poster child status. The following isn't meant as a diss: Every movement, every argument really needs a succinct advertising symbol to get their point across.
I also don't mean to belittle Thunberg at all for being a poster child or symbol. She created this, and it takes a lot of brain power and talent to pull this off. She also doesn't let the incessant criticism get to her, which is extremely hard, let along a teenager to do.
She has inspired millions of youth to take up activism with the climate change cause. It's usually the youth, and often women, who lead the charge when change is needed. Thunberg understands this, and has used this understanding to great effect.
As a side note, Thunberg has Asperger's, which maybe doesn't help her interact well with some people. However, she says helps her focus on the task at hand and helps her deflect criticism. Which is probably part of the reason she has accomplished so much at such a young age in the climate change battles.
Some on social media have taken to quoting Shakespeare regarding Thunberg: "Although she be but little, she is fierce."
Fierce is a great word to describe Thunberg. She'll tell it to your face, that's for sure. At her UN speech back in September, she thundered to world leaders, "We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth."
It's hard to say whether climate change is as existential a threat as Thunberg makes it out to be, but there's no question it's a biggie. Over the next decades and centuries, it will cause countless deaths, cost us all fortune upon fortune, promote suffering and wreck the enviroment throughout much of the world if something isn't done.
Given that climate change is such a worldwide threat, and given that politicians and world leaders have largely given the crisis a pass so far, Thunberg has succeeded perhaps more than anyone else on Earth in getting us talking about the issue.
After all, you can't laugh at today's lame attempts by Trump to insult Thunberg without at least mentioning climate change. '
Maybe for that reason alone, Time made a wise choice by declaring Thunberg the 2019 Person of the Year.
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