She’s “freakish”.
She’s “deeply disturbed”.
She’s a “schoolgirl puppet” with “many mental disorders”.
According to Sam Newman, she’s an “annoying little brat”.
Now, in President Donald Trump’s words, in response to Greta being named Time’s Person of the Year, she needs to work on her “anger management problem,” and “chill”.
So ridiculous. Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill! https://t.co/M8ZtS8okzE
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2019
Top Comments
She's a terrific kid and a wonderful role model for my own daughter with Asperger's. Not all girls with Asperger's are like Greta. The saying goes "If you've met one person with Asperger's, you've met one person with Asperger's".
I wonder if she were a boy, what the reaction would be. It's the job of right-wing pundits to attack people who hold opposing views no matter who they are. They would go after his Asperger's, I'm sure of it. They would complain that he's not in school. They would call him a self-righteous, meglomaniacal punk. A dangerous zealot cult leader and Americans would call him a Communist. They'd make fun of him getting emotional because it's not "manly". To be honest I doubt he'd get the same amount of attention. Boys are supposed to aspire to be leaders, girls are supposed to aspire to entertain and marry leaders.
But someone like Greta was bound to happen. She's a girl raised to not be ashamed of who she is. She's the convergence of a number of factors. Feminism, the far better understanding of neurodiversity, gender issues, and most importantly the first generation to have their whole lives affected by the planet's climate crisis. That's why we like her and they hate her. Right wing might-makes-right bullies don't even engage with issues like autism/Asperger's let alone know how to continue their job of defending the status quo against a girl who has it.
One again, those that cry the biggest doom, even if devoid of all logic, get the airtime (hi also Tim Flannery). So sad. All it does is push mainstream people away from the actual issues being faced (as it makes it all sound like some mad doomsday cult). The issue is much much more complex and the impacts being experienced much much more subtle than this form of fainting couch carry on dictates.
As someone said on social media the other day: Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luthier King were two of the most influential people of the 20th century for social change and recognition and improvements in human rights. They never thundered from a lectern, hectoring and bullying their audience. If a man had spoken to a theatre full of women that way, he’d be torn to shreds by the media.
These truly great men were intelligent and mature enough to realise that bullying, shouting in an aggressive manner and the use of inflammatory terms such as ‘How dare you!’, are counterproductive. They spoke TO people, not AT people. Their messages will live forever because they were truly wise, compassionate men with a message nobody could argue with.
C'mon, that's not a fair comparison at all, as the implication is she must be on their level to have a legitimate voice. They were fully grown men with plenty of life experience, full of failures and successes in both their private and professional lives.
Put it this way. Why are rich and influential politicians/companies feeling so threatened by a 16 year old teenager? Because her message does resonate with her young audience.
So what? Mainstream people are followers, not leaders. They'll come around eventually but if you wait for everybody to be on board you'll wait forever and we seriously do not have forever. People need a simple message and all the prevaricating and talk of nuance makes it sound far too much like a specialist's concern and nothing to do with the average people working longer hours than ever to pay their bills.
If a room full of powerful world leaders feel bullied by a passionate 16-year-old, they are too fragile for the positions they hold.
And if you don't think MLK ever "thundered from a lectern", you don't know MLK.