Greta Thunberg

[Ella26]

I think she’s an inspiration and a remarkable young girl. I think it’s so sad that so many people (across the web, media and politicians) are trying to belittle her passion and tenacity because of her age and Aspergers. I’ve learnt things about climate change from her that I wasn’t previously even aware of. I would be proud if she were my daughter. Also those mentioning her age....don’t forget it wasn’t so long ago we were sending 16 year old boys to fight on the front line. Have a read of her posts on FB too if you think she’s just a puppet.

 

[Merpedy]

as a millionaire she doesn't have the worry of paying her heating bill etc.

She never would have had to worry. Her parents are celebrities and well liked which is the only reason her movement ever got picked up by the press. She's basically a nepobaby who took up activism as a career - the average school kid would have been told to do one

I remember I read a post about her parents being linked to some PR firm which had obviously been handling Greta. It was really interesting and I think someone at the firm had links to some green project which looked a bit dodgy. If anyone wants to procrastinate for the afternoon, I'm sure that's a fun rabbit hole to go down

 

[Lalalsl]

 

[Blunderous]

Who is going to sit and discuss action plans with a child? Her point is that her age group have no power at the moment except for 'ranting' and protesting so those in charge need to take action themselves.

 

[bubbletea123]

I was wondering if she still attends school or has a tutor.

Neither going by her, "I should be in school. How dare you" tantrum speech that she threw.

No one is forcing her to not go to school. This kids ego is going to get out of hand.

 

[sam0206]

For posters who believe the mainstream media was factually reporting things

 

[Merpedy]

The narrative I’m seeing is that these actions were impactful because it’s highlighted Israel’s illegal actions in international waters - holding back aid (regardless of how much or how little) for people suffering when they posed no threat? she’s banged on about change for the entire time she’s been in the public eye and going there herself is not some light jolly up - or are people suggesting things in Gaza aren’t as bad as they’re being made out to be?

what benefit is there for her to do this for PR? Are we forgetting how important social media is today? of course they need to post content around it, not just for awareness but for their safety.

What has this little mission actually achieved? I have mostly only heard about Greta or occasionally a few of the other activists throughout all of this. The moment they made this into a big name thing it was almost guaranteed that they would not be killed by Israel and instead arrested or pushed out - because whether you like it or not Israel is good at their PR game and can clearly make calculations on how much of an outrage a death of someone from the West would cause.

What has this little stunt done to further the Palestinian cause or to highlight anything? Even for the average person who perhaps doesn’t have a strong stance because they don’t know enough? It’s hardly made front news headlines, whereas the conflict has generally been in the headlines for the duration of the war and unlike Ukraine hasn’t fallen out for long stretches of time

Perhaps some people on that boat thought they were doing the right thing but Gretas whole thing is being arrested. PR doesn’t have to be good or bad, it just has to get you attention. In this case the attention is primarily on the activists and their “symbolic” amount of aid (read: this wasn’t some good faith humanitarian mission).

 

[Scarlett O' Hara]

Cannot stand her.

 

[Kangaroo123]

Yeah, a train to Spain which would cost more than I earn. Shutting down cities & causing damage governments have to pay for? Isn’t that taking money that could be used for climate change. She isn’t going to reimburse to money lost because her protest made me late to work.
She isn’t a child who wants to world to change, she has a platform because her mother is a singer & her father and grandfather are actors, and this is her turn in the limelight. A petulant child who needs to go back to school or get a job

I mean this is a fair point, that you can only do what you can reasonably afford. I’m not going to agree with you on Greta though!

 

[BlahBlahSheep]

City has to replace ruined grass, plants & broken public property. Bristol had a huge patch of public grass ruined by protesters- will now need to be replaced, which costs money. That money they could spend on recycling, public transport etc.
so yes, really

Could have been spent on recycling, public transport etc. but wouldn’t have been. So no, not really.

Anyway, fundraisers have raised the money to cover the cost of repairs. PLUS, the Council seemed very supportive of the protest; who do you think approved the road closures?

 

[bubbletea123]

I am seeing more people online today talking out about concerns for Greta's wellbeing.

 

[Catfan2]

She’s a pain in the arse. Having said that, I do admire her fluency in English as it’s not her native tongue. She can still sod off though.

 

[Purrrrrrr]

Like it or not, the amount of hate and nasty comments directed at her is bizarre. And I'm not saying people shouldn't criticise the content of what she says, but she gets so many personal insults directed at her from adults. Just the other day Julia Hartley-Brewer tweeted a list of insults about Greta and included "autistic" in her list. She deleted it soon after, but as we all know, the internet is forever.

The trouble is people still talk about her as if she was a child, she isn't, I was married with two children at her age. So Julia was insulting another adult. I don't agree with the insults she gets but also she doesn't hold back on saying insulting things either.

She is a puppet and without her script has absolutely no idea about anything she talks about. Why are real climate scientists overlooked in favour of Greta?

 

[rainbowlemon]

Yes, Greta has name recognition. That’s precisely why she/ they were on board. Their visibility creates a protective shield that might let them do what local or lesser-known activists can’t without lethal consequences. Three British Aid workers have already been killed by Israel.

The mission was meant to highlight the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Spain summoned the Israeli ambassador in protest.

Turkey condemned the interception as a violation of freedom of navigation.

Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Simon Harris praised the mission as “an incredible effort to get food and medicine to the starving people of Gaza.

Amnesty International and human rights bodies called the interception “illegal.”

For the average person, the mission may not dominate headlines, but it reinforces core questions: Why is aid still blocked?

 

[kev1974]

Greta love, your entire life has been one big PR stunt.

Now please sit down and be quiet.

 

[NeverEnough]

That's not true though as when it happened it was on headlines.
Like I said, pr stunt or not, it still brought attention to what was going on and raised an interest to the wider public if they so wished to follow things up afterwards, Google is available to all whether the following updates were headline news or not.
I'm not particularly bothered either way about Greta, I don't follow her so I'm unaware of anything previously she may have done to cause controversy or for pr, but I take my hat off to anyone who can try to deliver aid to palestine when they're up against a country like israel so I don't think she can be judged too harshly here.

Well if the Doom Goblins intervention was supposed to “change the narrative” or whatever fancy title you want to give to what are essentially clicks on social media it doesn’t appear to have much legacy milage as the “narrative” at the moment is the missile exchange between Israel and Iran. And the viral video is the bombing of the ranty Iranian newsreader which was objectively funny and is destined to become the Iranian regimes Comical Ali moment. “We are winning, Israeli’s are dying, god is great” (Bang, duck, run God is not so great anymore).

Greta’s job is to convince the world that Hamas and the Iranian regime are the good guys. Good luck with that.

 

[Yel]

I don't disagree with the message, but people at the event in Bristol keep saying to drive an electric car as if that will really make a difference. The electric car driving Greta is brand new and has a police convoy.

You have to buy a new car for that, how is the energy for the electric car going to be generated and the country has a huge problem with people driving new cars then getting a new one a few years later. I'm no expert but even the best electric car probably isn't better for emissions than using all the produced cars until they can't be fixed

 

[Longtimelurker10]

Think she’s amazing, live near Bristol too so was wonderful having her here

 

[kev1974]

Greta has raised awareness that Greta is still around, that Greta was on a boat, and that Greta got a plane home.

Doubt that many every day people have dug in to the story enough to find out things like the boat was carrying ~5 tons of random aid, or that there were 11 other people on it, or that the organisation whose name it was in has existed for several years not a few weeks.

So fair enough, she got me to look into things a bit more, which is a win I suppose, but I doubt that many will have bothered, I did find it quite difficult for instance to find out that the cargo was 5 tons and what the cargo was, I had to ask Grok some quite precise and determined questions to find that out.

 

[Kangaroo123]

City has to replace ruined grass, plants & broken public property. Bristol had a huge patch of public grass ruined by protesters- will now need to be replaced, which costs money. That money they could spend on recycling, public transport etc.
so yes, really

And how much money is the government currently have to shell out for flooding defences to defend against storms that are increasing in regularity due to man made climate change? Think you’ll find a hell of a lot more than some grass.