If you’re trying to change people’s minds, insults and accusations are counterproductive.

4 excruciating minutes

A 16-year-old who looks like a 12-year-old is invited to address the United Nations. She scolds, insults, and accuses. She calls grownups immature, using the phrase “how dare you” four times.

She claims to speak for the world’s children. By what process was she elected to that role? What percentage of children were consulted before she decided that her analysis is identical to their analysis, that no other perspective deserves a mention?

This child said certain things aren’t “acceptable to us.” She employed threatening language. If adults don’t do what she wants:

We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not. [full text here]

The New York Times described this speech as “forceful” and “pointed.” Canada’s Global News called it “powerful,” “emotional,” and “stern.” The BBC called it “passionate.”

I call it something else. Rude. If you’re throwing a temper tantrum, insults and accusations may be par for the course. But if you’re trying to change people’s minds, insults and accusations are foolish. They’re counterproductive.

We need to talk about Greta Thunberg. We need to think carefully about why this child was propelled onto the world stage. What words she uttered. How journalists reported this event.

Diverse perspectives are always valuable. They help us decide what we, ourselves, think. Here’s my suggested reading list:

Save Greta: Forget saving the planet – we need to save Greta from the death cult of environmentalism

I do not care what one believes about the climate, but I do care that people understand what is happening with this young lady

Some Thoughts about Greta

The deification of Greta Thunberg shows our culture at peak panic

 

Greta Thunberg – Patron Saint of the Age of Stupidity

Hillary Clinton on Greta Thunberg’s U.N. Speech: ‘Required Viewing for Every Lawmaker’

Self-Harm Versus the Greater Good: Greta Thunberg and Child Activism

The Liberals’ 2050 net-zero carbon vow is pure delusion: When leaders and adults willingly give subservience to the frenzy of children, the points of the rational compass are scrambled

 

Everything wrong with Greta Thunberg’s UN temper tantrum (video)

‘Stop Scaring the Children’

No, I will not listen to the children: We live in a world that tells young people anything they feel or believe must be validated

Politics is Crowding Out Culture and Childhood

 

Girls, Groupies, and Grim Reapers: The Religious Politics of Mass Response

Think Globally, Shame Constantly: The Rise of Greta Thunberg Environmentalism

Greta Thunberg is the first saint of our cruel new environmental religion

Catastrophic Thinking Without Solutions

 

The Tragedy of Greta Thunberg

Climate Kids Need Church

Climate Hysteria Is Harming Our Kids

Greta Thunberg To Poor Countries: Drop Dead

 

Greta Thunberg is wrong: economic growth is friend to the environment, not foe

Ingratitude of spoiled brats: why children should not skip school

The UN’s Greta Thunberg climate gamble offers up a child who’s mastered the art of regurgitating political slogans

The Manufacturing of Greta Thunberg – for Consent: The Political Economy of the Non-Profit Industrial Complex

 

Greta Thunberg, child sacrifice

The world may be getting hotter, Greta Thunberg…but having a meltdown isn’t going to help

Climate change discussion needs to get back to science

The young actress Greta Thunberg’s IMDB page lists her acting credits with contact details for her agent

 

The apotheosis of St Greta: The Thunberg phenomenon is apocalyptic religion for rich whites

Greta Throws Journalists Out Of Climate Summit

A Message for Children About Climate Change

Greta Thunberg Has the Climate Alarmists’ Number: If they believed what they claim to believe, they’d do a lot more about it. She’s right – how dare they?

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