The Greta Thunberg Debate

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And you'd have to be at least equally idiotic or dishonest not to see that avoiding criticism and deflecting rebuttals by labeling both as unfair and unwarranted abuse of a poor innocent child who just wants to save the world is the entire point of this tactic.

I've never heard of her, but from reading the OP, I have nothing against her. Why do people think that a 16-year-old is unable to take an interest in climate change? Do they think all 16-year-olds are ignorant and incapable of learning, or do they think that an autistic 16-year-old is too dumb to learn? Or do they just think that all autistics typically lack this empathy thing and makes them unable to care about the climate and the public?
Seriously, people need to be educated on how autistics are not dumb, ignorant and incompetent sociopaths with no skills or emotions.

That would depend if she's saying all people who are sceptical about climate change are aiming their blows at her , rather than just being critical of the cause she believes in . You'd have to be totally dishonest or stupid to deny that some have made it personal in a boorish and uncivilised way .

If people want to criticise the position she holds that's fine . Just stopping being a lout and attacking her as a person .

google her parents, it will all make sense.

Repeating what I said in another thread

"As a person who has and continues to put herself in the public eye as an activist for a cause she is fair game for criticism. It is fair game to ask why the media is making a teenager the face of climate change activism. That is FAIR game. Attacking her in such a personal way is not a fair game. Newspapers allowing autism to be described as a hideous mental disorder is a step backwords 10 years back to Autism Speaks at its worst period. The idea that being autistic makes one fear climate change is going to be news to the Autistic members of Wrong Planet who are skeptical to hostile to the human caused Global Warming is going to end the world as we know it consensus."


Greta Thunberg Helpline (Sarcasm)

"The future is already here. It's just not evenly distributed."

We already have millions of people seeking to migrate because the lands where they were born are no longer supporting them. Bengalis in the Sundarban islands and the Ganges river delta are moving away from rising seas. Polynesians are abandoning atolls and crowding into the larger islands. In the Central American republics, a belt of drought-stricken farmland is the main source of asylum seekers whose situation is being made worse by Trump's malice.

Their world has already ended.

If you're wondering why Greta Thunberg's latest media appearance was so emotional compared to her previous ones, well, this one is right after she actually met people with first hand experience of what's going on.

Sixteen years old is not a child!

I tried telling that to the judge, Anne.

bastard still sent me down.

You should have been okay in Scotland?

In the book: Living Well On The Spectrum by Valerie Gaus PhD, the author talks about a typical autism characteristic known as "Catastrophizing". I know I have this characteristic. If something bothers me I'm prone to mentally exaggerate the issue. The adage: "Making a mountain out of a molehill" comes to mind. In this context, "catastrophizing" doesn't mean being able to recognize a catastrophe, it's about irrational exaggeration.

I'm not saying the climate isn't changing. Nor am I saying that I disbelieve that humans may have some impact in the climate that undoubtedly is changing irrespective of human involvement just as it has for eons.

I just hope beyond hope that her assertion that humanity will literally be extinct due to climate change in a bit more than a decade isn't true. Not only for the obvious reason that I'd like to live longer than that, but also if the claim ends up being very inaccurate like many previous prognostications have been, her credibility will be shattered. That would further damage the credibility of environmentalists as a whole, but also fear that if her autism is emphasized, that could damage the credibility of autistics as a whole in the matter of public opinion.

I have seen numerous articles about Thunberg that don't mention her autism at all. I think that is best. View her based on her opinions as a person. Don't judge her based on her autism.

I have also seen articles that have not only mentioned her autism, but also have said things like her autism has allowed her to have this as a special interest in ways that NT people couldn't making her into a wunderkind.

A wunderkind is a very precarious label. She's human and therefore fallible. If she falls for any number of reasons, people could just as easily equate fallibility with autism in general. Bottom line: I want to be taken seriously. I want all people with autism to be taken seriously. I hope that all people with autism take the utmost care to represent themselves in ways that will be valued and well regarded.

From a climate change perspective it seems to be working. Its getting a lot of media coverage and people are being mobilized.

My thoughts in order:

1) 16 year olds are generally not knowledgeable about world events to offer substantive additions to the conversations. This applies to neurotypicals, autistics, males, females, etc. When I was 16 I thought I was smart and knew a lot. I didn't know s**t. Putting a 16 year old on the world stage is not smart.

2) The climate debate as a whole is whack. I could and have written pages and pages on this before, but suffice to say people are way oversimplifying a very complicated scientific/economic/social problem.

3) Regardless of who is speaking, any attacks should be on the substance of what they say not on the speaker. In this regard Greta Thunberg has been treated very unfairly, especially since many of these attacks are idiotic in nature.

Nice...

So we should be judged by who our parents are? Why don't you post your parents' info so we can google them?

That's interesting. I am prone to catastrophising ,but had never thought of it as an autism characteristic. I tend to fixate on worst case scenarios. It almost always isn't as bad as I'd expected it to be. Does that stop me catastrophising again over something? No-it doesn't .

He was referring them to being professional actors.