• @CluckN@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    1477 months ago

    Bad. This girl does more good to the cause than hurt. We need more of her and less silly people to change minds.

    • @rar@discuss.online
      link
      fedilink
      English
      637 months ago

      Her being portrayed by the media or the memes as the “whiny girl seeking attention” is also worrying as well. It really distracts from the real issue and diminishes her work as well.

        • @arandomthought@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          337 months ago

          I mean the scientists have been loud and clear. So have some politicians, but that’s not a special “story” for the media. So it just happened that a very vocal (at the time) little Girl got a lot of attention, because it seemed so special.

          But how does what she is saying distract from the real issue? That’s not an attack, I’m genuinely curious what you think the real issue is and how she distracts from it…

          • @fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.de
            link
            fedilink
            English
            -87 months ago

            It’s not what she’s saying, it’s the messenger.

            Do you think she’s the type of person that a climate change laggard would respect, or want to engage with?

            • @arandomthought@sh.itjust.works
              link
              fedilink
              English
              10
              edit-2
              7 months ago

              Her argument for being vocal is that her and her generation will have to live with the consequences of our fuckups the longest and hardest. I think that’s pretty valid. Also, she wasn’t “elected by the central climate movement council to be their representative”, if anyone, the media “elected” her and gave her a platform. So maybe be mad at them for not choosing someone “better”?

              There are plenty of old white men with respectable titles saying the exact same thing as her. If a “climate change laggard” wants to hear the same message in a deeper voice, they certainly can. For those who can be moved to action at all (and there are definitely many who are “too far gone” in some conspiracy bullshit) she can be effective for many, especially younger people who have to be shaken from their stupor. So I think it’s a bit critical to “tell the girl to shut up”.

              • nitrolife
                link
                fedilink
                English
                -3
                edit-2
                7 months ago

                Her argument for being vocal is that her and her generation will have to live with the consequences of our fuckups the longest and hardest.

                Surprise, but if you stop generate energy by oil you can’t have hard industry. It is quite difficult to cast steel without huge energy consumption. And aluminum is even more difficult. But for some reason, no one wants to ride horses and abandon airplanes. Them can stop buy industrial products. And problem will gone.

                And no, strangling heavy industry in your country until it is evacuated to China is not a fight for the global environment.

                It is convenient, of course, to tell what idiots everyone around is without having worked a single day in heavy industry. And in Greta’s case, without having worked a day at all, apparently. I suggest she work at the factory for a couple of years and then repeat her statements.

                And it is better to live for a couple of years in a country with a less mild climate. Let’s say where it is -30 in winter. Surely she doesn’t hope that all 9 billion people will fit into the warm bosom of the Gulf Stream? Pollution from heating is also very significant. We don’t even turn off cars here in some cities because then we just won’t start them.

              • @fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.de
                link
                fedilink
                English
                -27 months ago

                Ok. She’s a vapid twenty year old with no life experience and nothing to say. She has no expertise, and she’s never suffered any inconvenience to prevent climate change.

                • @mmcintyre@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  47 months ago

                  Never suffered any inconvenience? Like, have you seen how she travels? But also…

                  What expertise do you need to say “stop adding carbon to the atmosphere” at this point? Everyone lives here, we all should have something to say about what is inevitably coming down the pike - especially the young. You just come across as someone who has everything to lose wanting those with nothing to lose to sit down, shut up, buckle up, and just be grateful for the ride to whatever hell we’re heading to.

  • @glitchdx@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    1077 months ago

    Regardless of your opinions about her specifically, it’s a simple fact that positive societal change doesn’t happen by asking nicely. Look at every civil rights movement ever. Nothing got done until people were inconvenienced and companies lost money.

    • @arc@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      -437 months ago

      No change doesn’t happen by asking nicely, but I think some joined up thinking by these groups would get them further than performative protesting and getting arrested. If you want change then you lobby politicians on the positive benefits of change, and businesses on the potential profits to be had from implementing it.

      • @Crikeste@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        307 months ago

        You: Hey government, here’s my vote!

        Giant Corporations: Hey government, here’s $1 trillion

        • @zbyte64@awful.systems
          link
          fedilink
          English
          19
          edit-2
          7 months ago

          That’s unrealistic. A supreme court justice only costs an RV and some vacations. You only need a few billion to buy control, assuming your interests are aligned with the other billionaires and they don’t negate your spending.

          • @Crikeste@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            5
            edit-2
            7 months ago

            I’ve seen lobbying donations of $30,000. Our country is ABSOLUTELY fucked.

            Bye America 🇺🇸 (more like buy America amirite)

            • @Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
              link
              fedilink
              English
              4
              edit-2
              7 months ago

              That’s not the real bribery. The real bribery is uncountable, sometimes literally bribes that are obscured, or more often positions in companies for them and their friend’s and family, consulting fees, etc. This can all add up to hundreds of millions.

              Heck… even one of those vacations that the person you responded to was referencing probably comes to over 50 - 100k per when you consider fully burdened cost.

      • TheHarpyEagle
        link
        fedilink
        English
        107 months ago

        What civil rights advancements have been won with this strategy?

      • @Peddlephile@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        87 months ago

        But all the lobbying has already happened - for decades - and nothing has changed. Fossil fuel companies have poured in billions over the course of decades, and still are, to counter lobby and spread misinformation to keep the status quo.

        You’re only seeing the ‘performative’ protesting in the media and not the lobbying because it’s easy to report on, but in reality this movement is on its last legs. It is THAT level of desperation now.

        Do you think they’d still be protesting if the government actually implemented the policies brought forward by climate scientists decades ago?

      • cum
        link
        fedilink
        English
        17 months ago

        Why do you assume the two are exclusive?

        • @arc@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          16 months ago

          Because they are. Groups like PETA, or Just Stop Oil are clowns who hurt their own cause. Performative protesting might win people a participation prize but to everyone else it’s just “look at meeeeee!”. At a certain point it actually becomes toxic to the cause. I know if I wanted to harm environmental campaigning then I’d invent Just Stop Oil.

          Meanwhile big business are sending lobbiests in to change politician’s minds, to make arguments that appeal to their rationality, or self-interest. THAT is what environmental campaigners should be doing - lobbying, extoling the benefits of environmental action, changing minds. Getting arrested in front of cameras over and over just becomes pathetic and performative.

    • @kerrypacker@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      -477 months ago

      Yeah that’s bullshit. Society has been improving overall throughout history. Lots of positive change is brought about by people chasing bigger profits.

  • @Eyck_of_denesle@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    English
    557 months ago

    No offense. Just a genuine question. Where do activists like Greta get income or the money to travel or just for day to day living? Especially considering she has been doing this since a young age.

    Pls don’t take my comment as in a bad light. I’m the same age as her so I always wondered. The answer could be NGO’s collecting donations but I’m not sure.

    • @daltotron@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      227 months ago

      What I think I’ve noticed about lemmy, I guess reddit as well, and maybe just the modern internet, is that people are very vulnerable to obvious bad faith bait. The classic strategy of “do not feed the troll” doesn’t really seem to be one that most people are familiar with. I can sort of get behind social shaming strategies, which might require engagement, but I think the sad truth is just that most people can’t help themselves when it comes to responding to a troll.

      • @eardon@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        127 months ago

        I think your problem is that you assume everyone who disagrees with you or the tribe is a troll.

        • @JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
          link
          fedilink
          English
          57 months ago

          I think everyone’s problem is that there are actually somehow still people that believe climate change is a hoax.

          Those people aren’t trolls or disagreeing with “the tribe”. These people are absolute idiots. They need to be shamed and called out.

      • idunnololz
        link
        fedilink
        English
        37 months ago

        I have auto collapse comments based on score for this reason.

    • RBG
      link
      fedilink
      English
      47 months ago

      Welcome to the internet.

  • AutoTL;DRB
    link
    English
    177 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Greta Thunberg was detained by police at a demonstration in The Hague, in the Netherlands.

    The climate activist was put in a bus by local police along with other protesters who tried to block a major highway into the city on Saturday.

    Thunberg had joined a protest by hundreds of activists and was detained when she joined a group of about 100 people who tried to block the A12 highway.

    Before she was detained, Thunberg said: “We are in a planetary emergency and we are not going to stand by and let people lose their lives and livelihood and be forced to become climate refugees when we can do something.”

    The road has been blocked for several hours dozens of times in recent months by activists demanding an end to all subsidies for the use of fossil fuels.

    Thunberg was seen flashing a victory sign as she sat in the bus used by police to take detained demonstrators from the scene.The Extinction Rebellion campaign group said before the demonstration that the activists would block a main highway into The Hague, but a heavy police presence, including officers on horseback, initially prevented the activists from getting on to the road.A small group of people managed to sit down on another road and were detained after ignoring police orders to leave.Extinction Rebellion activists have blocked the highway that runs past the temporary home of the Dutch parliament more than 30 times to protest against subsidies.The demonstrators waved flags and chanted: “We are unstoppable, another world is possible.”One held a banner reading: “This is a dead end street.”In February, Thunberg, 21, was acquitted by a court in London of refusing to follow a police order to leave a protest blocking the entrance to an oil and gas industry conference last year.Her activism has inspired a global youth movement demanding stronger efforts to fight the climate crisis since she began staging weekly protests outside the Swedish parliament in 2018.She has repeatedly been fined in Sweden and the UK for civil disobedience in connection with protests.


    The original article contains 361 words, the summary contains 341 words. Saved 6%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

    • @eardon@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      -47 months ago

      If you have to explain a joke, it’s probably not funny.

      I got it and it still wasn’t funny. Maybe you’re just not funny.

      • Goku
        link
        fedilink
        English
        5
        edit-2
        7 months ago

        If you have to explain a joke, it’s probably not funny. I got it and it still wasn’t funny.

        That would be enough by itself, harsh but reasonable.

        Maybe you’re just not funny.

        Now that’s just mean and uncalled for.

        • @eardon@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          07 months ago

          I guess the only criticism you’re used to is praise.

          That would distort how you perceive your humor.

          • Goku
            link
            fedilink
            English
            07 months ago

            Actually the fist statement you made is a criticism on the joke.

            The second statement is a generalized assumption on OPs character traits.

            To assume someone just isn’t funny (in general) by reading one of their comments reveals a lot about how dense you are.

  • @arc@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    -30
    edit-2
    7 months ago

    I think climate activists would just be better off doing what everyone else does - lobbying. Identify politicians who represent areas who would benefit from pollution controls, or green investment or whatever and push the message. Performative acts in front of cameras might feel good but it’s a blunt tool to change policy. Some protestors such as “just stop oil” campaigners are so stupid that they actually help the causes they supposedly oppose.

    • @Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      157 months ago

      Yeah but here’s the problem

      They don’t own massive fossil fuel companies that make them trillions of dollars

    • @Schmoo@slrpnk.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      11
      edit-2
      7 months ago

      Climate activists can lobby in person when available, taking time away from other things. Oil companies can hire armies of lobbyists - some of whom masquerading as “concerned citizens” - to overwhelm public hearings, buy out media companies to manipulate public opinion and engage in astroturfing campaigns, and directly sway politicians with legal bribery (deliberately being vague about the purpose of “gifts” to maintain the benefit of the doubt about there being any quid pro quo involved).

      Lobbying effectively requires resources - namely capital - which oil companies have in abundance and climate activists do not. To suggest that climate activists should simply fight on their terms is ignorant at best and malicious at worst.

    • @Ilovemyirishtemper@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      17 months ago

      That’s probably true, but, at least in the US, nothing will really move forward without the populace backing it (or not knowing about it to begin with). Otherwise, those politicians will never get elected again, and whatever climate policy they created will be negated by the new politician.

      So it seems like she’s trying to go the route of getting the populace backing first, and then she’ll have that strength to draw on when dealing with politicians. A bunch more people at that point would be also calling for change, so she wouldn’t have to do much convincing. The fear of losing their political standing would be the impetus for change.

      In my particularly weird corner of the world, we are still trying to convince people that climate change is real. I can’t imagine how much the deniers would freak out if their elected official backed something that they think doesn’t exist.

  • @werefreeatlast@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    -327 months ago

    I hope governments pick up on this climate thing. A demonstration is always a great way to convince people.

    I’ve lived in places that have a climate and it’s great!

  • Jessica
    link
    fedilink
    English
    -457 months ago

    A climate protester who is frequently arrested/detained due to protesting has been arrested/detained for protesting. This is the story every time she is arrested/detained.

    Maybe I’m jaded, but, who cares? How is this world news?

  • @computerscientistI@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    -887 months ago

    I always ridiculed her, although secretly I admired her determination and also agreed with her aims.

    Then she started her pro-Gaza ramblings. She clearly has no idea about history of the middle east and also can’t classifiy current events. To noone’s surprise as she has hardly visited school. She’s also 20 now, so a full adult, she does not have this young-innocent-girl Jeanne d’Arc bonus anymore.