By Rachel Wade, Writer
Why a 16 year old girl is such a threat to men in politics.
“Freakishly influential… with many mental disorders.”, “Millennial weirdo” and “Mentally-ill Swedish girl” are just a few out of the many contemptuous ways powerful men in the media are describing Greta Thunberg - a Nobel Prize nominee. Her strength and adamant determination for environmental change echoes through politicians, yet they look the other way at her hard-hitting facts and choose to insult her efforts.
Why do they do this? Is Thunberg seen as a threat to the superiority of society? Are the older generation surprised at the furious nature of millennials towards the disaster of our climate? David Attenborough and Leonardo DiCaprio both emphasise similar messages as Greta Thunberg, but she still receives exceeding amount of hatred in contrast to other activists. Many target her age: she is too young (aged 16) and “too loud for the people to handle”. Others oppose her for her disability as Thunberg openly talks about living with Asperger’s Syndrome, claiming it to be one of her “superpowers”. However the main focus of hatred originates from classic misogynist accusations of her being hysterical, mentally disturbed and incapable of thinking for herself. The Independent journalist James Moore describes her ill-treatment as a ‘sad glimpse of reality’, and Kuba Shand-Baptiste highlights that ‘Greta Thunberg’s passion is being exploited by childish adults’.
What makes Thunberg so powerful is her ability to thrive within this sea of aggressiveness and opposition. Thunberg does not flatter her superiors to win their likings. Thunberg confronted world leaders at the United Nations on September 23rd with no warm feelings shared or a smile flashed. A cold, persistent glare and her forthright statements of modern politicians “ruining her childhood” proved her exasperation for such environmental causes, and opening the eyes of “millennials” across the globe as she continues to desperately plead for change.
Now, some of the biggest protests for climate change are taking place in around 150 countries, and many of these demonstrations are inspired by Thunberg, which proves her power and overwhelming influence. Signs declare “Change the politics, not the climate” and “Eco, not ego!”. Interestingly, yet unsurprisingly, the vast majority of the people protesting are teenagers. More and more voices are being heard, and the detrimental scale of this global disaster is becoming greatly acknowledged. The UK has given £1 billion to help developing countries such as Saudi Arabia to combat climate change, which is a significant step forward. This was less likely to have been done without the power of the protests and the awareness developing in the younger generation under the influence of Thunberg.
There is no lie that her speeches will go down as the greatest in history. She has encouraged millions of students to become aware of carbon emissions and global warming. MPs, such as Michael Gove, have admitted to feel guilty upon hearing her words and that she left a strong impact on their outtake for the environment. In June 2019, Swedish Railways recorded an 8% increase of people taking trains as opposed to flying. On July 3rd 2019, the secretary-general of OPEC, Mohammed Barkindo, described environmental activists such as Thunberg "perhaps the greatest threat to our industry going forward.''. And, if anybody was going to keep Donald Trump up at night - it would be Greta Thunberg.
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