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Greta Thunberg isn’t crazy
To the left, the teenage climate activist represents hope for future, while the right sees her as just a ‘mentally ill child’
For more than a year now, Swedish teen Greta Thunberg has been the face of a global surge in youth climate activism, starting with school strikes in her home country and culminating in mass international demonstrations last week. In a nation that’s divided on the issue of climate change, the 16-year-old activist is a polarizing figure.
She’s adored by the American left for her chutzpah, which was on full display at the United Nations on Monday. She chastised the assembled officials, diplomats and political leaders for offering only half-hearted technocratic solutions in the face of global catastrophe: “We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!”
Among climate denialists on the right, she’s portrayed as a pawn manipulated by the left for political gain. Conservative filmmaker (and convicted felon) Dinesh D’souza likened the pig-tailed Thunberg to blonde girls used in Nazi propaganda:
