So I went through my mail today and there was Time magazine {need to track what the other side is up to!} and wonders never cease: their Person of the Year, Nordic teen Greta Thunberg, stared up to the heavens with waves crashing round, symbolizing environmental activism and hope for the future.
I’m thinking, shouldn’t she be in home-ec or doing her algebra homework? {Sorry, that first one should be FACS for family and consumer sciences–it changed on me!}. Maybe playing lacrosse or doing cross-country? I mean, how can a kid be “person of the year”, there’s so many of them! I know she’s worried about climate change but seriously, do we need a troubled adolescent as some kind of modern Joan of Arc? Isn’t scientific debate enough? Aren’t we already confused by international agendas, unscrupulous scientists & self-promoters like Al Gore? In short, we’re unsure who to believe!
I also get how teens become compulsive or hyper-fixated on causes and issues, sometimes getting hopelessly dedicated to the exclusion of all else. If every time they get cult-like they’re eligible for person of the year we adults will soon be up to our ears in teeny-bopper cults and fads!
This young girl was born into privilege in an upper middle class family that, based on appearances, is a very liberal household in what is obviously a very liberal country: Sweden. Can we expect any objectivity here? Can we ride her emotional bobsled knowing we’re supporting good, serious science? Maybe it’s just me, but while I might admire her pluck, pugnacity and truth to power gutsiness, certainly her deep personal concern about the health of our planet, can I trust she knows what she’s talking about? What if she’s a puppet/frontman for someone else, a drone/avatar exploited by the left to put forth their agenda?
Another thing – in trying to learn more about her condition it states Aspergers is a variant of autism, wherein the individual displays an unusual absorption with particular topics. A person like Greta is predisposed to glom onto something like climate change based on minimal or even biased information. It becomes life’s purpose not because she knows it’s right but because she’s psychologically driven to think it’s right.
Then there’s the non-credible showcase itself: Time Magazine. Like I stated at the start, I’ve been reading their stuff for years just to see what the left is up to. And please, there’s no doubt they’re left as can be evidenced by the horrendous imbalance of societal, artistic and political articles they’ve published over the years, blasting the status quo, demanding change.
According to them, the imprimatur of rationality and truth, the new icon of the world’s future, is this troubled if not dysfunctional teenage girl who’d rather march the roads and byways of civilization than go to school . . . surely her sacrifice, millions of youthful followers, stamp of approval by every socialist/communist country, endorsement by all 3rd world nations and now, the cover of mighty Time itself, will be persuasive enough to serve notice to the west and America that we must reign in our industry and commerce, downsize our economies and reduce our standard of living to save the planet.
What about China, India and Russia? They pollute far more than we do. Will they reduce in-kind? How will we monitor? Who will supervise/measure each nation’s carbon output & other greenhouse gases? How will it be enforced? What sanctions or punishments will apply? Will a carbon tax make Al Gore a trillionaire? Will Americans bear most of the burden of such a tax, not to mention cutbacks in their driving, energy consumption and creature comforts?
It’s a lot to take in, all on the say-so of a pessimistic young girl, with of course the tremendous clout & bombast of a celebrated leftist rag. She’s just an image, they’ll say, but we know what she’s doing is right! We hope everyone will take our word and get on this bandwagon to save the planet!
Time for a news flash: scientists falsified much of their data; collaborated internationally to sell their message; pushed an agenda that happened to subsidize their livelihoods; helped uber-hypocrite Al Gore make a film and win a prize.
Environmentalism has given us AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) and Pocahontas (Elizabeth Warren) among others who both endorse a Green New Deal calling for drastic reductions in air travel and eliminating flatulence both bovine and Boeing varieties.
Does anyone remember the Obama scandals surrounding Solyndra, A123 and many others? These were clean energy companies that went bust with government subsidies costing taxpayers hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars.
The bottom line to all this is simply caveat emptor! We the people will be the buyers of the Green New Deal, the payers of a new carbon tax, the commuters relying less on our cars and more on public transportation, the home owners needing to limit heating & air-conditioning, etc.
I’m as keen as the next guy to save the planet, but I want good, reliable information, not a lot of codswallop/propaganda! If we can’t trust our scientists and politicians to provide good, valid, actionable data concerning something as vital as keeping a sustainable, habitable environment for mankind, I sure as hell can
not trust them to levy me with a new tax!
I wish Greta well. I hope she finds satisfaction and peace as she presents what she believes is a looming doomsday scenario to anyone who will listen. I’m listening but not believing. Until I do a hundred million Gretas, a Nobel Prize, another Al Gore Oscar, even a President Pocahontas will not change my mind!
You’ve Been Reading Shaneview
I’m Al Shane
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