Give her credit

 

October 10, 2019



To Rich Lowry’s National Review column last week, I respond, “You bullied well.” Lowry wrested the message from the messenger and twisted it into the voice of his political opponents. Not a new trick, but despicable, nonetheless. His victim was Greta Thunberg.

Last year in August, at 15, Thunberg started skipping school Fridays to sit on cold cobblestones outside the Swedish parliament inside the Arctic Circle. A lone waif with sad, downcast eyes, she hunkered beside her hand-lettered sign: “Skolstrejk for Klimatet” – School strike for the Climate.

Lowry first attacks Thunberg and other “children,” then segues into his larger theme that adults concerned about climate change are manipulating her. “There’s a reason that we don’t look to teenagers for guidance on fraught issues,” Lowry states. “Kids have nothing interesting to say to us. They just repeat back what they’ve been told by adults with less nuance and maturity.”

To say a 15-year-old has “nothing interesting to say” reflects Lowry’s mentality and demonstrates a lack of appreciation for gifted, creative teenagers. When I was 15, I read Dostoyevsky because I found him interesting, and adults I discussed him with did too.

In September 2018, Thunberg’s audience was riveted by her three-minute “Climate Justice Now” speech at the UN Climate Change COP24. They found the 15-year-old more than interesting. The same was true at the World Economic Forum last January. She was 16 by then.

Each time she addresses these high-level audiences, Thunberg implores those in power to believe the science underlying climate change. Her articulate eloquence reflects a deep understanding that transcends mere memorization of a script. She clearly understands the issue, probably more than her critics.

One British columnist observed, “The bile thrown at Greta Thunberg is motivated by one thing alone: This incredibly intelligent, eloquent, and compassionate 16-year-old has terrified some of the most hateful and reactionary so-called ‘grown ups’ on earth. She’s achieved more at 16 than they ever will.”

Thunberg displayed that intelligence along with her wit in a recent social media post: “When haters go after your looks and differences, it means they have nowhere left to go. And then you know you’re winning.”

Pete Haug,

Colfax

 

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