Greta Thunberg, the young girl from Sweden, was selected as Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year.” She beat out the demonstrators in Hong Kong, the anonymous whistleblower, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Trump.
In case you are not familiar with Thunberg, she is the 16-year-old girl who gained 15 minutes of fame by rudely telling off the folks at the United Nations for not saving her world from climate change. She painted the darkest scariest picture of what she thinks her life will be like when she grows up. She said she lives in constant fear of the future. She scolded the UN delegates in a way only a screaming girl in the midst of a tantrum could.
I had done a previous commentary that was not very kind to Greta – and the very wealthy and prominent left-wing parents who created Greta in more ways than one. I could not help but view her well coached and carefully trained performance as being “one phylum above a trained monkey.”
She is not an authority on anything. Her words were not an intelligent expression of climate issues. It was a rant. She is little more than a doll with a pull-string recording device expressing her parent’s political and philosophic sentiments. She seems more like the victim of stage-mothering (and fathering) than a capable spokesperson.
In that previous commentary, I wondered who at the UN would have provided that platform for what amounted to little more than a bratty tirade. That took some political pull. Of course, she became the instant darling of the political left just as the late Benet Ramsey and the obnoxious Honey Boo developed their own following after being exploited by pushy parents and shameless television producers.
Thunberg showed the more temperamental side of her personality in a recent spat with the German rail service, Deutsche Bahn. She posted a photo (above) with her sitting alongside her luggage. She complained that she had no seat on the overcrowded train. Deutsche Bahn issued a quick apology. However, the company withdrew the apology when an investigation indicated that Thunberg was treated like royalty. She had intentionally created a phony pity story. That seems characteristic of her precocious personality.
In naming Greta as “Person of the Year,” Time Magazine has diminished the importance of that distinction. Anyone of the runners-up would have been more deserving of the honor if the importance of their role on the world stage was a factor. All the others were active in making major differences in the trajectory of history – whether you agreed with them or not. They were the actual players – not just some scripted Shirley Temple before she got “all growed up.”
This is what happens when the world liberal establishment takes over the award-giving process. We saw the luster vanish from the Noble Peace Prize when it was presented to terrorists like Yasser Arafat or inexplicably to a President-elect Obama, who had not even had a chance to work for world peace – and in office was a bit of a warrior President.
The once-coveted Pulitzer Prize has become a token of appreciation to liberal journalists from an organization of establishment liberal journalists. The Oscars, Emmys and Tonys are presented almost exclusively to performers with a liberal leaning. The quality of their work is secondary to their espoused political philosophy.
Criticism of Greta is often criticized based on her reported Asperger Syndrome – a developmental malady that “affects the ability to effectively socialize and communicate.” It is often described as a variation of autism. Perhaps that explains her emotional lashing out as opposed to a well thought out presentation – which she would still be too young to provide. If it is true that Greta is afflicted with Asperger’s … what kind of parent would put her out on the world stage to spout off on a highly complex and contested issue?
In selecting Thunberg, Time attributed to the abuse of this young lady and demonstrated that the magazine is little more than a trade publication for the arrogant east coast liberal elite.
So, there ‘tis.