RE: Graters & Grovers: Are The Attacks on Thunberg REALLY Warranted?
@ligayagardener was saying a while ago that there are 3 main types of people. Something like (I don't know if I've got this exactly right, but hopefully you get the gist), activists, builders and followers. We need them all to get something done. The activists bring awareness of the problem, the builders find a way to combat the problem, but without the followers to jump on board and help build that solution, it's going nowhere.
I'd like to think I'm a builder, but the truth is I'm a follower. Greta doesn't interest me that much, because I'm sick of the activism and I don't like either the worship or the bullying of her. I don't think it does anyone any good. I want to move beyond activism and start doing something, but it's hard to know what. So I look to the builders.
I had to laugh at the claims of her being brainwashed by her parents. In my experience, most children of that age are more likely to be following their peers. Whatever they're learning from the internet, school friends and university is going to be way more up to date than what their fuddy duddy, old fashioned, un-hip parents are spouting. They won't appreciate their wisdom until a few more years down the line.
"Graters - often men in power - hate Greta because she has a power over people that they desire themselves. They hate her because she's not afraid to stand up against what she believes in. They hate her because all their lives they have believed in something else, and the power of the Greta bomb is calling on people to believe in something different than rampant capitalism and neo-liberalism that serves only the few."
Lol! You're showing your feminism. 😉
Is it capitalism or corporatism that's the problem? We're quick to take concepts which have come under abuse and tout them as bad, when it's not so much the concept as the way we use it that perverts it. Communism was the quickest to succumb to the abuse of power. Capitalism took longer as companies had to form monopolies to get big enough to control the market and the government. I don't think we will ever find a system which can't be abused for the few to benefit over the many. Socialism seems to be the latest buzzword, but let's not forget, Hitler's was a socialist party. Economy is becoming a dirty word, yet it's merely a description of how a trading system is working. An economy doesn't have to be destructive.
Yeah, but why have labels at all, right? Most theories are great in 'theory', as you say - the concept is good, the use isn't.When they're enacted - Hitler's socialism - things get messy. I don't think we'll find a system that can't be abused either, but then I do get hopeful when people propose new paradigms. Most of the time they're laced with rainbows though, so mass adoption is really unlikely.
I do think parents have an influence - maybe it's the type of parent. Fuddy duddy? Speak for yourself, lol. Peer influence is huge, of course - as is all the other conditioning factors that compel us.
Was listening to an intereting podcast this morning that articulated quite nicely how we only ever read critique of theories, facts, science - and then only from people whose values align with ours. And people are so hell bent on being RIGHT because they feel unsafe and unloved, due to a world that doesn't make them feel safe and valued. So they (we) can be really unwilling to explore the 'other side' with objective curiousity and willingness to be perhaps proved wrong, and admit it, because being 'right' validates them (us). So we're never going to agree with each other, and the world will get increasingly polarised, because we're increasingly insecure and afraid, because the world has made us that way - and we find our little niche identities to validate us further and make us feel loved. I'm not sure I'm explaining it well, but it does make me more personally cautious to swallow what my bubble tells me, and to be curious about what people are saying just in case they're onto something. I think I've gone off topic - I just add three mince pies, it's probably the sugar rush.
Love what you say about looking to the builders. I don't follow Greta either, just admire her in passing, and wanted to know what the fuss was about. I'd rather follow a builder's lead, but totally think the activists have a place as they can push the builders into the right direction - the builders with money and power. So Greta (and followers) being activists, if they can change people's minds, push them to the science, her work is useful. Sadly, as per what I said above (ah, here's my thread!!) fear based tactics aren't going to work. As corny as it sounds, it's gotta come from a place of love. I think we're all fighting for the same thing. When I think of Australian's LOVE of the bush and our natural landscape, it strikes me as crazy we're even arguing about this shit. Keep mismanaging the environmnet and we're gonna have a big dustbowl on our hands and the beautiful country we live in isn't going to be good for anyone, left or right.
Damn, I need to work off these mince pies, keep talking in circles...
Those mince pies sound good. I think I need me some!
Your sugar rush paragraph got me re-reading what I wrote, because I feel like I was recently replying on something similar and trying to define it. It made total sense, even if it did seem to veer of topic top you. Perhaps it was a sixth sense of yours.
You're right, parents do have influence, but sometimes not as much as we'd like to think. Can you tell I'm dealing with a contrary teen at the moment? 😆