Tuesday, September 24, 2019

What Would a Reasonable Criticism of Greta Thunburg Be Like

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Greta Thunburg spoke at the UN about global climate change and of course there has been a huge reaction from our right.   As we would expect from the right, all the arguments are ad hominem or worse.  So lets ask what a proper response would be if people were actually being constructive here.

In the following, I am not saying that she is wrong and these arguments prove it, I happen to think she is fundamentally correct and serving a useful purpose. 

They might say "We are already in the midst of doing everything humanly possible to ameliorate global climate change, but thank you for your reminder."  Of course that wouldnt work because no one in the world would believe it.

Or they might say "Creating a binding international agreement that affects so many parties and costs so much money today (however much it may save money in the future as well as lives, etc) is by definition incredibly complicated, takes a long time, and in the past has rarely worked".  That would be historically true but one could easily retort "yeah, but not only are you not trying, you are actively impeding progress".

Or they might say, "You are right and we have dropped the ball, but you cant just say "fix it", you have to build a consensus for a solution and that is nearly impossible in this case".  A good response to that is that "We dont care".

But none of this matters.  Greta has the moral high ground. And a Child Shall Lead them.

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