I love Greta and she’ll go in history books but this is too much. There’s many Greta’s out there, the reason why she became famous is because she had a famous mom who knew how to get Greta tons of media attention and connect her with other important people, and provided for Greta while she became a full time activist. Genuinely I can name so many people with her dedication and courage who don’t have the influence and fame Greta has because they struggle to stay afloat while combining work and organizing or activism. People who were activists during high school like Greta.
In Palestine alone there are probably thousands of Greta’s.
While I don’t disagree fundamentally, the difference in Greta’s case is that she has resisted face-to-face liberal temptation and manipulation at every opportunity, while under INTENSE media scrutiny at every single step. It’s hard to maintain a positive public image, your morality and just your sanity WHILE publically criticised at every turn, while declaring capitalism to be terrible and speaking at the UN and to various world leaders AND maintain your fundamental sense of morality, all while being erudite and passionately committed.
Obviously there’s an element of luck that it’s her in that position and not somebody else. That’s true of every famous person ever. She’s not the only person in the world who would be like that given the chance. She’s not the only person who would reject the insane amount of effective bribery that must’ve been laid before her with an attitude of utter selfless altruism and public disgust.
But it’s sure as hell a very small and utterly amazing group of people who would act like that, and she’s in it. It is down to luck that she got famous, but she used that fame to a maximally good cause in a way a LOT of us wouldn’t, and she deserves hella kudos for that.
There are many different dimensions to liberal temptation. Media is not the most important one and I’ve seen people resist worse types of temptation. You just don’t see them if you don’t involve yourself because the inherent part about media pressure is that it’s super visible, while other types of pressure are often made to be invisible. Greta Thunberg is not more dedicated and courageous than a resistance fighter who has to disappear from their family and hide their identity for their whole life because if they were to be found they and their family would be killed instantly.
You’re right. I often fall into great person theory and see stuff in a theatrical way. I also overcompensate because in my daily life I only hear negative things about Thunberg.
I love Greta and she’ll go in history books but this is too much. There’s many Greta’s out there, the reason why she became famous is because she had a famous mom who knew how to get Greta tons of media attention and connect her with other important people, and provided for Greta while she became a full time activist. Genuinely I can name so many people with her dedication and courage who don’t have the influence and fame Greta has because they struggle to stay afloat while combining work and organizing or activism. People who were activists during high school like Greta.
In Palestine alone there are probably thousands of Greta’s.
While I don’t disagree fundamentally, the difference in Greta’s case is that she has resisted face-to-face liberal temptation and manipulation at every opportunity, while under INTENSE media scrutiny at every single step. It’s hard to maintain a positive public image, your morality and just your sanity WHILE publically criticised at every turn, while declaring capitalism to be terrible and speaking at the UN and to various world leaders AND maintain your fundamental sense of morality, all while being erudite and passionately committed.
Obviously there’s an element of luck that it’s her in that position and not somebody else. That’s true of every famous person ever. She’s not the only person in the world who would be like that given the chance. She’s not the only person who would reject the insane amount of effective bribery that must’ve been laid before her with an attitude of utter selfless altruism and public disgust.
But it’s sure as hell a very small and utterly amazing group of people who would act like that, and she’s in it. It is down to luck that she got famous, but she used that fame to a maximally good cause in a way a LOT of us wouldn’t, and she deserves hella kudos for that.
There are many different dimensions to liberal temptation. Media is not the most important one and I’ve seen people resist worse types of temptation. You just don’t see them if you don’t involve yourself because the inherent part about media pressure is that it’s super visible, while other types of pressure are often made to be invisible. Greta Thunberg is not more dedicated and courageous than a resistance fighter who has to disappear from their family and hide their identity for their whole life because if they were to be found they and their family would be killed instantly.
You’re right. I often fall into great person theory and see stuff in a theatrical way. I also overcompensate because in my daily life I only hear negative things about Thunberg.