Going Lower Still

GRETA THUNBERG, pronounced "Toon berg) is perhaps going to become to most famous person on the planet. Likewise, she may have an opportunity to become extremely wealthy and powerful, since wealth and power often if not usually accompany fame. one can even imagine the crass western press and public relations industry trying to turn her into some some of new age cute slender girl "twiggy" type of character. anything is possible. Greta, those of you who haven't been living on Mars'll recall, is the sixteen year old Swedish girl who last year started refusing to attend school every Friday, i protest of climate change and the fact that we the human race doesn't seem to be doing a damned thing about it, or at least, not nearly enough. She's a good student, with supportive parents, who seems to have figured out that all this effort she is putting into growing up properly will be wasted if humanity doesn't start effectively fighting and reversing climate change. She started by sitting outside her school holding a sign saying "climate change strike" or something like that, and being largely ignored, just another kid skipping class. Then, other kids, classmates and friends, joined in, and it become a local, then regional, then European movement, teenagers boycotting high school once a week in protest of climate change inactivity. Now, its going viral, in real time and real space, with real people. American teenagers are catching on, and once that happens, of course, they'll force the whole country to cooperate, as is the normal process in America. The American right wing hates her, of course. The American right wing is even going so far, going so low as to mock the young lady because of her autism. on camera, she appears to be fairly far along the spectrum, seems to sort of be in her own world, gazing off into the distance, speaking as if to people from a great distance. When someone suggested she meet with President Trump, she cogently and quite correctly replied that it would be a waste of time. One of my best friends, himself mildly autistic, told me: "She's autistic. she's going to say what she thinks." The way he said it, as if he knows, gave me a mildly disquieting feeling, and a sense of excitement. She and her movement are to keep growing and making a splash. She's got the personal charisma to become very influential, as she already has. Let the American right wing hate and make fun of her all they want. They'll rue the day they started taking on Greta Thunberg and her thundering herd, because eventually her gang will grow to include all of us, that is, all of us who were smart enough to not oppose or try to stop her.