13 > the antlerette // fall 2019
THE DI S M I S S A L O F YO U T H VO I C ES HANNAH VILLAREAL // CONTENT EDITOR
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reta Thunberg, the most noticeable face and voice of the Youth Climate Movement, has been a powerful force during these past months, directly calling out government officials, and even doing so straight to their face. It was quite interesting to see Greta’s passionate UN speech. To see her directly confront world leaders, calling out their “empty words”, greed, and dismissal of global issues-and yet, they applauded and shouted in support. I expected complete silence from the audience-I expected world leaders to be truly listening to what she was saying. She stated at the beginning of her speech, “You all come to us young people for hope - How dare you!”. That statement cannot be more direct, and our world leaders clapping afterwards - it reflects their blindness and inability to take accountability. Some may say this was world leaders showing respect to Greta - it is not. Imagine crying out for help and they simple smile and clap because you are putting on a good show for them; the irony in this situation is stunning. Aside from the subtle overlooking of her words, Greta has received tremendous amounts of backlash and criticism from climate change deniers. Andrew Bolt, a public commentator on Sky News Australia, has repeatedly and openly criticised the validity of Greta’s words specifically for her diagnosis. Recently, he labeled Greta as “deeply disturded” and “strange” because of her diagnosis; Greta is on the autism spectrum with Asperger’s syndrome. Although her diagnosis is characterized to affect her ability to interact and communicate in social situations, it also allows her to hyper-focus on certain subjects; that is usually why people often see those with this diagnosis as academically advanced, they’re able to focus on a subject and not get distracted. Another example of the utter idiocy of her criticizers, Fox News host, Laura Ingranham, compared Greta Thunberg’s words and ac-
tivism to the children in the movie Children of Corn - on live tv. When are her criticizers going to actually consider or even criticize the science, instead of Greta’s actions? Even the United States president decided to mock Greta after her UN speech, tweeting out “She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!”. Although, this isn’t the first time our president has mocked someone with a diffability, his ignorance is not surprising. The criticism Greta receives is trivial, however, this has happened before. This is not the first time the youth have had their voices shrouded by ignorance and hate. In 2012, Malala Yousafzai, a 15 year old education advocate, was shot in the head by a lone Taliban gunman - while boarding a bus bound home; fortunately, she survived after being transferred from Pakistan to Birmingham, England. Prior to this attack, the Taliban had issued an official death threat against her for her advocacy of education for young girls. Despite the danger of having such a large public audience, and the Talibans’ threat, she continued to speak out for hers, and every womans, right to an education. After the attempted assasination, she began attending school in Birmingham and continued her advocacy for education. Once the story of the attack broke the news, there was an overwhelming amount of support for her - people were inspired by her strength and courage. Soon after, she delivered a speech at the United Nations in 2013 on her 16th birthday. “The extremists were, and they are, afraid of books and pens. The power of education frightens them. They are afraid of women... Let us pick up our books and pens. They are our most powerful weapons.” Malala was a voice for women all over the world who could not speak. She was their outlet. She inspired women, and
