Saint Greta of the Climate Crisis
I suspect most readers of this blog are about as averse to reading the news as I am; nevertheless I find it useful to scan headlines and articles once in a while in order to gather inferences and insights into what the Global Establishment are doing in their quest to establish a totalitarian one-world government.
I believe the following excerpts from a New York Times opinion piece by film director Darren Aronofsky ("Black Swan"/"The Wrestler") published on Dec. 2. provide valuable insights into the means the Establishment is using to push the narrative of an impending, unavoidable climate catastrophe, one they will most likely end up orchestrating themselves as a pretext for an unprecedented power grab that will either usher in or take us all one step closer toward this one-world totalitarian government. Oddly enough, one of these means is in the form a teenage girl from Sweden. (Bold added by me.)
As a director, I’m in constant pursuit of the right image. And I’ll admit that I’ve often fallen prey to cynicism when looking for a visual to best convey the current state of the world, confronted as it is with such terrifying environmental challenges. It’s hard to be optimistic about the visual encapsulation of our dying planet.
Yet, as soon as I saw an Instagram photo of Greta Thunberg staging her first environmental protest in August 2018, I knew. There she was, a 15-year-old girl, sitting outside the Swedish Parliament, on strike from school to bring attention to climate change. Here was the image — one of hope, commitment and action — I needed to see. An image that could spark a movement.
I’m certain that future generations will look at the first few photographs of Ms. Thunberg — dwarfed in a yellow raincoat, calm but defiant, refusing to take no for an answer — as a representation of the early days of a major cultural shift. I have no doubt that she will become an icon for the climate crisis — if she isn’t one already.
I’ve long believed that visual language is the ultimate tool of communication and connection. In the face of climate change, however, it has become clear that images aren’t enough. We’ve all seen the documentaries and the countless photographs: melting glaciers, oil-soaked seal pups, beached whales. But nothing has changed.
Ms. Thunberg has brought the conversation on climate change out of the theoretical. She has made it human, tangible and urgent. Her protest is stark in its simplicity and brilliant in its lack of frills; she’s merely telling the truth. And for the first time, it feels as if people are listening.
We would be doing a great disservice to Ms. Thunberg — and the planet — if we failed to change. It would be criminal to continue ignoring the truths that she, and countless scientists, have so clearly presented to us. It would be a waste to do anything less than throw the full heft of our support behind her. We don’t need to wait for history to catch up and tell us what we already know. We have plenty of reports telling us how dire the situation is; we are being willfully blind if we don’t read them. We must act. We must vote for people who believe in science.
There’s a tremendous amount of work ahead. I know many of us feel paralyzed by the enormousness of the task, or too scared to look directly at the problem. I doubt the right path forward will be comfortable or clear; things will probably get worse before they get better.
We are in the midst of a crisis, and the only way we can combat it is to engage, human to human, with all the messiness and complications that are bound to arise. It won’t make for a pretty picture, but desperate times rarely do.
Of course, St. Thunberg is far more than a mere icon; she's also a popular children's book hero, as can be seen below:
I believe the following excerpts from a New York Times opinion piece by film director Darren Aronofsky ("Black Swan"/"The Wrestler") published on Dec. 2. provide valuable insights into the means the Establishment is using to push the narrative of an impending, unavoidable climate catastrophe, one they will most likely end up orchestrating themselves as a pretext for an unprecedented power grab that will either usher in or take us all one step closer toward this one-world totalitarian government. Oddly enough, one of these means is in the form a teenage girl from Sweden. (Bold added by me.)
As a director, I’m in constant pursuit of the right image. And I’ll admit that I’ve often fallen prey to cynicism when looking for a visual to best convey the current state of the world, confronted as it is with such terrifying environmental challenges. It’s hard to be optimistic about the visual encapsulation of our dying planet.
Yet, as soon as I saw an Instagram photo of Greta Thunberg staging her first environmental protest in August 2018, I knew. There she was, a 15-year-old girl, sitting outside the Swedish Parliament, on strike from school to bring attention to climate change. Here was the image — one of hope, commitment and action — I needed to see. An image that could spark a movement.
I’m certain that future generations will look at the first few photographs of Ms. Thunberg — dwarfed in a yellow raincoat, calm but defiant, refusing to take no for an answer — as a representation of the early days of a major cultural shift. I have no doubt that she will become an icon for the climate crisis — if she isn’t one already.
I’ve long believed that visual language is the ultimate tool of communication and connection. In the face of climate change, however, it has become clear that images aren’t enough. We’ve all seen the documentaries and the countless photographs: melting glaciers, oil-soaked seal pups, beached whales. But nothing has changed.
Ms. Thunberg has brought the conversation on climate change out of the theoretical. She has made it human, tangible and urgent. Her protest is stark in its simplicity and brilliant in its lack of frills; she’s merely telling the truth. And for the first time, it feels as if people are listening.
We would be doing a great disservice to Ms. Thunberg — and the planet — if we failed to change. It would be criminal to continue ignoring the truths that she, and countless scientists, have so clearly presented to us. It would be a waste to do anything less than throw the full heft of our support behind her. We don’t need to wait for history to catch up and tell us what we already know. We have plenty of reports telling us how dire the situation is; we are being willfully blind if we don’t read them. We must act. We must vote for people who believe in science.
There’s a tremendous amount of work ahead. I know many of us feel paralyzed by the enormousness of the task, or too scared to look directly at the problem. I doubt the right path forward will be comfortable or clear; things will probably get worse before they get better.
We are in the midst of a crisis, and the only way we can combat it is to engage, human to human, with all the messiness and complications that are bound to arise. It won’t make for a pretty picture, but desperate times rarely do.
Of course, St. Thunberg is far more than a mere icon; she's also a popular children's book hero, as can be seen below:
Note added: I have vowed to avoid writing "outrage du jour" posts on this blog - rants that focus on some topical piece of media trolling meant to inspire a rise - but I felt this opinion piece provides a good illustration of how the Establishment goes about selling a "crisis" to the general public. And in all fairness, I haven't really engaged in any ranting . . . merely pointing something out . . .
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