Greta Thunberg - A Budding Eco-Terrorist

Like Koczynski, Greta believes that if humanity (especially developed countries like the US) continues along its destructive environmental path we will all soon become extinct. Koczynski felt so strongly about it that he had to commit mass murders to make his point. He truly believed (and probably still does) that the survival of the human race depends on saving the environment. Which is literally being destroyed by human activity resulting in deadly climate change. And that we need to do whatever it takes to make the world take action.  

This 16 year old girl from Sweden has somehow earned the admiration of the entire civilized world for her outspoken environmental advocacy. But she has not earned anything but rejection and fear from me. Her explosive ‘How dare you!’ speech to world leaders yesterday sounded like it might be a harbinger for her future as an eco-terrorist. Her youthful anger can  easily morph into action. It can also inspire other eco-terrorists into action.

Please do not mistake my opinion of Thunberg as denial of climate change. I have eyes and ears. I can see the unprecedented weather related destruction that happened in places like the Bahamas. The storms that are obviously fueled by a warming ocean. It is impossible to deny that polar ice caps are melting and ocean tides are rising. Chicago has experienced record rainfalls this year. Former beaches are now submerged by Lake Michigan’s rising tides. 

I doubt that there is a sane person alive that would dispute that we are experiencing significant climate change. I fully agree that humanity needs to try and meet that challenge and reduce its contribution to that change.

What I do not agree with is the kinds of dire predictions Thunberg makes about the extinction of humanity. Those kinds of predictions can only be made by the denial of God’s providence over the world. 

As it pertains to the Jewish people, we believe in the coming of a Messiah that will usher in a messianic era. That is a promise made to us by God in the bible. Which cannot happen if humanity becomes extinct.  Human extinction can only be seen as a possibility if you do not believe in God’s intervention in the world. 

It is only that kind of individual that can become eco-terrorists. Making matters worse is the kind of world-wide near veneration Greta seems to be getting. That scares me even more than her rhetoric. There is no way that Greta Thunberg should become the poster-child for environmental activism no matter how anyone feels about it. Responsible advocacy is what is called for. Not teenage rage. And yet, it seems like Greta has become exactly that poster child.

My hope is that she will eventually mature and have a more rational and common sense approach. But if her angry rhetoric and worldwide adulation is any indication, I wouldn’t bet the farm on that.

On a completely unrelated subject, I just finished listening to President Trump’s speech to the United Nations. He actually sounded presidential. And although I did not necessarily agree with everything he said I agreed with most of it. There is little doubt that if he limited himself to speaking the way he did here, he would be getting a lot more respect from the American people. And wouldn’t be in half the trouble he is in now.

I realize that he has serious problems that transcend the way he speaks. But I can’t help thinking that if he would just shut up, stop having diarrhea of the brain, and spoke only the way he did here, he would get a lot more respect from at least those of us that agree with his mostly conservative policies. Unfortunately getting Trump to change his  character would be the same thing getting a cow to change into a camel. It just ain’t gonna happen. And that may very well be his eventual downfall. With a socialist like Elizabeth Warren surging in the polls, I am loathe to think what America’s future will look like. Can anyone spell s-o-c-i-a-l-i-s-t?