The Gaslighting of Greta Thunberg
Last September, sixteen-year-old environmental activist Greta Thunberg made headlines following her U.N. Climate Action Summit address in which she castigated world leaders for their perceived inaction in tackling climate change. “How dare you!” she remarked in a joltingly accusatory tone, “You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.” However, in their criticism of her speech, many commentators bypassed any substantive discussion of her urgent plea for effective climate change solutions, critiquing instead her emotional delivery and even employing ad hominem in characterising her as having experienced a “full-on adolescent meltdown.”[1]
What most concerned me about this critical response was the glimmering prevalence of embedded, identity-based commentary that weaponised certain of Greta’s own characteristics against her, in order to invalidate her message. In the aftermath of her speech, her own identity—as a proudly autistic, female teenager—rapidly became a means by which to disempower her voice, specifically through anti-disability, misogynist, and ageist sentiments. We soon observed the seemingly innocuous mist of identity-centred gaslighting, where commentary that painted the narrative of a privileged “brat”[2] being fanatically divorced from “reality”[3] mirrored the all-too-frequent playground experience of the autistic child. For just as these children may be socially isolated and compelled to inhabit their own “bubble”[4] somewhere over there, just so Greta has been characterised as estranged from social reality, her comments the mere lost musings of a person talking to a wall.
Thus, in our current age of populist validity, in which unaccountable news organisations can adopt inherently malleable and obscured, identity biases and Twitter commentators—like Jeremy Clarkson—can “break the internet” with impunity, this article expresses to them the following sentiment: how dare you, for you too have stolen countless dreams and childhoods with your damaging narratives.
Anti-disability sentiment of the (autistic) “meltdown” reference
References to Greta’s self-identifying as being on the autism spectrum were frequently cited in commentators’ responses to her address, including the fact that she is openly proud of her identity and likens it to having a “superpower.”[5] However, in direct contrast to this positive message of empowerment, some outlets subtly replicated the lonely trope of the socially-ostracised autistic individual, by characterising Greta as possessing similarly lonely misunderstandings about life. Comments to this effect included those who stressed her apparent ignorance of a history of economic development centred around “fossil fuels,”[6] and others who bluntly demanded that she go “back to school.”[7]
As such, a specific depiction of Greta’s activism emerged in some circles, painting her as an isolated voice enveloped in a self-imposed bubble of world-estrangement and misapprehension. Here seen as naively impassioned, Greta’s message on climate change became reduced to the unrelatable ramblings of a “mentally ill”[8] person in just the same way that the autistic child may be isolated in the playground to their own eccentricities—Greta is now left muttering to herself.
However, this parallel with the autistic experience becomes more pertinent when we observe the “meltdown” reference made by various critics. For while it may be unbeknownst to these commentators, the word “meltdown” is particularly associated with autism and is described by the National Autistic Society as “an intense response to overwhelming situations.”[9] Therefore, by criticising her address through the use of a word that so heavily connotes an autistic person’s temporary loss of behavioural and/or emotional control, these critics subtly and perhaps unknowingly weaponised Greta’s autism against her. In essence, references to Greta’s having experienced a “meltdown” symbolised an attempt to trivialise her speech in a manner that disparagingly touched upon her own identity.
As an inevitable consequence of this pattern of gaslighting and the subtle anti-disability sentiment of the “meltdown” ad hominem, the autistic person is left with the following impression: regardless of what I stand for or the substantive merits of my message, my identity will always leave me open to ridicule.
The misogynist trope of the “hysterical” female
As women, we are acutely accustomed to the veiled misogynist sentiment that underlies certain words, such as “shrieking” or “hysteria,” which are often directed at us when we express our emotions. The question, “are you on your period?” also carries the same silencing and diminishing scorn, regardless of the gender of the questioner, for it dismisses the message you are trying to convey—perhaps emotionally—as attributable to something trivially inside of you and as unreasonable as your own biology.
Such familiarities of being emotionally gaslighted are particularly embedded in the female experience, where our substantive concerns become detached from their reasoned source and are aimed back at us. The query, “why did you hurt me?” receives its twisted reply, “But you are so sensitive, so easily hurt.” And, of course, as women, we frequently hear that this sensitivity we are so susceptible to is particularly heightened during that time of the month, where our biology betrays us into misinterpreting another’s conduct or into believing something to be worse than it actually is. Thus, as gaslighted women who are so prone to self-betrayal, we enter a cycle in which we feel detached from our own bodies and we gradually grow to distrust our own consciences: “I am a woman who is crying, but am I truly sad? Did that person mistreat me or is my body to blame?”
The act of crying is historically—and, in my opinion, mistakenly—associated with the “weaker,” female sex and phrases, such as “wailing,” we observe in caricature, Hollywood form in the forever-needing-to-be-rescued damsel-in-distress. As such, a subliminal context arises in which to interpret certain commentary surrounding Greta’s climate change speech, where her strength of character became misconstrued beneath a targeted focus on her pained, thumbnail-worthy facial expressions and “emotional”[10] tone of voice—Greta became a damsel-in-distress. Critical attention now shifted away from the sincerity she was conveying about her environmental cause to her capacity for public engagement on such a large platform, with questions arising as to the accountability of her parents,[11] for example.
Therefore, in some circles it is possible to elucidate the following assumption: that to be emotional is to show (typically female) vulnerability, and that to be vulnerable is to be incapable. In this vein, we observe an almost imperceptible, veiled misogyny, where Greta’s message about climate change is gaslighted as being an example of vulnerable, and thus incapable, female hysteria.
A mere “adolescent”: how ageism is used to undermine her message
In the aftermath of her speech, Donald Trump tweeted that Greta “seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future,”[12] while Vladimir Putin cautioned that “[w]hen someone is using children and teenagers in personal interests, it only deserves to be condemned.”[13] One can observe in both of these responses a demeaning, ageist sentiment towards Greta’s “youth,” which replicates the power inequality that is implicit in the description of a child written in a class-teacher report—here the teacher holds the power.
In today’s media, there appears to be a general fetishisation of the idea of “youth” at two extremes. At one end of the spectrum, we see the YouTube-obsessive quasi-deification of the “child prodigy,” the concept of ultimate female “beauty” reaching its peak in a doll-like, teenage face, and the idolisation of “youth” as being a time for making exciting, though unaccountable mistakes. While at the other end, the observation of your “youth” can serve to defeat the validity of what you have to say, deferring to a higher, “older” level of authority—for example, is Greta being “manipulated by”[14] her parents? Likewise, “old age” receives similar extremes of treatment, where at the derisive end of the spectrum we encounter the hackneyed, comedic trope of the elderly individual who is utterly withdrawn from modern society.
As such, a prevalent ageism exists in popular culture which influences our perceptions of ourselves and of one another, both valuing and devaluing our opinions and endeavours purely on the basis of our (perceived) identities. Thus, in this vein one notices the frequent invalidation of Greta’s speech as the mere rantings of a “teenager.”[15]
Conclusion
Through embedded, identity-based ad hominem, some critics have attempted to diminish Greta’s message on the urgency of climate change action. However, it is important to note a final, more elusive point: in this allegedly identity-conscious climate, how can some individuals still feel capable of referring to somebody as a “girl” or as having a “meltdown” as a means of disempowerment? Why is it still assumed by these critics that certain characteristics of our identities provide a vulnerability which may be exploited to silence our voices? To prevent the theft of the next generation’s dreams and childhoods, we can hold these commentators accountable by merely noticing that this perceived “vulnerability” is in fact strength.
Article tags: | -ism | autism | ageism | beauty myth | environmentalism |
Through embedded, identity-based ad hominem, some critics have attempted to diminish Greta’s message on the urgency of climate change action. Image source: Hanna Franzen/EPA
In some circles it is possible to elucidate the following assumption: that to be emotional is to show (typically female) vulnerability, and that to be vulnerable is to be incapable. Image source: Getty Images
Just as autistic children may be socially isolated and compelled to inhabit their own “bubble” somewhere over there, just so Greta has been characterised as estranged from social reality, her comments the mere lost musings of a person talking to a wall. Image source: Rife Magazine
The damsel-in-distress character embodies the dismissive, concealed misogyny of female “hysteria.” Image source: Disney
An example of ageism in popular culture is the concept of female “beauty” we see in the beauty industry, which fetishises the appearance of “youth.” Image Source: Crystal Tai
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While it may be unbeknownst to some, references to Greta Thunberg's U.N. Climate Action Summit address as a "meltdo… https://t.co/5kEEFQELep
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Sources Cited
[1] Jeremy Clarkson, ‘Sorry, Greta, But Having A Meltdown Isn’t Going To Change The World’ (ClimateChangeDispatch, 30 September 2019) <https://climatechangedispatch.com/greta-meltdown-world/> accessed 9 November 2019.
[2] ibid.
[3] Trevor Shurmer, ‘Reader letter: Greta Thunberg is ungrateful and needs a reality check' (Eastern Daily Press, 28 September 2019) <https://www.edp24.co.uk/features/climate-change-activist-greta-thunberg-needs-reality-check-1-6295740> accessed 9 November 2019.
[4] Christine Doyle, ‘Understanding autism: breaking out of the bubble' (The Telegraph, 29 April 2002) <https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/children/4710582/Understanding-autism-breaking-out-of-the-bubble.html> accessed 6 November 2019.
[5] Ryan W. Miller, ‘Greta Thunberg declines environmental prize: “Climate movement does not need any more awards”’ (USA Today, 30 October 2019) <https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/10/30/greta-thunberg-declines-nordic-council-environmental-prize-money/4095078002/> accessed 6 November 2019.
[6] Shurmer (n 3).
[7] Clarkson (n 1).
[8] Madeleine Kearns, ‘The Uses and Abuses of the Term “Mental Illness”’ (National Review, 26 September 2019) <https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/09/is-greta-thunberg-mentally-ill/> accessed 6 November 2019.
[9] ‘Meltdowns’ (National Autistic Society, 9 March 2016) <https://www.autism.org.uk/about/behaviour/meltdowns.aspx> accessed 1 November 2019.
[10] Zamira Rahim, ‘Trump mocks Greta Thunberg after emotional UN speech: “Such a happy young girl”’ (The Independent, 24 September 2019)<https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-greta-thunberg-un-summit-speech-climate-change-protest-twitter-a9117681.html> accessed 9 November 2019.
[11] ‘Greta Thunberg's parents should be “held accountable”’ [video online] Available at: https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6089238208001 [Accessed 4 November 2019].
[12] Lauren Frias, ‘Trump said Greta Thunberg seems like she has “a bright and wonderful future” the same day she gave an impassioned speech at the UN about the devastating impact of climate change' (Business Insider, 24 September 2019) <https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-tweet-greta-thunberg-speech-un-climate-action-summit-2019-9?r=US&IR=T> accessed 8 November 2019.
[13] Tom Parfitt, ‘Greta Thunberg: The teenage climate activist tipped to win Nobel Peace Prize' (The Independent, 11 October 2019) <https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/greta-thunberg-speech-climate-change-nobel-peace-prize-winner-who-a9139651.html> accessed 6 November 2019.
[14] Martin Belam, ‘Greta Thunberg: teenager on a global mission to “make a difference”’ (The Guardian, 26 September 2019) <https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/26/greta-thunberg-teenager-on-a-global-mission-to-make-a-difference> accessed 8 November 2019.
[15] Jonathan Watts, ‘A Teen Started a Global Climate Protest. What Are You Doing?’ (Wired, 12 March 2019) <https://www.wired.com/story/a-teen-started-a-global-climate-protest-what-are-you-doing/> accessed 4 November 2019.