Greta Thunberg illustrates to UN dignitaries that the sky is falling.
Last Friday was a landmark indicator that children will still be children and the overwhelming presence of social media and egregious selfie soundbites recycled talking points, are apparently an acceptable substitute for sound scientific dogma and empirical evidence. As pockets of students around the globe skipped school to march and rally to save the earth from an inevitable doom twelve years from now, the presence of unbridled youthful passion and emotion was not the most troubling aspect of the self-aggrandizing festivities, but the invasion of parents sharing in the chants of group think and virtue signalling.
The epidemic of generation-x mothers and fathers bumbling and stumbling to simply punish their kids in a firm and loving fashion, has created a topsy-turvy discombobulated world rivaling a surreal scene from “A Clockwork Orange”. Three decades from now it is not a far-fetched notion to envision a society where the brattish pathological antics of gangs of Alec’s, terrorize the suburbs in committing orgies of felonies and racing through the streets in their alcohol fueled hybrid sports cars, only to be encouraged by the community to be the best.
Swedish citizen and climate alarmist viral teen sensation, Greta Thunberg, culminated the dreary Friday ceremonies by lashing into political dignitaries from around the world in a nasally and vitriolic emotional performance, worthy of various entertainment awards for the combination of venomous pronouns and the absence of facts. One has to ponder the possibility that the future method actress, who performed flawlessly on the international stage in proclaiming that politicians have ruined her childhood, receives a healthy dosage of rules and boundaries from her parents, or is it the other way around? With the media already championing the 16-year-old as an “activist”, even though she has not yet had the opportunity to pursue a university education in the fields of hard sciences or political science, kids are given mixed messages as to the importance of academic and professional credentials in establishing credibility and a proven track record.
Interestingly, the failure by teachers to enforce reading comprehension in cagily skipping over the chapter of the 2019 UN climate report citing thematic data gaps leading to assumptions, rather than observations based on empirical evidence, is a microcosm in the blatant monetization and intellectual dishonesty powering the environmental movement. Why aren’t science and math instructors emphasizing the foundational processes of proper experimentation techniques, and the tedious and arduous endeavor that constitutes facilitating a study that demands merit, and admonishes propaganda. At the intersection of coddling the younger generations and the passive indoctrination of demonizing baby boomers, the adroit and devious social engineers have created the ultimate nightmare, where absolutes transform into profanities and myths dominate reality and favor feelings over facts. Protest chants against oil and coal cause severe intermittent head scratching, as the average skeptic to the furtively deplorable narrative is bothered by the ridiculously naive and nonsensical campaign to eliminate manufacturing and logistics in the presence of love and fairy tales?
But the buck stops with the parents, or it should in a world that continues to evolve only because of the concerted efforts of sensible women and men functioning above the perpetual and abysmal background noise of collective chaos. The UN could very well list stern punishment from the home as an endangered species, bracketed by the Spotted owl and the Snow leopard, as a massive mistrust of adults pervades into a storm of insolence so powerful that children defiantly ignore the basic and valuable lesson of looking both ways before crossing the street. Translated into extremist doublespeak, why look only two ways when nature is such a diverse, bountiful, and beautiful entity? The only politically correct solution is to ponder the wonder and limitless directions of the austere woods, and watch out for that bus!
As disincentivizing bad behavior and limiting counterproductive impulses becomes a stone age concept best deployed by evil people, the frenzied and reckless race to post the most polarizing, savage, and controversial conspiracy theory on social media, while attacking tradition, is the current craze among the youth. It is the responsibility of the parents in this pending modern nightmare of unbridled childhood enthusiasm to be the disciplinarians, and not the pawns in a game that is far becoming less fun, but dangerous, as the rules dissipate into an uncertain future. The outcome can still turn out to be favorable, but only under the inglorious and pedestrian rediscovery of accountability.