Political Parenting: Greta Thurnberg edition

[BjornP]

Should a parent completely refrain from discussing political topics with their teenage children, is it wrong to influence them with your values and if your child voices their similar-to-yours politics in public and gets bullied for it, has anyone done anything wrong?

I know - and don’t give a shit - that my values are not objective or universal. I don’t need them to be. Home is always right. And when I see some Swedish girl being "brave" in the UN, I still think "Good fucking parenting" and respect the girl. Not because I agree with her (I havent cared to listen to her), but because I simply don't get the "it's propaganda" or "she is just a pawn" bullshit. She is no more a pawn or victim of propaganda than any of your children are. Doesn't make her right, nor wrong, that's not what I'm talking about here.

It's that a teenage kid is not a "victim" of propaganda simply because they were influenced by "the other team". A teenage kid is an apprentice for adulthood. They are as easily influenced as they are raised and schooled to be. If one has no, and shows not to have, any *expectations* for them to take an interest in politics, or a critical take on the media then that is the adult they become. One where "leaders" take charge of their lives. A MAGA hat wearing teen getting bullied or Greta Thurnberg being compared to Hitler Jugend is the same thing. Just that one team think one is funny and the other tragic, and the other team one is tragic and the other funny.

I bet none of you right wingers would scold your kids for not becoming tranny progressives simply to prove that they are politically independent and weren't "propagandized" by you, right?

[Montegriffo]

Actually, I think it is Greta's parents who have been influenced by her political opinions.
She encouraged them to take measures to reduce their carbon footprint, which included no longer flying, which negatively affected her mother's career as an opera singer.
Her father was against her skipping school to protest at the Swedish Parliament but acknowledged that he would rather have a happy daughter outside Parliament than a depressed child at home still not attending school.
She encouraged her family to stop eating meat not the other way around.

As we've seen here, most of the attacks on her have been of a personal nature rather than addressing her message which is to ''unite behind the science'' and ''act as if your house is on fire, because it is''.

Her blunt way of speaking is probably a result of her Aspergers which she regards as a superpower, not a disability.

She has helped bring the message to the fore amongst huge numbers of her own generation and shamed older generations for their inactivity and failure to address the climate crisis.

Any parent would be proud of what she has achieved at such a young age.
How many other famous 16-year-olds could you name?

[BjornP]

Let me ask you, Monte, if you had the "anti-Greta" as a teenage kid, someone who vocally and publicly campaigned that climate change was a hoax, how would you - as a parent - react to your kid? Would you send her memes and cartoons mocking her/his beliefs, would you try and have the argument with her, etc? Generally, do you think a teenage kid at 16 can and should be taken politically seriously and to what extent?

[Hastur]

Oh, yes. The liberals concern for youth with political opinions is known far and wide.

[Montegriffo]

Let me ask you, Monte, if you had the "anti-Greta" as a teenage kid, someone who vocally and publicly campaigned that climate change was a hoax, how would you - as a parent - react to your kid? Would you send her memes and cartoons mocking her/his beliefs, would you try and have the argument with her, etc? Generally, do you think a teenage kid at 16 can and should be taken politically seriously and to what extent?

I wouldn't mock them, I'd encourage them to read the science.

A 16 year old kid can and is being taken seriously. Look at the institutions which she has spoken at. The UK parliament, the UN, a TED talk and the upcoming UN climate change conference to name a few.

[Montegriffo]

Oh, yes. The liberals concern for youth with political opinions is known far and wide.

Nothing liberal about those views.
They are extremists, just like those attacking David Hogg and Greta.

[BjornP]

Oh, yes. The liberals concern for youth with political opinions is known far and wide.

If by liberal you mean illiberal, sure. Don't you vote for a Swedish liberal party, Hastur?

Anyway, who the biggest meanies and who the biggest victim is, is not the question. If your teenage children hold, or if we imagine they held, the same political views as you... are their opinions a result of your and your favorite media's propaganda and them being used as dupes? Or not?

[Montegriffo]

If your teenage children hold, or if we imagine they held, the same political views as you... are their opinions a result of your and your favorite media's propaganda and them being used as dupes? Or not?

Sometimes.

[Hastur]

My kids hold the same opinions as me because they are smart, like me.

[Hastur]

The people that attacked the MAGA hat kid are now defending Greta. People attacking Greta probably defended the MAGA kid.

The "It's OK when we do it" attitude is pretty universal.