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Trolls Are Swarming Young Climate Activists Online

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Re: Trolls Are Swarming Young Climate Activists Online

#51

Post by buboard »

scarmig wrote: post #16
crazynick4 wrote: post #10

Sad to see. Although, honestly, the parents shouldn't have allowed their kids to put themselves in these 'activist' positions to begin with. What did they expect? And also, a 16 year old girl speaking at the UN? Is that a joke? I fully support protecting the environment but this is child exploitation for political purposes. These movements should be led by scientists, not children. Is it any wonder people are still s…

The movement has been led by scientists for decades. They have been ignored. If it's shameful that a 16 year old is being forced to lead a movement, the shame is on society and the older generations for not doing anything about climate change despite manifest urgency.

What makes you think that this child abuse is good for the cause? I see a lot of negative reactions

Re: Trolls Are Swarming Young Climate Activists Online

#52

Post by crazynick4 »

freeone3000 wrote: post #27
crazynick4 wrote: post #10

Sad to see. Although, honestly, the parents shouldn't have allowed their kids to put themselves in these 'activist' positions to begin with. What did they expect? And also, a 16 year old girl speaking at the UN? Is that a joke? I fully support protecting the environment but this is child exploitation for political purposes. These movements should be led by scientists, not children. Is it any wonder people are still s…

If you listen to the transcripts, this is essentially what they're campaigning for - for the adults to take charge. And these kids are being congratulated for speaking out while the contents of their message are ignored. It's frustrating to watch.

I guess what I'm trying to say that is that kids, whether they're right or wrong, aren't really qualified to promote a public opinion on any issue. You also have to remember that they're being allowed to skip school to do this. When I was a kid, I would have gone to practically any rally if it meant skipping class..

Re: Trolls Are Swarming Young Climate Activists Online

#53

Post by simplyinfinity »

crazynick4 wrote: post #15
neogodless wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the solution to suppress their voices, rather than protect them from trolls and suppress the voices of the trolls?

We shouldn't suppress any voices, unless they're outright calling for violence. We also shouldn't elevate our children to become spokespeople for the world. Let kids be kids.

If the kids WANT to participate, why not let them? This girl started protesting by herself.She took initiative, raised her voice and dis something. Should we stop her from doing that?

Re: Trolls Are Swarming Young Climate Activists Online

#54

Post by scarmig »

gatherhunterer wrote: post #47

Of course the trolls are wrong for trolling, but trolling is a fact of life on the web. When I was a kid I was told to never link any online account with my real identity and to always regard every person encountered on the web as a potential bad actor. The article begins with the story of an 11-year-old whose identity is linked to a public Twitter account. There is a distinct lack of recognition for the failures in…

Even if the parents have failed in some way, I hope you'd agree that the people trolling children online are far worse. Including President Trump.

Re: Trolls Are Swarming Young Climate Activists Online

#55

Post by bfdm »

AlexB138 wrote: post #14

Using children as political tools is disgusting. It's blatantly manipulative. Throwing them into the cess-pool of public politics and then acting as if you're shocked they're in a cess-pool, and using that shock to try to score political points, is one of the more reprehensible tactics in the modern play book.

Maybe perhaps we could try to raise the level of discourse across the board? Why does it have to be a cess pool at all?

We really have to do something to reduce the firehose of twitter/FB bots and trolls with no accountability. It's like the old days of email spam, but with targetted abuse and harassment.

Re: Trolls Are Swarming Young Climate Activists Online

#56

Post by kenshinji »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #11

>mom of 8-year-old climate activist Havana Chapman-Edwards Is it just me, or is there something disturbing about an 8 year old activist for anything? I cannot see anything good coming from turning young children into activists. Kids that age need love and stability, not the fear that the world is going to end unless they do something.

However the world is going to end no matter what we’ll do.

Re: Trolls Are Swarming Young Climate Activists Online

#57

Post by scarmig »

AlexB138 wrote: post #49
scarmig wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if it's wrong for parents to expose kids to toxic online environments like Twitter, surely you'd agree that someone trolling kids online (like with "She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!") should be ashamed of themselves and driven out of polite society, yes?

> surely you'd agree that someone trolling kids online ... should be ashamed of themselves and driven out of polite society, yes? I think pretty much everyone involved here, aside from the children, ought to be ashamed of themselves. I don't buy into the idea that people ought to be driven out of society though.

So parents are just as bad for letting children engage in activism as the people threatening to murder and rape them?

Re: Trolls Are Swarming Young Climate Activists Online

#58

Post by pound »

crazynick4 wrote: post #10

Sad to see. Although, honestly, the parents shouldn't have allowed their kids to put themselves in these 'activist' positions to begin with. What did they expect? And also, a 16 year old girl speaking at the UN? Is that a joke? I fully support protecting the environment but this is child exploitation for political purposes. These movements should be led by scientists, not children. Is it any wonder people are still s…

On the other hand - that kid will draw more general public's attention than even the most famous and accredited scientists. Just reality we're living in - unless it's a public show it will be ignored, no matter how serious issues are.

Re: Trolls Are Swarming Young Climate Activists Online

#60

Post by Retric »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #11

>mom of 8-year-old climate activist Havana Chapman-Edwards Is it just me, or is there something disturbing about an 8 year old activist for anything? I cannot see anything good coming from turning young children into activists. Kids that age need love and stability, not the fear that the world is going to end unless they do something.

It’s a question of agency. Young children rarely get the feeling that anything they do has inherent value.

Something as simple as gathering twigs for a campfire is unusual specifically because it’s helpful. Activism at that age is a mix of learning experience and actually useful. So, IMO it can be a positive activity in the right context.

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