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Greta Thunberg's UN Speech
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Overview
Greta Thunberg's UN Speech refers to an impassioned speech delivered by climate activist Greta Thunberg at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in late September 2019.
Background
On September 23rd, 2019, Thunberg delivered at the United Nations Climate Action Summit. During the speech, Thunberg criticized world leaders for not addressing climate change properly, asserting "we are in the beginning of a mass extinction" (shown below).
"You all come to us young people for hope. How dare you? You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words, and yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you?"
Developments
Donald Trump's "Happy Young Girl" Tweet
That evening, Donald Trump retweeted[1] a Wired article about the speech, along with the statement "She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!" (shown below). Within 24 hours, the tweet gained over 156,000 likes and 38,600 retweets.
The following day, Thunberg changed her Twitter bio to "A very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future" (shown below).
Michael Knowles' "Mentally Ill" Fox News Comment
On September 23rd, conservative podcast host Michael Knowles referred to Thunberg as a "mentally ill Swedish child" while appearing as a guest on the Fox News program The Story (shown below).
"None of that matters because the climate hysteria movement is not about science. If it were about science, it would be led by scientists rather than by politicians and a mentally ill Swedish child who is being exploited by her parents and by the international left."
Following the appearance, Fox News released a statement[2] apologizing for the incident:
"The comment made by Michael Knowles who was a guest on The Story tonight was disgraceful – we apologize to Greta Thunberg and to our viewers."
Laura Ingraham's "Children of the Corn" Comparison
That evening, Fox News host Laura Ingraham played a clip of Thunberg's speech and commented "anyone else find that chilling?" before playing a clip from the 1984 horror film Children of the Corn and stating "I can't wait for Stephen King's sequel, Children of the Climate" (shown below).
Here is Laura Ingraham comparing Greta Thunberg to Children of the Corn and saying, "I can't wait for Stephen King's sequel, Children of the Climate." pic.twitter.com/yyPYkeRIMY
— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) September 24, 2019
Online Presence
That day, YouTuber Internet Historian tweeted[3] a clip of Thunberg's speech with a green screen background, calling for viewers to make their own remixes of the clip (shown below). In response, several variations with digitally altered background were submitted to the thread.
Make your own pic.twitter.com/YE0bsMs3tR
— Internet Historian (@NetHistorian) September 23, 2019
Meanwhile, Redditor kapt1ve submitted a still from the speech with the caption "me waking up after partying" followed by Thunberg captioned with the quote "I should be back in school, on the other side of the ocean" (shown below). Within six hours, the post gained over 4,500 points (95% upvoted) and 180 comments on /r/dankmemes.[4]
Search Interest
External References
[1] Twitter – @realDonaldTrump
[2] USA Today – Fox News apologizes to Greta Thunberg after guest calls her 'mentally ill
[3] Twitter – NetHistorian
[4] Reddit – /r/dankmemes
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