The young generation reproaches the older one, exclaiming: “You destroyed our planet!”
But it’s nonsense.
The older generation has made many mistakes, but climate activists are not paying attention to the essentials that matter. Instead, they are fighting an apocalypse cooked up in the virtual world where hashtags matter more than substance.
When the Fridays for Future student strikes began, many people considered these protests to relatively reasonable. Even if someone does not agree with the protesters’ message about climate change, it was good that young people care about something enough to voice their concerns.
Eventually, however, crazy people from the Extinction Rebellion started to promote a culture of hate with the aim to destroy liberal democracy and capitalism.
“Change the system, not the climate” has become the main slogan of those who want to not only curb carbon dioxide emissions but also stir conflict with the whole Western civilization.
Greta Thunberg’s latest appeal, calling young activists to be “combat-ready”, is a great example. Thunberg no longer sticks only with climate protection proclamations. She has also started to blame the “colonial, racist, and patriarchal oppression mechanisms” for “creating and nourishing the crisis of human rights, justice, and political will.”
But the opposite is true. The culture of the “white heterosexual man” gave the world civil liberties, the rule of law, and the democratic will to move towards a better world. In many other countries, critics like Thunberg would not even have the right to speak. In many countries, people of her gender still have little to no rights, a tragedy that Thunberg overlooks in her pursuit of trashing the West.
We in the West have made many mistakes along with every other that has existed on this planet, but no one can deny the merits of the Western system.
It is a very strange rebellion that is taking place against the “old”.
It is not a rebellion of young people trying to have a different lifestyle than their parents. Sometimes, I doubt they want to live at all.
As a person who experienced the world before these young activists were born, I know what the planet used to look like. Furthermore, communism was a real threat, not a virtual nightmare. it was a real reason to fear the future.
In the past, nature was polluted and poisonous water flowed in the rivers. We ate food with many dangerous pollutants, the air was contaminated by emissions that smothered us and people died of cancer and lung diseases. Fortunately, the world today is quite different and better.
Rivers, soil and air are several times cleaner than in 1989. We limit dependence on coal power plants. We can travel freely, live in peace and security, and enjoy the advantages that capitalism offers.
We also have access to amazing technology, much of it derived from the West, that despite its drawbacks has made life much easier, including for those who have access to it in less developed parts of the world. It is also the reason Thunberg can even reach such a large audience with the click of her mouse.
My generation did not destroy the planet. On the contrary, we will hand the planet to the current young generation in a much better state, with cleaner nature, and a society that is freer, safer and richer.
So what is this new “generation rebellion” about?
In fact, there is nothing particularly new about in the sense that young people want to be heard, as they always have. At the same time, new systems of exploitation has sprung up around it, including those who see opportunities to get rich through the climate business.
At the end of the day, there is not much to rebel about. Green policies are part of the program of most political parties, and the economy is increasingly focusing on green technologies. The protection of the environment is an integral part of constitutional rights for most countries and not many are truly questioning that, but young people seem to think that only they can change a system that is already in many ways working towards their goals.
