Why does she get up the nose of so many ignorant old men...

[Soph0571]

Cause they are ignorant, they are male pale and stale, and how dare she, as a girl challenge the status quo, their stupidity and patriarchy... poisonous old gits.

[Arkansas Granny]

1. Follow the money. Most of them have made their living from the very industries and enterprises

that are destroying our planet.

[Farmer-Rick]

19. Exactly

Big money is getting rich off destroying our planet. They are not going to stop on their own. Hell, big corporations still sell cigarettes. They are still making millions off of killing people.

[patphil]

37. They also make millions through companies that do environmental cleanup, and

even more millions through companies that treat the people they hurt as a result of environmental pollutants.
Not to mention the billions of dollars the medical industry makes treating the effects of smoking.
So, they generate profit from both ends of the process.
They save money on the production end by not spending money to insure their processes don't pollute the environment.
Then they charge huge amounts of money to fix what they broke.
And we, the consumers, get to pay to be poisoned, and then pay again to treat the effects of their poisons.

I just noticed, this is my 800th post. Not much compared to many here, but it's a start.

Patrick Phillips

[Arkansas Granny]

54. So, they are making out like bandits on all sides of the equation.

[Botany]

24. And this goes way back ... the fossil fuel industry and its money is a cancer on America.

Jimmy Carter put up crude solar panels (water heaters) on the White House and in 1981
Ronald Reagan took 'em down. Where would we be now if we had stayed the course for
clean non carbon based renewable energy for the past 40 years? How many millions tons
of carbon would not have gone up into our atmosphere how many tens of thousands of
acres of mountain tops would not have been blown off for strip mining in Appalachia?

[CaptYossarian]

26. Every day I think of the irony that the

Satan Brothers, Charles and David, sell a product called ANGEL Soft toilet paper.

If their pictures were printed on each square, I'd quit boycotting them.

They've most likely bribed more politicians then any other irresponsible, murderous mofo in existence.

[DENVERPOPS]

45. That, and,

They treat all women as a sub-species............

[BlueTsunami2018]

53. I disagree.

Most of these people have nothing to do with the fossil fuel industry, they’re just political assholes. It’s a right wing thing. The ones I know are office workers, cops, teachers, retail managers and so on. They have nothing to do with oil and gas or coal.

[Cirque du So-What]

2. Is it 'git' or 'get'?

Ive wondered since hearing I'm So Tired for the first time.

[3Hotdogs]

5. "Git," British slang.

"Get," Yiddish word for permission to divorce. Not sure that it applies here.

[Cirque du So-What]

6. '...and curse Sir Walter Raleigh, he was such a stupid get...'?

Doesn't appear to be Yiddish slang in that case.

[sl8]

10. Wikipedia says:

Not definitive, but a starting point, maybe.

From https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Git_(slang)

Git (slang)

Git is a term of insult with origins in English denoting an unpleasant, silly, incompetent, annoying, senile, elderly or childish person.[1] As a mild[2] oath it is roughly on a par with prat and marginally less pejorative than berk. Typically a good-natured admonition with a strong implication of familiarity, git is more severe than twit or idiot but less severe than wanker, arsehole or twat when offence is intended.[2][3][4]

The word git first appeared in print in 1946, but is undoubtedly older.[citation needed] It is originally an alteration of the word get, dating back to the 14th century.[citation needed][5] A shortening of beget,[6] get insinuates that the recipient is someone's misbegotten offspring and therefore a bastard.[7] In parts of northern England, Northern Ireland and Scotland get is still used in preference to git; the get form is used in the Beatles song "I'm So Tired".[8]

The word has been ruled by the Speaker of the House of Commons to be unparliamentary language.[9][10]

[..]

[ Emphasis added ]

[TexasProgresive]

12. In British slang I go with the following citation for origin.

9. Git

By calling someone a git, you’re invoking the old Scots word get, which means "bastard." When it came down south of the border, it lost its harsh vowel sound and became something softer, albeit with the required spikiness in.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/50449/origins-9-great-british-insults

It is used more as a generic insult and not a reference any longer to parentage.

[LiberalLovinLug]

42. I saw a lyrics page that spelled that wrong too

From the Beatles, "I'm so Tired". Which is the first thing I think of when I hear that word.

I'm so tired, I'm feeling so upset
Although I'm so tired, I'll have another cigarette
And curse Sir Walter Raleigh
He was such a stupid git


Apparently, I just found out, that he curses Raleigh this way because he's talking about having to light another cigarette, even though he's tired, because Raleigh was the one credited for bringing tobacco to the UK from Virginia.

[Soph0571]

11. It is git

Another descriptor for stupid old arseholes...

[BlueSpot]

47. What they don't get?

Is that what you're referring to? Get = understand in that instance. Not git.

[FM123]

3. Yep.

This is exactly how they think - how dare SHE

[Mike 03]

4. Excellent.

Kick and rec.

[Nuffer]

7. Greta

I am 71 years old and love the younger generation! As Dan Rather says "Male...pale and stale" add.. stuck in the 50's...cant get it up...along with flabby...crabby and one foot in the 6 footer! We need youngins more than ever! Us oldies need to let them take take charge! Greta is a true breath of fresh air...you go girlie!

[hatrack]

8. Two reasons:

A: She's Right

B: She Doesn't Give A Shit About What They Think.

[FakeNoose]

9. Exactly right! And I wish there were more like her

[GusBob]

15. That but its more

As a over middle aged white male I have noticed this trend so many adult guys feel threatened by her somehow
I laugh in their general direction

[OhNo-Really]

41. The other 2 reasons

Oil
&
Gas

Plastics is a solid satellite of these

[Neema]

46. And many of them are narcissists who wish they could have the positive attention she's gotten. But

none of them want to do anything positive to deserve accolades. They want get them unearned, just as most of them have gotten everything their whole entitled lives.

[gordianot]

13. There is something about young idealistic inspiring females that infuriates knuckle draggers.

There seems to be a Joan of Ark effect they would gladly burn them at the stake even though they do not really know them. My favorite example is Ocasio-Cortez and the hatred directed toward her. How dare she. She is a millionaire Representative and she once worked in a bar. It is not just old men but women who get irrational. Funny thing about Joan of Arc even though she was burnt at the stake as a martyr she still won.

[CaptYossarian]

27. The only reason women still have the right to vote is because these

fossils hope their spouses will vote exactly the same way they do. The GOP is so good at taking voting rights away from others that if they knew what went on behind that curtain, the 19th Amendment would be overturned.

The old conservatives don't scare me as much as the College Republicans. As you age, you're naturally supposed to lean more to the right. If you're 20 and already more conservative than Hitler, what will you be like at 60?

[Martin Eden]

14. The malefactors of great wealth are not necessarily ignorant

... though Rethuglican voters are.

The malefactors of great wealth place their own wealth and power above the health of our children and the sustainability of life on earth.

They are more evil than ignorant.

[SaintLouisBlues]

16. Many here on DU also have the child activists living rent free in their heads

There was a ton of criticism on DU when the child activists first got attention.

Most conservadems here were smart enough to shut up when the cause gained popularity, but some were snarking at Greta as recently as last week.

OK Boomers (and other assorted Olds.)

[Anon-C]

28. But where are they now?

[SaintLouisBlues]

31. Ha Ha

Yes, most, but not all, have shut their pie-holes here.

[loyalsister]

49. My only complaint with "ok Boomer"

is that I think Xers should be included very prominently in the sentiment. I say this as a gen Xer who saw my age peers take over my former swing state in 2002 and trash it politically right after we all failed to enthusiastically support Al Gore in 2000.

[Dr Vegas]

17. I posted the Time's cover on my FB page

along with the covers of "Guardians of the Year" and "Athletes of the Year". I mostly got thumbs up or hearts from my FB friends under her post. I did have one guy (I knew in High School) that post a Meme of her eating on a train that criticized her 1) traveling on a Train and 2)Eating food that was stored in plastics. Knowing that this guy was not smart enough to create this meme and decide to research it online and found that the son of the president of Brazil used a doctored version of that same meme to go after Greta. The picture was actually one that Greta posted online (w/o the nasty comments.) I first posted that story in response to his post , then I quicked deleted it along with his post. I figured he was trying to troll me and drag me into responding to him and then my FB would blow up in a flame war.

Every Year I post a Statement that if something of mine shows up in their feed that they don't like they can always delete it.
They can also Unfriend me at any time if they strongly disagree with my politics.

He doesn't even realize that his post reflects more on/about him to any of the people that saw it before I delete it

[SergeStorms]

18. It's not only men...

although it is (decreasingly so), and was a male dominated world. Let's not give the entire female gender a pass on this one, OK? Dan Rather didn't make this mistake, it's entirely your doing, so tone down the male animosity a bit, please? Men will take the lion's share of responsibility for this, as we must, but excoriating all males while neglecting to include a fair share of women in your rant is blatantly sexist. Let's put it this way: If I were to post something condemning only females I'd be alerted on in a nano-second.

That said, I wholeheartedly agree with the assumption that Greta Thunberg does raise the hackles of many older individuals, and a fair amount of younger people as well. They're set in their ways, think children should "be seen and not heard", and generally don't like being scolded by anyone their junior. Most of these people stopped learning anything topical decades ago, and react viscerally to these things they know nothing about. These reactions are, as is usually the case, borne of ignorance.

[Soph0571]

21. At no time did I say all males

And I was making a pp point about a certain demographic... this does not preclude that other demographics are not also arseholes

[SergeStorms]

23. OK.

It just seemed to be worded as a one-sided attack. My mistake.

[SaintLouisBlues]

29. No. I'm agreeing with you. Women snarking at Greta right here on DU.

Sorry, now I see the your reply was not to me. Nevertheless, I'm all for piling on to men, especially white men, but not at the expense of the 55% of white women.

[SaintLouisBlues]

22. Yes, the DU ConservaDems that complain about the child activists include women.

[Owl]

20. So well said Dan.

[treestar]

25. Out there on FB and the like

It is amazing the amount of vitriol they come up with. It's like they are madder at her than they ever were at Hillary and other demons of their imagination.

[IronLionZion]

30. The people insulting her online are mostly pale, male, and stale

but all sorts of people are complicit in climate change.

Air travel is more popular with urban liberals than rural conservatives.
Air pollution is so bad in Asia, people die from breathing in the smoke and you can look directly at the sun through the thick smog.
We all have stuff that got to us by truck and ship.
Anyone who owns mutual funds in their retirement account probably has some fossil fuel stocks.
Brazil is intentionally burning down the Amazon rain forest.

[Texin]

32. It's a "language" they don't HAVE to "understand." They know they'll all be dead soon.

And they won't be faced with the consequences of their inaction or outright plunder of the Earth's natural order.

[Ferrets are Cool]

33. Absolutely love this man.

[DanieRains]

34. The Drill Baby Drill Crowd

The takers.

[LiberalArkie]

35. A lot of people (stuffy and prideful beasts that they are) really dislike how Aspies tend to rile

them up.

[abqtommy]

36. Greta and all other young people are the future of the world. Ignorant old men belong to the past

and they can't bear to think about it. I think that the sooner the ignorant and old get out of the way the better things will be.

[The Wizard]

38. Her cause

cuts into the profits of the bribing class that sends part of their ill gotten profits into the off shore money laundry accounts of select government officials who pass laws that favor the bribing class. It's always about the money.

[eppur_se_muova]

39. Had to click to see which woman it was -- there are so many who piss off RWers.

Adding her to the list. But I don't see being pissed of at 50.5% of US population -- which is evidently where they're headed eventually -- as a winning strategy.

[Bradical79]

40. Trump's online bullying and insults are a badge of honor

If you're a teenage girl whose words elicited personal insults from POTUS Trump and other powerful authoritarians, you know you did good.

[BigmanPigman]

43. Amen to that,

and I'm an Atheist.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

44. Well said, Mr. Rather.

[burrowowl]

48. Bravo Rather!

[Soxfan58]

50. This old white guy

And the proud grandfather of a wonderful grandson on the autism spectrum. I am so happy about this choice. Bravo for changing the story to this brave young women. I needed this, the Planet needed this.

[dewsgirl]

51. Dan Rather speaking out lately, lead me down a rabbit hole

on YouTube last night, watching videos of, What's the frequency Kenneth? Crazy story.😳

[Hav]

52. I, too, cannot understand what is behind the hatred

Maybe it is exactly the message of "hope and resilience". The majority understands that there needs to be a change in our thinking. But they can't accept it from such a young person. They cannot respond to that in any meaninful, factual way, so they resort to hate and ridicule.
I'm amazed at the kind of comments I hear from otherwise rational people (for instance, during her recent trip, that maybe the Atlantic will take care of her for us).
It's not only that they seem to disagree with her activism, it's that they cannot control their vitriol towards a teenager. It's both ridiculous and scary.