If there’s one thing that we absolutely can’t stand from any partisan group, it’s propping up children who are barely old enough to drive in the United States to make their message appear more sympathetic.
This is one of those times where we have to admit that it isn’t just the progressive left that does this. The right-wing falls into this trap as well, and it’s equally useless. We’re not saying that children shouldn’t have a political voice — far from it. Making children the symbol of a political movement is another thing entirely.
Just for point of reference — we actually forgot the name of the Parkland shooting survivor who went on to make a name for himself by stumping for gun confiscation on CNN every day afterward. All we had to do was google “gun control kid,” and David Hogg’s name appeared. So yes, even Google algorithms are guilty of this.
So no, we’re not discounting Greta Thunberg’s passionate call for action on climate change based on her age. We’re calling for caution because she’s clearly being used by other entities for nefarious purposes. The worst part is that these children are innocent enough to be led into it, and the adults in the room are supposed to know better.