Of Course Republicans Are Angry Greta Thunberg Is TIME’S Person Of The Year

On Wednesday, teen climate activist Greta Thunberg was named TIME Person of the Year for 2019. The annual distinction is at times seen as an award, but not all the “people of the year” are necessarily positive contributors to society. More often the choice reflects the amount of influence a person or the movement surrounding them has had one society. In Thunberg’s case, it’s her ability to mobilize huge groups of people, adults and children, into climate activists themselves.

In August of 2018, Thunberg began skipping school every Friday and sitting outside of Swedish Parliament with a sign that read Skolstrejk för klimatet or “School Strike for Climate.” Since then, her movement has grown, and millions of people all over the world joined her in a strike for the climate last summer.

Greta’s journey started when she was about 11, and learned of the impending climate crisis. She was stunned that it seemed like no one was doing anything about it, and the situation pushed her into a deep depression. Her parents responded by making changes in their own lifestyle, like giving up meet and airplanes and committing to solar energy at home, and she began to come out of it as she realized there was something she could do.

Thunberg has Asperger’s, an autism spectrum disorder, and she has said that if she were a neurotypical person, she might not have had that intense reaction to the bad news about the planet. She would have been able to compartmentalize it more easily. It’s also given her an intense focus on the work she has to do to get what she wants. So, Thunberg has become an advocate for other people with Asperger’s as well, openly discussing how being different can make you more powerful.

This has all been very triggering for conservatives, especially the old straight white male variety. There’s something about a serious teen girl who can’t be swayed by taunts or jeers that just makes them rage. Thunberg receives death threats, has been attacked by Donald Trump, compared to Nazi propaganda, and also been weirdly sexualized by these creeps. And now they’re losing it over her acknowledgement in Time:

Like Trump Jr., many conservatives have focused on the fact that the Hong Kong protestors were on the shortlist for the award, and are covering their distaste for Thunberg with faux outrage over them being passed over for a teen girl:

But most are just being sarcastic and weird:

They’re mad because they’re scared, and they should be: Thunberg’s message is important to a whole lot of people.