Greta Thunberg - explaining a phenomenon

Greta Thunberg is a somewhat puzzling phenomenon if you consider how many different kinds of opinions exist about her, dividing society in two camps. I have been an early fan of that great girl called Greta Thunberg. I am obviously biased in one direction whereas many people are biased in the other direction, calling her mentally unstable and being manipulated by the media and the left.

How come people have such divergent opinions about her? The answer lies in different personality types. Here is what each personality type thinks about her:

Farmer types: these people are not quite sure what to make of her. They have an uneasy feeling of a little girl trying to tell the world where it should go. Farmers do think in hierarchical terms and in terms of duty.  A teenager SHOULD be at school and not out in the streets protesting against the establishment. At the same time, a lot of them realise that Greta does have a point.

Pastoralist types: even though they can be on both sides of the divide, it is here that you find the people who straightforwardly offend Greta, claiming she is mentally ill or controlled by the left. These people often belong to the far right and have a low standard of education. That shows in calling ASD people mentally unstable - obviously, they have no idea what ASD means. These are also often people whose spelling and English as a foreign language is much worse than Greta’s while at the same time pointing out that she should be sitting in school.

Hunter-gatherer types: these people mostly embrace Greta and her activism. They value education, but they prioritize our future and the future of our children. Greta is a hunter-gatherer personality herself. If you think about it she even sacrifices a part of her education to everyone’s future. I call that an act of altruism. Some people would call her a liar or hypocrites or that she just enjoys the attention, but this is only because that is HOW THEY WOULD FEEL in Greta’s shoes! People generally extrapolate from themselves!

Here is why Greta is very much authentic and not manipulated by anybody: her personality profile in Myers-Briggs is INTJ.

Anybody who has only the faintest clue about Myers-Briggs knows how much being authentic means to N types. As an introvert Greta does not enjoy being at the centre of attention per se. In fact, she most likely finds it strenuous to be among crowds and speak to them. Introverted intuitives are generally humble people, they tend to speak up only when they really have to say something. What is more, introverts find changing places and people all the time very stressful. There is not much she enjoys in her mission, the one thing that drives her is the hope of being able to make a change.

When she claims that Asperger’s helps her see through people’s lies, she does not exaggerate or lie in any way. Perhaps she can’t explain herself well enough, but she does see things differently from neurotypicals. She understands intuitively that some people are climate-change deniers because they would feel uncomfortable as they pollute the environment with their huge gas-guzzling cars. Rather than giving up their luxuries they prefer not to believe in climate change.This is a phenomenon is known as “cognitive dissonance” in psychology.

Finally, as a hunter-gatherer she does not acknowledge hierarchy. She faced Donald Trump without being intimidated by him. She knows that Trump wouldn’t concede much to environmentalists as this would go both against his personal convictions as well as against the conviction of many of his voters.

People who deride this girl, only reveal their own pettiness. They should be aware of that before they open their mouths the next time they make unfounded statements about her.

Read more about the personality types mentioned here.

Dedicated to Greta Thunberg, a girl who I truly admire. Keep on fighting hunter-gatherer girl!