Time magazine has announced their 2019 Person of The Year. And, drum roll, please…the award goes to none other than Swedish queen of truancy and tantrums, climate activist, Greta Thunberg.

It seems the scowling teen whose life has been ruined by air travelers and everyone else’s carbon footprints edged out Nancy Pelosi, Megan Rapinoe (don’t worry, Sports Illustrated picked her up) and the anonymous whistleblower.

Thunberg began a global movement by skipping school: starting in August 2018, she spent her days camped out in front of the Swedish Parliament, holding a sign painted in black letters on a white background that read Skolstrejk för klimatet: ‘School Strike for Climate.’ In the 16 months since, she has addressed heads of state at the U.N., met with the Pope, sparred with the President of the United States and inspired 4 million people to join the global climate strike on September 20, 2019, in what was the largest climate demonstration in human history.”-Time

So, let’s get this straight. Indulge in truancy and televised temper tantrums, get nominated as Time’s Person of The Year. Incite other youth around the globe to skip school in the name of “saving the climate,” get props for starting a movement. Blame other adults for the wrongs of the world because you should be in school and be rewarded for your “heroism.” Noted.

And other adults encourage this behavior:

What a well-deserved honor for @GretaThunberg. Climate change is an existential threat, and Greta has been one of the leading voices in this fight. Now it’s on us to hear her warning and fight to defeat the climate crisis. https://t.co/Qzfk3JJW3s

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) December 11, 2019

You could start by flying coach, Liz. What’s that I hear? Crickets.

If Time is awarding a title to a protestor, why not award the Hong Kong protestors who are risking their lives daily in the name of democracy? Nope. Greta Thunberg is leading voices in the fight…encouraging truancy and temper tantrums amongst the youth of all nations—taking to the streets with her megaphone and scolding lawmakers and adults on what bad people we have been. She won’t even meet with the “baddest of them all”, Mr. President. That would be a waste of her time (ahem).

Has there ever been a less consequential person picked to be Person of the Year? I doubt it. Wallis Simpson, 1936’s Person of the Year, got King Edward VIII to abdicate the throne. Thunberg can’t even get you to abdicate your air-conditioning. https://t.co/CAqs2TAY8D

— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) December 11, 2019

Thunberg is the youngest to be featured on a Time “Person of The Year” cover. Time stands by their decision and stated that this is “what it might look like when a new generation leads.”

Oh, brother. Greta Thunberg is “what it might look like when a new generation leads”? I want to be very careful when I say this because I do sincerely feel for the girl who has openly embraced Asperger’s and being on the spectrum. I am in no way making fun of her Asperger’s. I have friends who have children on the spectrum and some of them are the most driven, talented and determined kids I know. I just cannot get behind adults encouraging a young woman such as Miss Thunberg to have an epic nuclear meltdown on TV in the name of any cause. She is still a child. There is nothing wrong with her drive to want to push for action in improving our environment. Where Greta’s parents have gotten things wrong is when they decided to indulge a child in truancy and protest by spoon-feeding her their sheltered views on political climate activism. Thunberg did not come up with all of this on her own. Instead of opening a book or researching pollution in third-world countries and what it may take to clean these areas up and traveling there to actually put in the effort, they freeload with their daughter and travel to first-world countries to protest. Where Greta’s parents got it wrong was when they told their little darling that it is okay to scold complete, adult strangers and close her ears to anything a person of opposing philosophies might say to her. Where Greta’s parents got it wrong and continue to screw up is their shameless willingness to exploit their child and her emotions.

I couldn’t think of a better Person of the Year than @GretaThunberg. I am grateful for all she’s done to raise awareness of the climate crisis and her willingness to tell hard, motivating truths.

As she said today: “Change is coming, whether you like it or not.” #gutsywomen pic.twitter.com/ltCoo9NbS2

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) December 11, 2019

From someone who wouldn’t know the truth if it hit her square in the jaw.

The sad reality is that young people will look to Greta Thunberg to be the picture of “what it might look like when a new generation leads.” They’ve got their megaphones in their hands and are willing to shout but not willing to sit the hell down and listen. Some of them already see activism as truancy in the name of protest and not actively participating in making their own communities better by attending school and actually learning something in the classroom or going out into their communities and caring for the people living in them. They want to be the next social media celebrities “changing the world.” They already throw epic tantrums and disrespect their parents, teachers and elders. Politicians of the left like Warren, Clinton and the likes of them, will continue to use Greta Thunberg as long as it is beneficial to them and will cast her aside with no apologies when they are done using her. And, perhaps, the most tragic of all of this is Greta Thunberg’s parents will let them. Small price for a child to pay for being Time‘s Person of the Year, don’t you think?

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Anders Hellberg/CC BY-SA 4.0/Cropped