The Owner of Louis Vuitton Calls Greta Thunberg 'Demoralising'

Excuse me for a second while I sit in a moment of rage. And then rant.

 I want to take a moment to set the scene. Have you ever wondered what the owner of Louis Vuitton looked like? Probably not. Probably because if you did it wouldn’t take long. White, male, older and smells of wealth and ignorance.

 Oh, and by the way my description was absolutely right. I just Googled him.

Well this morning, exactly one hour ago the independent published a story headlined: ‘Billionaire fashion CEO says Greta Thunberg is ‘demoralising for young people.’ Can you imagine it, in this climate, an older, wealthy and powerful white man trying to silence a passionate teenage girl taking a stand on climate change and against big business? I can.

Donald Trump’s attempts to embarrass Greta Thunberg also come to mind. The president of the United States also took to twitter to say:

 “She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!”

 Why the president of the United States is mocking and shaming a teenage girl for trying to save us all from the severe and probably fatal consequences of climate change and not support her is absolutely beyond me and I won’t even really go there.

Amazingly, Greta took to Instagram and made the tweet her new bio. Her resilience shown by doing this broke and mended my heart all in one. Also, it was hilarious.

 Being a teenage girl is not an experience I would really recommend, the hormones and the pressure. Mixed with observing the world for the first time and realising all the extra little dangers it has just for you, for being a girl. It's a world where the villain of the story, the one hurting you and the women around you and making you victims at alarming rates. Is the same person who silences you and calls you a liar. An attention seeker.

Overdramatic.

I saw a tweet this morning which made me think even more deeply:

I love Greta Thunberg's anger. I wasn't allowed to be angry at that age, despite having a lot to be angry about.

Let teenage girls be angry.

— Ms. Charlotte (@charlotteirene8) 25 September 2019

This whole situation, the whole moment feels like my deepest memories of being a teenage girl, the ones I buried in the dark corners of my brain being played out in front of me.

 Your experiences, your opinions, feelings and your anger. All taken away from you.

All your emotions and opinions will be rejected, usually all because you're just an emotional, silly, hormonal teenage girl, no matter the depth and significance of what you're feeling. To anyone who needs to hear this, what you're feeling is valid.

Some women are lucky enough to not have experienced this and if that’s you, then I envy you. But many young girls have lived this experience.

The billionaire Bernard Arnault said: “I prefer positive solutions that allow us to get towards a more optimistic position.”

Do you want to know what I think is demoralising? Billionaires and powerful grown men ignoring and silencing the voice of a brave teenage girl fighting for her future. Not to mention the people in positions to make real change ignoring the severity of climate change and saying they would like someone a little more...optimistic.

Finally, to Greta, I hope you keep doing what you're doing because we clearly need you.     (p.s you're beautiful in everyway.)

This is an opinion piece.