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The story
Student demonstrations over pension reform continue in France, and reports say environmental activist Greta Thunberg has joined in. A Newsweek Japan article posed the headline “Get a real job, pay your taxes, and contribute to society” as a challenge to the activist’s way of life. On 5ch, criticism piled up over Thunberg’s background and the fact that she lives off outside support, while others pushed back, asking “should we really be sorting people by whether they live up to society’s expectations?” — splitting the thread.
[France Protests] A Message to Greta Thunberg: Get a Real Job, Pay Your Taxes, Contribute to Society (Newsweek Japan) – Yahoo! News
Mon 10/19, 17:31
Newsweek Japan
Source: newsweekjapan.jp / Original article here
What people said
Nah, I think Yutabon's way smarter than Greta — he'd probably just watch quietly rather than join in or criticize.
Though somehow she always gives China a pass.
The US isn't a member of those international bodies, so while protests are one thing, any hardline action against it would get treated as a violation of national sovereignty — same deal as with the ICC.
Americans were out there rioting and protesting like crazy, but the second Trump called in the National Guard, they got scared and shut right up.
Is Yutabon gonna land the cover of TIME or VOGUE too?
Politicians are basically unemployed people in disguise anyway.
Is there even a single democratic country where paying taxes isn't mandatory?
Who is it that gives workers a place to work in the first place? Did the workers set that up themselves?
"Might" improve, lol. What kind of education did YOU get?
Money you receive as support counts as income though, so she'd need to pay taxes on that portion too.
Lol. She's the daughter of an actor and an opera singer, and her grandfather was an actor and film director too — whole family's in showbiz.
You know the Mona Lisa is rumored to actually be a self-portrait of da Vinci, right? A picture of some old guy in drag.
She's actually been tying it to the environment and criticizing Japan for ages now — while giving China a pass.
"Greta says 'Japan is tormenting the world's children'"
https://news.ntv.co.jp/category/international/927051
She does criticize Japan —
Greta: "Japan should stop using thermal power and restart its nuclear reactors. Even if a disastrous accident happens."
What exactly counts as "just get a real job"? Is it fine to just be a middleman skimming off subcontracts ("nakanuki")? That doesn't exactly sound like contributing to society either, does it?
The whole thing started because of France's massive pension debt crisis, so no matter who "wins," it's already game over. The debt's unpayable — they'd need to cut pension payouts to around 40% of current levels, but that alone would spark an even bigger riot.
Instead of asking what society actually needs to improve, we sort people by whether they're living up to society's expectations — and then laugh off the complaints of whoever doesn't make the cut. Is that really okay?
If that stopped being the majority's values, society would collapse. Activists like Greta only get to exist in the first place because they're a minority.
>>"When there's something wrong with the system, simply following it doesn't prove you're in the right."
You're the one with the problem here — and you're the one who's wrong.
Background and Key Points of This Topic
Greta Thunberg, born in 2003 in Sweden, first rose to prominence through her school strikes for climate action, and she has also publicly disclosed that she has Asperger’s syndrome. This article touches on the protests against pension reform happening in France, reporting that Thunberg joined the student demonstrations. Within the thread, opinions split between those agreeing with the article’s stance that she “should get a real job and pay taxes,” and those pushing back that “it’s wrong to judge people’s worth by whether they conform to the system.” The latter view raises a broader question about the legitimacy of challenging the system itself, not just a personal attack — worth reading as more than mere criticism of an individual. Notably, France’s pension system has been flagged for worsening finances, and the conflict over reform is the backdrop to this demonstration.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “[France Protests] A Message to Greta Thunberg: Get a Real Job, Pay Your Taxes, Contribute to Society.”
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