Twentieth Century Fox/PAIt’s long been established that The Simpsons plays a hugely important role in predicting the future.
Well, an important role in that it’s successfully managed to do so on more occasions than anything else I’m aware of, which is a pretty impressive feat. Think: Donald Trump becoming president, Toys R Us closing down, and Lady Gaga’s iconic Super Bowl performance.
Regardless, the programme has never managed to predict an actual human being – that is, until now, because people seem to be convinced that The Simpsons predicted Greta Thunberg.
To clarify, they don’t think it predicted her birth or what she looks like or anything like that. Instead, Reddit and Twitter users believe the show predicted Greta’s strong-willed determination in the form of Lisa Simpson.
Lisa, a thoughtful, intelligent, outspoken young girl who doesn’t shy away from the important topics no matter how many adults disagree with her, is the show’s most prominent activist – in the same way that Greta is currently our’s.
One episode in particular, where Lisa gives an impassioned speech to her fellow classmates about how there will be ‘no Springfield 50 years in the future’ due to the impact of climate change, has led people to draw comparisons between the two.
Take a look at Lisa’s speech below:
The clip, which was broadcast on episode 17, season 20 of the show, shows Lisa referencing rising sea levels, CO2 getting trapped in the ‘poisonous atmosphere,’ and the flooding of lowlands – all issues which have been brought to the forefront in recent years, particularly by Greta Thunberg in recent months.
Just this week (September 23), Greta stunned the world with a powerful speech at the United Nations Climate Summit about the climate emergency we are currently facing and how the older generation has betrayed young people such as herself with a lack of action.
Greta told delegates:
This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you have come to us young people for hope. How dare you.
People are suffering. People are dying and dying ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is the money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you.
For more than 30 years the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you’re doing enough when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight.
”People are suffering, people are dying, entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth.” Watch Greta Thunberg speak at the UN Monday morning. https://t.co/Akkxm9sXdr pic.twitter.com/ahHKlhbYaE
— WIRED (@WIRED) September 23, 2019
Despite the cold, hard truth of Greta’s speech (or more likely because of it), not everyone was impressed – and in a manner similar to that of the ignorant Homer Simpson, US President Donald Trump took to Twitter to make a dig at the teenage activist.
Instead of praising the 16-year-old for starting an important conversation about climate change and the state of our planet when fully grown world leaders – such as himself – have failed to do so, Trump instead sarcastically described Greta as a ‘very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future’.
Which, far from being the incredible burn I imagine Trump believes it to be, is actually just further evidence that a 16-year-old girl is much more mature – and is subsequently a far better speaker, motivator, and leader – than a 73-year-old man who currently holds the most powerful position in the world.
PANot to worry though, because Greta soon used Trump’s own words against him, giving herself a fresh new Twitter bio, all the while remaining composed and in control.
Thankfully, Greta recognises that Trump and other like-minded adults who continue to insult and criticise her on a daily basis are simply ‘threatened‘ by her generation – a generation whose primary focus is to make a difference and save the planet.
We’re with you, Greta.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).