Revision as of 19:13, 21 December 2024 editLaunchballer (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Page movers, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers, Template editors35,751 edits →Early life: WP:DUETag: Visual edit← Previous edit | Latest revision as of 01:53, 25 December 2024 edit undoN2e (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers55,595 edits →Public image: clarify time context in historical statements, per sources | ||
(8 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown) | |||
Line 20: | Line 20: | ||
}} | }} | ||
'''Naomi Seibt''' (born 18 August 2000) is a German right-wing political activist |
'''Naomi Seibt''' (born 18 August 2000) is a German right-wing political activist. She is best known as a ] and for her opposition to climate activist ]. Until April 2020, she was employed by the ],<ref name="independent_Cockburn_202002242">{{Cite news|last=Cockburn|first=Harry|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/anti-greta-thunberg-naomi-seibt-girl-climate-change-denial-heartland-institute-afd-a9355236.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/anti-greta-thunberg-naomi-seibt-girl-climate-change-denial-heartland-institute-afd-a9355236.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Far-right groups trying to turn girl into climate-change denying version of Greta Thunberg|date=24 February 2020|newspaper=]|access-date=28 February 2020|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://inews.co.uk/news/world/naomi-seibt-anti-greta-thunberg-climate-change-environment-heartland-institute-1995686|title=How a right-wing think tank turned an unknown YouTuber into the 'anti-Greta'|website=inews.co.uk|date=26 February 2020 |language=en|access-date=26 February 2020}}</ref><ref name="theguardian_Smith_202002252">{{Cite news|last=Smith|first=David|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/25/anti-greta-teen-activist-cpac-conference-climate-sceptic|title='Anti-Greta' teen activist to speak at biggest US conservatives conference|date=25 February 2020|work=The Guardian|access-date=26 February 2020|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref name="wapo-2019-02-292">{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/02/29/anti-climate-activist-praises-white-nationalist-cpac/|title=Anti-climate activist praises alt-right commentator at CPAC|last1=Eilperin|first1=Juliet|last2=Butler|first2=Desmond|date=29 February 2020|newspaper=Washington Post|language=en|access-date=4 March 2020|quote=I realized that all of the sudden, I was being shunned for my own political views," she added. "Just for being skeptical, I received a lot of negative backlash.}}</ref> an American ] and ] public policy ],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-seibt-fined-banned-social-m/fact-checkclimate-changeskepticnaomi-seibtwas-notfined-banned-from-social-media-for-her-views-idUSKBN2322PD|title=Fact check: Climate change skeptic Naomi Seibt was not banned from social media for her views and she is appealing a regulator's order to remove two videos|work=Reuters|date=26 May 2020|accessdate=15 June 2020}}</ref> which marketed her as the "anti-Greta".<ref name="insider_Cachero_202002242"/><ref name="theherald_Love_202002272">{{cite news|last=Love|first=Nicola|title=Climate and the rise of the 'anti-Greta'|date=27 February 2020|newspaper=]|location=Glasgow}}</ref> She has spoken at multiple events organized by ]s and has self-identified as a ] and an ].<ref name="insider_Cachero_202002242" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Buse |first=Uwe |date=11 September 2020 |title=Social-Media-Star Naomi Seibt: Anti-Greta |url=https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/die-anti-greta-a-00000000-0002-0001-0000-000172993208 |access-date=9 May 2021 |newspaper=Der Spiegel |language=de}}</ref> | ||
== Early life == | == Early life == | ||
Seibt was born on 18 August 2000 in ], ].<ref>{{Cite web|date=12 March 2020|title=No Evidence 'Global Warming' Was Rebranded as 'Climate Change'|url=https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/03/12/no-evidence-global-warming-was-rebranded-as-climate-change/|access-date=20 February 2021|website=]|publisher=]|language=en-US}}</ref> In a 19 February 2020 interview with '']'', she stated that she became interested in politics when she started to attend political events with her mother in 2015.<ref name="theguardian_Smith_202002252"/><ref name="weltwoche_Zeller_20200228">{{Cite web|url=https://www.weltwoche.ch/ausgaben/2020-8/ausland/naomis-welt-die-weltwoche-ausgabe-8-2020.html|date=19 February 2020 |first=Roman |last=Zeller|work=]| title = Naomis Welt (Naomi's World)| access-date = 28 February 2020}}</ref> At the time, she was critical of the ] (CDU). Seibt lives in Münster with her sister and their mother, a lawyer who has represented politicians |
Seibt was born on 18 August 2000 in ], ].<ref>{{Cite web|date=12 March 2020|title=No Evidence 'Global Warming' Was Rebranded as 'Climate Change'|url=https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/03/12/no-evidence-global-warming-was-rebranded-as-climate-change/|access-date=20 February 2021|website=]|publisher=]|language=en-US}}</ref> In a 19 February 2020 interview with '']'', she stated that she became interested in politics when she started to attend political events with her mother in 2015.<ref name="theguardian_Smith_202002252"/><ref name="weltwoche_Zeller_20200228">{{Cite web|url=https://www.weltwoche.ch/ausgaben/2020-8/ausland/naomis-welt-die-weltwoche-ausgabe-8-2020.html|date=19 February 2020 |first=Roman |last=Zeller|work=]| title = Naomis Welt (Naomi's World)| access-date = 28 February 2020}}</ref> At the time, she was critical of the ] (CDU) party. Seibt lives in Münster with her sister and their mother, a lawyer who has represented politicians associated with the far right ] (AfD).<ref name="theguardian_Smith_202002252"/> In September 2017, Seibt graduated from Bischöfliches ] St. Mauritz, Münster, a ]. She achieved a first place in physics in local regional competition of the ] junior division, called "Students Experiment", and second place in mathematics.<ref>{{cite web|title=Gymnasium St. Mauritz: Erfolgreiche Jung-Forscher St. Mauritz High School: Successful young researchers|periodical=]|publisher=|url=https://www.wn.de/Muenster/Stadtteile/Handorf/2013/02/Handorf-Gymnasium-St.-Mauritz-Erfolgreiche-Jung-Forscher|format=|access-date=|last=|date=26 February 2013|language=|pages=|quote=}}</ref> | ||
== Career == | == Career == | ||
Line 35: | Line 35: | ||
== Public image == | == Public image == | ||
Seibt has aligned herself as a paid conservative blogger who is being promoted as "Anti-Greta", in response to ], aligning herself with AfD.<ref name="theguardian_Smith_202002252"/><ref name="weltwoche_Zeller_20200228"/><ref> auf www.wn.de, retrieved 26 February 2020.</ref> This image |
Seibt has aligned herself as a paid conservative blogger who is being promoted as "Anti-Greta", in response to ], aligning herself with AfD.<ref name="theguardian_Smith_202002252"/><ref name="weltwoche_Zeller_20200228"/><ref> auf www.wn.de, retrieved 26 February 2020.</ref> This image was further propagated in 2019 by the ], who compared her to Greta in promotional anti-climate change campaigns.<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq4fJdjt_vM|title=Naomi Seibt vs. Greta Thunberg: Whom Should We Trust?|date=20 December 2019|work=Heartland Institute|via=YouTube|access-date=10 June 2024}}</ref> Seibt self-identifies as ].<ref name="insider_Cachero_202002242"/> The '']'' described Seibt as a "right-wing Youtuber" who "attacks climate science in her videos".<ref name="NZZ_Koch_20200208">{{cite news |first=Carole |last=Koch |title=Die Anti-Greta: Naomi Seibt ist der Jungstar der internationalen Klimaleugnerszene (Anti-Greta: Naomi Seibt is the young star of the international climate denial scene)|newspaper=] (NZZ) |date=8 February 2020 |access-date=28 February 2020 |url=https://nzzas.nzz.ch/hintergrund/die-anti-greta-naomi-seibt-ist-der-jungstar-der-globalen-klimaleugnerszene-ld.1539361}}</ref> '']'' described her as a "so-called 'YouTube influencer" who tells her followers that Thunberg and other activists are whipping up unnecessary hysteria by exaggerating the climate crisis".<ref name="theguardian_Smith_202002252"/><ref group="Notes">''The Washington Post'' reported that compared to Greta Thunberg's millions of followers on ], Seibt had about 50,000 YouTube subscribers as of 23 February 2020; her following as of late May 2020 was about 86,700. See {{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeYSlCaX1PheCaqxN7u2klw|title=Naomi Seibt|website=YouTube|date=May 2020|access-date=10 June 2024}}</ref> | ||
In |
In a 2020 interview with '']'', Graham Brookie, the director of the ]'s Digital Forensic Research Lab, commented on Seibt's approach to Thunberg's message on climate, in which she counters Thunberg's "I want you to panic" by saying in a video posted on Heartland's website that "I don't want you to panic. I want you to think". Brookie said in an email: "While it is not outright disinformation, ... it does bear resemblance to a model we use called the 4d's — dismiss the message, distort the facts, distract the audience, and express dismay at the whole thing. The tactic is intended to create an equivalency in spokespeople and message. In this case, it is a false equivalency between a message based in climate science that went viral organically and a message based in climate skepticism trying to catch up using paid promotion."<ref name="WaPo_Butler_20200223"/> | ||
Seibt's influence was boosted in 2024 by ] reposting her videos on X, the social media platform formerly known as ]. Musk re-tweeted a Seibt video calling on ] leader ] to ally with the ] instead of a German centre-left party like the ], with Musk saying "Only the AfD can save Germany."<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024-12-20 |title=Elon Musk spricht Wahlempfehlung für AfD aus – und verweist auf rechtsextreme Influencerin |url=https://www.spiegel.de/ausland/elon-musk-spricht-wahlempfehlung-fuer-afd-aus-und-verweist-auf-rechte-influencerin-a-e102bed8-c13a-4e2f-a9e3-1a4b37b90506 |access-date=2024-12-21 |work=Der Spiegel |language=de |issn=2195-1349}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Mediengruppe |first=FUNKE |date=2024-12-20 |title=Elon Musk empfiehlt die AfD auf X – Zuspruch von Alice Weidel |url=https://www.morgenpost.de/politik/article407941273/elon-musk-empfiehlt-die-afd-auf-x-zuspruch-von-alice-weidel.html |access-date=2024-12-21 |website=www.morgenpost.de |language=de}}</ref> | |||
== Notes == | == Notes == |
Latest revision as of 01:53, 25 December 2024
German activist (born 2000)
Naomi Seibt | |
---|---|
Seibt in 2020 | |
Born | (2000-08-18) 18 August 2000 (age 24) Münster, Germany |
Occupations | |
Known for | Political activism, opposition to climate science and Greta Thunberg |
Website | @SeibtNaomi on YouTube |
Naomi Seibt (born 18 August 2000) is a German right-wing political activist. She is best known as a climate change denier and for her opposition to climate activist Greta Thunberg. Until April 2020, she was employed by the Heartland Institute, an American conservative and right-wing public policy think tank, which marketed her as the "anti-Greta". She has spoken at multiple events organized by conservative think tanks and has self-identified as a libertarian and an anarcho-capitalist.
Early life
Seibt was born on 18 August 2000 in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia. In a 19 February 2020 interview with Die Weltwoche, she stated that she became interested in politics when she started to attend political events with her mother in 2015. At the time, she was critical of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party. Seibt lives in Münster with her sister and their mother, a lawyer who has represented politicians associated with the far right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). In September 2017, Seibt graduated from Bischöfliches Gymnasium St. Mauritz, Münster, a Catholic high school. She achieved a first place in physics in local regional competition of the Jugend forscht junior division, called "Students Experiment", and second place in mathematics.
Career
When Seibt was 16, her poem on nationalism, "Sometimes I Keep Silent", was published on David Berger's anti-Islamisation blog Philosophia Perennis, as part of an AfD competition. Since May 2019, she has recorded YouTube videos, using her mobile phone, on topics ranging from migration to feminism to climate change, in which she calls herself a "climate realist". On 4 November 2019, the Süddeutsche Zeitung, one of Germany's largest daily newspapers, spoke of her appearance at the end of the European Institute for Climate and Energy's (Europäisches Institut für Klima und Energie [de], EIKE) annual "International Climate and Energy Conference" held in Munich on 2 November, saying, "They have their own Greta. A climate change denier Greta." In her speech, Seibt said that before she started questioning a lot of things, like feminism and "cultural socialism", she too was a "climate alarmist".
On 3 December 2019, Seibt spoke as an invited guest at the Madrid "Climate Reality Forum", a forum organized to rebut the United Nations' climate change warnings, while Greta Thunberg spoke at the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25) several miles away. In 2019, Germany's AfD had embraced climate change denial as part of their political campaign in Europe, and were therefore also aligned with EIKE. She was the only woman invited to speak at an event that is "traditionally dominated by older men". Seibt has previously spoken at the Heartland Institute, as well as at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland, Seibt spoke to about a hundred conservatives. Seibt has denied allegations that she is a "puppet of the right wing or the climate deniers or the Heartland Institute".
On 28 February 2020, an article in The Guardian stated that Seibt was inspired by the Canadian alt-right, white nationalist, and conspiracy theorist Stefan Molyneux after being introduced to his blogs. She has been accused of both antisemitism and white nationalism due to her support for some on the alt-right. Seibt refused to comment; her mother denied that her daughter supports far-right politics. In April 2020, Seibt said her formal work with The Heartland Institute had come to an end. She said that it was her decision not to renew a contract, and it was made because the Landesanstalt für Medien NRW [de] threatened to delete her YouTube channel on the grounds that she wants to influence German politics for an American think-tank.
In November 2020, Seibt falsely claimed that COVID-19 had not yet been isolated and the PCR testing procedure (to detect the presence of the virus) was unreliable; she falsely claimed it was only based on a computer model of the virus genome. In October 2021, she claimed in an interview with SVT that young climate activists do not have enough knowledge on climate issues to be public speakers about the issue and that they have been scared into being exploited by those in power.
Public image
Seibt has aligned herself as a paid conservative blogger who is being promoted as "Anti-Greta", in response to Greta Thunberg, aligning herself with AfD. This image was further propagated in 2019 by the Heartland Institute, who compared her to Greta in promotional anti-climate change campaigns. Seibt self-identifies as libertarian. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung described Seibt as a "right-wing Youtuber" who "attacks climate science in her videos". The Guardian described her as a "so-called 'YouTube influencer" who tells her followers that Thunberg and other activists are whipping up unnecessary hysteria by exaggerating the climate crisis".
In a 2020 interview with The Washington Post, Graham Brookie, the director of the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab, commented on Seibt's approach to Thunberg's message on climate, in which she counters Thunberg's "I want you to panic" by saying in a video posted on Heartland's website that "I don't want you to panic. I want you to think". Brookie said in an email: "While it is not outright disinformation, ... it does bear resemblance to a model we use called the 4d's — dismiss the message, distort the facts, distract the audience, and express dismay at the whole thing. The tactic is intended to create an equivalency in spokespeople and message. In this case, it is a false equivalency between a message based in climate science that went viral organically and a message based in climate skepticism trying to catch up using paid promotion."
Seibt's influence was boosted in 2024 by Elon Musk reposting her videos on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. Musk re-tweeted a Seibt video calling on CDU leader Friedrich Merz to ally with the AfD instead of a German centre-left party like the Greens, with Musk saying "Only the AfD can save Germany."
Notes
- The Washington Post reported that compared to Greta Thunberg's millions of followers on social media, Seibt had about 50,000 YouTube subscribers as of 23 February 2020; her following as of late May 2020 was about 86,700. See "Naomi Seibt". YouTube. May 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
References
- Cockburn, Harry (24 February 2020). "Far-right groups trying to turn girl into climate-change denying version of Greta Thunberg". The Independent. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
- "How a right-wing think tank turned an unknown YouTuber into the 'anti-Greta'". inews.co.uk. 26 February 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
- ^ Smith, David (25 February 2020). "'Anti-Greta' teen activist to speak at biggest US conservatives conference". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
- Eilperin, Juliet; Butler, Desmond (29 February 2020). "Anti-climate activist praises alt-right commentator at CPAC". Washington Post. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
I realized that all of the sudden, I was being shunned for my own political views," she added. "Just for being skeptical, I received a lot of negative backlash.
- "Fact check: Climate change skeptic Naomi Seibt was not banned from social media for her views and she is appealing a regulator's order to remove two videos". Reuters. 26 May 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
- ^ Cachero, Paulina (24 February 2020). "A conservative group with a history of 'climate change denial' has hired a German YouTuber to challenge Greta Thunberg's 'climate crisis'". Insider. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
- ^ Love, Nicola (27 February 2020). "Climate and the rise of the 'anti-Greta'". The Herald. Glasgow.
- Buse, Uwe (11 September 2020). "Social-Media-Star Naomi Seibt: Anti-Greta". Der Spiegel (in German). Retrieved 9 May 2021.
- "No Evidence 'Global Warming' Was Rebranded as 'Climate Change'". Snopes.com. The Conversation. 12 March 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
- ^ Zeller, Roman (19 February 2020). "Naomis Welt (Naomi's World)". Die Weltwoche. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
- "Gymnasium St. Mauritz: Erfolgreiche Jung-Forscher St. Mauritz High School: Successful young researchers". Westfälische Nachrichten. 26 February 2013.
- Echtermann, Alice (21 February 2020). "Wanted: influencer, young, right (translated from German)". correctiv.org (in German). Retrieved 28 February 2020.
- ^ Butler, Desmond; Eilperin, Juliet (23 February 2020). "The anti-Greta: A conservative think tank takes on the global phenomenon". The Washington Post. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
- Bovermann, Von Philipp (4 November 2019), "Deniers of climate change: Doubt beyond doubt", Süddeutsche, retrieved 28 February 2020
- Climate Reality Forum, Madrid, 3 December 2019, retrieved 28 February 2020
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - "Germany's AfD embraces climate change denial as part of EU campaign". The Local. 20 May 2019. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
- Götze, Susanne; Joeres, Annika (18 December 2019). "Right-wing US think tanks want to torpedo climate protection: the destroyers from overseas". Der Spiegel (in German). Retrieved 24 February 2020.
- ^ Fisher, Anthony L. (28 February 2020). "'The anti-Greta' climate activist Naomi Seibt says she's 'absolutely' a fan of far-right podcaster Stefan Molyneux". Business Insider Australia. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
- ^ Mathias, Christopher (28 February 2020). "Anti-Greta Blasts 'Climate Alarmism' to Conservative Gathering". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
- ^ Kirchgaessner, Stephanie; Holden, Emily (28 February 2020). "Naomi Seibt: 'anti-Greta' activist called white nationalist an inspiration". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
- Naomi Seibt (24 April 2020). "Globale Politik - Deutsch oder international?". YouTube (in German). Retrieved 29 April 2020.
- "Covid-19 und PCR: Naomi Seibt verbreitet irreführende Behauptungen". correctiv.org (in German). 5 November 2020. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
- Horvatovic, Iva; Carlsson, Malin (16 October 2021). ""Anti-Greta": Att hungerstrejka är att utpressa politiker". SVT Nyheter (in Swedish). Retrieved 31 October 2021.
- Meuthen kommt - das Bündnis auch auf www.wn.de, retrieved 26 February 2020.
- Naomi Seibt vs. Greta Thunberg: Whom Should We Trust?. Heartland Institute. 20 December 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2024 – via YouTube.
- Koch, Carole (8 February 2020). "Die Anti-Greta: Naomi Seibt ist der Jungstar der internationalen Klimaleugnerszene (Anti-Greta: Naomi Seibt is the young star of the international climate denial scene)". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ). Retrieved 28 February 2020.
- "Elon Musk spricht Wahlempfehlung für AfD aus – und verweist auf rechtsextreme Influencerin". Der Spiegel (in German). 20 December 2024. ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
- Mediengruppe, FUNKE (20 December 2024). "Elon Musk empfiehlt die AfD auf X – Zuspruch von Alice Weidel". www.morgenpost.de (in German). Retrieved 21 December 2024.