An invite from my local film group to view “I am Greta” when it opens in Sydney this week reminds me of just how serious the problem of mental health has become in this country.  I suppose the film’s release date (during Mental Health Week) has been seen as an opportunity to prove that the disease is even more widespread than we thought. If a large number of people go out of their way to pay money to watch this very sad, very ugly little girl tell her life story, this would be enough damning evidence of just how mentally sick our society has become.

However, the admirable Jeff Kennett (of Beyond Blue) tells me that this is not the case. Instead he assures me that Greta Thunberg fans are not necessarily mentally-disturbed at all. They’re just incredibly stupid people, he says.

As a life-long member, it’s unlikely that my film group would take too kindly to this excuse for me not showing up. But going along anyway carries with it the very likely risk that I might lose control of myself and giggle and laugh derisively out loud all the way through it. The last time that happened (during Rudd’s phony ‘Indigenous Apology Speech’), there was hell to pay.