ABSTRACT
Without amplification Luther’s act of printing a long list of theses on a single sheet would have scant historical significance. The August 2018 sit-down strike of one Swedish high school girl in front of one government building in one city of Northern Europe would also be inconsequential were it not for amplification. Thanks to Greta Thunberg’s persistence and her ability to exploit today’s newest means of education—the electronic and social media—her message was amplified. Greta’s story also resembles Luther’s in teaching a healthy skepticism of the “top-down” approach to large-scale change. At the outset she believes that if the world’s governmental and business leaders know how serious the situation is, “everyone will come and sit down beside us.” By now she knows better.
