So the meme is in agreement that defacing Stonehenge as a protest was pointless?
There are ways to get attention for a cause without defacing one of the seven wonders of the world. Next time spray that cornstarch in BP’s corporate parking lot.
I saw it. That implies that spraying cornstarch won’t change anything. Think about it.
THEN WHAT FUCKING WILL CHANGE ANYTHING
Because this is the only thing that gets people like you to even talk about this.
edit: I want to be clear that I don’t care if it’s rude or uncivil to talk to people about this like this, I will do it again and again and again and I support efforts to be annoying about it, because at this point it’s all we have left to maybe, potentially, get enough people angry enough that someone, somewhere does something. Anything
You’re all making your frowny faces and saying “This is counter-productive” and you’re simply not getting it.
If through some magical means we were to learn that nuking Manhattan would somehow lower global temperatures, then we would need to do that, just up and vaporize 1.6 million people. It would STILL be the ethically superior action to take if it magically worked. Because in the next century billions of people may die.
If we learned that filling the Grand Canyon with concrete would get companies to stop producing carbon waste and get people to accept inconveniences like electric cars and paper straws without whinging like a wounded toddler, then yes, line up those cement mixers.
When it comes to the trolly problem, you’re all not even looking at the right tracks if you’re so upset about incivility or annoyances when it comes to climate activism. If anyone is left to do it, one day they will erect statues of these kids throwing soup at paintings and coloring rocks.
I think they totally got that, and their point was painting Stonehenge didn’t help stop climate change, as evidenced in the last panel.
Now, I am not the biggest fan of those kinds of actions, because they are indeed exploited heavily by the burgeois press, but let’s talk about attention. I remember there being at least two paint defacings and damaging of private jets here in Germany in 2023 by similar groups. There was next to no press about it - and if you search for it today, it is genuinely hard to find the articles that even mention them, one I found even focusing on the legal questions of insurance, instead of writing about the broader issues at all:
https://www.t-online.de/region/hamburg/id_100188204/letzte-generation-farbattacke-auf-sylter-privatjet-so-hoch-ist-der-schaden.html https://www.aerotelegraph.com/wer-zahlt-bei-einem-farbanschlag-auf-ein-privatflugzeug
So, you would be surprised - actions that target more “deserving” targets often just… aren’t talked about at all, or very little, small footnotes. This at least starts debates, which cannot be denied.
In the same way, give this a year. Do you think it would be referred to as a “great point in addressing climate change,” or “those kids that defaced Stonehenge?”
It might just also be talked about as “that event everyone got angry about because of false reporting”, or “that event where I argued with some people online, and I realised they made better points than I thought”, or “that event that made me think about what actions would have been better”. There is more than the main narrative, and more than just a single engagement with it if there’s discussion happening.
So, yeah, it will create a lot of hostility, but maybe even a possibility to recontextualise that hostility for some people.
But not to say you don’t have any point at all - it’s true that it can make some things harder to properly talk about, makes it all the more important to oppose the main narrative whenever possible and not feed into it.
Quite literally the opposite, no one will remember that Stonehenge was defaced with cornflour, but we will see and remember climate change.
That’s just a meme about the fake outrage used as a diversion, instead of the real issue and why people resort to defacing art and monuments for their cause to be in focus.
Any publicity is good publicity.
Or its a representation of what the future looks like if we keep fighting the people who fight for all of us.
I’m not fighting protesters, I am one. I’m suggesting these protesters do a better job of it.
Radicalism is always discredited by everyone on the outside of a cause, and those are the people you need to reach.
So the meme is in agreement that defacing Stonehenge as a protest was pointless?
The meme is saying you’re getting angry about the wrong thing.
You can be angry about both things, the world isn’t black and white. Leave the fucking stones alone and blow up corporate headquarters for all I care.
Stop assaulting rocks with corn startch and be more like Timothy McVeigh
Y’all are nuts.
I’m not angry. I’m disappointed by performative radicalism of an important cause. It doesn’t help the message as much as it strokes the egos of those involved, and will likely be discrediting to those we need to reach.
It doesn’t help the message
Really? Because I’m seeing it being talked about a lot.
So the meme is in agreement that defacing Stonehenge as a protest was pointless?
It was as pointless as everything else, that’s why they did it, it’s screaming into the void to get attention.
There are ways to get attention for a cause without defacing one of the seven wonders of the world
Are there though? I’m old enough to remember this has gone on for decades without anyone doing anything of significance and now we’re at the actual edge of global catastrophe and STILL people are like “hmn, those kids should be recycling.” Bruh, you and so many people have no idea how many lives are going to be lost in the next century while every milquetoast liberal and conservative in the developed world roll their eyes and get pissed at slight annoyances like… checks notes colored corn starch on rocks you will never visit.
It’s like trying to shake someone in a dream to get them to pay attention. And the more you scream and hit them, the more they look ahead like zombies.
They HAVE sprayed BP’s factories and lots and machines, they have sabotaged equipment and chained themselves to machines and have caused material harm to companies like BP, but that doesn’t get any fucking coverage because media doesn’t want to encourage “violent activism” for fear of turning away viewers like YOU who are annoyed by such things.
You don’t have to sell me on climate change protests. I’ve attended a few myself.
I’m criticizing the delivery, not the message. The majority of people that heard that protest were those who travelled from around the world to see Stonehenge. Their plans were ruined, and they don’t care any more about climate change than they did that morning. Some may even resent the protesters.
Performative radicalism is only compelling to those already behind a cause. It’s discrediting to everyone else, who should be your target audience.
I’m criticizing the delivery, not the message.
I don’t care fucking one bit. It’s the same shit.
The majority of people that heard that protest were those who travelled from around the world to see Stonehenge.
I didn’t travel to see Stonehenge and I’m hearing about it. So is everyone in this thread.
Their plans were ruined
And I see that now that the stones have been shown to be undamaged the dismissal of the protest is pivoting to “the poor people taking recreational flights have had their entire trip ruined!!!”
If people become less likely to take unnecessary flights because protestors might “ruin their trip” I would consider that an absolute win.
I’m criticizing the delivery, not the message.The majority of people that heard that protest were those who travelled from around the world to see Stonehenge. Their plans were ruined, and they don’t care any more about climate change than they did that morning. Some may even resent the protesters.
"You know, I don’t disagree that the coloreds should have more rights, but did they really need to sit at the lunch counter all day? I couldn’t sit at the counter and it made my lunch take so much longer. Really inconvenient to everyone trying to get some food.
I just wished they’d go about it differently. They’re liable to make people even less accepting of them if they keep pulling stunts like that."
I hope you know that’s what you sound like. Like, read the first paragraph of MLK Jr’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and you’ll see your argument in the “white moderate”:
I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direct action;” who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a “more convenient season.”
It was as pointless as everything else, that’s why they did it, it’s screaming into the void to get attention.
It’s not just pointless, it’s potentially damaging to the cause. I don’t mind if someone rubs against the grain of public sentiment for a cause, so long as the way they do it actually accomplishes a goal.
Are there though? I’m old enough to remember this has gone on for decades without anyone doing anything of significance and now we’re at the actual edge of global catastrophe and STILL people are like “hmn, those kids should be recycling.”
And how does cornstarching rocks, or defacing art make any kind of difference? Is there any possible outcome that benefits the cause? It seems like the only thing this accomplishes is drowning out any other news about climate change for 2 to 3 weeks.
Bruh, you and so many people have no idea how many lives are going to be lost in the next century while every milquetoast liberal and conservative in the developed world roll their eyes and get pissed at slight annoyances like… checks notes colored corn starch on rocks you will never visit.
Just because someone disagrees with you on how to spend the very limited amount of political capital accumulated for climate change, does not mean they are less informed on the subject than you.
I don’t give a fuck about Stonehenge, but it’s stupid to believe that others do not. It’s also pretty stupid to ignore concepts like blowback and public sentiment.
They HAVE sprayed BP’s factories and lots and machines, they have sabotaged equipment and chained themselves to machines and have caused material harm to companies like BP, but that doesn’t get any fucking coverage because media doesn’t want to encourage “violent activism” for fear of turning away viewers like YOU who are annoyed by such things.
Lol, they arent afraid of turning away viewers, they are worried about turning away advertisers. They are part of the capital class preserving the fossil fuel industry. Of course they don’t want to spread violent activism. They would much rather all climate activists display protest that they can utilize to turn the public against the cause.
Which begs the question, why are these groups providing the media with ineffective protests that turn public opinion against the cause and garter a ton of negative press in the first place?
Glad you’re here to set us all right. Surely we’ll all be okay as long as people are teaching us to be civil and not… harm the cause. God forbid the cause be harmed.
I’m done, a lot of us are. Good luck.
Even bad press is still press? I don’t have an opinion on Stonehenge yet; I’m pretty sure the art they “defaced” was only the protective casing; and I haven’t researched them enough to form a true opinion of my own
But now I’m curious as to whether (or not) “I think” their motives are “ignorant” or somehow “nefarious” at times. I’ve seen them in the news for a while now, and I haven’t always agreed with their course of action… sometimes I believe it to be too impulsive. But they’re still doing it. They’ve forced a discussion that keeps the issue in the forefront, and now it has me wanting to look-into their situation more. And I do believe-in what they’re advocating, even if I’m not sure it’s the “correct” way to do it
Yet here we are, talking about it. “There’s no such thing as ‘Bad Press’”, I guess? Are they right?.. maybe. Are they detracting from the plight?.. also, maybe. Am I sure of my opinion of their protests?.. no, not really. Seems like something I’ll have to read more about.
So maybe, mission accomplished (in-progress)? Idk, but I see the merit regardless of their actions
Like the 3 private jets that were vandalized with orange paint in London. That’s the kind of thing I can support, it makes headlines, it grounds the planes reducing emissions, and it specifically targets those who are causing the most harm.
Like the 3 private jets that were vandalized with orange paint in London.
I didn’t hear about that.
I am hearing about this.
It hasn’t made headlines though. Juststopoil goes after oil terminals, car manufacturers etc pretty often but it’s never reported on. The only protest that gets attention is souping painting or spraying cornflour on rocks.
Fwiw I saw news articles about the planes being vandalized before I saw this one about Stonehenge, so the headlines do exist. Everyone’s news feeds are different though.
I think the punchline goes multiple ways at once: “the protesters were stupid thinking this would help”, “the protesters were stupid in how they tried to protest”, and “everyone back then was stupid because it’s Waterworld now.”
See, I’m reading it as saying that even with ‘drastic’ action like defacing a tourist attraction, governments just don’t care to put any serious thought into the climate change problem. They’ll put the blame on protestors for making us think for a minute and then go about their way until the world is uninhabitable.
But that’s okay, because for a moment they created a lot of shareholder value in their district.
