To think this is chilling?

[Gorgeouslilgirl]

Students in an Oxford college did what students do - questioned the status quo and decided to replace a picture that is political, ie a head of state. A measured and inclusive message accompanied this.

And the education secretary has waded in to criticise a student body for actions within their own space? And DM is publishing the student’s photo and family home and much his dad earns! Wtf?!

It reminds me of the Middle East or North Korea or perhaps Thailand where people have a photo of their beloved unelected leader as a sign of patriotism or else they are viewed unfavourably.

I mean, really?!!!

We are a democracy but we are also a monarchy. If this privileged American kid has such a problem with that maybe he should have stayed in the US.
It wasn’t just him, was it? It was voted by a majority.

Agree. And I'd add that plenty of Brits have a problem with the monarchy. Me for one.

And the irony of decrying the kid having privilege when the monarchy embodies privilege I know, it's quite funny.

Those sneering at the OP's North Korea comparison, sure, the student was not taken out and shot, but in the context of us being a free democracy it is not at all an OTT comparison.

This kind of shit is insidious. It might start small but it's a slippery slope. I'm not going to open myself up to people hurling Godwin's Law at me, but I will say this kind of thing moves/widens the Overton Window.

@ OchonAgusOchonOh - I was being tongue in cheek, clearly went over your head.

I’ll bow out now before I offend anymore.

And no OP - it’s not chilling

What about those of us who shock horror don't have a picture of a queen at all in our homes? Or those of us who had a picture of a queen and decided to take it down? Some of us don't even use our royal wedding commemorative mug as often as we should.

If this privileged American kid has such a problem with that maybe he should have stayed in the US.

Firstly, we don’t know who tabled the motion

Secondly, wanting to take the picture down doesn’t mean anyone has ‘a problem’ with the monarchy.

*Roonerspismed

I’m more chilled by the cancel culture to be honest.*

Classic idiocy when complaining about 'cancel culture'. What on earth is your actual argument? Every student union MUST have a picture of the queen hanging? Why aren't you frothing at the mouth about the thousands who never bothered putting the picture up in the first place? Or do you claim that once a picture of the queen is put up on any wall it must remain in place for all eternity?

“Chilling” “North Korea”

Ffs 🙄

@fromdownwest

@ OchonAgusOchonOh - I was being tongue in cheek, clearly went over your head.

I’ll bow out now before I offend anymore.

And no OP - it’s not chilling

I wasn't in any way offended. I presumed you were tongue in cheek but still felt it was worth reiterating that your comment regarding Thailand was ridiculous given the differences in the history of the two nations wrt colonialism.

If this privileged American kid has such a problem with that maybe he should have stayed in the US.

Ah yes. The old 'go back to your country' argument. Very wisely used here.

dd - so why the recent furore in the American press about PH criticising the Fourth Amendment? Maybe I am old fashioned but I happen to think there is some merit in respecting the practices of your host country.

Tbh, I find the student action quite chilling. So a small group thought it was ok to change a picture without consultation with the other students. This is anarchy.

Are posters being sarcastic? I can’t tell anymore.

I came on to say YANBU because thought you were going to say the action of the student was chilling, but you seem to think that was OK.

So YABU

Tbh, I find the student action quite chilling. So a small group thought it was ok to change a picture without consultation with the other students. This is anarchy.

This did not happen. All graduate students of the College got the chance to vote.

Maybe I am old fashioned but I happen to think there is some merit in respecting the practices of your host country.

I didn’t know it was a national ‘practice’ to hang a picture of the queen in your front room 🤔

More importantly, we don’t know he tabled the motion. Poor fucker is just doing his job. Hopefully he’s getting a laugh out of how stupid the Brits are though.

So a small group thought it was ok to change a picture without consultation with the other students.

All the students who are members of the group who run and use the private room in question were able to vote, if they so chose.

The picture was not hanging in a public place.

The Daily are awful - even in the tragic Sarah Everard story they added details ofangry] her parents jobs and the value of the parents house [

@MimiDaisy11

There's nothing "woke" about being a republican. It's not a modern concept. I wish people would stop calling things "woke" or "cancel culture" when it clearly isn't. And relax most people seemingly love the monarchy here so they're not going anywhere anytime soon.

i do believe its been reported although correct me if im wrong is that the queen reminded them of colonism , so i see that as part of the woke culture , not in so much as they are republican , im not a keen royalist ,but if i was studying at oxford having the queens portrait would not be offending me in the slightest , lets face it if it was a portrait of one of my houserabbits or a pink fluffy unicorn i bet they wouldnt have been voting to take it down i bet

@Jaxhog

Tbh, I find the student action quite chilling. So a small group thought it was ok to change a picture without consultation with the other students. This is anarchy.

OH MY GOD have you any idea how stupid this sounds. You're describing moving a picture that has been put up in a student union as anarchy? You can't genuinely believe anything so incomprehensibly stupid. People take up and put up photos all the time. You're also an idiot because they tabled a motion which all students voted on so you haven't even bothered to understand what happened.

Certain groups of people really don't do themselves any favours on these discussions. If you genuinely believe in what you're saying surely you could take 2 minutes to actual inform yourself about what happened and try to type out some kind of sane argument. Sometimes I wonder whether these are actual left wing trolls trying to make the right look stupid.

Students have way too much free time....

OP the government love to assume they know what people think. They prefer to tell them what or how to think and this is just one example. I also think they do far more 'chilling' things than this.

its been reported although cocorrect me if im wrong is that the queen reminded them of colonism , so i see that as part of the woke culture , not in so much as they are republican,

Why is it 'woke' to be critical of colonialism?

@ThePlantsitter

This government is sticking its nose in all over the place where it shouldn't - museum boards, arts funding decisions, and now what is a private space in an institution of learning. If you don't find it chilling that they're trying to control the agenda everywhere then you're not paying attention.

This.

The Telegraph covers the view well - that universities and cultural establishments think the “wrong” way. Portrayed as “infiltrated” for not thinking the right way.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/31/british-arts-establishment-is-full-of-relentlessly-left-wing-gro/

www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/05/15/time-end-elite-dominance-heritage/

The strap line of the second link is “The Tories don't need to be PC: the PM has shown that you can build a majority with a mix of economic populism and cultural conservatism.”

I don't think the comparisons help, but I agree the government really shouldn't have been drawn into commenting on an Oxford common's room.

I also don't get how taking down a poster put up in 2013 is erasing history or not respecting the practices of a host country or why this man is being made responsible for putting forward proposals as is his role in for all proposals at this time, but the Daily Mail and others are going to do what they're going to do.

Oh, and for the US comments - American high school students, of all nationalities, are often required to take government class which involves debating the constitution and decisions made by the government past and present. I had British, German, Greek, and others in my class who did it. No one cared there or when there was discussions on changing things around certain imagery at my the American uni I went to. Some places are more sensitive to this than others, but even the American Midwest doesn't care what how uni students decorate their spaces.

@PelvicFloorTrauma

dd - so why the recent furore in the American press about PH criticising the Fourth Amendment? Maybe I am old fashioned but I happen to think there is some merit in respecting the practices of your host country.

@PelvicFloorTrauma - absolutely.

So he, as the president of the group, was asked to table a motion on the portrait. Everyone voted. The majority decided to remove it.

That sounds exactly like the practices of the UK in terms of democracy and freedom of speech. Great that he respected the practices of his host country rather than refusing to table the motion or by taking a unilateral decision one way or the other.

Or was that not what you meant...