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?!!!

Stop frothing about "forreners ignoring OUR proud English culture", these kinds of posts just sound like ignorant racist claptrap.

88% of students at Magdalen are white. A full 12% went to either Eton or Westminster. This is a college full of post white English kids. Stop trying to pretend those Evil Brown Foreigners are coming over and forcing their nasty liberal wokester politics onto your beloved Queen.

My family had been living in England for centuries before the Saxe-Coburg family were first brought over from Germany to rule our country because Parliament decided to skip over dozens of rightful heirs to the throne for being Catholic. As someone who is 100% English and comes from an old English family, it's complete bollocks to claim there is any "tradition" of young people hanging photos of the Queen in their private spaces. Just utterly untrue.

they obviously feel its what people want to read
The press don't print what they think people want to read, they print what serves their political agenda, or what they think will work gullible people into a froth of outrage. Trying to pretend that perfectly normal non-stories are actually part of the Evil Liberal Anti-England Wokester Agenda is clickbait 101 for the right wing press. The press do not care what you want, they just want to manipulate you into getting outraged.

The people in favour of this "cancel culture" are basically marxists/anarchists who wish to erase all aspects of our past and culture.

Nice one.

(I assume you're being satirical)

@IntermittentParps

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?

i wouldnt have said its still relevent in todays society , i mean we have moved on a few hundred years so im not getting why its still an issue , we can only learn from the mistakes of the past , whats the point in eradicating them so people dont get to feel all upset , we all know it happened . i dont see why history has to get airbrushed out so as not to offend people .

"And of course the long history of colonialism and oppression by the Thais on the British (I assume you are british) is easily overcome. Oh wait..."

I don't think the Thais would agree that they were oppressed by the British. They are a very proud but pragmatic people. Even when the government was taken over by the Japanese in WW2, they would not have referred to it in those terms.
Thai history is fascinating, a melting pot of Greek, French, Dutch, British, Chinese, Indian, Burmese, Laotian, Cambodian and American people and culture. Their relationship with Britain has been and continues to be a positive one and they would be offended to be told otherwise.

we can only learn from the mistakes of the past , whats the point in eradicating them so people dont get to feel all upset , we all know it happened . i dont see why history has to get airbrushed out so as not to offend people.
Is it airbrushing out that there are no statues up of Hitler? Have people forgotten who he is?

(I may have invoked Godwin's Law after all; so help me )

@chaosrabbitland I don't think you understand what history is do you? No one is suggesting we don't study history or we airbrush it away. Acknowledging history doesn't mean you have to have a picture of a queen on the wall if you don't want one. Do you have a portrait of the queen in your house?

@PenguinIce

Op, you have sensationalised it just as much as the Daily Mail. In reality it is all a big fuss about nothing.

In what way is it a fuss about nothing, @PenguinIce ?

Why do think this is newsworthy, MP worthy and worthy of digging into and publishing one of the student's backgrounds (unrelated) backgrounds?

Their relationship with Britain has been and continues to be a positive one and they would be offended to be told otherwise.
Would 'they'? All Thai people?

If you don't find it chilling that they're trying to control the agenda everywhere then you're not paying attention.

Exactly. The fact a major leading MP is leading a hate campaign to smear a college kid for making a private interior design decision is the very definition of "cancel culture" and North Korean-style censorship.

Literally who gives a fuck what prints college kids want on their PRIVATE walls!

The people in favour of this "cancel culture" are basically marxists/anarchists
So basically the Times, given they're the ones leading the campaign to Cancel this boy.

They believe in Critical Race Theory, where all white people carry some kind of "original sin"
Total bollocks, but keep playing the victim and making shit up.

They are nasty, small minded identity politics crusaders.
They took one photo from their own wall. You're the one throwing tantrums and hurling really nasty personal abuse because you're outraged and offended by someone's private interior decorating choices.

If they hate the UK so much, then why come here in the first place?
LOL most of them went to fucking Eton. But sure use racist dog whistles.

we all know it happened . i dont see why history has to get airbrushed out so as not to offend people . That's the problem. You don't know.

I'm from a country that has been colonised by Great Britain, and my kids, now in a British school, don't learn shit about how thousands and thousands of people in my country of origin were killed, deported, were forbidden to speak their native language, were isolated, how they tried to erase my ancestors' beliefs and culture. My guess is, you haven't got a clue.

i wouldnt have said its still relevent in todays society , i mean we have moved on a few hundred years

Eh? I'm under 50 and there were still British colonies when I was a child.

Just read this and tell me if something you knew about, something you have learned at school maybe?en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expulsion_of_the_Acadians

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

Oh - they would have! Oxbridge College politics is fabulously ridiculous! The drama! The excitement! There would have motions and counter motions. There would have been the vegetarian society involved (“they only want to takes Fluffy’s photo down because they want to eat him!”) and a new society for the protection and advancement of carrots would be set up.

There is no issue too small and ridiculous to be debated and voted on by your average Oxbridge College political type.

I’d be very interested to know if Gavin Williamson has a photo of the Queen in his front room.

This happened until 1960. The ignorance on this thread is really proving the point about why actual education on colonial history is necessary www.theguardian.com/news/2016/aug/18/uncovering-truth-british-empire-caroline-elkins-mau-mau

North Korea wasn't what I thought of first, but Dublin was.

I think THIS is chilling. A gang on a train platform with bikes intimidated passengers attempting to board a train. Similar incidents are dotted about in the press going back to about 2017 so it's nothing unusual.

www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/irish-rail-investigate-cctv-howth-20610822

The 17 year old woman described as 'falling' on the track was spat at and arguably fell because of being hit by a bike wheel, all seen in the footage. Though identities have led to arrests of some of the gang, and initially names put to faces, the fact that the CCTV footage was instrumental in this means one of the parents is looking to sue, and the internet is now almost silent on those names.

@JustbackfromBangkok

"And of course the long history of colonialism and oppression by the Thais on the British (I assume you are british) is easily overcome. Oh wait..."

I don't think the Thais would agree that they were oppressed by the British. They are a very proud but pragmatic people. Even when the government was taken over by the Japanese in WW2, they would not have referred to it in those terms.
Thai history is fascinating, a melting pot of Greek, French, Dutch, British, Chinese, Indian, Burmese, Laotian, Cambodian and American people and culture. Their relationship with Britain has been and continues to be a positive one and they would be offended to be told otherwise.

*JustbackfromBangkok - you misread what I wrote. I said the "long history of colonialism and oppression by the Thais on the British" and indicated that was sarcastic with the "Oh wait..."

I was suggesting the poster I was responding to had no cultural or historical reason to feel uncomfortable by a portrait of a foreign monarch.

Mumoftwoinprimary Less of that in an MCR than a JCR, in my experience. Most graduate students have better things to do. But yes, completely right on JCR politics.

The people whipping themselves up into a righteous froth over 'woke' students probably had parents doing the same over 'politically correct' students in the 80s/90s, and grandparents raging about 'right on' students in the 60s/70s. No doubt their children will be getting very angry about someone in an Oxbridge college using King William's picture as a dartboard in about 2045.

It's the dead cat of the day as the government, Gove this time, has been found guilty of acting unlawfully.

If a government has little to offer its people, no meaningful improvements in life chances etc, increasingly, it seems, it resorts to this culture war bollocks to drum up support. It happens in the US, now here, and it works.

The irony of the “erasing history” claims is that it’s precisely the opposite way round, the people who accuse students of doing so have no interest in knowing our actual history.

They don’t want to know that our state spent the 1950s locking people in concentration camps, chopping their limbs off and torturing children. They don’t want to understand why the Union Jack is known as the “butcher’s apron” and in much of the world, our national symbols are seen as representing violence, torture, plunder and oppression.

Snowflakes, really. I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but facts don’t care about your feelings.

@Bollockstothat

i wouldnt have said its still relevent in todays society , i mean we have moved on a few hundred years

Eh? I'm under 50 and there were still British colonies when I was a child.

There are still countries today that are under british colonial rule. Admittedly, it's not quite as bloody an experience as it used to be.

There are still countries today that are under british colonial rule

Not officially colonies though, AFAIK. But there were in the 1970s.

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 this politely, but don't be fucking ridiculous.

The education secretary has waded in to criticise a student body for actions within their own space?

They're paying to use it and are staying there, but actually I think you'll find that space belongs to the college, as does the portrait
The courteous thing to do would be to request that it was taken down and abide by whatever decision was made, or failing that go somewhere where the decor was more to their taste

But yes - it was a silly attention-seeking stunt, and if they don't like the publicity they should have thought of that before doing it

Poked the hornet's nest, did he?

People going on about "cancel culture" and "woke" at every given chance, even when there's been no cancellation may just cause their beloved and well-worn phrases to lose their meaning and people to stop paying attention to them.

Hmm, I wonder what this statement reminds me of? Just replace 'cancel culture' and 'woke' with other terms. At this rate, people just roll their eyes when they read woke and cancel culture even if you have a point.

In this case though you don't. No one's cancelling the Queen or the UK here and it isn't woke to talk about British history.