To think this is awful? (Just Stop Oil protesters throwing soup over Van Gogh painting)

[TheCatsPyjamas1]

Just read that some Just Stop Oil protesters have thrown soup over a Van Gogh painting in the National Gallery in London. AIBU to think this is unacceptable?

I fully support the message of the group (investing in environmentally responsible energy rather than fossil fuels, and helping to make society more equal for everyone), but I find their protest methods are awful and risk alienating people who would otherwise support them.

They keep on doing crazy things, and seem to be escalating their action each time they protest. I don’t really know when or how it’ll end.

Eh? As I'm sure you know, dairy farming has everything to do with climate change.

So, again, I would be interested to know your level of 'incandescence' at the many horrible deaths caused by floods in Pakistan, that have been caused or exacerbated by climate change? Or is it just people who campaign to try and stop thee things happening that upset you so?

Oh stop being so condescending @thedancingbear. Is pouring milk all over a foodhall floor going to undrown those people? It was pointless virtue signalling which has achieved nothing.

But you're 'incandescent' about some kids spilling some milk (which I've said, upthread, I think was a dick move), but pretty relaxed about thousands of people drowning in Pakistan?

Am I? When did I say I was “pretty relaxed” about anything?

It’s what you’ve not said.

if you can point me to your various posts about your ‘incandescence’ around thousands of deaths being caused by climate change, then I’ll stand corrected.

Oh give over. You’re just being provocative now. Find someone else to try and bully.

I don't really take much notice of your aggressive posts. However, the trying to shut down dissent argument is ironic.

Your desperation is transparent. You don't need to live in a mud hut to try and be taken seriously by living by a modicum of one's own rules. You called somebody a fucking nutcase earlier (charming). The only nutcases are those you respect.

They are absolute idiots and need to be locked up or fined or something. Someone is going to die because of their antics. They are going to stop the wrong ambulance. The wrong fire engine.

Is this thread full of climate deniers? Seems the majority are 'incensed' at things like the 'waste of a tin of soup that could go to the homeless', but not in the slightest incensed about the actual causes they are protesting about. Bizarre.

Thanks for talking some sense on page 1 of this thread @EscapeRoomToTheSun because I'm so fed up of all this bollocks.

In the not so distant future unless we make huge changes the Van Gogh painting won't exist anymore. Nor will any art, or any historic buildings or any beautiful landscapes. They didn't damage the painting it was symbolic.

If extinction rebellion, animal rebellion etc do finally succeed we will look back on the idiots who opposed them (and actually wished they'd get run over by lorries) with absolute contempt. Sadly it's quite possible they will fail and no-one will be looking back at anything.

Well said @Twillow this is one of the more depressing threads I've come across on Mumsnet.

Thanks, DancingBear, for fielding some wilfully ignorant posts this afternoon.

The hypocrisy idea always crops up and it's insidious in its disingenuity. It is definitely a kind of playground 'gotcha', a silencing technique.

It also conveniently absolves just about anyone from making any kind of ethical stand: "I couldn't possibly put my head above the parapet -I use a mobile / drive / went on holiday, that would be so hypocritical of me!"

I am acquainted with a handful of people who have participated in well publicised actions on behalf of XR and Stop HS2. They live lives very conscientiously and closely aligned with their activism, and most notably wouldn't judge individual members of the public who disagree with them for their choices. Because that's not the point.

In the not so distant future unless we make huge changes the Van Gogh painting won't exist anymore. Nor will any art, or any historic buildings or any beautiful landscapes. They didn't damage the painting it was symbolic

This is not going to happen, nothing in the official IPCC reports is this apocalyptic.

If extinction rebellion, animal rebellion etc do finally succeed we will look back on the idiots who opposed them (and actually wished they'd get run over by lorries) with absolute contempt. Sadly it's quite possible they will fail and no-one will be looking back at anything

If these groups somehow succeed, they will lead to mass human misery and death, worse than climate change ever could muster. Sri Lanka was just a taster to the kind of damage they can do to a functioning country.

Zeke Haufather, an IPCC author (and fwiw someone who I fundamentally disagree with), has criticised the apocalyptic obsessions of eco-zealots. Read a more balanced take here: www.climateforesight.eu/interview/zeke-hausfather-every-tenth-of-a-degree-counts/

Again, these are not my thoughts on the matter, but this is someone who can be worked with, not like eco-zealots who believe our world is literally ending 🤦‍♀️

you're 'incandescent' about some kids spilling some milk (which I've said, upthread, I think was a dick move), but pretty relaxed about thousands of people drowning in Pakistan

If you really cared about people in Pakistan (instead of using them as a prop for your political beliefs) you’d support fossil-fuel led infrastructure developments that will truly protect them from flooding. Proper drainage and retaining walls will help them (and these can only
be built by fossil fuels btw), climate-related deaths drop massively when you build proper infrastructure. Flooding used to kill many, many more people in the past, despite a smaller global population.

I'm glad the painting was not actually damaged, but generally agree with the point they were making.

Protesting may not be a crime. But criminal damage, obstructing the road, are.

They're the great unwashed, we need to get tough like the French, rip their glued hands off the roads, turn the water cannons on them!

Someone is going to die because of their antics

the irony of this comment is vast

The cognitive dissonance is truly admirable

But why do people in Pakistan need protection from flooding in the first place? Man made climate change primarily driven by fossil fuel use.

Isn’t HS2 an electric rail that will take traffic off the road when built? Also with nuclear protests the end result is lower reliance on oil

I understand it is disruptive but is there an easy way to transition to lower oil with large scale infrastructure projects?

Anyone criticising the methods of climate protestors cannot genuinely understand what the climate scientists are trying to tell us.

@EscapeRoomToTheSun Is it better for mass death or one or two people to die?

40000 people will die in U.K. due to pollution alone

of course it would be better if there are no deaths 🙄

Isn’t HS2 an electric rail that will take traffic off the road when built?

itll take freight from being on the road as the population increases & more freight is needing to be moved. It’s millions of journeys that will be done by train rather than HGV

Interesting that a vocal minority on this thread see the protection of a piece of art depicting nature as more important than protecting nature that supports life on earth.