Attempting to destroy famous paintings because fossil fuels

https://m.independent.ie/world-news/europe/climate-protesters-throw-mashed-potatoes-at-monet-painting-42089510.html

Last week it was tomato soup thrown at Van Gogh's Sunflowers this week mashed potato at Claude Monet’s Les Meules..

But why tho? I found this tweet of theirs absolutely laughable “If it takes a painting - with #MashedPotatoes or #TomatoSoup thrown at it - to make society remember that the fossil fuel course is killing us all: Then we’ll give you #MashedPotatoes on a painting!”, but all you’ve done is made me think you’re stupid.

But the other thing that’s more confusing to me, they’re not really destroying anything anyway. They didn’t get soup on Sunflowers or Le Meules, at worst they’ve damaged the frames, but the painting is behind glass.

Is this just some mad attention seeking or are they that dumb, they reckon effectively pointless attempts to vandalise very old paintings, somehow raises awareness of climate change and the effects of fossil fuels?

I think all they did was remind us some folks are just plain old stupid. Also they glue their hands to the wall? Jaysus.

xxxxxxl

Someone should tell them wasting food is bad for C02 emissions.

Strumms

What do attention seekers do when people show no interest in them or starve them of attention ?

they do something outlandish and or outrageous to court attention.

never mind that it might destroy something people love and enjoy… they and their cause get 5 minutes.

criminal justice system should jail them… but it won’t.

People looking at that don’t think.. “ fûck, the climate! “They think.. “ pair of thuggish fûckwits “

osarusan

delete

xxxxxxl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119785313#Comment_119785313

Err I though all paintings were behind glass and filled with some none reactive gas ?

freshpopcorn

Maybe it's because of the cost of living but I find in the last few months since these guys popped up. I find less and less people are caring about the environment again. People don't really care about them. I do think somebody will loose the rag tough and mow one of the ones stuck to a road in London tough.

Quantum Erasure

they should put their money where their mouth is, and do something like this...

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/oct/13/channel-4-show-art-trouble-hitler-painting

quokula

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058268757/attempting-to-destroy-famous-paintings-because-fossil-fuels

They're not trying to destroy famous paintings - as you pointed out yourself they're protected behind glass so no damage is done. They're trying to get publicity, which has clearly worked to some extent as you're talking about it.

It's the same thing as when Fathers 4 Justice used to pull off memorable publicity stunts like climbing Buckingham Palace dressed as Batman. Neither Batman or Buckingham Palace had anything to do with the issue they were protesting, but it got them in the news and got people talking about it. Of course there was never a massive fossil fuel industry backed propaganda campaign against father's rights so their protests were never described as controversial in the same way.

donaghs

A child dieing on the way to hospital due to a road protest would certainly change public opinion.

But I don’t think it’s really about “caring for the environment”. It more about the speed at which you want to decarbonise society. You could just ban all fossil fuels overnight and accept the consequences on life and death and living standards as being part of some greater good. Or do it in a more transitional way.

These protestors dont really seem to be communicating an effective message.

gary550

just incase you ever wondered about the majority of these peoples Intellectual prowess

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNrMmh0Yf-U

StupidLikeAFox

They did it for publicity and got a lot of publicity.

If your first reaction is "jeez, who is sitting at home and hears about this and suddenly changes their mind about climate change" then you don't understand a lot about publicity

xxxxxxl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119785351#Comment_119785351

Yeah I have pointed to that sometimes.

katiek102010

These people are absolute idiots. Tbj thr majory come from wealthy inbred family's and do not hae 2 brain cells to rub together.

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119785353#Comment_119785353

Climate change has been a thing in mainstream and not so mainstream media for years…. Vandalised artwork won’t do any useful purpose…

xxxxxxl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119785382#Comment_119785382

it will give the old 19-35 year-olds with no life or anything a platform. I see them as a lost generation now infantilised.

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119785492#Comment_119785492

And the currency or platform of that lot or many of them is ?! A T T E N T I O N… they just love it…🙄🫣🤪

John Doe1

I have met a few of these activist types, narcissists one and all. The issue itself does not matter to them that deeply.

Ramasun

Never mind paintings how about the destruction of Bamyan or Palmyra?

Thelonious Monk

So all the science says if we don't stop oil everything will be pretty f**ked in the coming years. Quiet protesting doesn't seem to be changing anything, there's no one you can vote for who will implement the changes required, so the situation is pretty hopeless and maybe that's why they're resorting to these stunts. At least they're getting attention no matter how annoying you may find them.

I don't know why people always bang on about their class or wealth, most social movements are led by wealthier people if you think about it - suffragettes, RSPCA, even the likes of Daniel O'Connell and Wolfe Tone were posh af.

Obviously a man driving a van or a low paid factory worker have other things to worry about rather than the existential threat of climate change, that has always been the way.

I would have thought the boards.ie crowd would be well in favour of this movement though, I know how passionate they are about stopping climate change and total believers in the science!

ancapailldorcha

Can't say that I get it.

Does anyone think that oil or oil companies are good? Most people outside the alt-right online echo chamber would agree that climate change is happening and we need to reshape our economy to adapt to it. It's here now.

I get a smell of narcissism off these people. Young, white, well spoken middle class girls probably hoping to go viral on social media or something. They could have gone to protest the offices of the Murdoch press, the Houses of Parliament or the offices of BP but they instead tried to destroy a painting.

Disgusting.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119786240#Comment_119786240

Most people outside of the alt-right and boards.ie do agree that climate change is happening and we need to reshape our economy, but it's not happening. Absolutely nothing is happening.

I don't know why people give out about them being young or what colour they are, an 80 year old woman was arrested protesting with Just Stop Oil the other day too though.

EOQRTL

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119785319#Comment_119785319

Anyone i know are sick of hearing about the environment. People's attention span was tested to the absolute limit with the covid stuff and the constant fearmongering and the end is nigh climate warriors have been pushing their stuff for years now.

magicbastarder

weird use of the phrase 'attempting to destroy' when - yet again - the painting is protected by glass, and the protestors specifically do this to glass protected paintings.

more power to them. the pearl clutching is funny.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119786267#Comment_119786267

Surely even you can see that the environment is being destroyed now at a rate that can't end well?

How anyone thinks society can carry on as is is just beyond me, the way we consume is insanity. And yes I know I'm part of the problem.

TomTomTim

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119786260#Comment_119786260

Where have you gotten this consensus from? Polling? I guarantee you that most Irish people spend little time thinking about climate change. As you've all but said yourself in a previous post, it's a very middle class ideology, and a very particular type of middle class too. Other worries are far greater to the vast majority of society.

EOQRTL

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119786283#Comment_119786283

Oh i can see it alright, im just honest enough to admit that i don't care enough about it.

thegame983

They're prats. They have proved this.

Because of this I don't care what they have to say about anything.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119786288#Comment_119786288

well pretty much every climate scientist agrees we're in deep trouble. Climate change is one thing but the constant requirement for economies to grow and for us to consume more and more can only lead to an unlivable planet eventually. People don't think about it of course that's probably why some groups are trying to bring more attention to the issue.

boards.ie is an echo chamber of men who don't believe in climate change, so it's not a good litmus test in here.

I don't know what class has to do with anything, you're hardly going to get people struggling to feed their families worrying about these kind of intangible problems are you? Again, most social movements came about because of more well off people.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119786317#Comment_119786317

Fair enough!

Manach

They seem to be the Western equivalent of the Taliban, fanatics when seeing art that challenges their world view which had existed long before them and in the normal course of affairs will exist long after, seek to destroy and degrade.

magicbastarder

again, they did not attempt to destroy the painting. they deliberately choose paintings which will suffer no harm.

but don't let that get in the way of your narrative.

Be right back

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119785342#Comment_119785342

https://amp.lbc.co.uk/news/eco-protestors-have-blood-on-their-hands-after-two-women-die-in-m20-horror-crash/

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119786421#Comment_119786421

The pair were stood on the hard shoulder for four hours as they waited for assistance, before an oncoming vehicle, believed to be a BMW X5, veered across three lanes of traffic and ploughed into them.

I'd be blaming the idiot in the BMW in this case.

Be right back

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119786434#Comment_119786434

Oh I know but it didn't help that the ambulance took so long due to the traffic caused by the road closure.

Be right back

Not sure why they picked on Charles and left the others alone!

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119786386#Comment_119786386

Isn't it amazing that these activists have such a knowledge as to what will and won't damage artwork? Maybe they should all become conservators.

Throwing liquid at any piece of art has the potential to damage it, even if it is behind glass. Liquid can potentially seep between the frame and the glass. It's an incredibly irresponsible thing to do.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119786503#Comment_119786503

to be fair it's not as irresponsible as the current trajectory of the human race, which is the point they are trying to make

Quantum Erasure

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119786492#Comment_119786492

That's treasonous behavior, they're lucky hanging is no longer allowed as punishment for such a crime....

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119786525#Comment_119786525

It's not as irresponsible as many things, we could go on and on with whataboutery of that kind until the end of time.

If we threw liquids at artwork every time someone did something irresponsible, there'd be no artwork left.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119786503#Comment_119786503

apart from your point reaching a little, they still did not set out to destroy the painting. and the paintings have been confirmed as unharmed. so the 'badly fitted protective glass theory' has yet to have its time in the sun.

if someone installed protective glass over a painting and didn't anticipate actual paint being thrown over them anyway (which probably would have been considered much more likely than soup before now, i suspect) i'd have been worried.

Wanderer78

i understand the frustration and anger, but this really isnt the way to protest so, is suspect the artist community is heavily involved and in support of environmental protesting in general, but this!

tayto lover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119786525#Comment_119786525

Go home and eat your leaves.

magicbastarder

someone should fund the protestors to be able to afford classier foods. tinned soup? mashed spuds? clearly the work of underfed students.

monseiur

Students and young folk will always find a cause/reason to rebel, protest, and seek attention - some genuine some spurious. They all grow out of it eventually...when real life takes over. Regarding climate change - climate is ever changing and has been since the dawn of time. Sometimes this change is so slow over 100's maybe 1000's of years it's not noticeable in a human lifetime. Other times this change may come it short bursts like the 'little ice age' or the 'warm period' in the middle ages. The many ice ages over millions of years were serious and long term climate changes. The last major ice age gradually came to an end roughly 12,000 years ago, that thaw and rise in global temperature was, and still is, our planets latest climate change. This 'thaw' didn't happen overnight, it took thousands of years and still continues. How long more will it last is anybody's guess, will both north and south ice caps melt or will the planet regress into another ice age that could last 1,000's of years ??? The fact is human activity has negligible long term effect on climate good, bad or indifferent.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119786635#Comment_119786635

we all eat leaves in some form or another

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119786657#Comment_119786657

If it's fact, please provide scientific evidence. Otherwise, it's just standard denier drivel.

Be right back

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119786636#Comment_119786636

It should be baked beans and toast, the staple diet of an impoverished student!!

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119786657#Comment_119786657

It's amazing how many experts we have on here. So why do you think scientists talk about man made climate change at all? Or that greenhouse gases are a problem? Is it all just so they can force a tiny carbon tax upon us?

Have you told the IPCC etc of your findings?

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119786657#Comment_119786657

...a bit more time required i guess, to 'grow out' of denial, i guess maturity takes time with some of us, and never for some, unfortunately!

EOQRTL

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119786657#Comment_119786657

The real arrogance of the climate warriors is thinking they can change things by forcing everyone onto a bicycle or stopping someone from eating meat. The planet will do as it chooses with us and that's more than likely shake us off like a bad case of crabs and move on. There is no point worrying about it or buying into the fear.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119786702#Comment_119786702

so fcuk future generations, including your own kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews!