This made me feel quite ill, but then I learned that the painting is behind glass. The National Gallery says there’s a little damage to the frame, but none to the painting.
This made me feel quite ill, but then I learned that the painting is behind glass. The National Gallery says there’s a little damage to the frame, but none to the painting.
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16 responses to ““Activists””
More of the, “things can be replaced,” and, “it’s insured, so it doesn’t matter,” rhetoric in the comments. I really got enough of that in 2020.
It seems modern activists for many many causes, worthy and unworthy alike, are really bad at planning. How does this make the oil companies take note? How does it increase awareness among the general public? How does it endear them to the cause? Why soup on a painting??
A proper protest should not motivate fair and reasonable people to find out if they can make a contribution to @LetOil_RunAmok.
Well, there are two broad categories of protest. There’s the sort intended to evoke sympathy in the face of injustice. The other kind is the threat. Give us what we want, or she’ll be the Tomato Lisa.
I think the “logic” here is straight out of Yes, Minister.
Something must be done.
This is something.
Therefore, this must be done.
Well, it is an oil painting.
Ba-DOOM-tish.
I’ll see my way out.
I think that actually was the “thinking.” “You want oil??? How’s your oil lookin’ now???????”
I’ll believe they researched that the painting was covered in glass so wouldn’t be damaged, but they should have known it would be reported as “people throw soup on priceless painting” implying it was damaged. Which just makes the cause look bad.
I can get behind “polite protesting hasn’t really helped” but there’s got to be a better way.
I see a glorious future before us all.! No more causes necessary, because all issues have been solved for ever and ever, Amen.! No more species loss.! No more climate crisis.! No more heading off into a sunset of a mined-out planet.! Nor Sadi Carnot and his Second Law of Thermodynamics always having the last laugh.
And if the cost of this future has to be all the paintings, art, and the galleries that house them, well we’ll just have to put that down as an unavoidable cost, as we march together into our glorious morning...
If this had happened in the US, I would have said that “Oil is used to make the van go”. But British people use a different pronunciation of the artist’s name.
What did Van Gogh do to invite this treatment? Did he misgender someone? Something even worse?
Okay, okay, I’ll stop using sunflower oil!
Just get the sunflower oil that identifies as olive oil – everyone wins.
Thinking on the “cause good, specific protest action bad” what effective protest could you make against the fossil fuel industry? Most people know about global warming and the effect of fossil fuels – so it is not a case of raising awareness. You could disrupt the oil supply, I suppose, by eg blockading refineries, but that would be fairly temporary.
My own conscience is clear as I campaign for better cycling provision, which means fewer cars in cities. However it is grindingly slow in my city/country to get better cycling infrastructure, even though politicians do like to be seen as generally supportive. I can understand the frustration of climate change activists – you have a COP26, resolutions are passed, targets stated and then nothing much happens, AFAIK.
I don’t think chucking soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers is the answer, but I wish I could suggest better and more constructive activities.
Now Just Stop Oil have sprayed an Aston Martin showroom with orange paint, which seems more suitable as a target:-
https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1581623830929641473
However the problem isn’t the odd luxury car – it’s cities that have ended up being designed around mass car transport. Really, you should be spraying the cheaper end of the markets – the Toyotas and Nissans, if that’s your way of making a point.
I do recall when the Anti-Oil activists barricaded a dinner for the Oil and Gas industry in Edinburgh’s International Conference Centre. My office is very near, so we were told about this. I know someone who attended the dinner, and he said the attendees treated it as a lock-in and got pissed* (he would, I know, and this is Scotland).
Now the organisers of such events try to keep the venue secret.
I would say that my acquaintance’s firm would do prefer to deal with renewables. But Oil and Gas pay them thousands, and they deal with them as well. And I can’t see it ever getting much better. During lockdown global pollution did decline as people weren’t travelling, either locally for commutes or on flights for tourism. But now it’s back to normal. Mass tourism increases – hugely now the Chinese are rich enough to travel, and populations that used to be poor are becoming richer – and becoming richer means that people buy cars.
*British sense – drunk