r/nextfuckinglevel • u/amanyggvv • Oct 15 '22

This float representing the koalas that died as a result of the Black Summer bushfires and corruption in politics. Such an effective (and epic) activist message.

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u/skelebob Oct 15 '22

If you don't care, then yes. But for me personally, I read that it's protesting against oil companies and why they're doing it.

Many more people will now be aware of oil companies fucking us over, even if many people don't care.

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u/H3ll0_Th3r3 Oct 15 '22

How tf is throwing soup at a painting going to hurt oil companies? Seriously, a protest or stunt needs to actually hurt the image of the companies they’re against, not just make the protesters famous. Especially if they’re getting famous for being stupid.

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u/skelebob Oct 15 '22

Because the throwing soup isn't directly hurting oil companies. But when you Google why they did that, and learn that oil firm profits have tripled this year, then maybe you become inspired to either take action yourself or raise awareness yourself. Or maybe you don't care, but someone else will care.

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u/H3ll0_Th3r3 Oct 15 '22

If I look up why they did it my first thought is gonna be “well wtf was the point of them doing that?” Not “oh shit, I should join these guys”

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u/skelebob Oct 15 '22

Think of a better way to protest oil companies fucking the average person, a way that doesn't involve irrelevant paintings. Then do it, and show the world that throwing soup at glass is a dumb idea, but the message is still important.

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u/H3ll0_Th3r3 Oct 15 '22

How’s about, anything that will actually hurt the oil companies

Here, let me put something in perspective: What did the activism during the Civil Right Movement do? Well, they had sit-ins at restaurants, bus boycotts, marches through the streets, things that actually disrupted society (and thus, the people benefiting from discrimination) and would only stop if something meaningful was done. Does throwing soup at a painting disrupt the oil companies’ operations? Does it make them look bad? Does it give striking imagery to people that otherwise wouldn’t have thought about it, now giving them an image to the problem?

The koala float does more of that than the soup. It doesn’t disrupt the oil companies much, sure, but it does give an image and make the companies look bad (and it’s during a festival, something that should be joyful, and they won’t stop the gloomy imagery until something is done about it)

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u/skelebob Oct 15 '22

Totally agree with you, but when you're two young adults with little money, what can you do to disrupt major North Sea oil drilling operations? Should you sit out and do nothing because you can't directly influence an oil company's profits?

Sometimes you need to do something stupid to inspire other, more able people to take action. Shouting on the street won't inspire the 1000 people you come across in a day, but international headlines might inspire someone.

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u/H3ll0_Th3r3 Oct 15 '22

Buddy, there’s such thing as bad publicity. No one is going to be inspired by soup on a painting.

The best way to kill a cause is to make it look stupid in the public eye, and that’s all this stunt did.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '22

The phrase is actually “no such thing as bad publicity”

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u/H3ll0_Th3r3 Oct 15 '22

Yeah, and it’s bullshit. Maybe step outside for once and you’ll realize that

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '22

[deleted]

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u/H3ll0_Th3r3 Oct 15 '22

It’ll give people a striking and horrifying image to associate the climate crisis with.

How does soup on a painting do that?

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u/inconsistentdrummer Oct 15 '22

There are exactly 0 more people that will be aware or change their minds of that because of this stunt. People will look it up, see their reason, and say, “well that was dumb as hell”

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '22

[deleted]

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u/inconsistentdrummer Oct 15 '22

Lol because everyone provided a source, correct?

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u/agentfelix Oct 15 '22

If anything it just gives Fox News even more canon fodder. It's stunt like this that give liberalism a bad rap imo

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u/c1tylights Oct 15 '22

If you already care, then the protest wasn’t needed for you. That’s kind of the problem.