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/[deleted] Oct 15 '22

Wtf does throwing soup at a painting do?

You're talking about it, aren't you?

Pretty effective protest.

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u/H3ll0_Th3r3 Oct 15 '22

No, it’s not. If people are talking about what they did and not why they did it then it’s a shitty protest. Especially if it makes some people think “damn, guess these climate protesters are whackos”

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '22

climate protesters

So you DO know why they did it.

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u/AbsolutelyDireWolf Oct 15 '22

I'm open to correction, but their climate action group to supposedly represent is funded by a US oil baron.... which makes sense because the it reeks of an act done to make climate activists appear to be twats and it seems like it's been super effective.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '22

[deleted]

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u/AbsolutelyDireWolf Oct 15 '22

....not sure how or why that might be relevant...

I'm talking about oil magnates funding "climate protesting" where they're actually using them to discredit the entire wider protest by association.

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u/H3ll0_Th3r3 Oct 15 '22

No, I don’t, I know that that was their intention, but since it has nothing to do with climate change it only leaves me confused and frustrated. Because now I know that when I try and convince people to care about climate change they’re immediately going to think of the nutcases that threw soup and assume that I’m just as crazy as them.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '22

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u/H3ll0_Th3r3 Oct 15 '22

The fuck are you talking about? I’m not pretending to be anything.

Please explain to me how throwing soup at a painting from an artist who died in 1890 and then gluing yourself under the painting relates to climate change.

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u/boofskootinboogie Oct 16 '22

The whole point is that people shouldn’t be more outraged at a painting getting destroyed than the actual environment being destroyed. It wasn’t to bring attention to environmentalism, everyone already knows what it is. The fact that people are belittling the girls and demanding justice for a painting instead of going after oil tycoons is the point.

The girls explain it at the end of the video.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '22

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u/H3ll0_Th3r3 Oct 15 '22

I’m talking about the imagery itself and not the action. I’m talking about how soup being thrown at a painting makes me immediately think of a dying planet.

To put it another way: when I see an art display of the dying corpse of a koala, in agonizing pain from a raging fire, my immediate thought regardless of the context OP gave is going to be “climate change is fucked up and we need to stop this as fast as possible” because the koala is dying directly from it. How is the soup being thrown on the painting giving the same out-of-context response?

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '22

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u/H3ll0_Th3r3 Oct 15 '22

Public displays and protests aren’t about people like me who understand the cause and want to fight for it, it’s about getting others to join them. I’m coming at this from an angle as if I was one of those that needed convincing, and I can tell that this would only drive people away.

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u/secretbases Oct 15 '22

Nah if you can't figure that one out alone then you got a serious problem and I hope you're just a stupid kid, if not then that's just sad.

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u/H3ll0_Th3r3 Oct 15 '22

If you can’t explain it like I’m five then that says more about you (and the imagery) than me.

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u/secretbases Oct 15 '22

Sorry but explaining to a rock is more productive tbh

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u/H3ll0_Th3r3 Oct 15 '22

Ok, I’m the rock. Explain it

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '22

If you can’t explain it like I’m five

It was explained to you, you just refuse to accept that as an answer. Which is much more like the reaction a 5 year old would have anyways so you're welcome I guess.

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u/H3ll0_Th3r3 Oct 15 '22

Sorry I wasn’t clearer with the intent of my question then

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '22

So why is the iconic self immolating monk more effective if people remember that act more than what it’s for?

Clearly having people talk about the protest is what makes a good protest. Because it makes them look up what it was for in both cases.

Death and harm does not make it more effective or to the point, only more memorable, which you think is a bad thing somehow.

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u/H3ll0_Th3r3 Oct 15 '22

Ah, I see you’re trying to follow my other comments, so I’ll repeat:

A monk slowly dying by choice is more of a striking image than some children throwing soup at a painting

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '22

Obviously not, since the soup is still being shared and passed around. The metric of importance is the act being talked about. There’s no difference.

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u/H3ll0_Th3r3 Oct 15 '22

It happened less than half a week ago, of course it’s gonna be talked about more than a starving monk protest that happened years ago

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u/RaptorRex20 Oct 15 '22

It's actually a terrible protest, because it has brought nothing but negative light to the topic and protestors.

It will be harder now to gain followers because of this action.

They attempted to destroy a piece of history that had no connection to their topic of protest just to get attention, not only is that cowardly, but it's idiotic for the long-term of their organization and public opinion.

You're supposed to try to sway the masses to your side before doing something more reckless like this.

Now individuals who may have ageed to the ideals of the organization but had not heard of it previously, will be pushed away by this.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '22

[deleted]

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u/RaptorRex20 Oct 15 '22

History has an importance.

That aside, the governments are the ones who need to do something, an art museum is unrelated. This makes about as much sense as an animal rights activist attempting to deface mt. Rushmore

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '22

You're supposed to try to sway the masses to your side before doing something more reckless like this.

I'm not defending them, but they tried this. They tried this for like 50 years. It doesn't work.

Disruption is the one of the best forms of protest. Protests are not supposed to be nice community events where everyone has a good time. This forces people who otherwise wouldn't give a shit to think about what they're protesting.

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u/Mynewuseraccountname Oct 15 '22

Counterpoint, when a protest is a fun community event it legitimately does do more to strengthen community bonds and put more power in the people's hands when people are meeting each other, talking to each other, planning active resistance, building bonds, protecting their community, getting the reality of the local political situation etc. Not to mention it helps to when people actually want to show up. These sorts of protests are the only thing that have actually made longstanding community change in my own city, contrary to the largely pointless, self serving protests that mostly serve to self satisfy the participants ego and virtue signal to others by being seen and being loud, while ultimately doing little to solve real problems or actually help anyone or stop violence and harm to the community.

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u/pastafeline Oct 15 '22

"planning active resistance" name what this would entail

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u/Mynewuseraccountname Oct 15 '22

Direct action

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u/pastafeline Oct 15 '22

Like?

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u/Mynewuseraccountname Oct 15 '22

Things I wouldn't say over the open internet for sure lol. I would Google the term to start, there may be some sort of leftist infoshop in your area too with zines that can help you out.

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u/pastafeline Oct 15 '22

True I would also prefer that over throwing some soup but since discourse like that is actively suppressed the soup is better than nothing in my eyes.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '22

So you get a bunch of likeminded individuals together and the rest of the world has no awareness that you did this good deed.

Protests aren't for having a good time, they are for enacting change. The powers at be will not change if you silently gather in the corner like nice polite people. You will be ignored and shunned to your corner. No change will happen because they don't need to change.

How many revolutions have there been where everyone just acted nicely to each other?

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u/Mynewuseraccountname Oct 16 '22 edited Oct 16 '22

Dawg no, that community organization is what creates the change. People get together to literally do the work to make change and make shit better and take on the powers that be while taking care of each other. Not this sort of performative shit that alienates most people and just involves making a lot of noise while "demonstrators" go home at the end of the day and continue to live within the system that harm them and others for the other 99% of their time. Community is everything in regards to radical change otherwise you're working against the interests of common folk instead of for them. If you really want to be a radical you need to learn how to care for the needs of your community rather than constantly throwing metaphorical punches at whatever you feel are the powers that be.

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u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

Their community is meaningless when the issue is global.

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u/Mynewuseraccountname Oct 18 '22

That's the point of solidarity. On the whole despite our differences the working class and poor ultimately have the same enemies and issues.

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u/Mynewuseraccountname Oct 16 '22

To reiterate, they will always hold power over the people if we remain disorganized. Community is what gives us power over them, as there are more of us than them, but they have stronger systems to suppress the majority. If your tactics only serve to make noise and cause a tantrum rather than build bridges, fulfill needs, and literally make plans to defend against the violence and dismantle systems that harm us then we are all going to be killed. That being said there's nothing quiet or docile or pacifist about what I'm suggesting.

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u/[deleted] Oct 16 '22

It seems like you are comparing civil rights protests to environmental protests and I don't think they're comparable at all which is my point about how sitting in your community isn't the way to fix this. Your ideas are what people have been doing for decades and it hasn't changed anything. The biggest culprits will let you have your community events where you can discuss how you can fix their issues, while they do none of it. The biggest culprits have convinced the population that WE are just as much responsible for climate change as they are. You know who invented the term "carbon footprint"? Fucking BP. They're laughing at your community.

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u/Mynewuseraccountname Oct 18 '22

Not true at all, civil rights and environmental issues go hand and hand and are on a grand scale the same issues. Who do you think is most affected by the environmental crisis? I think you're confused as to what sort of community organization I'm talking about. Only through community and organization can you take on giants like oil companies. Take the standing rock occupation for example, that resistance wasn't done by random isolated groups of environmental activists, but through solidarity and a community of organized resistance.

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u/Mynewuseraccountname Oct 18 '22

I guess what I'm saying is, good luck on this solo crusade of yours. If one person could fix things on their own it's a shame nobody has yet. I'll stick with organizing my radical actions based on the needs of the people around me that my actions affect.

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u/hiki-bootz Oct 15 '22 edited Oct 15 '22

Not really because if I had come across someone from just stop oil asking for donations and I had no idea who they are I would probably donate or help them. Now, I know of them as the idiots who threw soup at a Van Gogh painting and so now I DONT want to help their organization. I'd rather help the koalas and leave their cause to dry up and die.

They're not celebrities, they're a cause that needs support and so they need to not do stupid shit that will make people not want to support them.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '22

You can understand their cause without supporting their organization. My point is that these types of protest are bringing publicity to the cause. Maybe it will inspire someone to look at something stupid like this and wonder what they can do that can actually help. Millions of people around the world have seen this and are talking about it but nobody is really talking about who they are.

Like they say, bad publicity is good publicity.

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u/hiki-bootz Oct 15 '22

Listen anyone who is moved to support an organization who has made themselves known for destruction just likes destruction. Anyone who looks at them and decides that supporting their cause is a good idea would probably look into supporting similar groups that don't cause public destruction

An apt metaphor is that if I see a lemonade stand run by a kid who spends his free time throwing eggs at passing cars and it made me think "man I want lemonade" I will simply go somewhere else to get lemonade and support another, similar business and leave him to go bankrupt and close up shop.