**Alternate Sources**
Here are some potential alternate sources for the same story:
* [Stonehenge covered in paint by Just Stop Oil protesters](https://bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cw44mdee0zzo), suggested by _Whathefudge_ - bbc.co.uk
When chat gpt came out, one of my friends had a great line. He said, "I dont see what the big deal is, it's just making shit up. I've been making shit up for years and no one cares!"
Tired of Big Stonehenge?! Essential viewing: [https://youtu.be/qAXzzHM8zLw?si=I724dW\_ItFP1nPlg&t=130](https://youtu.be/qAXzzHM8zLw?si=I724dW_ItFP1nPlg&t=130)
Two minutes on Google is enough to see that they actually have done this to oil company offices, quite a lot of times actually but I'll only share one article: https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/energy-climate-protests-just-stop-oil-b2365107.html
That got ignored. This didn't. Is being ignored effective protest? No.
Fair play, this wasnt ignored, well done to them.
The problem is everyone reading about it just think they are twats.
EDIT: In hindsight, Cunt was a strong word. So i've reffered to them as twats instead.
"You've just made everyone think you're cunts" is a common response to protest action, but the reality of the world is that that largely just doesn't matter. How many people who read this and think "cunts" were ever going to do anything about the oil industry anyway? Virtually zero.
The reality is that for the vast majority of people, if a protest group's actions causes you to despise them not a single fuck will be given, because you're irrelevant to them and their topic of interest. You were never going to help them, you were never going to hinder them, and you still won't do either thing. They're targeting a select group of people, not everyone.
EDIT: Lots of people have asked "Who are they targeting then?". I don't know; I'm not one of the protestors; you'd have to ask them. If you really want me to guess, my guess is that in this action specifically I assume they're trying to raise awareness for electoral support. In that case Joe Bloggs might read this story and think "Fuck those guys, I'm not supporting them or anything they support", but...
1) There's a ~32.5% chance that Mr Bloggs doesn't even vote
2) There's a roughly ~60% chance that if he does vote, he only ever votes for the same party regardless of the issues
3) There's an ~85% chance that the environment isn't even in his top 3 priorities when deciding who to vote for, and only a 4% chance it's his top priority.
So assuming they're targeting electoral support, in the absolute best case only around 4% of the electorate would be remotely receptive to the message. As I say though; I'm just guessing, it might be nothing to do with the election at all - I don't really want to get bogged down in that, the point is more that if you look at this and think "This pissed me off so I'm not supporting these guys or anything they support", well congratulations; you were never their target audience and your anger is irrelevant.
> How many people who read this and think "cunts" were ever going to do anything about the oil industry anyway? Virtually zero.
I care about the environment, I pick up other people's litter when I see it on the street, I cut out beef and lamb from my diet after seeing the information presented to me in a non-unhinged way. I look at this and think "cunts". I'm not in a position to do anything major about oil and gas on a large scale, but I'd wager if you took me, with my current values, and plopped me down into a position to do good, I'd still think these wankrags are insufferable cunts. You say this targets a select group. This targets *nobody*. Nobody is looking at this and being swayed to their cause. Not lay people, not the movers and shakers. The oil and gas companies are rubbing their hands together every time one of these pillocks oranges up another beloved landmark.
What else do you want them to do out of curiosity.
They believe that the world is going to have an extinction level event due to climate change.
I'm not sure what you would do for the lives of your kids, maybe these people have been trying for decades to get anyone to listen, but things like fucking up an oil execs office gets them quietly arrested and you don't see anything.
At this point I guess it's like, who the fuck cares about Stonehenge, we are fucked?
I can get the sentiment I guess. We are careeing towards the extinction of our species, there is a consensus from the international scientific community, and no one is doing anything.
They aren't even electing politicians who will do anything. They just keep electing the ones who tell everyone not to worry, things are that bad, we will stop killing ourselves at some point.
So, you care about the environment? Do you have kids? What is your plan to make sure they have an ecosystem to support them? Anyone who sees this and goes, "oh these guys are dickheads, now I'm going to vote for the collapse of our ecosystem" was never going to support any kind of cause.
I couldn't watch "don't look up". It made me so fucking angry. So fucking angry. You individually can't do anything about climate change. Neither can I. The only group with the power to do so is a government. Corporations are not capable, they just aren't run that way. Profit above all else or the CEO gets replaced.
So how, HOW is everyone just calmly sitting around, going, oh well those scientists have an agenda or oh, but what about the economy.
Fuck me I wish I had the energy these guys did, but honestly, humanity disgusts me, with so much greed they are literally making themselves exctinct while explaining why the Trumps of the world actually knows better than those scientists.
Your attitude is the most sane in this whole thread in all honestly. I get the outrage about Stonehenge to an extent, but there is a bigger problem looming, and no-one seems to have any sense of perspective that they should be *so* much more angry about inaction on climate change. A bit of temporary paint on some rocks is a trivial matter in comparison.
read Eric Hoffer's The True Believer. It's not a long read and is readily available as a PDF online. He explains the motivations behind people like this way better than I can. They're inadequate little sociopaths who have found a 'cause' that's bigger than them. Through the cause they project all their inadequacies and hang ups.
"Just Stop Oil" sure and do what, exactly? They have absolutely zero in the way of suggestions as to how to move away from economies based entirely around oil which is why for me they are utterly beneath contempt.
> "Just Stop Oil" sure and do what, exactly?
There's a considerable movement in France towards the concept of 'sobriété énergétique'
Which is specifically the notion that energy is functionally the same thing as GDP, and we've become addicted to the (comparatively) cheap and easy fossil fuels.
Which even if you're not bothered about climate impact, it's still absolutely the case that 'reserves' are being consumed and not replaced, and energy security is a REALLY big deal when someone is inclined to hold you over a barrel.
The _only_ solution therefore is to voluntarily cut back on the 'addiction' and restructure the economy around a new paradigm.
It will take time, and it's not as 'economically effective' as just consuming more and more energy, but it's likely to mitigate at least _some_ of the coming shitstorm that we _know_ is going to happen.
So that would be my answer. Start a process of decarbonising the economy. Over a generation, so it doesn't have to happen overnight. As part of that - stop 'just' letting large companies grab all the loot and run away with it for the benefit of their shareholders.
And use _that_ resource as a way to build for a better future.
Won't fit on a banner though I don't think.
But JSO have at least on their website:
> We demand that the UK government makes a statement that it will immediately halt all future licensing and consents for the exploration, development and production of fossil fuels in the UK.
> "The scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to human wellbeing and the health of the planet. Any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future".
> "Just Stop Oil" sure and do what, exactly?
Have you ever actually looked at what the goals of just stop oil are.
Hint, its not what you might think.
>They have absolutely zero in the way of suggestions as to how to move away from economies based entirely around oil
I mean, they do. However protestors should not be expected to magically solve/or produce solutions for the problem they are protesting.
Sorry mate, but cutting out sossies and lamb and picking up a walker's crisp packet won't mean fuck all when we face mass environmental catastrophe leading to famine and death counts the world has never seen before...
But tbf, at least whilst those in the thirdworld die in a flash flood, they'll be thinking... "ah, at least those Just Stop Oil people didn't cross the line and piss of /u/AmarantCoral to the point he refers to them as wankrags on /r/unitedkingdom , that would've been too far."
Your comment sums up the average british idiot in this subreddit so wonderfully mate. It's like your head is in loop between being firmly in the ground, followed by your own ass, and back the ground again.
I can't get over you think your level of caring about the environment (picking up litter) does fuck all for the impending doom we're marching towards.
You are missing the point. These people are protesting for their future and ours. If you thinking these are twats and somehow start supporting the climate change is hoax or the bs side then you were never on the convincing list ever because that is a fucked position. These protests are to cause inconvenience to fuckwads in power and welcome more radical member who are willing to go beyond the regular levels.
It is escalation used as a messaging scale. Also your message does reflect that you have not really done much other than care about environment in personal ways which I have no problems with. It is just not going to scale at all. Which makes sense that your opinion on them stops at them being twats and cunts instead of reflecting on why they have to get their future fucked. Only fucking morons would be on Oil company's side. You don't want climate scientists to be doing the protesting, they can provide the solution. You want no holds barred activists. It is just the antifa strategy used for climate change protesting, sure I can be inconvenienced by them at times but when you have extremists to show for, your own demands look pale and easier to swallow and when push comes to shove I would rather not have this planet I live die over fucking resource wars.
The reality is no one’s going to do anything about the oil industry anyway.
The corporations and oligarchs who control it couldn’t give a shit what people think, and good luck electing a government that will actually do anything about it.
Would help if the Green Party weren't such a shower of shit. I want to find a reason to vote for them but their costings and manifesto just don't make sense. it reminds me of Bender in Futurama saying 'i can guarantee you anything you want".
Here here. The people really pulling their weight aren't drivng up and down the country making people angry. They're keeping their heads down, working their tits off and positivily influencing others to do the same.
Yes and they have managed to solve the climate crisis! Hurrah, we are all saved! Thank god we didn't waste any time trying new methods for change that might have annoyed some whingebags on reddit.
The stupid thing is yes it might be getting attention and headlines, but it's doing absolutely zero in giving them any positive support (as is basically everything they do).
All anyone sees is they're just a bunch of vandals, defacing property, artwork, and disrupting public events and causing traffic etc...
I don't really care what their cause is. All I see is a bunch of people causing unnecessary damage and hassle to places and people, and are just a nuisance and need some legal consequences (massive fines/jail/community service...).
If you want people to actually support your cause and side with you, then how about not attack and damage things completely unrelated that people like and enjoy?
Isn’t Stonehenge a holy site for pagans and druids? I’m pretty sure they were big on oil exploration in the Middle Ages so this seems totally justified…
If they’d targeted a mosque or church this would be a hate crime. It’ll be interesting to see what (if anything) they’re charged with.
So a protest group wanting positive environmental change has potentially damaged protected species too.
The mental gymnastics of these guys is incredible.
I'm not particularly interested in litigating the rights and wrongs of this specific protest, but the general idea expressed here - that any action against climate change on a *global* scale is illegitimate if it causes limited short-term damage to the environment in *one specific location* - is just totally wrongheaded.
It's the same logic that has Green councillors opposing dense affordable housing because its construction would require felling a small number of trees.
>Isn’t Stonehenge a holy site for pagans and druids?
Yes! They take part in traditions reaching as far back as the 1920s.
Stonehenge, of course, is so ancient that in the [1890s](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Stonehenge_1877.JPG/220px-Stonehenge_1877.JPG) they moved the stones to where they are now.
Thanks, I didn’t know that.
It doesn’t really change the point that it’s a focal point for their beliefs and should be respected/protected as such.
Their beliefs are no less valid than any other religion.
Yes - modern day druids have no connection with the ancient druids, because it was a mystery religion and they didn’t write their teachings down. The ancient druids also had no connection with Stonehenge, which was around long before them.
Regardless of that though, I consider Stonehenge sacred to me and to all of us. The way JSO are going, nobody will be allowed near the stones again, or near works of art or anything else of value. It’s stupid and childish behaviour, which just gives people an easy excuse to disregard their message.
How was it ignored if there is a video of it on the Independent?
Every time these idiots do something it gets covered. Be it throwing paint over a banks main entrance or throwing soup over the Mona Lisa. Its all in the news.
We just want them to stop because its not actually bringing anything to their cause instead its just making people hate the messenger.
Literally. Everytime these protests come up there's so many people calling for them to do shit they've already done for years. Armchair activists opining tactics when they've probably never even been to a climate march.
> How was it ignored if there is a video of it on the Independent?
Look at the governments rolling back climate pledges, the deregulation, the companies doing nothing etc etc etc
The environment is being ignored so that shareholders will see magnificent value, and has been for at least fifty years.
If you protest someone's office [you get written about in some obscure trade press](https://www.insurancetimes.co.uk/news/extinction-rebellion-and-just-stop-oil-target-multiple-insurance-offices/1451807.article)
This is going out as a breaking news alert.
Wow, that should finally get climate change some attention! It's been such a fringe issue over the last 20 years and virtually no one is aware of it, this should really put it on the radar!
> It's been such a fringe issue over the last 20 years and virtually no one is aware of it, this should really put it on the radar!
Lets talk about the government rolling back climate pledges for a moment as an indication of how much attention is being paid to this fringe issue.
Probably because the Courts have invented an offence of 'annoying an oil company', and also protests at oil terminals don't get much attention.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/jun/10/council-asks-for-permanent-injunction-to-stop-protests-outside-uk-oil-terminal
If you want climate protesters to protest oil executives, have more words about the Met Police unlawfully detaining Greta Thunberg for protesting a gathering of them.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-68180317
This is always the top comment whenever JSO do something and yet the second comment is *always* pointing out that they have done exactly the thing you say they haven’t.
I don't agree with them but they have targeted loads of oil company offices and insurance companies offices that insure oil companies but have received zero press coverage for those. But this is getting so much coverage.
Guess why they do it
I’m not normally into false flags/conspiratorial thinking, but the more I see them pull shit like this, the more it genuinely does look like their aim is to make the eco movement less popular
It's interesting watching this thread unfold real time where a bunch of people are echo-chambering each other into believing a conspiracy theory without a shred of evidence being presented for it.
People just make up any old shit to try and justify their overactive imaginations. We saw it up close during the Pandemic:
1. Covid is caused by 5g (not physically possible)
2. It's just a flu. The kung flu! (Nope)
2. Actually no, Covid doesn't exist (hospitals wards were literally full)
3. I'm not taking the vaccine, it will turn you into a lizard. They can't make us
4. I took the vaccine and I still got it! (It was to help your body fight it, not prevent getting it)
Sometimes not all bad publicity is good publicity. Killing puppies to increase awareness on animal cruelty doesn't work. Stonehenge is one of those that Brits have a sense of "collective ownership" on. Their other stunts aren't as bad as this one
They have done oil companies’ offices a few times, only that doesn’t get much coverage.
As soon as they do something more public like this it’s all over breaking news sites.
If the point of your protest is to raise awareness it’s quite obvious which targets you’d choose no? The ones that actually get attention
I think their biggest legacy will be destroying the museum/art gallery/heritage site going experience for everybody.
In 5 years time I can't wait to view Stonehenge from behind a barbwire fence, or have to go through a metal dector to see every painting behind glass at the National Gallery.
I didn't say that they were on the same level, I just said that they were both a bunch of cunts. Who the fuck thinks it appropriate to damage an ancient monument to try and prove a point?
How is ISIS different from Just Stop Oil? Really?
Blowing up and permanently destroying statues is exactly the same as getting a bit of orange paint on one?
Feel like it's comparing throwing a jar of urine over someone vs throwing a jar of water over someone and then going "How does throwing a jar of liquids on someone differ from throwing a jar of liquids on someone".
You have to walk behind a little rope fence.
Obviously for solstices etc there's free reign, but on normal days you can't get within touching distance.
The paintings targeted by Just Stop Oil are targeted *because* they are behind glass and won't get damaged.
[This](https://www.grayline.com/tours/stonehenge-and-bath-tour/) is as close as you can get to Stonehenge. And until we see otherwise, will remain how close you can get to Stonehenge.
> You know paintings are behind glass and you can’t get near Stonehenge?
You can get pretty close at normal times and they've given up trying to keep people away at the summer solstice:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOLEML8hTeo
Utterly disgraceful. Never known a bunch of more unlikable bellends, they make the Tories look like the most popular group around. Genuinely all they do is hurt their cause even more. Absolute zesty wet lettuces.
Protests are most effective when they convince people without a strong opinion on an issue that you're right. In the US civil rights movement, it was images of protestors being sprayed with fire hoses or attacked by police dogs, and the injustice of people being arrested for where they sat on a bus that changed hearts and minds. It didn't change everyone's mind, some people still hated them, but it led to public outcry in their favor.
This type of protesting is pure virtue signaling and has the opposite effect. They want people to know how angry and unhinged they are, and how desperate they are for attention. Nobody that is on the fence of climate change looks at destruction of art or small businesses or blocking traffic and says "hmm, they must be on to something."
> some people still hated them
At the time of MLK Jr's assassination, he had a disapproval of 75%. He was less well-liked than Trump. It wasn't a case of winning over the masses
[The Civil Rights Act of 1964 had 58/31 public support, and the Selma Protestors had overall public support against the state of Alabama](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/01/16/50-years-ago-mixed-views-about-civil-rights-but-support-for-selma-demonstrators/).
Perfectly demonstrating the difference between the public approval of protestors vs the change they champion. The protestors themselves don't need to be popular, the goal is to push their issue into the mainstream. And before someone says something trite like "they're putting more people off than they're converting", that's patently bollocks.
Nah the civil rights movement was largely disliked at the time as well. Protesting is actually about causing enough of an inconvenience that it's easier for the government to fix the issue you're protesting about than it is to stop you protesting. That's what works, as proven most recently by insulate Britain. Everyone hated them at the time, but now home insulation is part of most major parties manifestos.
This is common whitewashing of history. Every protest group was despised at its time, then framed as a peaceful movement that was universally accepted later. It helps them target future movements when they use the same tactics (these are literally the same tactics used by suffragettes).
Even more damning, what successful protest group has ever been liked at the time?
It's Schrödingers importance of public support.
Protesters need the support of the public
Therefore the public must have some power (otherwise why would you need them?)
Therefore the public is a valid protesting target (they could do something to help but they aren't)
They shouldn't target me, I don't have any power
Then why should the protest care about public support?
Protesters need the support of the public
Therefore the public must have some power (otherwise why would you need them?)
This is a general point about protesting in general. This will apply to protests I agree and disagree with
This is it right here. If you’re protesting about environmental issues in a way that makes people who care about the environment dislike you, you’re doing it wrong.
Plenty of them have, and usually at that exact point they become liked, the change happens.
The JSO specifically though definitely deserves criticism of their methods and targets, it’s turning people who are actually sympathetic to their general cause against them.
Most that have achieved real tangible gains.
E.g. velvet revolution, the civil rights movement on the '60s (polling said that 58% of Americans supported it in 1964 with just 31% opposed), etc.
The conspiracy theory is these JSO people are funded surreptitiously by supporters of the petroleum industries. To poison the discourse on climate change.
Either JSO is utterly stupid or they really are funded by big oil companies to sabotage anti-oil groups
The fact either one is equally possible now is shocking
I’m going to go with Hanlon's razor “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
The German chancellor responsible for phasing out nuclear power there literally walked straight into a highly paid executive role at Gazprom on leaving government.
It's not even particularly subtle.
This is just mental gymnastics that originated from the fact that a key funder of JSO inherited a lot of oil wealth but she hates the oil industry and wants to use the money to try stop it.
I don’t think she is spending it well.
Its even greater mental gymnastics when you realise her family sold off their oil company in 1984, 15 years before the woman was even born. Least braindead tiktok rumour.
Aileen Getty was born in 1959, she co-founded and funds the Climate Emergency Fund which in-turn provides funds to JSO among other environmental activist groups.
She was 25 when her family sold off their oil business.
If you buy into the conspiracy theory that JSO is funded by big oil. And that their goal is to discredit all environmental protesters by making the public hate them. It would explain some of the more idiotic stunts that JSO take part in.
Personally under the assumption they are hired by current government to manufacture consent, and eat away at our right to protest.
It’s already started to happen.
They do nothing to dispel that idea.
I'm very much pro environment and green issues and understand the science behind it all so I'm not going to change my mind regardless of antics; but, I know plenty people who are or have been sympathetic to green causes but don't understand the science who are being put off by these self righteous idiots. Each time they raise their heads, the cause is damaged.
The only ones to benefit are the same ones who created the idea of the carbon footprint to shift the burden from the corporate world to individuals: the oil and gas industry.
Perhaps it does bring publicity, however what we are talking about is not the environment but how stupid these people are.
It gets loads of attention, which seems to be JSOs only achievable objective. It doesn't seem to matter that 99% of that attention leads to the view that JSO are a bunch of twats.
But it just makes people hate them even more and if anything *actively* oppose what they stand for. The whole "but you're still talking about it" argument is meaningless (and extremely weak), so what if people talk about it when they absolutely despise them. It only harms the cause.
Not arguing with you, sorry, just venting. So annoying.
Inb4 “but we’re talking about it so it’s working”
Because of course a bunch of Redditors commenting on a news article are going to put the entire global oil industry to an end.
It's the same old horse shit as "there's no such thing as bad publicity".
When you live in a democracy and the changes you want would need the support of the majority of the public yes there god damn is such a thing as bad publicity.
I presume it’s a “global warming will cause Stonehenge / the Snooker / the F1 / the football / the Chelsea Flower Show to end anyway” sort of argument?
Everyone knows that druids use oil in their magical potions.
Oil = bad, therefore druids = bad. And given that Stonehenge = druids, simple algebra will tell you that oil = Stonehenge.
It depends if they are infiltrated by people who want protestors to be cracked down on, or oil companies wanting to paint environmentalists as loony people destroying our nice things.
100% what I think is going on. We've seen it happen previously where undercover police have infiltrated left-wing groups. In fact we have seen criminal prosecution of members of left-wing groups fall apart when it's been revealed that undercover police were operating as agent provocateurs.
When you say police have infiltrated left wing groups - that doesn’t go far enough to say how deep they went. Male police officers had years long relationships with, proposed marriage to and fathered children with women who were part of climate protests -
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_undercover_policing_relationships_scandal
This was in the 2000s as well, we’re not talking deep dark history here.
As a hippy definitely. Gluing yourself to a £100 frame to a painting is nothing in the grand scheme of things. Vandalising a place of worship of nature with petroleum based paint (all paint is petroleum based unless you get into the rarer types) and possibly harming the soil and wildlife is the opposite of climate / natural activism
Take that you Neolithic bastards. Serves you right for walking around the countryside doing all that hunting and gathering stuff. If you hadn't been polluting the environment with your small wood fires we wouldn't be in the mess we are today.
Seriously though what the fuck is wrong with these Just Stop Oil idiots. I get protesting for something you really believe in but vandalising ancient monuments is just ridiculous.
Please do not offend Neolithic people since they are now a protected group of citizens. You may refer to them as 'stone-using humanoids', or 'cave-dwellers of colour' as healthy positive alternatives. :)
Very scummy behaviour. I fully support the cause but their methodologies are just having the opposite effect, alienating possible supporters.
Why don't they focus on the oil compnies or the billionaires running them, rather than world heritage sites, pieces of art and commuters?
If they keep it up the government will be able to justify their protest ban to the masses which will be just be the start of so much worse to come.
While it's definitely sad that this is how it is, the fact that so many people claim they fully support the cause, yet only know about road blockages and art vandalism, is exactly why they figured out this is the most effective place to do protests by their thinking.
E.g. look at the list of their protests and how many are where you consider they should focus on https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Stop_Oil
That just doesn't generate as much clicks as cheap outrage unfortunately.
The reality is that most people won't do a single thing to help with pollution and global warming, especially if it inconveniences them. Just look at the outrage of bottle caps being attached to bottles...
IDK if JSO is even a net positive in terms of attracting people to the cause at this point, I guess probably not, but most people that get outraged by them were never going to do anything anyways.
It definitely makes it easier for people to distance themselves even more from doing anything and just rationalise it as I don't want to be associated with that group, even if they have no idea of where all their protests took place.
Of all the terrible, corrupt, awful people and companies leading the world into moral, environmental, ecological decline, and you think some climate action protesters are the 'scum of the earth'... sorry but that is just an insane take. Their methodology isn't to target the individual things and people that are responsible as its so much bigger that that. Those individuals have long had their chance to change their ways and they haven't, so JSO's tactic is use stunts like this to draw attention to their cause and start a conversation, making the point that as we go about everyday life visits tourist attractions, our plant as we know it is dying.
I think anyone who graffiti's beautiful structures to ruin them for eveyone elese are scum, it's got nothing to do twith their ideology. Why dont they go and paint a giant cock on a cooling tower or something to get views instead of wrecking a piece of history? Instead they are just isolating allies, myself included.
They aren’t achieving anything other than pissing people off.
In West Virginia protests actually target the house of coal profiteers & they worked. People were onboard. Change happened.
JSO is just helping big oil.
We are talking about you Just Stop Oil! You're raising awareness towards Climate change!
Sorry, that's come across wrong. Let me rephrase and start again.
-------------------
We are talking about you Just Stop Oil, calling you fucking idiots.
You are raising awareness! To a topic I'm already 100% aware of!
You're alienating a shit ton of people every time you bunch of jobless students and pensioners open your mouths, and being a direct cause of anti protesting laws by annoying so many people that they backed them will be your only legacy.
If you think that JSO are the direct cause of anti protesting laws you’re looking in exactly the direction the Tories want you to - and by calling them a “bunch of jobless students and pensioners” you’re buying all the bullshit the tabloids want you to.
As annoying as they are, I’m sure that them spraying Stonehenge orange has had a lot less of a negative impact on your existence than 14 years of our quality of life and liberties being decimated by the Tories
> If you think that JSO are the direct cause of anti protesting laws you’re looking in exactly the direction the Tories want you to -
The laws should never, ever, have passed. People should have been outraged. People should have been... ironically... protesting.
The entire reason they were not outraged, was because JSO's main approach is to piss off the general public... and would you look at that, the general public got annoyed enough to not only allow the laws through, but to literally welcome them, to beg for them.
I'll say it again, once history has been written, this is all JSO will be remembered for. Opening the gates and allowing the Tories to push through harsher anti protesting laws.
>“bunch of jobless students and pensioners”
Literally what they are. Describe these two protestors for me.
>As annoying as they are, I’m sure that them spraying Stonehenge orange has had a lot less of a negative impact on your existence than 14 years of our quality of life and liberties being decimated by the Tories
As annoying as they are. Full stop. That's it.
The other issues and solutions have absolutely nothing to do with JSO. JSO are simply annoying, and get nothing done. They have no need to exist.
--------
I genuinely won't be surprised one teeny tiny little bit to find out one day in the future, that JSO are literally a plant. They do more harm than good, and I'm starting to wonder if it's by design.
You can't ignore the fact JSO is the perfect excuse to justify anti protest laws by the government.
A deeply unpopular, irritating protest group is an easy way to get away with protest restrictions.
> You are raising awareness! To a topic I'm already 100% aware of!
This. It's like they think people aren't already aware of the issue, so they're indistinguishable from an irritating child screaming "there's a problem" on repeat whilst everyone else is trying to have an adult conversation about how to proceed.
i get they are trying to get media attention but this was a bad target, anyone know if this will wash off the stones easily? why can’t they stick to attacking big corporations instead? the national trust is hardly a danger to the climate!!
they filled fire exinguishers with homemade cornstarch paint so it will wash off when it rains but that's not obvious to anyone viewing/witnessing this. stupid idea.
It could probably be washed off fairly easily with a power washer, but I would imagine it’s not a good idea to do that on ancient stone structures, in case of harm.
Every time JSO do some sort of vandalism protest they seem to take specific care that it's not damaging whatever they are vandalising (eg: throwing pain at paintings that are completely secured by glass). I do think they could do better at communicating that fact though, because people don't usually bother to check.
If they’re happy defacing items that have been preserved as part of humanity’s legacy, it dosent exactly lend to their cause that oil industry is bad because it’s destroying humanity’s legacy does it
You're angry at Oil companies and the government, so you attack one of the oldest national heritage sites in England?...
At this point, it's just looking like these people hate the UK in general, and not oil.
Seems a step too far. You don't fuck with something that old.
I won't shed a tear if they end up charged for this and rightly so. This isn't throwing some soup at the protective glass of some painting that can be easily cleaned or replaced.
You fuck up Stonehenge, it ruins it for everyone to come.
"water soluble" doesn't mean it is guaranteed that it won't leave marks. I remember fucking things up as a child with "water soluble" paints by accident
The Bank of England still has the marks of when just stop oil attacked it a couple years ago now. They covered the frontage in a thick oily paint and the 18th century stonework of Sir John Soane is still covered in marks of where the cleaning process damaged the stone.
"No protest movement has ever had contemporary popularity"
This protest movement is a cause the public *largely agree with in principle* and it STILL has [a net -40 unfavourability rating](https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/survey-results/daily/2023/07/06/57ab9/2).
Their first aim (ending new oil and gas licenses) is the policy of the Labour Party. Their methods make you think they're somewhere beyond mainstream politics. Bonkers.
Literally tons of protests movements had people who ‘agreed in principle’ but funnily enough didn’t agree with the group protesting. When MLK died polling showed that 70% of white people agreed still thought ‘MLK had harmed race relations’ even though he was one of the core pressures that brought along the Civil Rights Act.
That’s literally the norm. Lots of people say ‘Oh I totally agree with that!’ but then just coincidentally happen to disagree with any and all protests in support of that cause.
That doesn't fit your argument. Did white Americans support the Civil Rights act, or didn't they?
In 2024, the UK public largely DO support legislation to sunset oil and gas extraction, and they're likely to vote the party pledging to do it into office.
[The public are literally on the side of JSO in policy terms.](https://www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/sustainability/climate/2021/12/exclusive-polling-britons-back-end-to-oil-and-gas-exploration)
JSO's only legacy is going to be ruining the museum and heritage experience for people (more barriers etc), and increasing public opinion on harsher laws and sentencing for protesters.
All because some trust fund twats and retired uni lecturers are bored and fancy themselves as Waitrose Warrior Heros.
This actually upsets me a bit to see. That monument is one of a very small handful of remains of the pre Roman culture of these islands and to see it desecrated, just to make a point that most of us fucking agree with anyway...feels almost sacrilegious, or worse.
Glue yourself to a road if you must, but don't destroy the oldest remains of our culture.
Frankly I'd be up for popping these two little bastards on the plane next to the Tory MPs on my personal list of people to send to Rwanda.
I think that the message JSO are trying to get across has some merit. Both the people and governments do need to a lot more to break our reliance on fossil fuels. I think their target of 2030 is largely impossible, but that is another debate.
But what they seem unable to understand is in order to bring about change they must have the public behind them. Criminal damage on a popular monument like Stonehenge is not the way to go about it.
Don't target Taylor's private jet or her tour using actual OIL polluting huge amount daily Just stop oil, want to target some rocks in a field.... That have not polluted ANYTHING in their entire history. That makes sooooo muuuuuuuccccchhhhh senseeeeee.
Lots of gammony comments in this thread.
This sub has become really pathetic.
- the spray is cornstarch so is none damaging and washes away in the rain.
- they have gotten every media outlet to talk about the issue of climate change
- there’s more faux anger over this than the tunnel/road that’s been signed off going next to the henge.
- History tells us that actions like this and/or more extreme than this will lead to change.
- You lot would have been against the suffragette movement, unions and anything else that would actually benefit your everyday life.
>they have gotten every media outlet to talk about the issue of climate change
But in the nicest possible way...literally every media outlet that isn't a niche hobbyist one does cover climate change. Many have a dedicated section dedicated reporters and more.
The likely next Labour government has committed to ending oil and gas licences. We debate on it constantly.
We _are_ aware. We don't need to vandalise Stonehenge - even if the only damage is to markings and the lichen - to make us talk about it because we already are.
> History tells us that actions like this and/or more extreme than this will lead to change.
I would argue that history tells us that actions that create a compelling case for decision makers, regardless of ordinary people, lead to change. France has enormous protests which routinely lead to nothing; we have had similar from student loans to the Iraq War.
Even the suffragette movement did not achieve its goals until the war shifted the discourse.
It's a shitty reality, but it's reality.
Stonehenge? Fucking really?
I've extended so much benefit of the doubt to JSO. I genuinely believe protest needs to be disruptive to make a true impact, and I support the idea of their goals.
But this is fucking ridiculous. Obviously it's worked as an attention grabber, but I think they've seriously miscalculated how this makes them look.
Protesting climate change is a statement that humanity is worth preserving, and that our survival is currently under threat. If they're so happy to deface objects of human legacy, then what are they actually seeking to preserve here? Why fight climate change if they care so little for the things that we as a species have decided matter to us?
Support is more important than publicity for these causes. Who the fuck is going to support them if they keep doing shit like this?
Targeting pagans and druids, those well known bastions of defiling the planet.
A lot of pagans support them. Not anymore though. Whoever thought this one up should be examined for brain damage.
It’s the solstice, a religious event at stoke henge for many. I’m usually very pro just stop oik but this is pure cunt behaviour to the point I think they might be a false flag funded by oil. Imagine being so cunty you make an anti conspiracy theorist coke up with one of their own
I don't believe these cunts give a toss about the environment, these "protests" are just an excuse for them to be cunts.
If they actually cared about the environment they would be doing this crap to things that actually are harmful to the environment like say the HQ of an oil company rather than a lump of rock in the middle of a field that hasn't moved in millennia.
This wasn’t a good idea but the amount of idiots in the comments going on about wanting to use oil more to spite them is unreal. You are the problem if you genuinely think fucking the planet up more to spite a bunch of protesters is fair on everyone else.
**Alternate Sources** Here are some potential alternate sources for the same story: * [Stonehenge covered in paint by Just Stop Oil protesters](https://bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cw44mdee0zzo), suggested by _Whathefudge_ - bbc.co.uk
Never an oil companys office, world heritage instead
I'm tired of Big Stonehenge pulling all the levers behind the scenes, it's time someone stood up to them.
Someone did once; but then they got crushed under a stone. Big Stonehenge is powerful, remember.
> Someone did once; but then they got crushed under a stone. You're thinking Avebury: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barber_surgeon_of_Avebury
I wasn't, actually. I was just making it up! But it's good to know that my imagination can cite historical precedent.
When chat gpt came out, one of my friends had a great line. He said, "I dont see what the big deal is, it's just making shit up. I've been making shit up for years and no one cares!"
The ancient aliens that built it are the real ones pulling all the strings.
Fucking Druids...
Tired of Big Stonehenge?! Essential viewing: [https://youtu.be/qAXzzHM8zLw?si=I724dW\_ItFP1nPlg&t=130](https://youtu.be/qAXzzHM8zLw?si=I724dW_ItFP1nPlg&t=130)
It's these damn Druids that actually run the world!
Two minutes on Google is enough to see that they actually have done this to oil company offices, quite a lot of times actually but I'll only share one article: https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/energy-climate-protests-just-stop-oil-b2365107.html That got ignored. This didn't. Is being ignored effective protest? No.
Fair play, this wasnt ignored, well done to them. The problem is everyone reading about it just think they are twats. EDIT: In hindsight, Cunt was a strong word. So i've reffered to them as twats instead.
"You've just made everyone think you're cunts" is a common response to protest action, but the reality of the world is that that largely just doesn't matter. How many people who read this and think "cunts" were ever going to do anything about the oil industry anyway? Virtually zero. The reality is that for the vast majority of people, if a protest group's actions causes you to despise them not a single fuck will be given, because you're irrelevant to them and their topic of interest. You were never going to help them, you were never going to hinder them, and you still won't do either thing. They're targeting a select group of people, not everyone. EDIT: Lots of people have asked "Who are they targeting then?". I don't know; I'm not one of the protestors; you'd have to ask them. If you really want me to guess, my guess is that in this action specifically I assume they're trying to raise awareness for electoral support. In that case Joe Bloggs might read this story and think "Fuck those guys, I'm not supporting them or anything they support", but... 1) There's a ~32.5% chance that Mr Bloggs doesn't even vote 2) There's a roughly ~60% chance that if he does vote, he only ever votes for the same party regardless of the issues 3) There's an ~85% chance that the environment isn't even in his top 3 priorities when deciding who to vote for, and only a 4% chance it's his top priority. So assuming they're targeting electoral support, in the absolute best case only around 4% of the electorate would be remotely receptive to the message. As I say though; I'm just guessing, it might be nothing to do with the election at all - I don't really want to get bogged down in that, the point is more that if you look at this and think "This pissed me off so I'm not supporting these guys or anything they support", well congratulations; you were never their target audience and your anger is irrelevant.
> How many people who read this and think "cunts" were ever going to do anything about the oil industry anyway? Virtually zero. I care about the environment, I pick up other people's litter when I see it on the street, I cut out beef and lamb from my diet after seeing the information presented to me in a non-unhinged way. I look at this and think "cunts". I'm not in a position to do anything major about oil and gas on a large scale, but I'd wager if you took me, with my current values, and plopped me down into a position to do good, I'd still think these wankrags are insufferable cunts. You say this targets a select group. This targets *nobody*. Nobody is looking at this and being swayed to their cause. Not lay people, not the movers and shakers. The oil and gas companies are rubbing their hands together every time one of these pillocks oranges up another beloved landmark.
What else do you want them to do out of curiosity. They believe that the world is going to have an extinction level event due to climate change. I'm not sure what you would do for the lives of your kids, maybe these people have been trying for decades to get anyone to listen, but things like fucking up an oil execs office gets them quietly arrested and you don't see anything. At this point I guess it's like, who the fuck cares about Stonehenge, we are fucked? I can get the sentiment I guess. We are careeing towards the extinction of our species, there is a consensus from the international scientific community, and no one is doing anything. They aren't even electing politicians who will do anything. They just keep electing the ones who tell everyone not to worry, things are that bad, we will stop killing ourselves at some point. So, you care about the environment? Do you have kids? What is your plan to make sure they have an ecosystem to support them? Anyone who sees this and goes, "oh these guys are dickheads, now I'm going to vote for the collapse of our ecosystem" was never going to support any kind of cause. I couldn't watch "don't look up". It made me so fucking angry. So fucking angry. You individually can't do anything about climate change. Neither can I. The only group with the power to do so is a government. Corporations are not capable, they just aren't run that way. Profit above all else or the CEO gets replaced. So how, HOW is everyone just calmly sitting around, going, oh well those scientists have an agenda or oh, but what about the economy. Fuck me I wish I had the energy these guys did, but honestly, humanity disgusts me, with so much greed they are literally making themselves exctinct while explaining why the Trumps of the world actually knows better than those scientists.
Your attitude is the most sane in this whole thread in all honestly. I get the outrage about Stonehenge to an extent, but there is a bigger problem looming, and no-one seems to have any sense of perspective that they should be *so* much more angry about inaction on climate change. A bit of temporary paint on some rocks is a trivial matter in comparison.
read Eric Hoffer's The True Believer. It's not a long read and is readily available as a PDF online. He explains the motivations behind people like this way better than I can. They're inadequate little sociopaths who have found a 'cause' that's bigger than them. Through the cause they project all their inadequacies and hang ups. "Just Stop Oil" sure and do what, exactly? They have absolutely zero in the way of suggestions as to how to move away from economies based entirely around oil which is why for me they are utterly beneath contempt.
> "Just Stop Oil" sure and do what, exactly? There's a considerable movement in France towards the concept of 'sobriété énergétique' Which is specifically the notion that energy is functionally the same thing as GDP, and we've become addicted to the (comparatively) cheap and easy fossil fuels. Which even if you're not bothered about climate impact, it's still absolutely the case that 'reserves' are being consumed and not replaced, and energy security is a REALLY big deal when someone is inclined to hold you over a barrel. The _only_ solution therefore is to voluntarily cut back on the 'addiction' and restructure the economy around a new paradigm. It will take time, and it's not as 'economically effective' as just consuming more and more energy, but it's likely to mitigate at least _some_ of the coming shitstorm that we _know_ is going to happen. So that would be my answer. Start a process of decarbonising the economy. Over a generation, so it doesn't have to happen overnight. As part of that - stop 'just' letting large companies grab all the loot and run away with it for the benefit of their shareholders. And use _that_ resource as a way to build for a better future. Won't fit on a banner though I don't think. But JSO have at least on their website: > We demand that the UK government makes a statement that it will immediately halt all future licensing and consents for the exploration, development and production of fossil fuels in the UK. > "The scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to human wellbeing and the health of the planet. Any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future".
So all mass movements are made up of ‘inadequate little sociopaths’? Or is the key difference whether it is a cause or a ‘cause’?
> "Just Stop Oil" sure and do what, exactly? Have you ever actually looked at what the goals of just stop oil are. Hint, its not what you might think. >They have absolutely zero in the way of suggestions as to how to move away from economies based entirely around oil I mean, they do. However protestors should not be expected to magically solve/or produce solutions for the problem they are protesting.
Sorry mate, but cutting out sossies and lamb and picking up a walker's crisp packet won't mean fuck all when we face mass environmental catastrophe leading to famine and death counts the world has never seen before... But tbf, at least whilst those in the thirdworld die in a flash flood, they'll be thinking... "ah, at least those Just Stop Oil people didn't cross the line and piss of /u/AmarantCoral to the point he refers to them as wankrags on /r/unitedkingdom , that would've been too far." Your comment sums up the average british idiot in this subreddit so wonderfully mate. It's like your head is in loop between being firmly in the ground, followed by your own ass, and back the ground again. I can't get over you think your level of caring about the environment (picking up litter) does fuck all for the impending doom we're marching towards.
You are missing the point. These people are protesting for their future and ours. If you thinking these are twats and somehow start supporting the climate change is hoax or the bs side then you were never on the convincing list ever because that is a fucked position. These protests are to cause inconvenience to fuckwads in power and welcome more radical member who are willing to go beyond the regular levels. It is escalation used as a messaging scale. Also your message does reflect that you have not really done much other than care about environment in personal ways which I have no problems with. It is just not going to scale at all. Which makes sense that your opinion on them stops at them being twats and cunts instead of reflecting on why they have to get their future fucked. Only fucking morons would be on Oil company's side. You don't want climate scientists to be doing the protesting, they can provide the solution. You want no holds barred activists. It is just the antifa strategy used for climate change protesting, sure I can be inconvenienced by them at times but when you have extremists to show for, your own demands look pale and easier to swallow and when push comes to shove I would rather not have this planet I live die over fucking resource wars.
>They're targeting a select group of people, not everyone. Care to elaborate who they've targeted by doing this?
Druids
Druids?
The reality is no one’s going to do anything about the oil industry anyway. The corporations and oligarchs who control it couldn’t give a shit what people think, and good luck electing a government that will actually do anything about it.
Would help if the Green Party weren't such a shower of shit. I want to find a reason to vote for them but their costings and manifesto just don't make sense. it reminds me of Bender in Futurama saying 'i can guarantee you anything you want".
Which select group of people are they targeting with this?
The Beaker People
“Meep”
They are cunts. Seeking attention isn't the same as fighting for green agendas.
Here here. The people really pulling their weight aren't drivng up and down the country making people angry. They're keeping their heads down, working their tits off and positivily influencing others to do the same.
Yes and they have managed to solve the climate crisis! Hurrah, we are all saved! Thank god we didn't waste any time trying new methods for change that might have annoyed some whingebags on reddit.
The stupid thing is yes it might be getting attention and headlines, but it's doing absolutely zero in giving them any positive support (as is basically everything they do). All anyone sees is they're just a bunch of vandals, defacing property, artwork, and disrupting public events and causing traffic etc... I don't really care what their cause is. All I see is a bunch of people causing unnecessary damage and hassle to places and people, and are just a nuisance and need some legal consequences (massive fines/jail/community service...). If you want people to actually support your cause and side with you, then how about not attack and damage things completely unrelated that people like and enjoy?
Isn’t Stonehenge a holy site for pagans and druids? I’m pretty sure they were big on oil exploration in the Middle Ages so this seems totally justified… If they’d targeted a mosque or church this would be a hate crime. It’ll be interesting to see what (if anything) they’re charged with.
There’s also protected species that grow on those stones
So a protest group wanting positive environmental change has potentially damaged protected species too. The mental gymnastics of these guys is incredible.
I'm not particularly interested in litigating the rights and wrongs of this specific protest, but the general idea expressed here - that any action against climate change on a *global* scale is illegitimate if it causes limited short-term damage to the environment in *one specific location* - is just totally wrongheaded. It's the same logic that has Green councillors opposing dense affordable housing because its construction would require felling a small number of trees.
>Isn’t Stonehenge a holy site for pagans and druids? Yes! They take part in traditions reaching as far back as the 1920s. Stonehenge, of course, is so ancient that in the [1890s](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Stonehenge_1877.JPG/220px-Stonehenge_1877.JPG) they moved the stones to where they are now.
Thanks, I didn’t know that. It doesn’t really change the point that it’s a focal point for their beliefs and should be respected/protected as such. Their beliefs are no less valid than any other religion.
Yes - modern day druids have no connection with the ancient druids, because it was a mystery religion and they didn’t write their teachings down. The ancient druids also had no connection with Stonehenge, which was around long before them. Regardless of that though, I consider Stonehenge sacred to me and to all of us. The way JSO are going, nobody will be allowed near the stones again, or near works of art or anything else of value. It’s stupid and childish behaviour, which just gives people an easy excuse to disregard their message.
How was it ignored if there is a video of it on the Independent? Every time these idiots do something it gets covered. Be it throwing paint over a banks main entrance or throwing soup over the Mona Lisa. Its all in the news. We just want them to stop because its not actually bringing anything to their cause instead its just making people hate the messenger.
Well, the fact that many people don’t even know that they do it shows that it is in fact ignored. The original comment literally proves the point.
Literally. Everytime these protests come up there's so many people calling for them to do shit they've already done for years. Armchair activists opining tactics when they've probably never even been to a climate march.
A news article reporting it does not mean that it was far-reaching. You know that, right?
> How was it ignored if there is a video of it on the Independent? Look at the governments rolling back climate pledges, the deregulation, the companies doing nothing etc etc etc The environment is being ignored so that shareholders will see magnificent value, and has been for at least fifty years.
It wasnt ignored I remember reading an Independent article about it.
Fuck the people who sprayed it, and a slightly smaller fuck you for defending them.
[удалено]
That person apparently didn't know it had happened, while they do know about this, so fair to say they ignored it.
If you protest someone's office [you get written about in some obscure trade press](https://www.insurancetimes.co.uk/news/extinction-rebellion-and-just-stop-oil-target-multiple-insurance-offices/1451807.article) This is going out as a breaking news alert.
Wow, that should finally get climate change some attention! It's been such a fringe issue over the last 20 years and virtually no one is aware of it, this should really put it on the radar!
> It's been such a fringe issue over the last 20 years and virtually no one is aware of it, this should really put it on the radar! Lets talk about the government rolling back climate pledges for a moment as an indication of how much attention is being paid to this fringe issue.
They do do oil company offices all the time as well tbf. The fact that that doesn’t make the news explains why they do this
Probably because the Courts have invented an offence of 'annoying an oil company', and also protests at oil terminals don't get much attention. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/jun/10/council-asks-for-permanent-injunction-to-stop-protests-outside-uk-oil-terminal If you want climate protesters to protest oil executives, have more words about the Met Police unlawfully detaining Greta Thunberg for protesting a gathering of them. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-68180317
They do also do direct actions at offices, they just aren't reported on.
Which is how the oil companies like it, because then activities like Stonehenge look mental.
This is always the top comment whenever JSO do something and yet the second comment is *always* pointing out that they have done exactly the thing you say they haven’t.
Reddit is full of bots and brain dead teenagers. It's impossible to have any conversation with nuance.
I don't agree with them but they have targeted loads of oil company offices and insurance companies offices that insure oil companies but have received zero press coverage for those. But this is getting so much coverage. Guess why they do it
No one would care about an oil companies office. You’d have to murder an exec to get press and we’re not quite there yet.
No one _has_ cared about an oil company's office. JSO _have_ done that. But no one even noticed.
Of course. They are funded by oil companies
I’m not normally into false flags/conspiratorial thinking, but the more I see them pull shit like this, the more it genuinely does look like their aim is to make the eco movement less popular
I genuinely do think they are a false flag group at this point.
Damn it, that's entirely possible, you just made me realise. I hate this world lol.
It's interesting watching this thread unfold real time where a bunch of people are echo-chambering each other into believing a conspiracy theory without a shred of evidence being presented for it.
People just make up any old shit to try and justify their overactive imaginations. We saw it up close during the Pandemic: 1. Covid is caused by 5g (not physically possible) 2. It's just a flu. The kung flu! (Nope) 2. Actually no, Covid doesn't exist (hospitals wards were literally full) 3. I'm not taking the vaccine, it will turn you into a lizard. They can't make us 4. I took the vaccine and I still got it! (It was to help your body fight it, not prevent getting it)
[citation needed]
Because this gets much more coverage, which is the point.
Sometimes not all bad publicity is good publicity. Killing puppies to increase awareness on animal cruelty doesn't work. Stonehenge is one of those that Brits have a sense of "collective ownership" on. Their other stunts aren't as bad as this one
and yet still achieves absolutely nothing except turning people against your cause.
They have done oil companies’ offices a few times, only that doesn’t get much coverage. As soon as they do something more public like this it’s all over breaking news sites. If the point of your protest is to raise awareness it’s quite obvious which targets you’d choose no? The ones that actually get attention
I think their biggest legacy will be destroying the museum/art gallery/heritage site going experience for everybody. In 5 years time I can't wait to view Stonehenge from behind a barbwire fence, or have to go through a metal dector to see every painting behind glass at the National Gallery.
Actually, ISIS did exactly the same - they destroyed a heritage in favour of their religion
A bit different mate haha
Both a bunch of cunts though!
Except one side beheads homosexuals and systematically rapes women. I'm kind of shocked they're even being compared to be honest.
And the other side live out in the middle east /s
“Except one side beheads homosexuals and systematically rapes women” You’re right, Just Stop Oil has really taken it up a notch lately.
I didn't say that they were on the same level, I just said that they were both a bunch of cunts. Who the fuck thinks it appropriate to damage an ancient monument to try and prove a point?
How does destruction for beliefs differ from destruction for beliefs
Have you ever tried cleaning an explosion off a church? A bit of water will get this off.
How is ISIS different from Just Stop Oil? Really? Blowing up and permanently destroying statues is exactly the same as getting a bit of orange paint on one?
When one involves bombs and the other orange powder. Not that hard, is it?
The beliefs are very very different. Environmental campaigners want us to be able to continue inhabiting the earth, not exactly an outrageous demand!
Feel like it's comparing throwing a jar of urine over someone vs throwing a jar of water over someone and then going "How does throwing a jar of liquids on someone differ from throwing a jar of liquids on someone".
>Actually, ISIS did exactly the same - they destroyed a heritage in favour of their religion This is the most reddit equivalence I've ever seen
You already have to stay behind a fence for Stonehenge
A bit of rope 6 inches from the ground is a bit different to a Trump wall.
Only if you don't pay to enter. People who pay to go in just have a dangle bit of rope asking them not to get too close.
You know paintings are behind glass and you can’t get near Stonehenge?
Tell me you haven't been to Stonehenge without telling me.
You have to walk behind a little rope fence. Obviously for solstices etc there's free reign, but on normal days you can't get within touching distance.
Not exactly a fence designed to stop protestors like OP was worried about though is it.
Most paintings are not, and you can get very near Stonehenge.
The paintings targeted by Just Stop Oil are targeted *because* they are behind glass and won't get damaged. [This](https://www.grayline.com/tours/stonehenge-and-bath-tour/) is as close as you can get to Stonehenge. And until we see otherwise, will remain how close you can get to Stonehenge.
> You know paintings are behind glass and you can’t get near Stonehenge? You can get pretty close at normal times and they've given up trying to keep people away at the summer solstice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOLEML8hTeo
Utterly disgraceful. Never known a bunch of more unlikable bellends, they make the Tories look like the most popular group around. Genuinely all they do is hurt their cause even more. Absolute zesty wet lettuces.
Which historic protest group(s) has been widely "liked"?
Protests are most effective when they convince people without a strong opinion on an issue that you're right. In the US civil rights movement, it was images of protestors being sprayed with fire hoses or attacked by police dogs, and the injustice of people being arrested for where they sat on a bus that changed hearts and minds. It didn't change everyone's mind, some people still hated them, but it led to public outcry in their favor. This type of protesting is pure virtue signaling and has the opposite effect. They want people to know how angry and unhinged they are, and how desperate they are for attention. Nobody that is on the fence of climate change looks at destruction of art or small businesses or blocking traffic and says "hmm, they must be on to something."
> some people still hated them At the time of MLK Jr's assassination, he had a disapproval of 75%. He was less well-liked than Trump. It wasn't a case of winning over the masses
[The Civil Rights Act of 1964 had 58/31 public support, and the Selma Protestors had overall public support against the state of Alabama](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/01/16/50-years-ago-mixed-views-about-civil-rights-but-support-for-selma-demonstrators/).
Perfectly demonstrating the difference between the public approval of protestors vs the change they champion. The protestors themselves don't need to be popular, the goal is to push their issue into the mainstream. And before someone says something trite like "they're putting more people off than they're converting", that's patently bollocks.
The percentage of people in the USA unopposed to interracial marriage only crossed the 50% barrier in the early 1990s.
Nah the civil rights movement was largely disliked at the time as well. Protesting is actually about causing enough of an inconvenience that it's easier for the government to fix the issue you're protesting about than it is to stop you protesting. That's what works, as proven most recently by insulate Britain. Everyone hated them at the time, but now home insulation is part of most major parties manifestos.
This is common whitewashing of history. Every protest group was despised at its time, then framed as a peaceful movement that was universally accepted later. It helps them target future movements when they use the same tactics (these are literally the same tactics used by suffragettes).
Even more damning, what successful protest group has ever been liked at the time? It's Schrödingers importance of public support. Protesters need the support of the public Therefore the public must have some power (otherwise why would you need them?) Therefore the public is a valid protesting target (they could do something to help but they aren't) They shouldn't target me, I don't have any power Then why should the protest care about public support? Protesters need the support of the public Therefore the public must have some power (otherwise why would you need them?) This is a general point about protesting in general. This will apply to protests I agree and disagree with
You should at least be liked by the people who agree with you
This is it right here. If you’re protesting about environmental issues in a way that makes people who care about the environment dislike you, you’re doing it wrong.
Plenty of them have, and usually at that exact point they become liked, the change happens. The JSO specifically though definitely deserves criticism of their methods and targets, it’s turning people who are actually sympathetic to their general cause against them.
Most that have achieved real tangible gains. E.g. velvet revolution, the civil rights movement on the '60s (polling said that 58% of Americans supported it in 1964 with just 31% opposed), etc.
Their excuses are so manipulative
The conspiracy theory is these JSO people are funded surreptitiously by supporters of the petroleum industries. To poison the discourse on climate change.
It says enough that this is even slightly credible.
And at this point it's starting to seem that it might actually be probable
Either JSO is utterly stupid or they really are funded by big oil companies to sabotage anti-oil groups The fact either one is equally possible now is shocking I’m going to go with Hanlon's razor “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
I’m not sure that adage applies to the oil, tobacco, porn, or vaping industries.
Big oil funded anti-nuke environmentalists in years past so it's possible..
The German chancellor responsible for phasing out nuclear power there literally walked straight into a highly paid executive role at Gazprom on leaving government. It's not even particularly subtle.
This is shockingly plausable given how ineffective this nonsense is
This is just mental gymnastics that originated from the fact that a key funder of JSO inherited a lot of oil wealth but she hates the oil industry and wants to use the money to try stop it. I don’t think she is spending it well.
Its even greater mental gymnastics when you realise her family sold off their oil company in 1984, 15 years before the woman was even born. Least braindead tiktok rumour.
Aileen Getty was born in 1959, she co-founded and funds the Climate Emergency Fund which in-turn provides funds to JSO among other environmental activist groups. She was 25 when her family sold off their oil business.
Stuff like this does make you wonder - they are actively harming their cause
If you buy into the conspiracy theory that JSO is funded by big oil. And that their goal is to discredit all environmental protesters by making the public hate them. It would explain some of the more idiotic stunts that JSO take part in.
Personally under the assumption they are hired by current government to manufacture consent, and eat away at our right to protest. It’s already started to happen.
They do nothing to dispel that idea. I'm very much pro environment and green issues and understand the science behind it all so I'm not going to change my mind regardless of antics; but, I know plenty people who are or have been sympathetic to green causes but don't understand the science who are being put off by these self righteous idiots. Each time they raise their heads, the cause is damaged. The only ones to benefit are the same ones who created the idea of the carbon footprint to shift the burden from the corporate world to individuals: the oil and gas industry. Perhaps it does bring publicity, however what we are talking about is not the environment but how stupid these people are.
I fail to see the relevance of Stonehenge to their protests
It gets loads of attention, which seems to be JSOs only achievable objective. It doesn't seem to matter that 99% of that attention leads to the view that JSO are a bunch of twats.
But it just makes people hate them even more and if anything *actively* oppose what they stand for. The whole "but you're still talking about it" argument is meaningless (and extremely weak), so what if people talk about it when they absolutely despise them. It only harms the cause. Not arguing with you, sorry, just venting. So annoying.
Inb4 “but we’re talking about it so it’s working” Because of course a bunch of Redditors commenting on a news article are going to put the entire global oil industry to an end.
>“but we’re talking about it so it’s working” It's telling that this weak shit is the best defence of their actions they can come up with.
It's the same old horse shit as "there's no such thing as bad publicity". When you live in a democracy and the changes you want would need the support of the majority of the public yes there god damn is such a thing as bad publicity.
It'll be in the news in a couple of days for the Summer Solstice celebrations. They've probably timed it so it's still vandalised for the event.
I presume it’s a “global warming will cause Stonehenge / the Snooker / the F1 / the football / the Chelsea Flower Show to end anyway” sort of argument?
I think one thing that would survive even apocalyptic climate change would be some stones on a hill.
Everyone knows that druids use oil in their magical potions. Oil = bad, therefore druids = bad. And given that Stonehenge = druids, simple algebra will tell you that oil = Stonehenge.
What a bunch of silly bastards. The hippies at Stonehenge were likely the last people on earth still supporting JSO. Why attack them?
It depends if they are infiltrated by people who want protestors to be cracked down on, or oil companies wanting to paint environmentalists as loony people destroying our nice things.
100% what I think is going on. We've seen it happen previously where undercover police have infiltrated left-wing groups. In fact we have seen criminal prosecution of members of left-wing groups fall apart when it's been revealed that undercover police were operating as agent provocateurs.
When you say police have infiltrated left wing groups - that doesn’t go far enough to say how deep they went. Male police officers had years long relationships with, proposed marriage to and fathered children with women who were part of climate protests - www.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_undercover_policing_relationships_scandal This was in the 2000s as well, we’re not talking deep dark history here.
Hippies are the largest users of patchouli oil.
As a hippy definitely. Gluing yourself to a £100 frame to a painting is nothing in the grand scheme of things. Vandalising a place of worship of nature with petroleum based paint (all paint is petroleum based unless you get into the rarer types) and possibly harming the soil and wildlife is the opposite of climate / natural activism
Take that you Neolithic bastards. Serves you right for walking around the countryside doing all that hunting and gathering stuff. If you hadn't been polluting the environment with your small wood fires we wouldn't be in the mess we are today. Seriously though what the fuck is wrong with these Just Stop Oil idiots. I get protesting for something you really believe in but vandalising ancient monuments is just ridiculous.
How dare you hunt and gather sufficiently enough to evolve the species and cause climate change from greed!
Please do not offend Neolithic people since they are now a protected group of citizens. You may refer to them as 'stone-using humanoids', or 'cave-dwellers of colour' as healthy positive alternatives. :)
Very scummy behaviour. I fully support the cause but their methodologies are just having the opposite effect, alienating possible supporters. Why don't they focus on the oil compnies or the billionaires running them, rather than world heritage sites, pieces of art and commuters? If they keep it up the government will be able to justify their protest ban to the masses which will be just be the start of so much worse to come.
You can’t reason with a toddler having a full blown, lying on the floor of Tesco screaming and kicking, tantrum.
While it's definitely sad that this is how it is, the fact that so many people claim they fully support the cause, yet only know about road blockages and art vandalism, is exactly why they figured out this is the most effective place to do protests by their thinking. E.g. look at the list of their protests and how many are where you consider they should focus on https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Stop_Oil That just doesn't generate as much clicks as cheap outrage unfortunately. The reality is that most people won't do a single thing to help with pollution and global warming, especially if it inconveniences them. Just look at the outrage of bottle caps being attached to bottles... IDK if JSO is even a net positive in terms of attracting people to the cause at this point, I guess probably not, but most people that get outraged by them were never going to do anything anyways. It definitely makes it easier for people to distance themselves even more from doing anything and just rationalise it as I don't want to be associated with that group, even if they have no idea of where all their protests took place.
Of all the terrible, corrupt, awful people and companies leading the world into moral, environmental, ecological decline, and you think some climate action protesters are the 'scum of the earth'... sorry but that is just an insane take. Their methodology isn't to target the individual things and people that are responsible as its so much bigger that that. Those individuals have long had their chance to change their ways and they haven't, so JSO's tactic is use stunts like this to draw attention to their cause and start a conversation, making the point that as we go about everyday life visits tourist attractions, our plant as we know it is dying.
I think anyone who graffiti's beautiful structures to ruin them for eveyone elese are scum, it's got nothing to do twith their ideology. Why dont they go and paint a giant cock on a cooling tower or something to get views instead of wrecking a piece of history? Instead they are just isolating allies, myself included.
They aren’t achieving anything other than pissing people off. In West Virginia protests actually target the house of coal profiteers & they worked. People were onboard. Change happened. JSO is just helping big oil.
They are, all the time, it just doesn't make the news because Murdoch wants you to hate them
We are talking about you Just Stop Oil! You're raising awareness towards Climate change! Sorry, that's come across wrong. Let me rephrase and start again. ------------------- We are talking about you Just Stop Oil, calling you fucking idiots. You are raising awareness! To a topic I'm already 100% aware of! You're alienating a shit ton of people every time you bunch of jobless students and pensioners open your mouths, and being a direct cause of anti protesting laws by annoying so many people that they backed them will be your only legacy.
If you think that JSO are the direct cause of anti protesting laws you’re looking in exactly the direction the Tories want you to - and by calling them a “bunch of jobless students and pensioners” you’re buying all the bullshit the tabloids want you to. As annoying as they are, I’m sure that them spraying Stonehenge orange has had a lot less of a negative impact on your existence than 14 years of our quality of life and liberties being decimated by the Tories
> If you think that JSO are the direct cause of anti protesting laws you’re looking in exactly the direction the Tories want you to - The laws should never, ever, have passed. People should have been outraged. People should have been... ironically... protesting. The entire reason they were not outraged, was because JSO's main approach is to piss off the general public... and would you look at that, the general public got annoyed enough to not only allow the laws through, but to literally welcome them, to beg for them. I'll say it again, once history has been written, this is all JSO will be remembered for. Opening the gates and allowing the Tories to push through harsher anti protesting laws. >“bunch of jobless students and pensioners” Literally what they are. Describe these two protestors for me. >As annoying as they are, I’m sure that them spraying Stonehenge orange has had a lot less of a negative impact on your existence than 14 years of our quality of life and liberties being decimated by the Tories As annoying as they are. Full stop. That's it. The other issues and solutions have absolutely nothing to do with JSO. JSO are simply annoying, and get nothing done. They have no need to exist. -------- I genuinely won't be surprised one teeny tiny little bit to find out one day in the future, that JSO are literally a plant. They do more harm than good, and I'm starting to wonder if it's by design.
You can't ignore the fact JSO is the perfect excuse to justify anti protest laws by the government. A deeply unpopular, irritating protest group is an easy way to get away with protest restrictions.
> You are raising awareness! To a topic I'm already 100% aware of! This. It's like they think people aren't already aware of the issue, so they're indistinguishable from an irritating child screaming "there's a problem" on repeat whilst everyone else is trying to have an adult conversation about how to proceed.
i get they are trying to get media attention but this was a bad target, anyone know if this will wash off the stones easily? why can’t they stick to attacking big corporations instead? the national trust is hardly a danger to the climate!!
they filled fire exinguishers with homemade cornstarch paint so it will wash off when it rains but that's not obvious to anyone viewing/witnessing this. stupid idea.
Apparently there are rare lichen species growing on the stones that are protected
It could probably be washed off fairly easily with a power washer, but I would imagine it’s not a good idea to do that on ancient stone structures, in case of harm.
It’s England so there’s a small chance it could rain before the end of the year
The spray is cornstarch so it’ll wash off in the rain
Every time JSO do some sort of vandalism protest they seem to take specific care that it's not damaging whatever they are vandalising (eg: throwing pain at paintings that are completely secured by glass). I do think they could do better at communicating that fact though, because people don't usually bother to check.
It doesn't matter, just stop oil could throw a bucket of water over a range rover in central london and be called terrorists by The press
Not a good idea to spray literally anything on 5000 year old stones
Another blatant example of JSO specifically targeting ethnic British culture.
If they’re happy defacing items that have been preserved as part of humanity’s legacy, it dosent exactly lend to their cause that oil industry is bad because it’s destroying humanity’s legacy does it
You're angry at Oil companies and the government, so you attack one of the oldest national heritage sites in England?... At this point, it's just looking like these people hate the UK in general, and not oil.
Seems a step too far. You don't fuck with something that old. I won't shed a tear if they end up charged for this and rightly so. This isn't throwing some soup at the protective glass of some painting that can be easily cleaned or replaced. You fuck up Stonehenge, it ruins it for everyone to come. "water soluble" doesn't mean it is guaranteed that it won't leave marks. I remember fucking things up as a child with "water soluble" paints by accident
The Bank of England still has the marks of when just stop oil attacked it a couple years ago now. They covered the frontage in a thick oily paint and the 18th century stonework of Sir John Soane is still covered in marks of where the cleaning process damaged the stone.
"No protest movement has ever had contemporary popularity" This protest movement is a cause the public *largely agree with in principle* and it STILL has [a net -40 unfavourability rating](https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/survey-results/daily/2023/07/06/57ab9/2). Their first aim (ending new oil and gas licenses) is the policy of the Labour Party. Their methods make you think they're somewhere beyond mainstream politics. Bonkers.
Literally tons of protests movements had people who ‘agreed in principle’ but funnily enough didn’t agree with the group protesting. When MLK died polling showed that 70% of white people agreed still thought ‘MLK had harmed race relations’ even though he was one of the core pressures that brought along the Civil Rights Act. That’s literally the norm. Lots of people say ‘Oh I totally agree with that!’ but then just coincidentally happen to disagree with any and all protests in support of that cause.
That doesn't fit your argument. Did white Americans support the Civil Rights act, or didn't they? In 2024, the UK public largely DO support legislation to sunset oil and gas extraction, and they're likely to vote the party pledging to do it into office.
[The public are literally on the side of JSO in policy terms.](https://www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/sustainability/climate/2021/12/exclusive-polling-britons-back-end-to-oil-and-gas-exploration)
I'm becoming pro big-oil just to spite these pricks.
Anyone who actually thinks like this never supported renewable causes in the first place.
JSO's only legacy is going to be ruining the museum and heritage experience for people (more barriers etc), and increasing public opinion on harsher laws and sentencing for protesters. All because some trust fund twats and retired uni lecturers are bored and fancy themselves as Waitrose Warrior Heros.
This actually upsets me a bit to see. That monument is one of a very small handful of remains of the pre Roman culture of these islands and to see it desecrated, just to make a point that most of us fucking agree with anyway...feels almost sacrilegious, or worse. Glue yourself to a road if you must, but don't destroy the oldest remains of our culture. Frankly I'd be up for popping these two little bastards on the plane next to the Tory MPs on my personal list of people to send to Rwanda.
I think that the message JSO are trying to get across has some merit. Both the people and governments do need to a lot more to break our reliance on fossil fuels. I think their target of 2030 is largely impossible, but that is another debate. But what they seem unable to understand is in order to bring about change they must have the public behind them. Criminal damage on a popular monument like Stonehenge is not the way to go about it.
Don't target Taylor's private jet or her tour using actual OIL polluting huge amount daily Just stop oil, want to target some rocks in a field.... That have not polluted ANYTHING in their entire history. That makes sooooo muuuuuuuccccchhhhh senseeeeee.
What? Why??? This makes at all no sense what so ever.
Oh ffs. I am all for protests to get attention but damaging something that old is just flat out wrong and unforgivable.
Lots of gammony comments in this thread. This sub has become really pathetic. - the spray is cornstarch so is none damaging and washes away in the rain. - they have gotten every media outlet to talk about the issue of climate change - there’s more faux anger over this than the tunnel/road that’s been signed off going next to the henge. - History tells us that actions like this and/or more extreme than this will lead to change. - You lot would have been against the suffragette movement, unions and anything else that would actually benefit your everyday life.
>they have gotten every media outlet to talk about the issue of climate change But in the nicest possible way...literally every media outlet that isn't a niche hobbyist one does cover climate change. Many have a dedicated section dedicated reporters and more. The likely next Labour government has committed to ending oil and gas licences. We debate on it constantly. We _are_ aware. We don't need to vandalise Stonehenge - even if the only damage is to markings and the lichen - to make us talk about it because we already are. > History tells us that actions like this and/or more extreme than this will lead to change. I would argue that history tells us that actions that create a compelling case for decision makers, regardless of ordinary people, lead to change. France has enormous protests which routinely lead to nothing; we have had similar from student loans to the Iraq War. Even the suffragette movement did not achieve its goals until the war shifted the discourse. It's a shitty reality, but it's reality.
Stonehenge? Fucking really? I've extended so much benefit of the doubt to JSO. I genuinely believe protest needs to be disruptive to make a true impact, and I support the idea of their goals. But this is fucking ridiculous. Obviously it's worked as an attention grabber, but I think they've seriously miscalculated how this makes them look. Protesting climate change is a statement that humanity is worth preserving, and that our survival is currently under threat. If they're so happy to deface objects of human legacy, then what are they actually seeking to preserve here? Why fight climate change if they care so little for the things that we as a species have decided matter to us? Support is more important than publicity for these causes. Who the fuck is going to support them if they keep doing shit like this?
Targeting pagans and druids, those well known bastions of defiling the planet. A lot of pagans support them. Not anymore though. Whoever thought this one up should be examined for brain damage.
I’m 100% in favour of their cause, and 100% against the way they’re protesting. A bunch of bellends.
It’s the solstice, a religious event at stoke henge for many. I’m usually very pro just stop oik but this is pure cunt behaviour to the point I think they might be a false flag funded by oil. Imagine being so cunty you make an anti conspiracy theorist coke up with one of their own
Stoke henge, the famous monument of the potteries
Man... bad optics... why Stonehenge. I understand it gets attention but man... go for something else... anything else...
I don't believe these cunts give a toss about the environment, these "protests" are just an excuse for them to be cunts. If they actually cared about the environment they would be doing this crap to things that actually are harmful to the environment like say the HQ of an oil company rather than a lump of rock in the middle of a field that hasn't moved in millennia.
How do they manage to be the most annoying people on the fucking planet
Champagne socialists. The far left are the most moronic people on earth.
This wasn’t a good idea but the amount of idiots in the comments going on about wanting to use oil more to spite them is unreal. You are the problem if you genuinely think fucking the planet up more to spite a bunch of protesters is fair on everyone else.
What the fuck. Literally what does this achieve except for making them look like stupid, spoiled brats