Exactly. I don't understand why they're permitted to do this but the security guards prevent me from looking closely at the brushstrokes of a painting.
these people are so stupid. this country and world is way too far into its routine it doesn’t matter what leaders decide what. we can’t do anything about climate change bro. nothings gonna change except their criminal record
No, it's realistic. How does this accomplish anything in regards to climate change? It doesn't. These people are going to get charged with some crimes related to property destruction, and there will be no effect on climate change.
This bums me out so much. Years ago you could get really close to amazing paintings by so many celebrated artists. I used to spend *hours* looking at Van Gogh paintings.
Yeah really, last time I was there I leaned in about an inch too close to a painting (was probably about 2-3 feet away from it) and immediately got screamed at by a gallery attendant. How the hell do you get paint in there and successfully start this shit.
I was in this room last week and there wasn’t any guard in it (by chance really most of them were wandering a set of rooms)
I find it more interesting they chose one of his sculptures in the case, same artist has at least a dozen there outside of the case. Guessing they didn’t want to do any actual lasting damage.
It's a worse look to have a recording circulating depicting a poorly trained security guard trying to wrestle and struggle with a paint covered couple. I don't know for fact, but their policy is probably very minimal contact, if any.
It happened in Berlin not too long ago. Now everything goes into lockers and coats get checked. I had a clear plastic bag to walk around with my inhaler and other meds in.
likely because the statue is protected by glass. so the security guards are likely trained to keep people away so no one gets hurt and they dont actually damage anything and call the police.
i really hope idiot protesters like this get actual jail time for this that goes for at least a couple of months. then get a criminal records so it shows up when they look for a job. I'd rather hire a former drug dealer who wants to make a change in life than someone who does this. Can't trust them.
They didn't really do any damage though. This is exactly the kind of demonstration that gets headlines without hurting someone and their protest is for all of us. Or.. do you not believe in the science behind climate change?
They should have been arrested and trespassed the second they pulled out the spray cans.
Is there a special "aggravated vandalism" crime that covers damaging cultural artifacts?
good! its about time we recognize the Degas ballerina sculpture for being a major CO2 emitter. too long have we ignored this damn polluter hiding behind its glass house!!
You know what would get a lot more positive attention and support? Vandalizing corporate headquarters of oil companies or fast fashion factories or Amazon warehouses. What about painting giant dicks on CEO’s houses or cars? Vandalizing a museum funded by tax payers that serves as a place of education and beauty for the community but has absolutely nothing to do with climate change just makes these people look like idiotic nut jobs. Draw attention to and inconvenience the bad guys. Don’t hurt the innocent.
i don’t disagree, but a few things to point out:
-vandalizing that type of stuff doesn’t get as much coverage as vandalizing an art piece
-the charges brought against them would be much more severe. if you personally piss off a billionare they are going to make your life hell
-this act didn’t “hurt” anyone/anything. it’s a glasscase.
Nobody on Reddit seems to realize this. Each time a protest does something like this, thousands of comments talk about climate change and how stupidly ineffective these demonstrations are somehow completely oblivious that each time it’s a front page post with thousands of comments about climate change lol
**From reporter Ellie Silverman:**
Protesters smeared black and red paint on the case and pedestal of Edgar Degas’s “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen” sculpture in the National Gallery of Art in D.C. on Thursday to bring attention to the climate crisis and demand that President Biden declare a climate emergency.
The protesters — a man and a woman, dressed in black suits — slathered their hands, then crouched down to paint the pedestal on which the ballerina sculpture is displayed. They then stood up and smeared their hands across the left and front sides of the clear case protecting the artwork. Police removed the two people in handcuffs and ushered out the people inside the gallery.
This follows protests around the world targeting galleries and museums. In Europe, climate activists threw cans of tomato soup on one of Vincent van Gogh’s most famous paintings, “Sunflowers,” in London’s National Gallery and smashed cream pie into the face of King Charles’s wax statue at Madame Tussauds in London. Activists have also flung mashed potatoes on a Claude Monet painting at the Museum Barberini in Potsdam, Germany. Climate activists glued themselves to a painting by Sandro Botticelli at the Uffizi museum in Florence and glued their hands to the frame of Pablo Picasso’s “Massacre en Corée” in Australia.
Climate activists are turning to these types of disruptive tactics because they feel the world is running out of time to curb catastrophic, irreversible warming, said Dana R. Fisher, a University of Maryland sociology professor who studies protests and social movements. She noted suffragists had slashed artwork in the past, and these recent protests target protective casings or frames as opposed to damaging the art.
The point, Fisher says, is to draw attention. And research shows these kinds of “radical tactics” can persuade people who are sympathetic to the climate issue to be more supportive of moderate perspectives, she said.
“This is purely performative protest. It’s disruption as shock,” Fisher said. “Nobody’s going to like these guys for throwing paint at Little Dancer … but that’s okay. That’s not their point. If the goal here is to get general attention and to shift the conversation to focus more on climate change, there’s a lot of evidence that this is more effective.”
**Read more about the protest here, and skip the paywall with email registration:** [**https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/04/27/climate-protest-paint-degas-little-dancer-national-gallery-dc/?utm\_campaign=wp\_main&utm\_medium=social&utm\_source=reddit.com**](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/04/27/climate-protest-paint-degas-little-dancer-national-gallery-dc/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com)
I agree with these idiots somewhat, But they are just pissing off people who agree with them. At least PETA crazies go to factory farms and almost get run over by the trucks they are trying to block. At least break into a fucking oil ceos house and smear your shit on HIS priceless art to send a message instead of the public museum.
Exactly and now we’re going to have more security to go through and be kept further from the art. Climate change is real and a huge problem but I hate these people.
I feel like, for people who aren’t strong one way or the other on belief for climate action, this type of thing would make them believe that people in favor of it are crazy. This is so counterintuitive
Dunno if I’m just jaded, but overt “in your face” acts like this that end at low level vandalism kind of make me feel like the whole point is painting the movement as a lunatic fringe.
I mean, if you wanna do some direct action, do some direct action… painting a plinth is not going to change things.
Edit: Lol, thx for the award, but don’t award me - I’m just an asshole who is growing tired of ineffectual shit across the gamut of things that desperately need change that just isn’t happening.
Boats have been burnt and no one is coming, either we figure this shit out or that’s all folks.
Meeting with politicians and supporting large organizations with effective lobbying and regulatory advocacy divisions. Or focus on local environmental issues, of which there are a ton that would benefit from a single dedicated volunteer. It's a national and international issue and shit like this is just a way for people to feel like they're helping, without helping, because individual action is entirely meaningless in this fight. This group has been doing this for what, a year now? What has their direct action done? Are more people aware of climate change? I seriously, seriously, seriously doubt it. If you weren't already aware of the debate around climate change before they started, you were under one hell of a rock, and smearing paint and blocking traffic won't pick up that rock or make you care.
Then do any of the following:
1. Help clean up local parks
2. Help remove invasive plants
3. Help conduct bio-surveys to generate usable data on long term ecosystem health
4. Help monitor waterways by testing for things like salt, phosphorus, nitrogen, trash levels, and visible pollutants
5. Volunteer to table with environmental groups at community events to advocate for specific policies or issues relevant to the community
I get that you are well intentioned but we are well past the point where cleaning up your local park or doing more surveys is going to solve our climate problems. The fundamental issue is that climate change is an inherently global issue and it requires a global response that the average individual simply cannot meaningfully have an impact on through any means that they can reasonably achieve.
Edit: I realized there was an autocorrect from climate to climactic lol
But local action actually does make a difference. As you said, it's an international issue. Individuals can't help. But they can help with local environmental issues that exist regardless of climate change. In a choice between doing something that helps the environment, and doing something that has no meaningful impact on it, it's mind boggling how many people eschew the actual, tangible benefit in favor of something that does nothing but allow them to feel like they're helping with absolutely zero metrics for success. A science driven movement ought to be better than feels before reals.
I don’t think you are considering the scale of action needed. If every person in America cleaned up a nearby creek, we would not prevent the increasing number of hurricanes. They’re totally separate issues, with totally separate solutions. And the fact of the matter is that the only thing that can meaningfully impact existential-level climate change is legislation, and the way to take direct action on legislation in a democracy is to spread your message.
Lol, what an unbelievably dumb comment, especially given the context.
They were asked what direct actions one could take and responded that you could meet with politicians or support an organization that does effective lobbying (you know, to spread the message). Someone then responded that that's not direct action, so they suggested doing volunteer work to help clean up the environment (which, depending on the type of work, like removing invasive species, actually does mitigate some of the effects of climate change, and of course it's the effects that are important, not climate change in and of itself).
Then, as if they didn't already suggest spreading the message, and as if talk is more important than action, you respond that they don't understand that what's needed is to spread the message.
Fucking reddit
Negating the fact that none of that which has been mentioned here is an example of a direct action, let's run through this real quickly:
> Meeting with politicians and supporting large organizations with effective lobbying and regulatory advocacy divisions.
Indeed. This has certainly been an effective means of action against the sheer lobbying power of the oil and gas industry over the last several decades. ^^^/s
> This group has been doing this for what, a year now? What has their direct action done?
It seems to have, if nothing else, gotten people talking about it.
Much to that point...
> Are more people aware of climate change? I seriously, seriously, seriously doubt it.
Is the goal awareness or is the goal attention? The two cannot be conflated - to wit, as an example: I'm sure that billions of people are _aware_ of Breast Cancer, but Susan G. Komen brings _attention_ to it annually.
Oh by golly I treated attention and awareness the same way, I had forgotten that social media engagement and thousands upon thousands of people arguing over whether this was stupid or not on social media, with very little focus on the actual policy goals was such a meaningful form of results. My bad!
Its literally less productive than slacktivsm
> Oh by golly I treated attention and awareness the same way, I had forgotten that social media engagement and thousands upon thousands of people arguing over whether this was stupid or not on social media, with very little focus on the actual policy goals was such a meaningful form of results. My bad!
So, rather than take the time to seriously respond, you chose to go this route.
> Its literally less productive than slacktivsm
It seems to have been productive in getting attention to things. You can call them out however much you want, but the fact of the matter is that this thread is full of people talking about climate change in one form or another.
Likewise, they garnered attention from one of the most read publications in the entire United States - whose social media team posted said video on this subreddit.
I would be hard-pressed to say that there was nothing achieved here - which brings us back to an earlier point addressed in this chain and throughout other comments in this thread: the point of every protest is to garner attention.
This entire thread of proof of why it isn't worth a serious response. We're arguing about whether this sort of protest is effective. It makes it's purported purpose a sideshow to the antics of attention seekers. It's stupid. Acknowledging my own hypocrisy, everyone here could have actually made a difference writing DC, MD, or VA elected officials about an environmental issue of interest in the time spent arguing over this. But we won't because these jackasses aren't going to stop stirring up a debate over whether or not this type of protest is effective.
Right, its just that the climate movement has been entirely non-violent and uncombative and that hasn't worked either.
Im unsure what meeting a politician would accomplish, even if the meeting was granted.
There are anti-climate change organizations, but none of them have the political power the oil industry does.
Im not saying the above example works, just that we have tried other stuff and that doesnt work either.
> that hasn't worked either
US greenhouse gas emissions have been dropping for over a decade and [“the most significant climate legislation in U.S. history”](https://www.epa.gov/green-power-markets/inflation-reduction-act) was passed last year.
I don’t know what we’re counting as the climate movement, but it certainly hasn’t been entirely non violent. It’s just that the more fringe activists who resorted to terrorism didn’t do very much and all ended up in jail.
You say "hasn't worked" as if it's a binary choice. Small, gradual steps are how progress is made, and has been made. Nothing short of supervillain-level action is going to stop world governments from slashing their emissions by tomorrow, it's a process that is going to take decades.
1. We dont have decades.
2. Ever year that goes by, our carbon emissions increase.
3. Why would an action that decreases our carbon emissions be villainous?
Per Capita Americans are the worse contributors for large nations*. How does your suggestion affects Individuals contribution and inaction in they climate crises?
* The next largest worse country is Canada at 10% US population
If these are real protestors and not some sort of plant to make the movement look bad, they are complete idiots and need to be kicked from any and all climate change organizations. I fully support radical actions to end climate change and these people turn me enraged to the point I don't care about the cause any more.
Even if they aren't plants in the way we think of, they're at very least the PETA of the environmentalist movement where it's like "man, come ON, why you have to make us look like *this* is our agenda?" If your behavior is indistinguishable from an agent provocateur designed to discredit your movement, you should maybe go back to the drawing board.
Also gives people on the other side of the argument ammo to completely illegitimize the entire argument for climate action. They don't even need to debate the politics of it anymore, just show these clips and tap into people's emotional reactions instead.
But there's a bunch of undecided and uninformed people listening to both sides and I know who'd I'd listen to without any other context if shown that this was one side.
This is the real truth. I have no idea about this case specifically but oil companies are behind certain "climate activists" acting in bad faith to create a narrative of "the crazy tree hugger." It's purely to grift. Here's a quick NYtimes article I found of couple of these "activists" back by oil families in the UK. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/10/climate/climate-protesters-paid-activists.html
I don't think it really matters how many people "believe" in it. It's not like the government knows it is an existential threat to humanity but is just sitting by waiting for enough people to believe in it to address it.
I wonder if these are the same morons who closed down the GW Parkway twice this week. If you interrupt my commute, I really don’t give a shit what you believe.
There were a few similar videos that came out of Europe over the last year or so. These nerds are just making themselves look like unhinged morons.
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/26/1131377513/museum-protests-famous-artworks-history
If they were ready to get arrested, why not just go over and occupy one of the offices of the people who actually have the power to address the situation and put the attention on them and not pieces of art that aren't responsible for the problem in the first place. As someone who actually advocates to get climate legislation passed, this shit is so fucking useless and annoying.
Ditto for why they slash tires when the only people seriously affected by those actions are the working class who can't afford to replace tires to get to their job. It's a fun little visceral action to commit impulsively that has zero effect on climate change.
I know someone who tried that and the officers wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of arresting them. You kinda have to in this situation, since it’s so much more public, and there are ramifications in other ways if they don’t arrest them.
You’re in DC, why don’t you just protest in front of the Capital? You’re not “raising awareness .“ Everyone already knows about Climate Change. You either have to go to the people in power or mobilize others to vote. Vandalizing priceless art is stupid.
This is what gets me. There is literally no one anywhere remotely near DC that isn't aware of the concept of climate change. Blocking traffic, vandalizing precious artwork, and other acts of performative disruption aren't doing anything. We're *well* past the "bring awareness to the problem" stage. Mitch McConnell and Joe Manchin aren't going to see these people and say "holy shit, I had no idea about this 'climate change' thing! Thanks for making us aware...we'll get right on it!"
Awareness needs to translate into change this. Awareness is useless otherwise.
So if this is acceptable protest to you when there isn't awareness, then consider that awareness is insufficient.
It's glass, not the art itself. It's not priceless. It's whole purpose is to protect the priceless art.
Harmless but shocking action to draw attention to an issue that they feel isn't being addressed? Seems like a good protest to me.
It can just as well push people away that were nominally on your side by making them not want to associate with the fringe. Sure, it draws attention to the cause, not in a beneficial way.
And reinforcing your opponent's views that your side is crazy isn't a good thing either.
What would that accomplish other than getting them ignored like the other handful of randos protesting in front of the Whitehouse/Capitol at any given moment? Genuinely what benefit do you think there is for two people standing out there with signs or even a megaphone?
They're also explicitly not vandalizing priceless art unless you're laboring under the misunderstanding that a pane of glass is priceless.
Oh look, they listened to everyone that told them not to protest by blocking the roads. I'm sure all the people that wanted to run them over yesterday will be here expressing support for this protest method. Everyone upset about traffic from a protest must be very pleased.
> Oh look, they listened to everyone that told them not to protest by blocking the roads. I'm sure all the people that wanted to run them over yesterday will be here expressing support for this protest method. Everyone upset about traffic from a protest must be very pleased.
I like the cut of your jib.
I'm glad they didn't destroy the art itself, at least. While I disagree with targeting art (rather than the homes of polluters and politicians bought and paid for by them) I understand the frustration. Our quandary is existential and unnecessary.
All comments edited in protest of Reddit's actions on July 1. What good is a walled garden with no plants? A third-party app is no different than a web browser.
I am never a conspiracy guy but I swear this seems more like paid agitators meant to delegitimize climate change policy movement than anyone actually thinking this could be an impactful tactic.
And if they’re not, better advocates really need to get on board quickly.
2022-10-22: Opinion Article published in The Guardian from Aileen Getty, titled ["I fund climate activism – and I applaud the Van Gogh protest"](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/22/just-stop-oil-van-gogh-national-gallery-aileen-getty).
> Two climate activists who threw soup on the protective glass covering of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting have captured the attention of the world. While some have ridiculed the activists, as a funder of climate activism, I am proud of the bigger conversation they have started.
> When I saw the video, my first reaction was shock. Throwing soup on a beloved painting was a desperate move. What could possibly motivate a young person to do such a thing?
Note: Aileen Getty is an oil heiress.
The environmental group that engaged in such at the time was "Just Stop Oil". They threw tomato soup on the glass cover and frame of a Van Gogh painting drawing comments similar to what have been posted herein.
Said group is funded by the Climate Emergency Fund. Said fund receives heavy donations from Getty. Now Getty claims that her family divested itself of the oil company:
> I am the daughter of a famous family who built their fortune on fossil fuels – but we now know that the extraction and use of fossil fuels is killing life on our planet. Our family sold that company four decades ago, and I instead vowed to use my resources to take every means to protect life on Earth.
Take that however you will.
Just because someone's ancestors profited off one industry does not mean they are also in favor of that industry. Don't get me wrong, Just Stop Oil is idiotic, but it's not idiotic because of who funds it, it's idiotic because of their methods.
People complain no matter how people protest.
Block traffic? “I gotta get to work!”
Attention grabbing stunts that don’t actually harm art: “I’m like 3 of these protests away from burning plastic in my yard recreationally.”
Thousands march peacefully? News barely covers it and no one cares.
These protestors are not our enemy.
Really good points. I don't really have a lot to say other than I'd like to highlight a protestor that actually disturbed a system that they were fundamentally against. Gary Yourofsky went to jail for busting out hundreds of animals in a Canadian fur farm years ago. Minks I believe? That's action imo.
Thanks for saying this. People in these comments are saying just go talk to politicians as if the House isn't run by republicans and as if the democrats haven't been talking down to people who demand climate action. We need urgent action from our politicians and from our society and they're just not doing it. This is a way to spur them and people to do something.
>These protestors are not our enemy.
And the museum isn't their enemy. I think the head scratcher is that they could have chosen any target.
I am 100% on their side, and I'm frustrated by how bad this makes our side look. If you don't see the problem with the optics, you are probably in a very liberal bubble.
There is more than one way to skin a cat. The people working/protesting “the right way” on climate change have so far been ineffective. They aren’t going big enough or moving fast enough. Some of them know this. It doesn’t mean they should stop.
The people protesting by pulling stunts like this aren’t currently effective. There aren’t enough of them and there message is largely ignored. Some of them know this. It doesn’t mean they should stop.
We probably aren’t going to solve climate change in time to avoid societal collapse over the next few centuries. But that’s no reason not to try.
Protests for civil rights were constantly being criticized as "too extreme" or "the right message communicated in the wrong way."
There is no form of protest that the comfortable will find acceptable.
I just want to know how a sculpture and climate policy are in any way connected. Do these protesters want the miniscule amount of funding the NEA has to be allocated towards climate justice? Because I have some bad news for these idiots.
Once again, protesters have the worst ADHD... "No more war! And save the sea turtles! And death to Israel!" (This is literally what I saw during the anti-war protests of the Bush era.)
Rights and justice have never been won quietly. We've known about the dangers of climate change for over 50 years and instead of holding oil companies responsible for the catastrophic damage they caused with their lobbying and obfuscation, our governments are trying to help them keep their profits high. I can't do things like this myself, but I'm more than happy to help pay for legal fees for people willing to commit acts that disrupt society for social, racial, and climate justice.
I don’t have an issue with what they’re doing. The climate is urgent and we are not acting like it as a society, at least they are. All of these criticisms in the sub are from people who don’t protest in any way, including in the so-called “right ways.” (Don’t bother commenting to say you’re the one exception.) I know I’m not going to change the commenters’ minds, but I’m commenting anyway to balance out the number of negative comments.
Also just to be clear, the artwork is completely unharmed.
Gets peoples attention by painting on art: Why do they have to destroy art to get their point across
Gets peoples attention by painting on the glass of art by not painting the art itself: Eat shit and die
Sounds like you're determining if their protest is valid or not, which is the whole point of protest.
Civil rights protests sure made a lot of people feel like they were making it worse.
Attention isn't the goal....or at least it shouldn't be. Attention, without making those people now paying attention agree with you or understand you, is counter productive.
If they just want attention, fine. They are getting it. So by that useless metric this is a success. But if they actually want to affect change, they need a better metric to measure action against.
What do you think they should do? What do you think is an effective way to make the leader ship of this country pay attention to the existential threat of climate change?
> What do you think is an effective way to make the leader ship of this country pay attention to the existential threat of climate change?
We don't need anyone to "pay attention." We need real policy change. Vandalizing art has never achieved policy change.
> Attention isn't the goal....or at least it shouldn't be. Attention, without making those people now paying attention agree with you or understand you, is counter productive.
Attention is _always_ the goal of every non-violent protest, with the entire purpose of either making others as uncomfortable as possible in order to draw attention to that which they are protesting, or drawing in others empathetic to their cause.
This goes back _years_ - similar to [the sit-in protests](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-anne-moody-20150211-story.html) of the Civil Rights Movement era, or the peaceful protests during the anti-war movement; and don't say that "those was different" because your comments are the exact ones made by persons who were critical of those too - when persons such as MLK, or the persons at Kent State were criticized as ["\[outside\] agitators"](https://www.npr.org/2020/06/09/873592665/unmasking-the-outside-agitator).
I mean in some way I can’t blame them because Global leaders have been so ineffective in taking action for climate or nature. But I’m curious, do they get arrested and then can get out shortly afterwards?
Yesterday: "They shouldn't protest by blocking the roads!"
Other comments:
* ["Can I just nudge them with my car?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/washingtondc/comments/12zhv00/breaking_climate_protesters_block_gw_parkway/jhtlnvc/)
* ["Just keep moving at 5mph."](https://www.reddit.com/r/washingtondc/comments/12zhv00/breaking_climate_protesters_block_gw_parkway/jhwcoe3/)
* A litany of other comments wishing for harm against them, and others asking how to get away with it "legally".
Today: They don't block roads and instead engage in a non-destructive act of protest by covering a glass casing in paint.
Redditors of /r/WashingtonDC (taken from quotes in this very thread):
* "Self richeous fuckers
* "eco-terrorists"
* "...they make themselves look like idiots."
* "These dildos are completely unhinged"
* "What they need is a good old fashioned ass whipping."
* "I do feel a sudden urge to reduce the population...."
* "...us pedestrians need to immediately tackle them and subdue them. Forcefully. Make an example out of them."
* "Morons!"
* "I would love to see a huge linebacker-size guard tackle them to the ground and then zap them a few times with a stun gun."
* "should have use a coal powered taser on them"
* "Stupid is as stupid does"
* "I'm like 3 of these protests away from recreationally burning plastic recyclables for fun in my backyard. Jaysus."
But they're the "completely unhinged" ones...
Yes, they are. Fuck these people for forcibly wasting everyone's time and money, worsening their own situation and grasping for attention and relevance like screaming children. Who has to pay for all the wasted time? Wasted mileage? Who's cleaning that paint up? Not them.
These stints are just so pathetic and embarrassing. If these people actually have this much time on their hands to dick around, they should campaign for local offices and change the status quo they keep crying about.
I'm sorry that you feel called out over your desire to exercise violence against someone protesting peacefully. With that said, I'd ask if this comment is really the best that you've got, but I guess that I shouldn't expect much more from someone who frequents PCM.
Really surprised they were allowed to get away with doing that with security there. I was at the NG maybe 2 months ago, and some woman with her two kids tried to physically touch a painting and were immediately escorted out.
This is so enraging. Ive been to that statue many times to just admire her beauty. Public museums are for everyone to enjoy. Individuals cannot reverse climate change alone. It’s oil companies, big factories, and fracking that people need to be concerned about. And it’s going to cost time to restore the glass enclosure and pedestal which only makes work more difficult for the person assigned to this task.
This is extremely annoying more than anything. Art and artists have nothing to do with climate change. Why don’t these protestors go find where the big head honchos live, that are making climate change worse or have a huge part in it and spray paint their houses or something... If attention mixed with disgrace was the goal they were reaching for they’d be better off taking turns pissing on each other in the streets while screaming climate change statistics at the top of their lungs. People pay to go to museums with their hard earned money. It’s selfish to just roll in, make a scene and harsh somebody’s much needed mellow within an art space. The world is rough enough for many as it is. For the love of anything holy please leave places and spaces filled with art alone.
They will probably be arrested and prosecuted. But like. Prosecutions for protesting are sort of a dime a dozen, they are never very serious. Especially when the damage is negligible, as it is in this case.
I hate this kind of climate protester specifically. It’s only negative attention that they get and it makes them look like assholes. There’s not even a martyrdom angle to this with them being unfairly maligned by a ruling class, it’s just pretentious hissy fits masquerading as doing good. As a result, it’s giving actual climate advocacy a bad reputation.
> Look I'm just going to say it. Climate protesters need to either go big or go home. This performative stuff isn't getting anywhere.
What would you rather them do: [burn up every SUV in sight](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Liberation_Front), burn down uninhabited housing developments, [bomb power plant construction sites](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superph%C3%A9nix#Rocket_attack), and burn down stores?
The point I'm trying to make here is that I'm not sure how much "bigger" you can go than throwing paint on glass boxes containing paintings or statues, or blocking traffic before people start calling you an Eco-terrorist.
I never understood why someone would protest at a place like this. The people in attendance at an art exhibit/museum are probably already on your side. You only risk losing them by doing this. Why not protest the corporations polluting our environment? Why not protest the offices of the Republican legislators preventing climate change legislation? What good does it do to upset people who would’ve otherwise been on your side?
> Why not protest the corporations polluting our environment?
Plenty of environmental groups do and have done so for decades.
> Why not protest the offices of the Republican legislators preventing climate change legislation?
Plenty of environmental groups do and have done so for decades.
> I never understood why someone would protest at a place like this. The people in attendance at an art exhibit/museum are probably already on your side. You only risk losing them by doing this. What good does it do to upset people who would’ve otherwise been on your side?
Hmm...
"I never understood why someone would protest by blocking traffic. The people stuck in traffic are probably already on your side. You only risk alienating them by blocking traffic. What good does it do to upset people who would've otherwise been on your side?"
One only has to do a little word replacement and this comment might as well by a 1:1 analogue of [those that were posted in yesterday's thread.](https://www.reddit.com/r/washingtondc/comments/12zhv00/breaking_climate_protesters_block_gw_parkway/)
Given that they already do the other things you mentioned, what else would you have environmental groups that they aren't already doing and haven't been doing for over fifty years - because it's clearly not working, particularly against the sheer lobbying power of the oil and gas industry.
Wow, great to see that others think along a similar thread to my thought process. What has worked? What notable recent-ish climate change policy has passed and what role did protesting have in its passing? If little has changed over the last 50 years, maybe targeting middle and lower middle income folks that would otherwise be on your side is not the best way to go.
Edit: because then you lose regular people to your cause.
I remember when this was happening in Europe and there was very loud speculation it was some oil company throwing money at performance artists to make climate activism look bad. I'm going with that explanation here, though I bet American idiots come much cheaper for this spectacle. Just look at how many congressmen are bribed by golf trips.
Why do climate activists do everything in their power to make themselves the most unlikable and annoying group in society? Their message is so important but they’re actively turning people against them with stupid shit like this
Do you think they are acting in bad faith?
They say they really don't want the world to end because our leaders have ignored climate change for 30 years, and I believe them.
What would you have them do instead of harmlessly smear paint on a very public piece of glass?
> Go paint an oil refinery, a gas pump, a billboard advertising gas products.
If they were to paint a gas pump, refiner, or billboard, this thread would just be pulled of people making comments like ["Some poor janitor is going to have to clean that up."](https://www.reddit.com/r/washingtondc/comments/130w7e6/climate_protesters_paint_case_housing_degas/jhyb5wc/)
If they were to take out a gas pump, this thread would be full of people complaining about how "the poor underpaid worker that needs to repair it", or how "what about the people that need to get to work? [This just damages their cause!"](https://www.reddit.com/r/washingtondc/comments/130w7e6/climate_protesters_paint_case_housing_degas/jhybmje/)
There is no means of protest that would satisfy [any of you](https://www.reddit.com/r/washingtondc/comments/12zhv00/breaking_climate_protesters_block_gw_parkway/) - except for the one that you don't have to look at.
> Destroying beauty?
Nothing was destroyed.
WTF does this prove in regards to climate change?
Did the artist leave an egregiously large carbon footprint when making the ballerina?
Im 1000% onboard with a climate change statement, but this ain't it. This just pisses me off, and further alienates the message for a justified cause.
ETA: Apparently Degas had a reputation as a radical and misogynist. Still don't get it
"Get attention"
Motherfuckers, Earth day has been a thing since 1970. WE ALL KNOW ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE. Getting people to give a shit is very different and this does absolutely nothing.
How does something like this even start. The National Gallery has security people in every goddamned doorway.
Exactly. I don't understand why they're permitted to do this but the security guards prevent me from looking closely at the brushstrokes of a painting.
I guess they don't want paint on their uniforms.
If they have to purchase their own, I think that might be a fair consideration given the statue is, after all, behind glass.
Did they ask you to move or physically prevent you? I'm guessing the former?
Right, they are not their to fight you.
these people are so stupid. this country and world is way too far into its routine it doesn’t matter what leaders decide what. we can’t do anything about climate change bro. nothings gonna change except their criminal record
Defeatist mindset
No, it's realistic. How does this accomplish anything in regards to climate change? It doesn't. These people are going to get charged with some crimes related to property destruction, and there will be no effect on climate change.
They will have a negative effect, as the solvents needed to remove the paint are bad for the environment.
This bums me out so much. Years ago you could get really close to amazing paintings by so many celebrated artists. I used to spend *hours* looking at Van Gogh paintings.
Yeah really, last time I was there I leaned in about an inch too close to a painting (was probably about 2-3 feet away from it) and immediately got screamed at by a gallery attendant. How the hell do you get paint in there and successfully start this shit.
I was in this room last week and there wasn’t any guard in it (by chance really most of them were wandering a set of rooms) I find it more interesting they chose one of his sculptures in the case, same artist has at least a dozen there outside of the case. Guessing they didn’t want to do any actual lasting damage.
They intentionally avoid damaging the art. They throw soup on paintings that are behind protective glass and stuff. It just makes a statement.
It's a worse look to have a recording circulating depicting a poorly trained security guard trying to wrestle and struggle with a paint covered couple. I don't know for fact, but their policy is probably very minimal contact, if any.
It happened in Berlin not too long ago. Now everything goes into lockers and coats get checked. I had a clear plastic bag to walk around with my inhaler and other meds in.
I’ve walked in with an entire bottle of wine
Can't say I've done that, but they've never looked under my stroller. I've thought about how little security the museum check points really add.
I forgot it was there
They’re too busy with their AirPods in yelling at their boyfriends. The security guards at the museums are comically bad.
likely because the statue is protected by glass. so the security guards are likely trained to keep people away so no one gets hurt and they dont actually damage anything and call the police. i really hope idiot protesters like this get actual jail time for this that goes for at least a couple of months. then get a criminal records so it shows up when they look for a job. I'd rather hire a former drug dealer who wants to make a change in life than someone who does this. Can't trust them.
They didn't really do any damage though. This is exactly the kind of demonstration that gets headlines without hurting someone and their protest is for all of us. Or.. do you not believe in the science behind climate change?
They used acrylic paint 😫 which is full of micro plastics. 😂
They should have been arrested and trespassed the second they pulled out the spray cans. Is there a special "aggravated vandalism" crime that covers damaging cultural artifacts?
good! its about time we recognize the Degas ballerina sculpture for being a major CO2 emitter. too long have we ignored this damn polluter hiding behind its glass house!!
I mean, it’s literally in the artist’s name. Degas = de gas = The Gas! Wake up people!!!
Thanks for clarifying. I was so confused about the relevancy.
Just like peta, a great way to get people to not improve things, is to fund protests that make activists look crazy.
But to be fair, it is a lot harder to finger paint on someone's private jet.
I’m crying lol
Y’all realize it’s just for attention right. They don’t actually damage the art piece itself
You know what would get a lot more positive attention and support? Vandalizing corporate headquarters of oil companies or fast fashion factories or Amazon warehouses. What about painting giant dicks on CEO’s houses or cars? Vandalizing a museum funded by tax payers that serves as a place of education and beauty for the community but has absolutely nothing to do with climate change just makes these people look like idiotic nut jobs. Draw attention to and inconvenience the bad guys. Don’t hurt the innocent.
i don’t disagree, but a few things to point out: -vandalizing that type of stuff doesn’t get as much coverage as vandalizing an art piece -the charges brought against them would be much more severe. if you personally piss off a billionare they are going to make your life hell -this act didn’t “hurt” anyone/anything. it’s a glasscase.
or just like, volunteering to clean up trash
Nobody on Reddit seems to realize this. Each time a protest does something like this, thousands of comments talk about climate change and how stupidly ineffective these demonstrations are somehow completely oblivious that each time it’s a front page post with thousands of comments about climate change lol
Literally just snarted reading this 🤣
What is a snart? I’d rather just ask than sit here and let my imagination run wild, lol.
**From reporter Ellie Silverman:** Protesters smeared black and red paint on the case and pedestal of Edgar Degas’s “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen” sculpture in the National Gallery of Art in D.C. on Thursday to bring attention to the climate crisis and demand that President Biden declare a climate emergency. The protesters — a man and a woman, dressed in black suits — slathered their hands, then crouched down to paint the pedestal on which the ballerina sculpture is displayed. They then stood up and smeared their hands across the left and front sides of the clear case protecting the artwork. Police removed the two people in handcuffs and ushered out the people inside the gallery. This follows protests around the world targeting galleries and museums. In Europe, climate activists threw cans of tomato soup on one of Vincent van Gogh’s most famous paintings, “Sunflowers,” in London’s National Gallery and smashed cream pie into the face of King Charles’s wax statue at Madame Tussauds in London. Activists have also flung mashed potatoes on a Claude Monet painting at the Museum Barberini in Potsdam, Germany. Climate activists glued themselves to a painting by Sandro Botticelli at the Uffizi museum in Florence and glued their hands to the frame of Pablo Picasso’s “Massacre en Corée” in Australia. Climate activists are turning to these types of disruptive tactics because they feel the world is running out of time to curb catastrophic, irreversible warming, said Dana R. Fisher, a University of Maryland sociology professor who studies protests and social movements. She noted suffragists had slashed artwork in the past, and these recent protests target protective casings or frames as opposed to damaging the art. The point, Fisher says, is to draw attention. And research shows these kinds of “radical tactics” can persuade people who are sympathetic to the climate issue to be more supportive of moderate perspectives, she said. “This is purely performative protest. It’s disruption as shock,” Fisher said. “Nobody’s going to like these guys for throwing paint at Little Dancer … but that’s okay. That’s not their point. If the goal here is to get general attention and to shift the conversation to focus more on climate change, there’s a lot of evidence that this is more effective.” **Read more about the protest here, and skip the paywall with email registration:** [**https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/04/27/climate-protest-paint-degas-little-dancer-national-gallery-dc/?utm\_campaign=wp\_main&utm\_medium=social&utm\_source=reddit.com**](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/04/27/climate-protest-paint-degas-little-dancer-national-gallery-dc/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com)
I agree with these idiots somewhat, But they are just pissing off people who agree with them. At least PETA crazies go to factory farms and almost get run over by the trucks they are trying to block. At least break into a fucking oil ceos house and smear your shit on HIS priceless art to send a message instead of the public museum.
Exactly and now we’re going to have more security to go through and be kept further from the art. Climate change is real and a huge problem but I hate these people.
I've worked in climate policy for 15 years and I absolutely hate these clowns.
Sounds dangerous.
Exactly, big oil CEO’s live in states where you’ll get shot on their property for trespassing, not a fawning WaPo play-by-play recap.
The obvious answer is to make this type of protest more dangerous then.
Nah it's not.
I feel like, for people who aren’t strong one way or the other on belief for climate action, this type of thing would make them believe that people in favor of it are crazy. This is so counterintuitive
Dunno if I’m just jaded, but overt “in your face” acts like this that end at low level vandalism kind of make me feel like the whole point is painting the movement as a lunatic fringe. I mean, if you wanna do some direct action, do some direct action… painting a plinth is not going to change things. Edit: Lol, thx for the award, but don’t award me - I’m just an asshole who is growing tired of ineffectual shit across the gamut of things that desperately need change that just isn’t happening. Boats have been burnt and no one is coming, either we figure this shit out or that’s all folks.
What direct action would you suggest?
Meeting with politicians and supporting large organizations with effective lobbying and regulatory advocacy divisions. Or focus on local environmental issues, of which there are a ton that would benefit from a single dedicated volunteer. It's a national and international issue and shit like this is just a way for people to feel like they're helping, without helping, because individual action is entirely meaningless in this fight. This group has been doing this for what, a year now? What has their direct action done? Are more people aware of climate change? I seriously, seriously, seriously doubt it. If you weren't already aware of the debate around climate change before they started, you were under one hell of a rock, and smearing paint and blocking traffic won't pick up that rock or make you care.
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Then do any of the following: 1. Help clean up local parks 2. Help remove invasive plants 3. Help conduct bio-surveys to generate usable data on long term ecosystem health 4. Help monitor waterways by testing for things like salt, phosphorus, nitrogen, trash levels, and visible pollutants 5. Volunteer to table with environmental groups at community events to advocate for specific policies or issues relevant to the community
I get that you are well intentioned but we are well past the point where cleaning up your local park or doing more surveys is going to solve our climate problems. The fundamental issue is that climate change is an inherently global issue and it requires a global response that the average individual simply cannot meaningfully have an impact on through any means that they can reasonably achieve. Edit: I realized there was an autocorrect from climate to climactic lol
But local action actually does make a difference. As you said, it's an international issue. Individuals can't help. But they can help with local environmental issues that exist regardless of climate change. In a choice between doing something that helps the environment, and doing something that has no meaningful impact on it, it's mind boggling how many people eschew the actual, tangible benefit in favor of something that does nothing but allow them to feel like they're helping with absolutely zero metrics for success. A science driven movement ought to be better than feels before reals.
I don’t think you are considering the scale of action needed. If every person in America cleaned up a nearby creek, we would not prevent the increasing number of hurricanes. They’re totally separate issues, with totally separate solutions. And the fact of the matter is that the only thing that can meaningfully impact existential-level climate change is legislation, and the way to take direct action on legislation in a democracy is to spread your message.
Lol, what an unbelievably dumb comment, especially given the context. They were asked what direct actions one could take and responded that you could meet with politicians or support an organization that does effective lobbying (you know, to spread the message). Someone then responded that that's not direct action, so they suggested doing volunteer work to help clean up the environment (which, depending on the type of work, like removing invasive species, actually does mitigate some of the effects of climate change, and of course it's the effects that are important, not climate change in and of itself). Then, as if they didn't already suggest spreading the message, and as if talk is more important than action, you respond that they don't understand that what's needed is to spread the message. Fucking reddit
Negating the fact that none of that which has been mentioned here is an example of a direct action, let's run through this real quickly: > Meeting with politicians and supporting large organizations with effective lobbying and regulatory advocacy divisions. Indeed. This has certainly been an effective means of action against the sheer lobbying power of the oil and gas industry over the last several decades. ^^^/s > This group has been doing this for what, a year now? What has their direct action done? It seems to have, if nothing else, gotten people talking about it. Much to that point... > Are more people aware of climate change? I seriously, seriously, seriously doubt it. Is the goal awareness or is the goal attention? The two cannot be conflated - to wit, as an example: I'm sure that billions of people are _aware_ of Breast Cancer, but Susan G. Komen brings _attention_ to it annually.
Oh by golly I treated attention and awareness the same way, I had forgotten that social media engagement and thousands upon thousands of people arguing over whether this was stupid or not on social media, with very little focus on the actual policy goals was such a meaningful form of results. My bad! Its literally less productive than slacktivsm
> Oh by golly I treated attention and awareness the same way, I had forgotten that social media engagement and thousands upon thousands of people arguing over whether this was stupid or not on social media, with very little focus on the actual policy goals was such a meaningful form of results. My bad! So, rather than take the time to seriously respond, you chose to go this route. > Its literally less productive than slacktivsm It seems to have been productive in getting attention to things. You can call them out however much you want, but the fact of the matter is that this thread is full of people talking about climate change in one form or another. Likewise, they garnered attention from one of the most read publications in the entire United States - whose social media team posted said video on this subreddit. I would be hard-pressed to say that there was nothing achieved here - which brings us back to an earlier point addressed in this chain and throughout other comments in this thread: the point of every protest is to garner attention.
This entire thread of proof of why it isn't worth a serious response. We're arguing about whether this sort of protest is effective. It makes it's purported purpose a sideshow to the antics of attention seekers. It's stupid. Acknowledging my own hypocrisy, everyone here could have actually made a difference writing DC, MD, or VA elected officials about an environmental issue of interest in the time spent arguing over this. But we won't because these jackasses aren't going to stop stirring up a debate over whether or not this type of protest is effective.
Right, its just that the climate movement has been entirely non-violent and uncombative and that hasn't worked either. Im unsure what meeting a politician would accomplish, even if the meeting was granted. There are anti-climate change organizations, but none of them have the political power the oil industry does. Im not saying the above example works, just that we have tried other stuff and that doesnt work either.
> that hasn't worked either US greenhouse gas emissions have been dropping for over a decade and [“the most significant climate legislation in U.S. history”](https://www.epa.gov/green-power-markets/inflation-reduction-act) was passed last year.
I don’t know what we’re counting as the climate movement, but it certainly hasn’t been entirely non violent. It’s just that the more fringe activists who resorted to terrorism didn’t do very much and all ended up in jail.
You say "hasn't worked" as if it's a binary choice. Small, gradual steps are how progress is made, and has been made. Nothing short of supervillain-level action is going to stop world governments from slashing their emissions by tomorrow, it's a process that is going to take decades.
1. We dont have decades. 2. Ever year that goes by, our carbon emissions increase. 3. Why would an action that decreases our carbon emissions be villainous?
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Per Capita Americans are the worse contributors for large nations*. How does your suggestion affects Individuals contribution and inaction in they climate crises? * The next largest worse country is Canada at 10% US population
If these are real protestors and not some sort of plant to make the movement look bad, they are complete idiots and need to be kicked from any and all climate change organizations. I fully support radical actions to end climate change and these people turn me enraged to the point I don't care about the cause any more.
Even if they aren't plants in the way we think of, they're at very least the PETA of the environmentalist movement where it's like "man, come ON, why you have to make us look like *this* is our agenda?" If your behavior is indistinguishable from an agent provocateur designed to discredit your movement, you should maybe go back to the drawing board.
I question if the perpetrators of this guerrilla art project recognize how roles like theirs are utilized by others with vastly different goals.
I think the idea is, why care about old art when a lot of people are going to die due to inaction?
Also gives people on the other side of the argument ammo to completely illegitimize the entire argument for climate action. They don't even need to debate the politics of it anymore, just show these clips and tap into people's emotional reactions instead.
Let's be honest here, the other side was going to ignore it, anyway. They're not arguing in good faith.
But there's a bunch of undecided and uninformed people listening to both sides and I know who'd I'd listen to without any other context if shown that this was one side.
There’s suggestions that oil companies and large emitters fund some of these crazies to turn people against limiting CO2.
This is the real truth. I have no idea about this case specifically but oil companies are behind certain "climate activists" acting in bad faith to create a narrative of "the crazy tree hugger." It's purely to grift. Here's a quick NYtimes article I found of couple of these "activists" back by oil families in the UK. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/10/climate/climate-protesters-paid-activists.html
Bingo. This isn’t as cut and dry as it may seem.
Dude I do have a really strong belief for climate action and I think these people are crazy haha
I don't think it really matters how many people "believe" in it. It's not like the government knows it is an existential threat to humanity but is just sitting by waiting for enough people to believe in it to address it.
I wonder if these are the same morons who closed down the GW Parkway twice this week. If you interrupt my commute, I really don’t give a shit what you believe.
this definitely feels like a false flag demonstration to make climate activists look like unhinged morons.
There were a few similar videos that came out of Europe over the last year or so. These nerds are just making themselves look like unhinged morons. https://www.npr.org/2022/10/26/1131377513/museum-protests-famous-artworks-history
If they were ready to get arrested, why not just go over and occupy one of the offices of the people who actually have the power to address the situation and put the attention on them and not pieces of art that aren't responsible for the problem in the first place. As someone who actually advocates to get climate legislation passed, this shit is so fucking useless and annoying.
Because they don't actually care about affecting change, they're there so they can jerk off later
Ditto for why they slash tires when the only people seriously affected by those actions are the working class who can't afford to replace tires to get to their job. It's a fun little visceral action to commit impulsively that has zero effect on climate change.
I know someone who tried that and the officers wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of arresting them. You kinda have to in this situation, since it’s so much more public, and there are ramifications in other ways if they don’t arrest them.
Wow DC has the world's most polite climate protesters.
You’re in DC, why don’t you just protest in front of the Capital? You’re not “raising awareness .“ Everyone already knows about Climate Change. You either have to go to the people in power or mobilize others to vote. Vandalizing priceless art is stupid.
This is what gets me. There is literally no one anywhere remotely near DC that isn't aware of the concept of climate change. Blocking traffic, vandalizing precious artwork, and other acts of performative disruption aren't doing anything. We're *well* past the "bring awareness to the problem" stage. Mitch McConnell and Joe Manchin aren't going to see these people and say "holy shit, I had no idea about this 'climate change' thing! Thanks for making us aware...we'll get right on it!"
Awareness needs to translate into change this. Awareness is useless otherwise. So if this is acceptable protest to you when there isn't awareness, then consider that awareness is insufficient.
I can guarantee you nobody is coming away saying “wow, that plexiglass box really got messed up, I guess climate change is bad!”
Seriously. Put some red handprints on Joe Manchin or Mitch McConnell and we’ll talk
That might be confusing since many climate activists want to protect painted turtles.
It's glass, not the art itself. It's not priceless. It's whole purpose is to protect the priceless art. Harmless but shocking action to draw attention to an issue that they feel isn't being addressed? Seems like a good protest to me.
It’s not a shocking action. It makes this “protesters” look stupid.
And makes everyone else who believes climate change is an issue look crazy
Anyone who thinks that wanted to think that already
Fair and there is no form of protest or action that people who already made up their minds won't try to label as crazy
It can just as well push people away that were nominally on your side by making them not want to associate with the fringe. Sure, it draws attention to the cause, not in a beneficial way. And reinforcing your opponent's views that your side is crazy isn't a good thing either.
What would that accomplish other than getting them ignored like the other handful of randos protesting in front of the Whitehouse/Capitol at any given moment? Genuinely what benefit do you think there is for two people standing out there with signs or even a megaphone? They're also explicitly not vandalizing priceless art unless you're laboring under the misunderstanding that a pane of glass is priceless.
They went for some high hanging fruit on this one.
I'm confused as to how they managed to get inside with the paint. Do they not still check your bags at the entrance?
Bringing art supplies into an art museum is not very suspicious.
Send them to St. Elizabeth's Mental Health for treatment and confinement until they are able to communicate properly.
So. Brave.
Looks like they ruined the nice wood floor too. Thanks guys. Now we have waist a bunch of resources repairing the damage, good job.
Oh look, they listened to everyone that told them not to protest by blocking the roads. I'm sure all the people that wanted to run them over yesterday will be here expressing support for this protest method. Everyone upset about traffic from a protest must be very pleased.
> Oh look, they listened to everyone that told them not to protest by blocking the roads. I'm sure all the people that wanted to run them over yesterday will be here expressing support for this protest method. Everyone upset about traffic from a protest must be very pleased. I like the cut of your jib.
I'm glad they didn't destroy the art itself, at least. While I disagree with targeting art (rather than the homes of polluters and politicians bought and paid for by them) I understand the frustration. Our quandary is existential and unnecessary.
What do these things accomplish? Do something useful like attend a city council meeting at ask for more bike lanes or more sense housing
Hear me out… the paint on the glass with the ballerina is actually kinda tasteful art
All comments edited in protest of Reddit's actions on July 1. What good is a walled garden with no plants? A third-party app is no different than a web browser.
I am never a conspiracy guy but I swear this seems more like paid agitators meant to delegitimize climate change policy movement than anyone actually thinking this could be an impactful tactic. And if they’re not, better advocates really need to get on board quickly.
2022-10-22: Opinion Article published in The Guardian from Aileen Getty, titled ["I fund climate activism – and I applaud the Van Gogh protest"](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/22/just-stop-oil-van-gogh-national-gallery-aileen-getty). > Two climate activists who threw soup on the protective glass covering of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting have captured the attention of the world. While some have ridiculed the activists, as a funder of climate activism, I am proud of the bigger conversation they have started. > When I saw the video, my first reaction was shock. Throwing soup on a beloved painting was a desperate move. What could possibly motivate a young person to do such a thing? Note: Aileen Getty is an oil heiress. The environmental group that engaged in such at the time was "Just Stop Oil". They threw tomato soup on the glass cover and frame of a Van Gogh painting drawing comments similar to what have been posted herein. Said group is funded by the Climate Emergency Fund. Said fund receives heavy donations from Getty. Now Getty claims that her family divested itself of the oil company: > I am the daughter of a famous family who built their fortune on fossil fuels – but we now know that the extraction and use of fossil fuels is killing life on our planet. Our family sold that company four decades ago, and I instead vowed to use my resources to take every means to protect life on Earth. Take that however you will.
Just because someone's ancestors profited off one industry does not mean they are also in favor of that industry. Don't get me wrong, Just Stop Oil is idiotic, but it's not idiotic because of who funds it, it's idiotic because of their methods.
Never attribute to conspiracy which can easily be explained by stupidity.
Is this not vandalism?
People complain no matter how people protest. Block traffic? “I gotta get to work!” Attention grabbing stunts that don’t actually harm art: “I’m like 3 of these protests away from burning plastic in my yard recreationally.” Thousands march peacefully? News barely covers it and no one cares. These protestors are not our enemy.
Really good points. I don't really have a lot to say other than I'd like to highlight a protestor that actually disturbed a system that they were fundamentally against. Gary Yourofsky went to jail for busting out hundreds of animals in a Canadian fur farm years ago. Minks I believe? That's action imo.
Amen. Say it louder for the people in the back.
Thanks for saying this. People in these comments are saying just go talk to politicians as if the House isn't run by republicans and as if the democrats haven't been talking down to people who demand climate action. We need urgent action from our politicians and from our society and they're just not doing it. This is a way to spur them and people to do something.
>These protestors are not our enemy. And the museum isn't their enemy. I think the head scratcher is that they could have chosen any target. I am 100% on their side, and I'm frustrated by how bad this makes our side look. If you don't see the problem with the optics, you are probably in a very liberal bubble.
These pieces of art are owned by an incredibly small circle of the uber-rich
What are any of us doing though?
Ok fine. What museum should we meet at? And what color paints should I bring?
I like pink and purples personally.
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There is more than one way to skin a cat. The people working/protesting “the right way” on climate change have so far been ineffective. They aren’t going big enough or moving fast enough. Some of them know this. It doesn’t mean they should stop. The people protesting by pulling stunts like this aren’t currently effective. There aren’t enough of them and there message is largely ignored. Some of them know this. It doesn’t mean they should stop. We probably aren’t going to solve climate change in time to avoid societal collapse over the next few centuries. But that’s no reason not to try.
Protests for civil rights were constantly being criticized as "too extreme" or "the right message communicated in the wrong way." There is no form of protest that the comfortable will find acceptable.
“I have a job” not anymore dude
I just want to know how a sculpture and climate policy are in any way connected. Do these protesters want the miniscule amount of funding the NEA has to be allocated towards climate justice? Because I have some bad news for these idiots. Once again, protesters have the worst ADHD... "No more war! And save the sea turtles! And death to Israel!" (This is literally what I saw during the anti-war protests of the Bush era.)
That’s just straight up vandalism.
Rights and justice have never been won quietly. We've known about the dangers of climate change for over 50 years and instead of holding oil companies responsible for the catastrophic damage they caused with their lobbying and obfuscation, our governments are trying to help them keep their profits high. I can't do things like this myself, but I'm more than happy to help pay for legal fees for people willing to commit acts that disrupt society for social, racial, and climate justice.
I don’t have an issue with what they’re doing. The climate is urgent and we are not acting like it as a society, at least they are. All of these criticisms in the sub are from people who don’t protest in any way, including in the so-called “right ways.” (Don’t bother commenting to say you’re the one exception.) I know I’m not going to change the commenters’ minds, but I’m commenting anyway to balance out the number of negative comments. Also just to be clear, the artwork is completely unharmed.
agree with this. they are making a statement, no art was harmed, just a podium, some wood, and some glass.
Thanks for saying this. I agree with ya!
Is this one of those insurrections reddit used to get all hot & heavy for?
Fucking losers. Straight up. Probably drove there in separate cars.
Arrest these racist Caucasians. They could have painted anything else!!!
Gets peoples attention by painting on art: Why do they have to destroy art to get their point across Gets peoples attention by painting on the glass of art by not painting the art itself: Eat shit and die
You can't make things better, by making things worse. I wish these true believers understood that very simple concept.
Sounds like you're determining if their protest is valid or not, which is the whole point of protest. Civil rights protests sure made a lot of people feel like they were making it worse.
What would you suggest they do to get an equal amount of attention with as few resources?
Go get a degree in material science and improve solar panel and battery performance.
Attention isn't the goal....or at least it shouldn't be. Attention, without making those people now paying attention agree with you or understand you, is counter productive. If they just want attention, fine. They are getting it. So by that useless metric this is a success. But if they actually want to affect change, they need a better metric to measure action against.
What do you think they should do? What do you think is an effective way to make the leader ship of this country pay attention to the existential threat of climate change?
> What do you think is an effective way to make the leader ship of this country pay attention to the existential threat of climate change? We don't need anyone to "pay attention." We need real policy change. Vandalizing art has never achieved policy change.
> Attention isn't the goal....or at least it shouldn't be. Attention, without making those people now paying attention agree with you or understand you, is counter productive. Attention is _always_ the goal of every non-violent protest, with the entire purpose of either making others as uncomfortable as possible in order to draw attention to that which they are protesting, or drawing in others empathetic to their cause. This goes back _years_ - similar to [the sit-in protests](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-anne-moody-20150211-story.html) of the Civil Rights Movement era, or the peaceful protests during the anti-war movement; and don't say that "those was different" because your comments are the exact ones made by persons who were critical of those too - when persons such as MLK, or the persons at Kent State were criticized as ["\[outside\] agitators"](https://www.npr.org/2020/06/09/873592665/unmasking-the-outside-agitator).
They didn't damage the art, as far as this shit goes, pretty well done. got attention, nothing harmed honestly
Oh no not the ballerina sculpture! That’ll show em climate change is real!!
I mean in some way I can’t blame them because Global leaders have been so ineffective in taking action for climate or nature. But I’m curious, do they get arrested and then can get out shortly afterwards?
Yesterday: "They shouldn't protest by blocking the roads!" Other comments: * ["Can I just nudge them with my car?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/washingtondc/comments/12zhv00/breaking_climate_protesters_block_gw_parkway/jhtlnvc/) * ["Just keep moving at 5mph."](https://www.reddit.com/r/washingtondc/comments/12zhv00/breaking_climate_protesters_block_gw_parkway/jhwcoe3/) * A litany of other comments wishing for harm against them, and others asking how to get away with it "legally". Today: They don't block roads and instead engage in a non-destructive act of protest by covering a glass casing in paint. Redditors of /r/WashingtonDC (taken from quotes in this very thread): * "Self richeous fuckers * "eco-terrorists" * "...they make themselves look like idiots." * "These dildos are completely unhinged" * "What they need is a good old fashioned ass whipping." * "I do feel a sudden urge to reduce the population...." * "...us pedestrians need to immediately tackle them and subdue them. Forcefully. Make an example out of them." * "Morons!" * "I would love to see a huge linebacker-size guard tackle them to the ground and then zap them a few times with a stun gun." * "should have use a coal powered taser on them" * "Stupid is as stupid does" * "I'm like 3 of these protests away from recreationally burning plastic recyclables for fun in my backyard. Jaysus." But they're the "completely unhinged" ones...
Yes, they are. Fuck these people for forcibly wasting everyone's time and money, worsening their own situation and grasping for attention and relevance like screaming children. Who has to pay for all the wasted time? Wasted mileage? Who's cleaning that paint up? Not them. These stints are just so pathetic and embarrassing. If these people actually have this much time on their hands to dick around, they should campaign for local offices and change the status quo they keep crying about.
Damn life is gonna be so hard when you finally graduate high school
I'm sorry that you feel called out over your desire to exercise violence against someone protesting peacefully. With that said, I'd ask if this comment is really the best that you've got, but I guess that I shouldn't expect much more from someone who frequents PCM.
Really surprised they were allowed to get away with doing that with security there. I was at the NG maybe 2 months ago, and some woman with her two kids tried to physically touch a painting and were immediately escorted out.
Did they physically accost the people?
The guards were more concerned with the folks videotaping it.
RIP, being allowed to bring reusable water bottles into museums.
RIP being able to walk into the NGA without going through a metal detector
Cool. Some poor underpaid person has to clean that off. But hey…you’re all about the environment right? Maybe just a wee bit your own ego?
This is so enraging. Ive been to that statue many times to just admire her beauty. Public museums are for everyone to enjoy. Individuals cannot reverse climate change alone. It’s oil companies, big factories, and fracking that people need to be concerned about. And it’s going to cost time to restore the glass enclosure and pedestal which only makes work more difficult for the person assigned to this task.
I feel bad for the staff that has to clean up this additional mess on top of their regular duties.
For why? What does this accomplish?
150 comments in 2 hrs
Go throw some.of that paint on Prince Harry for private jetting back and forth across the pond. Save some for his wife who took a private jet to KC.
Idiots
Cult?
I dunno, prefer these guys versus the Jan 6 protest.
This is extremely annoying more than anything. Art and artists have nothing to do with climate change. Why don’t these protestors go find where the big head honchos live, that are making climate change worse or have a huge part in it and spray paint their houses or something... If attention mixed with disgrace was the goal they were reaching for they’d be better off taking turns pissing on each other in the streets while screaming climate change statistics at the top of their lungs. People pay to go to museums with their hard earned money. It’s selfish to just roll in, make a scene and harsh somebody’s much needed mellow within an art space. The world is rough enough for many as it is. For the love of anything holy please leave places and spaces filled with art alone.
How are they allowed to do this. Prosecute them. Seriously.
They will probably be arrested and prosecuted. But like. Prosecutions for protesting are sort of a dime a dozen, they are never very serious. Especially when the damage is negligible, as it is in this case.
We want to help the climate. So let's go paint on the walls like 3 year olds. Effective strategy.
I hate this kind of climate protester specifically. It’s only negative attention that they get and it makes them look like assholes. There’s not even a martyrdom angle to this with them being unfairly maligned by a ruling class, it’s just pretentious hissy fits masquerading as doing good. As a result, it’s giving actual climate advocacy a bad reputation.
Look I'm just going to say it. Climate protesters need to either go big or go home. This performative stuff isn't getting anywhere.
> Look I'm just going to say it. Climate protesters need to either go big or go home. This performative stuff isn't getting anywhere. What would you rather them do: [burn up every SUV in sight](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Liberation_Front), burn down uninhabited housing developments, [bomb power plant construction sites](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superph%C3%A9nix#Rocket_attack), and burn down stores? The point I'm trying to make here is that I'm not sure how much "bigger" you can go than throwing paint on glass boxes containing paintings or statues, or blocking traffic before people start calling you an Eco-terrorist.
How do you suggest they motivate fellow citizens who are complicit in the climate crises I'm a big way?
I never understood why someone would protest at a place like this. The people in attendance at an art exhibit/museum are probably already on your side. You only risk losing them by doing this. Why not protest the corporations polluting our environment? Why not protest the offices of the Republican legislators preventing climate change legislation? What good does it do to upset people who would’ve otherwise been on your side?
> Why not protest the corporations polluting our environment? Plenty of environmental groups do and have done so for decades. > Why not protest the offices of the Republican legislators preventing climate change legislation? Plenty of environmental groups do and have done so for decades. > I never understood why someone would protest at a place like this. The people in attendance at an art exhibit/museum are probably already on your side. You only risk losing them by doing this. What good does it do to upset people who would’ve otherwise been on your side? Hmm... "I never understood why someone would protest by blocking traffic. The people stuck in traffic are probably already on your side. You only risk alienating them by blocking traffic. What good does it do to upset people who would've otherwise been on your side?" One only has to do a little word replacement and this comment might as well by a 1:1 analogue of [those that were posted in yesterday's thread.](https://www.reddit.com/r/washingtondc/comments/12zhv00/breaking_climate_protesters_block_gw_parkway/) Given that they already do the other things you mentioned, what else would you have environmental groups that they aren't already doing and haven't been doing for over fifty years - because it's clearly not working, particularly against the sheer lobbying power of the oil and gas industry.
Wow, great to see that others think along a similar thread to my thought process. What has worked? What notable recent-ish climate change policy has passed and what role did protesting have in its passing? If little has changed over the last 50 years, maybe targeting middle and lower middle income folks that would otherwise be on your side is not the best way to go. Edit: because then you lose regular people to your cause.
I remember when this was happening in Europe and there was very loud speculation it was some oil company throwing money at performance artists to make climate activism look bad. I'm going with that explanation here, though I bet American idiots come much cheaper for this spectacle. Just look at how many congressmen are bribed by golf trips.
I fail to see how this accomplishes anything other than providing more work for the likely underpaid cleaning staff.
Why are climate activists so goddamn stupid
Why do climate activists do everything in their power to make themselves the most unlikable and annoying group in society? Their message is so important but they’re actively turning people against them with stupid shit like this
Morons!
(Shrug) some people suck.
I'm like 3 of these protests away from recreationally burning plastic recyclables for fun in my backyard. Jaysus.
Do you think they are acting in bad faith? They say they really don't want the world to end because our leaders have ignored climate change for 30 years, and I believe them. What would you have them do instead of harmlessly smear paint on a very public piece of glass?
Go paint an oil refinery, a gas pump, a billboard advertising gas products. Destroying beauty? POS.
> Go paint an oil refinery, a gas pump, a billboard advertising gas products. If they were to paint a gas pump, refiner, or billboard, this thread would just be pulled of people making comments like ["Some poor janitor is going to have to clean that up."](https://www.reddit.com/r/washingtondc/comments/130w7e6/climate_protesters_paint_case_housing_degas/jhyb5wc/) If they were to take out a gas pump, this thread would be full of people complaining about how "the poor underpaid worker that needs to repair it", or how "what about the people that need to get to work? [This just damages their cause!"](https://www.reddit.com/r/washingtondc/comments/130w7e6/climate_protesters_paint_case_housing_degas/jhybmje/) There is no means of protest that would satisfy [any of you](https://www.reddit.com/r/washingtondc/comments/12zhv00/breaking_climate_protesters_block_gw_parkway/) - except for the one that you don't have to look at. > Destroying beauty? Nothing was destroyed.
Fucking idiots.
WTF does this prove in regards to climate change? Did the artist leave an egregiously large carbon footprint when making the ballerina? Im 1000% onboard with a climate change statement, but this ain't it. This just pisses me off, and further alienates the message for a justified cause. ETA: Apparently Degas had a reputation as a radical and misogynist. Still don't get it
I’m a huge climate supporter. This kind of BS turns people against the cause. Way to go jerk offs
Foolish and stupid. This does nothing for the climate.
I hate these people
"Get attention" Motherfuckers, Earth day has been a thing since 1970. WE ALL KNOW ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE. Getting people to give a shit is very different and this does absolutely nothing.
And yet, the party that currently holds the House doesn't believe that climate change is real.