Extinction Rebellion
- Started
- Last post
- 13 Responses
- Projectile
A shout out to my London mates who are actually doing something effective, finally.
http://prod-upp-image-read.ft.co…
Please note that they're not hippies. One is a barrister. Another is a lawyer. Another was a civil engineer who quit to study solar energy. My sister has worked as a parliamentary campaigner, behind a desk for 15 years.
They have spent their lives campaigning, writing to MP's, helping to push legislation, leading by example and have seen zero effect.
Now it's time to do something drastic. And if a few people have to walk when they would take a train, hell even if they have to drive to work spewing out fumes... so be it! People need to fucking listen.
Thoughts?
- Nairn1
I'm broadly in support of them, particularly as I don't work in the city }:)
'Something must be done' even if its fundamentally very little as here.
However, they don't do themselves any favours with this shit...
The dancing, I mean - not the sit-ins or blockades.
- It's a bit embarrassing I know. The point is to show what could be done with the space, but come onProjectile
- The world will be swallowed by the sun eventually, exactly how are they saving the earth from the inevitable?shapesalad
- Fax_Benson1
Good on them.
I guess they've thought about the best way to do it but it is a shame that news coverage focuses so much on the travel chaos aspect rather than the actual issue.
- I guess it's hard to draw attention to yourself without acing like a bit of a tit.Fax_Benson
- ^ haha well saidProjectile
- Ianbolton0
Maybe we need to build a massive ark?
- Nairn0
What I particularly dislike is the complete lack of self-awareness and self-regimentation with this kind of stuff - I touched upon it in set's Notre Dame ranting, Shapesalad touched upon it in his anti-ER ranting:
I lived for years in a warehouse community and came across literally hundreds of competent do-gooder-types who espoused environmental philosophies and would ostensibly 'get involved' in 'things' that 'made a point', but then they'd invariably drive to the home county family homes in their parental-supplied emissions-spewing vehicles, would buy plastic products and foods flown in from afar, would jet off a couple of times a year to 'active getaways' in Asia or South America and come back with a load of trappings of the worthy, would fundamentally not impose restrictions that limited their comfort despite environmental impact.
I don't see it as much different from the 'anti-oil' types who .. well, rely upon oil-based products and fuel every day.
if ER becomes a prevalent movement and draws larger concerns into its fold - I'm talking corporations, monied organisations and foundations, rich philanthropists, competent political lobbyists - it might actually begin to achieve something. If it's just a bunch of outwardly-involved individuals seeking aesthetic stamp of worthiness - as it mostly appears to be now - it'll amount to nothing.
Sadly, I feel the only way to achieve anything of value is for there to be catastrophes of differing types that demand governments ban and restrict existing modes and consumption patterns, almost totalitarian-like.
A bunch of middle class kids and post-menopausal women dancing like idiot loons on London bridge isn't going to actually do anything.
- Whoops, that was a bit long and repetitive.Nairn
- I see your beef, but I also see the frustrations of those who see large capitalist-driven corporations not being held accountable for their destruction.Ianbolton
- Maybe the big oil spills from BP and Shell are the modern wars we fight? Trying to bring down large companies for being environmentally incompetentIanbolton
- Yeah, but that's just it - all it amounts to is frustration-venting, like the Greenham Common lot. It won't actually change anything. As-is, anyway.Nairn
- Follow the money - the real power in society is represented by taxes - The Rich and The Corporations are the ones that need to bend to change thisNairn
- I also hate the fact we're telling our kids that their species is a vermin infestation on this planet. If you think that just kill yourself and not have kidsIanbolton
- Amusingly, that's not far off from how I felt about things in my twenties. But hypocrite that I am, here I am twenty years later, with my own crotchspawn.Nairn
- lol at crotchspawn... not heard that one beforedee-dubs
- Nairn1
Whatever, it's got the Daily Mail frothing at the mouth and Police from The Met 'raving' and skateboarding, so it's doing some good at least...
- Bennn0
I think nothing will really move as long as the old generations is in power. Things will start moving when the new generation reach the power positions.
- PeterPancake1
One of the more hopeful things to have happened in the UK for ages.
- shapesalad0
The world will be swallowed by the sun eventually, exactly how are they saving the earth from the inevitable?
- You're going to die eventually, why eat?Nairn
- every breath is wasted.hans_glib
- It's more a case of live fast and die young rather than living miserably trying to save a planet that is doomed by nature.shapesalad
- The sun burning up the earth 'predicament' is a few billion years off yet. We can at least try and tidy our game up a little today, regardless of tomorrowIanbolton
- hans_glib2
my problem with them is that their methods are the usual blunt instrument of protest. simply blocking streets is negative and affects everyone, regardless of whether or not they're the problem.
equally their stated intention of bring the underground to a halt is stupid and self defeating - public transport is exactly the kind of thing the protesters should be promoting.if they were cleverer about it, and adopted a more positive approach then i think they'd be a lot more effective.for instance, if electric vehicles (cars, taxis, buses) were allowed thru their roadblocks it would send a more powerful message. business people would have to take an electric cab to get them to meetings, hoi polloi would have to get an electric bus to get where they're going, etc etc. then they'd be only affecting those people who are adopting the practices they're against.
instead of pratting about dancing around and generally behaving in a hippy dippy manner (thus belittling the message), they should be acting more positively - collecting litter, guerilla planting, cleaning shit up, practicing what they preach. they should leave their occupied spaces in a better state than when they took control
i agree with a lot of what they're saying, but the methods they're using associates that message with suffering (can't go about my business) and negativity. and that's not the vibe they need to be giving out.
sadly, cheap publicity is as far as the greens can ever see.
- The're letting cyclists through, and there are almost no electric cars. So yes, that's what they're basically doing.Projectile
- that's not good enough, and there are plenty of electric (and hybrid) cars/cabs in town.hans_glib
- shoes-5
My thoughts:
I would like the authorities to suppress 'drastic' actions like these with extreme prejudice. Publicly and unambiguously. If necessary with violence.
If you don't heed one warning to move along or stop acting silly, you'll get clubbed. If you feel the need to throw stones or firebombs or loot you get shot.
There's right to assembly, freedom of expression, protest. That's all good.
But when somebody crosses the line into civil disobedience, obstruction, vandalism I want the state to enforce law and order.
Indiscriminate of motive, age, sex, political position. Environmentalists, racists, football fans, yellow vests, brown shirts, globalists, nationalists, feminists, tax advisors, striking lorry drivers, flat earthers, maga hatters, whatever.
I think if anyone crosses the line they need to suffer real consequences real quick and the rest of the people need to see these consequences.
I think the principle of power monopoly with the state is a good thing. Enforcement is necessary, essential to democracy and liberal society.
And not currently done enough in the western democracies. I think what the people need is more authority. More of the big stick. Like, the dose make the poison and right now I think there's too much liberalism, too little authoritarianism.
Fuck em up.
- fuck you you fucking nutjob.ESKEMA
- fascist much?ESKEMA
- not much, because I think fascists should be fucked up equally if they cross the lineshoes
- like the opposite of fascism actuallyshoes
- https://i.makeagif.c…Bluejam
- 'thoughts' might be overselling it a bitFax_Benson
- https://i.makeagif.c…Nairn
- lol faxNairn
- Humans are stupid, the earth recycles itself.robotron3k
- shut the fuck upcolin_s
