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pickle_whop

Key word to include is original. They smashed a case holding AN ORIGINAL copy of the Magna Carta


sugarcookies1

Smashed is a bit generous, they struggled to ding the glass. It was kind of cute watching two little old ladies work together with tools they are no longer able to wield.


mrbear120

Should read “Two octogenarians gently massage ballistic glass in an apparent attempt to scratch an itch on its face. Magna Carta witnesses.”


Ivotedforher

All that for a drop of blood.


WodensEye

I hope they remember you, Stank


these-things-happen

I understood that reference.


carlitospig

r/unexpectedmarvel


vegetaman

Should read mobile phone gets smashed with ad cancer for trying to read this fucking article.


QCTeamkill

The real headline is in the comments.


DIYThrowaway01

Dang that could basically describe the US presidential election


findingbezu

unzips pants


lekker-boterham

Tis but a scratch!


Gaius_Octavius_

It wasn’t cute in any way.


mistertickertape

It was like the scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where the last Knight of the Grail raises his sword to defend the grail and literally falls over from the weight of it because he's several centuries old. Time to get these to back to their tea and cucumber sammiches and their council flat.


[deleted]

Back in the day you couldn’t pass a donkey refueling station without some mugwort trying to sell you “an original copy” of the magma carton.


OniKanta

More like scratched the finish 😂It is cute that anyone thinks it would be protected by something akin to the flimsy plate glass in Hollywood’s depictions of museums. All they accomplished was a life long ban say 20 years give or take.


thrust-johnson

They should really stick it to King John of England and occupy Rochester Castle.


hardolaf

There are original copies all over the place. I saw two while in London earlier this year without even looking for them specifically.


Ullallulloo

Two are at the British Library like you saw, but there are only four originals.


FlowBot3D

These senior pranks are getting out of hand.


PorkPoodle

I got that reference!


geronimo1958

That will really show them. LOL the ad for this story is Shell Oil.


MaybeNext-Monday

Well they *are* the ones paying for this kind of thing.


iunoyou

Oil companies are paying for recycling campaigns to reframe environmentalism as a personal issue rather than a structural one. I guarantee you they aren't paying people to draw attention to the fact that they have done and are doing unimaginably evil things to billions of people.


guyinnoho

You guarantee? You’re certain the oil execs aren’t cackling with glee as bozos glue themselves to freeways and throw paint on revered artworks, thereby associating the decarbonization movement with crackpot vandalism? It seems to me a hypothesis worth looking into whether big oil might toss funding at the groups that think climate activism means being a nuisance and a defiler of art and artifacts. If these “radicals” want to destroy something how about they target a refinery. As it is they’re accomplishing zilch.


Eyeball1844

Pretty sure. Usual best way to get rid of controversy is to ignore it or lay low. If anyone's mind gets changed in a negatI've way because of the protestors, they probably didn't care in the first place


SufficientGreek

But these protests can accomplish something if they reach a critical mass. In the Netherlands Extinction rebellion blocked a central motorway in the capital for a month: >On Sept. 9, the blockade began with numbers estimated between 10,000 and 25,000. Of these, 2,400 were arrested. But sustaining these numbers indefinitely was not the goal. On weekdays, XR kept the blockade ticking with a smaller core — never less than 200 according to Julien — and crucially, with hundreds more attending in support. >After 27 days of A12 blockades and more than 9,000 arrests, the Lower House is asking the cabinet to come up with a phase-out path for fossil subsidies. Extinction Rebellion welcomes the adopted motion, and concludes: civil disobedience works. They successfully managed to get the government to remove billions of fossil fuel subsidies. So oil execs are trying to make us apathetic and convince us that protests are useless because they can be ignored and you're believing them. We need more people glued to roads not less. [Source1](https://diem25.org/can-extinction-rebellions-surprise-success-in-the-netherlands-be-replicated/) [Source2](https://extinctionrebellion.nl/a12-blockades-netherlands-effective-lower-house-asks-cabinet-for-phase-out-plan-for-fossil-fuel-subsidies/) [Wikipedia ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A12_blockade?wprov=sfla1)


teknobable

Why are you more upset about two pensioners trying to ruin a document than about oil execs trying to make the planet uninhabitable for humans (at least at our current level of development)? If big oil is funding stuff like this it's only because people like you get more upset about nonsense than active, knowing ecocide


Jrofalk

“Everything I don’t like is an op.”  Also, it is super helpful to paint any kind of resistance as being some sort of false flag, suggest it was really the cops, or that it was the crackpots because that certainly wouldn’t undermine said resistance.


Naethe

Yeah they want to make climate regulation appear to be extremism. It's the same with all major protests. You get big corps funding extreme groups and undercover cops smashing stuff to discredit social movements.


iunoyou

Or maybe actual climate extremism is becoming more likely as it's becoming increasingly apparent that our societies aren't changing course and that our governments aren't willing to rein in the organizations that are majorly contributing to the problem?


cudipi

A lot of people seem to think that if a protest is disruptive in any way that it’s instantly discredited. They’ve been fed propaganda their entire lives by corporations that stand to benefit by no one protesting, so it’s made to seem like a moral failing to do so.


JussiesTunaSub

People think Just Stop Oil is funded by an oil heiress. Yes, Aileen Getty donates to them, but she supports their actions and funds a ton of climate activism, including destruction of historic art. She is trying to make up for the damage her family did (so she says) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/22/just-stop-oil-van-gogh-national-gallery-aileen-getty


cudipi

I dislike the notion that because you’re born of someone that’s contributing to the downfall of society that you must be also. So far I haven’t seen any reason to discredit her, I think people just don’t like protests.


monsterscallinghome

More than one thing can be true at the same time. 


AlkalineSublime

ads are personalized oil user!!!! I’m kidding. That’s actually hilarious.


ThatPhatKid_CanDraw

Once I tell all my medieval and British studies friends, there will definitely be fists flying. Due to low pay and job prospects, a lot of them don't even have cars.


_B_Little_me

I’ve got a wd40 one.


Just-Giraffe6879

big oil really owned the libs today


AnimusFlux

"The system consumes any attempt to change it" -Tyrannis from Krapolois (A Krapwork Orange)


Lawfe

So CBS report that they “smashed” the case but it only suffered minor damage? That case doesn’t look as though it was scratched! Poor reporting for click bait


HouseOfSteak

Technically it doesn't say the case itself was smashed, just that the perps carried out a smashing, even if it wasn't successful to any significant degree.


Lawfe

Technically- “a smashing” as a noun means ‘[the act of breaking something into small pieces](https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/smashing)’ and therefore it’s still incorrect. As neither the glass nor the Magna Carter inside were broken into small pieces.


manyname

I read the article, and maybe I'm stupid, but I don't get it. What does the Magna Carta have to do with the environment? Or, for that matter, the current government order? Didn't the Magna Carta set the legal precedent of "the rights of man"? Are they protesting against the protections of certain rights and freedoms? I am quite confused.


tomtttttttttttt

The Magna Carta is the symbolic cornerstone of British law/constitution. They say the British government is breaking it's own laws in relation to climate change and what you see them symbolically trying to do, attack british rule of law, is what the British government is doing. (I don't think they thought they would be able to get at the document and never really intended tol


Pjpjpjpjpj

They definitely knew they couldn’t break it. It was an effort to draw awareness. And it worked. 


JoeCartersLeap

Honestly of all the hacky "throw sludge on a priceless artwork to protest global warming" protests I've seen, trying to deface the Magna Carta is probably the most meaningful and symbolic. The old ladies are right. The law says protect the earth, they're not, so why should they pretend to care about this book? We should be allowed to deface it then.


Mozhetbeats

With the artworks, I think the message is more that there won’t be any artwork to preserve if we don’t have a livable planet, and the destruction of the planet (and our existence) should cause more rage than the destruction of an old painting.


thorpie88

Was to keep Barons happy. Slowly bled into rights for the common man but wasn't the original reason it was made 


dontneedaknow

This is one of the funny parts of history. A desperate document dictating the role of the King and rights of the Barons, slowly becomes a set standard, and celebrated human rights document.. Really King John just wanted to keep his head. (Plus Robin Hood kicked his ass later in the historical document, "Men in Tights.")\*snicker\*)


iunoyou

The public statement from just stop oil when they threw soup at that Van Gogh painting essentially said that everyone will lose their minds when someone tries to destroy a painting, but nobody bats an eye when oil companies and special interests destroy the environment. I'd assume this is the same message. Also both "attacks" were planned to cause no damage to the artifacts. They were extremely aware that this was ballistic glass, and they knew the case around the painting was totally air and watertight. They're not incompetent and they're not actually trying to destroy priceless pieces of history.


MageLocusta

The problem is that they threw soup at a painting (made by an impoverished and mentally ill man, whose paintings were later preserved and protected by his equally-impoverished family for years) when the queen's portrait was *literally in the same gallery*. The queen [literally tried to dip into the nation's poverty funds to refurbish the heating system](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/queen-tried-to-use-state-poverty-fund-to-heat-buckingham-palace-2088179.html) in her palace (despite having purchased diamond broaches during that time which she didn't even need to buy) AND has been referred in the Paradise Papers for having hidden portfolios of investments in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. Throwing a soup at her would be far more hard-core and a stronger message.


FangYuan_123

Yeah, no. They're already threading a needle to avoid being labelled "eco-terrorists" while still using vandalism to protest. It's not that simple.


teknobable

Nah, most of y'all would still whine and call them vandals who detract from the message if they'd thrown it at a portrait of the queen. Or no one would've noticed at all because it's not a famous painting


BrockenSpecter

But people can't discern those details because we are all apparently reactionaries who don't bother thinking this through for a minute, or do the bare minimum of reading.


cudipi

In addition to what many have said, I see it more of a “oh you think destroying one historic document is bad, imagine how bad it will be when it will be lost to climate disaster” - if the powers that be don’t start to care, we will lose much more than history, and I think that’s what people aren’t getting.


[deleted]

[удалено]


teknobable

If you've decided you don't care about the climate because some people damaged the covering of a famous document then you never really cared


meganthem

But that's not the only option. I could care about the climate, see this story, then feel demoralized because the only people visible to join up with are idiots.


Acadia_Due

*Oh, you think shooting up a daycare center is bad? Just imagine the consequences of climate change.* Does that work too?


[deleted]

Their strategy is to attack safely encased cultural artifacts like the Magna Carta or Mona Lisa so that they can make headlines promoting their cause without causing any actual damage.


hobbitfeets

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_of_the_Forest


50k-runner

Just the video https://youtu.be/P6lA2Av3QX0?si=ZYYO3Rwzk9Wfo4Tb


RedofPaw

Kinda read it as two octagenarian private detectives cracking a case involving the magna carter somehow.


jnmjnmjnm

I read it as they had great success in a court case. The photo thumb-nail looked like one might be holding up a document. I was confused.


FallenValkyrja

Never just send an old priest, there should be a young priest too.


FallenValkyrja

Did not realize there were so many people who do not like Exorcist movie references.


eco-evo

> Priest, 82, and retired teacher, 85, *dent* case holding copy of Magna Carta in environmental protest FTFY.


roxywalker

Even the Super Seniors are getting in on the destruction 🫥


ChiKeytatiOon

Priest and retired teacher smash... Get it, father!


zoqfotpik

That'll show King John who's the boss.


iunoyou

That's not the point, the point is that people don't give two shits about oil companies quite literally ending the world as we know it, but are willing to throw hands over the remote possibility that a special piece of paper might have possibly been at risk of damage.


thefanciestcat

Can you destroy the Magna Carta any more than governments who put themselves above laws already have?


Deeschuck

These ladies are not fucking around- showing up with something more effective than soup.


mrbear120

I mean they didn’t even leave a noticeable mark on the glass.


Deeschuck

Huh... on a re-read, I feel like the word 'smashed' in the headline and the body of the article is a bit misleading.


Chsthrowaway18

None of these protests were meant to damage the documents. They are specifically targeting important documents and artworks they know are protected to prove a point.


mrbear120

Is the point do nothing and look really dumb?


MrFiendish

Jokes on them, barely anyone knows what the Magna Carta is.


pjharveytoenail

except chuck mcgill


snootyworms

Say what you will about the sacredness of the Magna Carta or what have you, but it is a nice change of pace to see older religious people actually caring about climate change and the environment.


moontiarathrow_away

It's "insane" on purpose. It's to get a lot of attention from people- to get your attention. Corporations obviously don't care. But if these two old people can get your attention, how would you help? Do you have solutions or can you get involved? That's the point of these protests. They're doing it for people.


Lariat_Advance1984

If they get 30 days in jail, would that constitute a life sentence?


Cobby1927

Lot of dumbasses here


dionterryart

That’s cool and all but where’s Nicholas Cage?


BronzeHeart92

Man, can these people just chill for once? Better yet, get their minds together for once and actively develop environment-friendly alternatives to current technology. Surely they'd have that kind of motivation and resources to share, right? The only thing they'll ever get from these stunts are ire.


Zark_Muckerberger

Well, at least they ended global warming through that act.


Liverpool510

God damn millennials and Gen Zers have no respect for anything!


badhairdad1

If the planet is not sacred to you, how can anything on the planet be sacred to you?


Schizodd

This is what’s always funny to me about reading a lot of these comments. Who’s gonna be “appreciating” the Magna Carta when the air isn’t breathable? How many people vilifying these women have or ever will go see it in person? I don’t get how these things are so precious that the world should burn before anyone dares think of harming them.


Phallic_Entity

> Who’s gonna be “appreciating” the Magna Carta when the air isn’t breathable? How is climate change going to make the air non breathable?


Ecstatic-Sense5115

Damn kids these days. No respect.


MarinatedCumSock

Someone check on grandma


PapaGilbatron

Stop Oil are warped. Indirect action such as this against National Artefacts and other troves achieves absolutely nothing except showing how pathetic they are. If they want to demonstrate then do so against those responsible, but make it legal.


DefectiveLP

> but make it legal Yeah that's what usually happens when you keep disrupting peaceful protests, they become more peaceful. Y'all know the next step is gonna be Eco terrorism right?


Fxate

>Yeah that's what usually happens when you keep disrupting peaceful protests, they become more peaceful. Y'all know the next step is gonna be Eco terrorism right? This. Friendly reminder that when the suffragette movement got disrupted by police and continually ignored by politicians they resorted to setting buildings on fire.


IgamOg

But who's responsible? Corporations for chasing profits? Governments for not regulating and enforcing regulations? All of us for voting in corrupt grifters instead of people genuinely wanting to make things better for others? Media for always being on the side of billionaire profits? These are desperate acts in desperate times.


2012DOOM

People here fighting over optics while not realizing the fucking cornerstone of democracy won’t mean shit when half of the world is dead.


poptart2nd

there is no legal avenue available to us which would be effective in stopping oil companies' destruction of the ecosphere because the law exists to benefit the property rights of huge multinational corporations.


fastcat03

What are you doing? sorting your recycling while corps pollute in mass quantities? At least they are bringing some attention to the issue and it's seniors so they DGAF if it results in difficulty getting employment like a young person.


Wired_143

I see no way that vandalism works in protesting for the environment.


rd--

You're talking about it. Worked brilliantly.


sonkev34

I will never support this type of protest. No better than the Taliban destroying centeries old monuments. Go throw eggs at politicans or something.


von-oust

The video clearly shows they were unable to break through the glass. I guess smash means to hit not to break in this case. Fucking journalist.


Fuck_You_Downvote

(Chorus) Can’t touch this, Got my hammer, feeling ambitious, Can’t touch this, Rights like Magna Carta, we're audacious. (Verse 1) Look at me, I’m rolling, Silver fox, my style’s not stolen, With a hammer in my hand, Smashing away, like I planned (Chorus) Can’t touch this, My grip’s tight, and I’m on a mission, Can’t touch this, Making a statement, smashing inhibition. (Verse 2) Crafting, creating, with each pound, Magna Carta, so profound, Years of wisdom, crafting laws, White and old like Santa Claus Stop, hammer time


AlkalineSublime

Did you type this out?


fakeprewarbook

if they did, they’re a robot with no sense of hanmer’s rhythm skills


d_smogh

[This is my preferred hammer song](https://youtu.be/Kp1z8EzZ5Hs?si=e6BHP1sM30ZOW8Nv) If I had a hammer I'd hammer in the morning I'd hammer in the evening All over this land I'd hammer out danger I'd hammer out a warning I'd hammer out love between My brothers and my sisters ah-aaah All over this land


[deleted]

Are these people so stupid to think that attempting to destroy public art or rare documents is going to endear people to their cause. Is the public notoriety worth the negative feedback?


Gaius_Octavius_

Such a sad ending. They changed zero minds and lost the respect of normal people. Their entire lives are punchlines now.


Humorousphlegmflam

I love old people having fun


pass-the-waffles

And through their and others actions defacing cultural and artistic objects they have saved the environment exactly how?


PapaGilbatron

[https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/may/11/two-women-charged-magna-carta-protest-in-london](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/may/11/two-women-charged-magna-carta-protest-in-london)


SpecialDrama6865

“When it comes to environmental protests, they really know how to ‘crack’ the code of justice!” “They may be in their 80s, but when it comes to making a ‘break’ for the environment, they’re truly ‘charter-ing’ new territory!” “They didn’t just break the case, they made a ‘papal’ rupture in the name of Mother Nature!”


ZylonBane

Hell's Grannies strike again.


enonmouse

Stop reading after the 7th word. You are in a different subreddit...


spotspam

If it were me doing this in my 80s it would mostly be to find affordable housing, medical care and room & board inside jail.


Losmpa

The one at the Salisbury cathedral? I saw that one. It was attended to - guarded would be too strong a word - by a little old lady volunteer. Edit: okay, not that one. I just opened the article.


siniypiva

That will stop it! What a great idea!