this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2024
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Right wing authoritarianism isn’t subtle.


edit:

added context:

Here is what Ben is replying to:

Pro-Palestinian protesters a part of a group called “𝐏𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧,” vandalized a historic painting of Arthur James Balfour at Trinity College Cambridge in England.

Arthur Balfour wrote the Balfour Declaration of 1917 when he was serving as the British Foreign Minister. The letter expressed Britain's support for a Jewish Homeland in what is now Israel.

Direct link(should work for a bit): https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1766117900644151296/vid/avc1/720x1280/pQDXaeuPY2vYbJdX.mp4?tag=14

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[–] astreus@lemmy.ml 46 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

Tired of writing this, the hand wringing over university property being compared to ~30k lives and ~600k starving people has to stop.

This painting is not some culturally important piece of art. It’s a little over 100 years old (literally painted the same year my Granddad was born), hanging in a university, of a man that was responsible for massacres in Ireland (Mitchelstown Massacre) which got him the name “Bloody Balfour”, openly said that black people should be treated worse than white people, and was a known anti-semite that brought about the Aliens Act of 1905 to try and keep Jewish people out of Britain & Ireland.

Imagine a group of Princeton students cutting up a minor painting of Jefferson Davies hanging in their halls and you get roughly the same amount of "cultural loss".

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I agree with ya, but it’s Jefferson Davis

[–] astreus@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Ahh whoops! Though I don't feel that bad about misremembering his name 😂

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago
[–] JustZ@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Damn I thought it was Davies too.

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[–] FinishingDutch@lemmy.world 37 points 1 year ago (5 children)

People shouldn’t mess with historic art, no matter how good they think their cause is.

It takes a lot of effort by many dedicated people throughout history to preserve art like this. These works are not individual possessions, but rather owned by us all. They’re part of our shared heritage; we’re merely guardians of it so future generations can enjoy them.

It’s very disrespectful to those efforts when someone attacks a painting.

[–] iain 8 points 1 year ago

I think this improved the painting. We have tons of paintings of rich white dudes, we don't need to preserve them all. And the damage to this painting adds depth and meaning to an otherwise unremarkable piece.

[–] cogman@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

We destroy art daily. Consider all the yiff porn that's been made over the years.

Why should I respect a painting of a racist asshole more than I respect the effort that went into producing pornography that at least made some innocent people happy while not glorifying genocide?

This painting is there because that guy was rich and donated money to Cambridge. That's it. Is not even that old (1917). It has no significant historical value any more than a portrait of your town's Mayor from the same period has.

And frankly, I'd care more about pho tears if I didn't know about the Anne Frank memorial in my city, that is yearly desecrated (sometimes multiple times in a year) by Nazi shitheads. Yet have you heard about that? No? I wonder why. Why can a memorial of a Holocaust victim get vandalized without a peep yet when a genociders painting is destroyed art is precious?

[–] jimmydoreisalefty@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Briahna is saying a counter to that way of thinking, due to the genocide that is happening.

What is more important, property or to do anything possible to help stop the killling.

Briahna then states the following is what is chosen:

Property over human life, every time.

[–] FinishingDutch@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

'property over human life, every time' sounds like a nice gotcha. It also simply isn't applicable here.

That statement would be appropriate if say, Israel bombed a museum in Gaza, and people were upset about the paintings lost rather than the people killed by that same strike.

That statement does NOT apply when someone actively destroys something completely unrelated to it in order to get attention for their cause. Because THEY are the ones doing the destroying. I'd much rather see these 'protesters' do something productive like organize aid for civilians in Gaza or collect funds. Nobody in Gaza is helped by people destroying art halfway around the world. In fact, it only turns people away from that cause.

[–] mean_bean279@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Part of the reason Palestinians are suffering so much is specifically because Israel is attacking property. Attacking and destroying property leading to the death of people. Obviously a painting like this isn’t going to lead to the death of someone, but it’s a bit of a shallow statement when property is also important. In the event of a fire, human life over property.

[–] jimmydoreisalefty@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

I think we would agree that a ceasefire would help stop the genocide and the destruction of Palestinian property.

The tweet is focusing on the backlash from Ben vs. his stance on the genocide of Palestinians.

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[–] NateNate60@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)

What's the context behind this?

[–] jimmydoreisalefty@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Here is what Ben is replying to:

Pro-Palestinian protesters a part of a group called “𝐏𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧,” vandalized a historic painting of Arthur James Balfour at Trinity College Cambridge in England.

Arthur Balfour wrote the Balfour Declaration of 1917 when he was serving as the British Foreign Minister. The letter expressed Britain's support for a Jewish Homeland in what is now Israel.

Direct link(should work for a bit): https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1766117900644151296/vid/avc1/720x1280/pQDXaeuPY2vYbJdX.mp4?tag=14

[–] NateNate60@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Of all the ways to try to get support for your cause, this has got to be one of the least effective strategies ever

[–] jimmydoreisalefty@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Property over human life, every time.

You may be right, but that is why the above statement was made.

Backlash over historic paintings vs. 30,000+ deaths and counting.

I guess that is what the protestors want...

[–] wandermind@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There are atrocities of different scales happening all the time. There are only so many irreplaceable historical artifacts. If you destroy a historical artifact for every atrocity, eventually there will be no historical artifacts left and atrocities will still be happening.

[–] astreus@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Tired of writing this: this painting is not some culturally important piece of art. It's a little over 100 years old, hanging in a university, of a man that was responsible for massacres in Ireland (Mitchelstown Massacre) which got him the name "Bloody Balfour". Regardless of where you stand on Palestine, Balfour was not a good human and this is akin to toppling a minor statue of a Confederate in America - one that is not even on display to the wider public.

EDIT to add a quote from Balfour when asked about whether the treatment of Black people in South Africa was immoral:

“We have to face the facts,” Lord Balfour said. “Men are not born equal, the white and black races are not born with equal capacities: they are born with different capacities which education cannot and will not change.”

[–] bloopernova@programming.dev 4 points 1 year ago

Christ what an asshole Balfour was. Bigotry is so fucking wrong I can't even make coherent words.

[–] odium@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] jimmydoreisalefty@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago

I have added context.