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So now we know: nowhere is safe from the entitled fury of the JustStopOil mob. Not even Stonehenge. That prehistoric wonder, one of the oldest monuments of humankind, has been showered with orange powder paint by JSO’s loons. They say they want to “raise awareness” of the climate crisis. All they’ve really raised awareness of is what conceited, heartless narcissists they are.
These people really do believe they are saving the planet, don’t they?
This was cultural desecration. It was savagery masquerading as protest. To attack a 5,000-year-old monument, this stone echo of the earliest stirrings of human civilization, is to show horrific disregard for the history and people of this nation. I don’t want to hear a word about how they used powder paint and it will wash off in the rain, yada yada. The fact is they reduced a millennia-old structure to a soapbox for showy moral preening — and that is unforgivable.
Their smugness was almost as offensive as their vandalism. They strode towards the slabs with all the cockiness and zealotry of every apocalyptic cult in history and sprayed the paint all over them. Then they sat down, for photos, naturally, looking heartily satisfied with themselves. These people really do believe they are saving the planet, don’t they? They really think they are the final line of defense against the man-made heat death of Earth. It would be funny if it wasn’t so deranged.
It is precisely this delusion, this religious conviction that they are the enlightened few who might yet save mankind from the fires of climate change, that underpins their anti-social, anti-democratic behavior.
When you think of yourself as the savior of the dumb hordes from a world-ending smog of their own making, anything can be justified. Blocking highways, gluing yourself to art, laying siege to Stonehenge — nothing is off-limits to the upper-middle-class brat with a Messiah complex.
There is always a hectoring tone to JSO stunts. These double-barreled donuts, many of whom hail from the well-to-do, love nothing more than to terrify the plebs with tales of our coming doom. Hence they target the snooker, and soccer games, and daytime traffic that consists mostly of working people trying to get to their jobs. It’s an aristocratic finger-wag dolled up as progressive activism, a sermon from the old landed classes to us Aldi-shopping, Skoda-driving, budget airline-flying commoners. “Can’t you see how disgusting you are?!” is the subtext of every single stunt carried out by these silver-spoon cultists.
And it’s the subtext of their assault on Stonehenge yesterday. Their vile defilement of this ancient wonder is yet another elitist attempt to stupefy the stupid, to rouse the ignorant from their consumerist haze in order that they might finally change their behavior. It feels like Britain is being held hostage by the neuroses of the bored bourgeoisie. There is no telling where they will turn up next with their orange paint and “End is Nigh” lunacy and that turbo-smug look on their faces.
Action needs to be taken against these hysterics and irritants. If you see them in the road, drag them off it. If you see them in an art gallery about to pounce on a Van Gogh, stop them. As to the callous vandals at Stonehenge — a long prison sentence, please. We often hear about the usefulness of prison as a deterrent to the petty crimes of the poor — how about prison as a deterrent to the self-regarding crimes of the rich?
This article was originally published on The Spectator’s UK website.
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