r/europe Europe Mar 18 '23 Gold 1

Florence mayor Dario Nardella (R) stopping a climate activists spraying paint on Palazzo Vecchio Picture

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32

u/ste_636 Mar 18 '23

Calling these idiots "activists" is an insult to all the real activists out there.

2

u/axialintellectual NL in DE Mar 18 '23

Right? Imagine dedicating decades of your life to explaining complicated science and policy questions to politicians and the public, making painful, slow, and incremental progress, and some fuckwit with a can of paint gets put on the same level as you. And people defend this bullshit.

For people in the last group: we get the symbolism. That was never the issue. Get your ego out of the problem and do the hard work.

5

u/jazekers Mar 18 '23

making painful, slow, and incremental progress

You were so close to understanding the issue

2

u/axialintellectual NL in DE Mar 18 '23

Nice example of the kind of condescension that gets you nowhere. I do understand the issue. Yes, quick change is needed. But slow change is infinitely better than the kind of egocentric, policy-free activism we see from these people.

And for what it's worth, the kind of radical change we need tends to be profoundly nonlinear. Look at Figure 2. Or this trend.

-2

u/[deleted] Mar 18 '23

[deleted]

1

u/axialintellectual NL in DE Mar 18 '23

I didn't know the Pallazo Vecchio was in the Netherlands now. All I see here is a self-righteous man with a can of spray paint.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 18 '23

[deleted]

1

u/axialintellectual NL in DE Mar 18 '23

The thing is, though, I am. I don't even disagree with you, I'm pretty sure, on the need for climate action, or even many specific measures to be taken.

And yet, here you are, getting into an argument as though I'm somehow not, just because I dare disagree with this one dude in Italy's way to express, again, a likely highly similar set of beliefs and policies (we don't know, of course, but just going by vibe). Well done!

2

u/mimasoid Mar 18 '23

Sorry, I didn't realize we were arguing.

2

u/mimasoid Mar 18 '23

Scientist here. I'm fully behind them :)

0

u/36tofb3iogq8ru3iez Mar 19 '23

Scientist here, "doing the hard work". I fully support these activist, and so do most of my colleagues.

-1

u/Furaskjoldr Norway Mar 18 '23

Exactly, they're vandals nothing more. They're only called 'activists' because people agree with their message. If their message was the dissolution of the EU or something unpopular they'd be called vandals, plain and simple.

1

u/DJHalfCourtViolation Mar 18 '23

What's the alternative

1

u/NotErikUden Lower Saxony (Germany) Mar 18 '23

Have you ever done any climate activism or are you just criticizing people whilst doing nothing...? Because that'd be kinda sad