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
It allowed a group of people tainted by association to stop being tainted by association. It created international news coverage. It highlighted dissatisfaction at one of the leading "politician" schools in the world.
Not a bad trade for a painting that isn't even one of the ones highlighted on the dudes Wikipedia pagee.
That sounds a lot different and more nuanced than weighing the painting against the entire suffering of the Palestinian people.
I don’t particularly care about this painting, and I hope this ends up doing something positive. But I worry that it is dangerous to celebrate violence just because we like the cause.
Literally was my first line. The thing that got my goat was the comments lamenting the painting and saying they were now less sympathetic to Palestinians because a thing they had never heard of or seen before was destroyed in protest of that person's legacy.
I find it very disingenuous to compare vandalism to violence. When a house is burning, what's the advice people give? Leave everything behind: things can be replaced, people can't. This painting is digitised. It's a minor painting. There are dozens of others. Comparing its vandalism to the violence the Palestinian people are facing is what prompted me to say "nothing of value has been lost".