Revenge is a dish best served while ruining dinner.
A radical U.K. environmental group known for staging public disruptions to draw attention to its cause got a taste of its own tactics when pranksters upstaged a banquet with helium balloons designed to make ear-splitting noises.
And the name of the pranksters said it all.
According to the U.K.’s Daily Mail, members of Just Stop Oil held their cheerfully named “Beyond F***ed Banquet” at a venue in London on Sunday to “step back, grieve for what will die and disappear but also to celebrate what we have achieved.”
Of course, what they have achieved, mainly, is angering millions of people who might or might not agree with their absurd ideas about human destruction of the planet but know for damn sure they don’t want to be pointlessly inconvenienced by a group that thinks the height of persuasion is establishing illegal roadblocks, attempting to disrupt the British Open and gluing themselves to or otherwise attacking some of the greatest paintings the West has ever produced.
So, enter the group Stop P***ing Everybody Off.
According to the Daily Mail, it is spearheaded by YouTube hosts Josh Pieters and Archie Manners, U.K. men who sympathize with Just Stop Oil’s environmental concerns but are fed up with the group’s incessantly annoying tactics.
So, Stop P***ing Everyone Off tried an annoying tactic of its own — using a mole embedded with the group to unleash helium balloons equipped with ear-splitting alarms that rose to the ceiling of the stately hall where dinner was being served.
It worked better than any air-headed stunt Just Stop Oil ever tried.
A YouTube video titled “We Stopped Just Stop Oil” tells the whole story in just under 10 minutes, but there are always more succinct scenes on social media (with a good deal less accented English to decipher).
Check it out here:
Just Stop Oil activists get a taste of their own medicine.
Undercover journalists posing as eco-activists disrupted a banquet held for the climate protesters releasing alarms attached to balloons in the banquet hall, situated in a church.
@TalkTV pic.twitter.com/EZNGeiNyW9
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) July 24, 2023
The move had plenty of fans among those familiar with Just Stop Oil’s tactics.
Absolutely beautiful. Genius approach, no historic buildings damaged, but those in attendance can’t ignore it.
— Paul Leavitt (@legitleavitt) July 24, 2023
Next one should be sitting on the road in front of their vehicles as they try to get there on time.
— Raegan Hill (@RaeganHill) July 24, 2023
Would have been better if the balloons had exploded and a bunch of their own awful paint powder would have coated them all. JS
— Kari ♀️🚴♀️💚🤍💜🇲🇽🇺🇲🇩🇪 (@d_kscullyX) July 24, 2023
Somewhat to its credit, Just Stop Oil appeared to take the development in stride, perhaps an amateur acknowledging true artistry.
The group published a post to social media on Monday with a tip of the activist hat.
“We thoroughly enjoyed Josh & Archie’s prank yesterday,” it said. “Great action design — nonviolent and ever so slightly disruptive. Their faith in democracy is touching, but the climate crisis needs urgent action today — we simply don’t have time to wait for a new government.”
We thoroughly enjoyed Josh & Archie’s prank yesterday. Great action design — nonviolent and ever so slightly disruptive.
Their faith in democracy is touching, but the climate crisis needs urgent action today — we simply don’t have time to wait for a new government.
Nonetheless,… https://t.co/rVorjinwCH
— Just Stop Oil (@JustStop_Oil) July 24, 2023
Even in a note of congratulations, the group can’t keep its hysteria at bay. It must be exhausting to live like that.
If there’s a downside to Sunday’s dinner sabotage, it was that the saboteurs themselves have bought into the fear.
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“Climate Change is the greatest crisis facing our generation,” Manners told the Daily Mail, “but if we’re going to solve it we need to work together.”
Right. The United States has its problems, for sure — and its annoying climate protesters and its astonishing ignorance. But it doesn’t have the inherent inferiority complex of the current and future generations of Britons, who will go on forever knowing that their country’s “finest hour” has long since passed.
Citizens of the nation that marshaled heroically to the sound of Winston Churchill’s voice to stand alone in Europe against Nazi Germany between the fall of France and the entrance of the United States into World War II have to content themselves for now chasing a chimera of crisis called “climate change,” and a veneer of glory to pretend they’re the men and women their grandparents and great-grandparents were.
That can’t be easy, either, but at least some of them are keeping a sense of humor.
If Just Stop Oil would just get one, it could Stop P***ing Everybody Off.
