An elderly British pair of pensioners smashed the glass containing Magna Carta on Friday at the British Library in London, but luckily, the reinforced box held up, and they were unsuccessful in their attempts to damage it. Only four copies of the seminal document remain in existence. (For those wondering, the over eight hundred-year-old codex can be referred to as simply Magna Carta—Latin for “great charter“—or as the Magna Carta).
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They were doing it in the name of “Just Stop Oil,” an extremist environmental group that has vandalized buildings and multiple works of invaluable art thinking that this will somehow convince humans to magically end our reliance on fossil fuels.
We’ve seen such antics before:
‘Legend’: Fed Up Pedestrian Confronts ‘Just Stop Oil’ Radicals in the Street in Must-Watch Takedown
Clash of the Leftists: Eco-Extremists Disrupt London Pride Parade
Rome’s Iconic Trevi Fountain Latest Victim of Crazed Climate Activists
Even though we’ve seen weirdos like these previously, to my knowledge we haven’t seen ones in their eighties. Instead of vandalizing priceless documents, ladies, shouldn’t you be enjoying your sunset years? But rather than option for a lovely afternoon tea, 82-year-old Rev. Sue Parfitt and 85-year-old retired biology teacher Judy Bruce took a hammer and chisel to the case holding the charter of English liberties first granted by King John in 1215, a precursor to our own American Constitution. Luckily they weren’t strong enough to make much of a dent:
I wonder who the idiot is who stands there taking cellphone footage like this is as regular as fog in London?
“This famous document is about the rule of law and standing up against the abuse our power,” one of the biddies explains to what seems to be a security officer asking her to stand down. “Our government is breaking its own laws,” she added as she sported her “Just Stop Oil” T-shirt.
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Then the second lady, holding a “The government is breaking the law” sign, says: “As a Christian, I’m compelled to do all that I can to alleviate the appalling suffering that’s coming down the line and is here already.” Their voices sound weak and incredibly tired as they issue their uninspiring call to action.
After that, although the results are not depicted in the video below, you can see them pull out the bottle of adhesive that they used to glue their hands together. Because somehow old ladies gluing themselves will “alleviate the suffering.”
The last line of the “Just Stop Oil” tweet concerns me—”Donate to help us take action at airports this summer.” We’re already dealing with worldwide pro-Hamas protests, now we need these eco-freaks showing up at international airports?
The dynamic duo also released a statement echoing the same principles:
“The Magna Carta is rightly revered, being of great importance to our history, to our freedoms and to our laws,” Parfitt said. “But there will be no freedom, no lawfulness, no rights, if we allow climate breakdown to become the catastrophe that is now threatened.”
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They demanded an emergency plan for the world to just stop using oil by 2030, a virtually impossible dream (unless the human race is wiped out, of course).
According to the London Metropolitan Police, they were arrested.
The episode is the latest in a disturbing trend of similar acts by activists who are convincing nobody of their position; in fact, most normal folks are appalled by these attempts to destroy art and history. Unfortunately, it’s only a matter of time before something truly magnificent is actually destroyed.
This particular instance of lunacy is not just anger-inducing though—it’s also sad. Instead of finding meaning and gratitude for their long lives, and cherishing their loved ones, these two have joined a vandalistic cult that aims at destroying things. Wasn’t there something good on the telly?