Why are there pyramids in egypt?
Because they were too big for the british museum.
-Why there are pyramids in Egypt?
-Because Brits couldn't moved them to British Museum.
To be fair. Most of the pyramids were raided far before the British took an interest and whatever they held has now been lost to time.
Eh, I meant the whole pyramids but fair enough.
Imagine doing a Gate of Ishtar maneuver but with the pyramids
It's not quite the same thing (particularly because of the motivation), but, uhh…I suggest you read about Abu Simbel, if you haven't already.
Laughs in British
Gonna play a game of comment roulette. How far do I have to scroll before I see someone say something like, "That can't be in their museum because they can't be trusted with it".
Spinning the chamber now.
Edit: turns out I wasn't prepared for what I saw. Now I sad.
on the other hand how often things go missing in the British museum?
if you want to compare Indiana Jones to real life, the movies say flat out that he is an unscrupulous grave robber and he is completely aware of the hypocrisy. its part of his character arc, where he's all about fortune and glory and doesnt believe in any of the mystical crap, until he is confronted with powers he didn't understand and fights to stop others from exploiting them. and at the end of the day it was a movie
i need someone to convince me why it is wrong to steal from the British museum gift shop
What's the opinion on certain high risk countries where there's a high likelihood of the artifacts simply being destroyed? If I remember correctly ISIS and other similar organizations have burned or bombed several historical sites before.
Museums should participate in cultural exchange, if a museum feels under threat then they have channels they can trust to protect their artifacts until they can be returned
if a museum feels under threat
If you run a museum in Afghanistan and are afraid that the Taliban is going to execute you unless you destroy some blasphemous statue, are you going to risk your life to send the artifact to the British Museum, or are you just going to destroy it? Yeah, some heroes will definitely risk their lives, but most won't.
If you're suggesting a daring heist at the Smithsonian, I'm in!
better a museum than on a shelf in someone's living room (no I won't be donating it)
They are my human skulls I found them fair and square
This is why I always donate my finished books to my local library. I don't need them and, if I want to read them again, I can always just go check it out from the library.
Honestly, "country of origin" will have straight lines drawn on a map that are so far removed from where the people who lived there originally considered their borders even that's probably not pinning it down well enough.
Countries and borders are an arbitrary concept created during the peace treaty of Westphalia.
Those relics belong to dead people.
Attributing modern concepts of borders to Westphalia is a Eurocentric worldview. What, you don't think they had the concept of statehood and sovereignty in Asia for at least a few thousand years prior to this?
I think I get the gist of what you're saying but they're very much not arbitrary. They're a direct manifestation of a state's ability to exert control.
We agree entirely.
Without the ability to exert control and therefore reinforce the definition, borders are as arbitrary as any other law. They are created by people, enforced by people, and if we change our mind then they can go away. It's not some intrinsic property of the planet.
While I'm ranting, the definition of a relic or artifact is equally arbitrary. As well as the definition of a people. And ownership. At any point in history, these definitions will be different. Right now we've defined it in such a way that we've decided that it is socially acceptable to return relics to people who live inside geographic areas where the relics originated from. This is also arbitrary.
But as long as people, decide to exert force to reinforce this definitions, there is true as any other law.
Hot take: all artifacts should be located in the most geopolitically stable area possible
Hotter take: un peacekeepers should protect world heritage sites with weapons-free orders
Those relics belong to dead people.
No, it belongs to a community. Does something stop belonging to a people if the original creators die? No.
That way nobody owns any land, because it belongs to the amoeba.
Returning the artifacts is meant to be a good will gesture, and a sort of a reparation (in lieu of the actual reparations) for all the horrible colonial era crimes that were propagated not more than even 100 years ago.
Countries and borders are an arbitrary concept
Very Lemmy comment haha
When I was in grad school, the philosophy of science students would egg me on with things like: "I'll buy you a beer if you can prove the electron is real". I'd like to think I'm carrying on their tradition in science memes.
Countries and borders are an arbitrary concept created during the peace treaty of Westphalia.
Stealing this foolproof argument for when I next apply for a UK visa to go to British Museum. Thanks!
Well I'm British so... fuuuck that!
Gotta love how the first movie opens with him stealing an idol from an uncontacted Peruvian tribe, and the heroic music swells as he narrowly escapes with spears flying around them.
Granted, this takes place in 1936 and his actions were the norm for the period, but despite coming out in 1981 the movie plays this scene out rather uncritically.
He narrowly escapes with his life after having the idol stolen from him by his rival, Belloq, who works for the Nazis and actually hired that Peruvian tribe to be his little private army. Belloq then orders the Peruvians to attack Jones and he barely escapes on his hired plane.
Temple of Doom had way more questionable scenes in it with the banquet, the heroic British soldiers at the end and... Short Round. Did they really have to name him that?
Although the cultists were based on a real group and I actually saw something that looked like the heart thing in an Indian movie, so maybe that's based on something real as well.
Yeah, but if the tribe made those traps that still work perfectly after hundreds of years, imagine how advanced they must be by now. Dr Jones was probably within miles of a hidden techno utopia and never had a clue.
The museum could pay rent per item to the country the artifacts originate from? Bad idea?
scandalized stare
edit *innocent stare I meant
Britannia Jones and the stolen museum artifacts.
Many ethnic minorities complain that their cultural heritage is exhibitioned in the capital far away. Countries are a social construct
So it's better to keep it somewhere thousands of kilometres away where they'll never be able to see it as compared to being able to see it albeit with difficulty?
That's an internal problem for them to solve, not an excuse to hoard someone else's culture.
Karen Allen, the perfect example of aging naturally and radiating beauty.
Forgot the zoom on the bottom panels.
was just absolutely captivating