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(Guardian)   John Oliver: The British Museum is "basically the world's largest lost and found, with both 'lost' and 'found' in the heaviest possible quotation marks"   (theguardian.com) divider line
64
    More: Obvious, British Museum, Hans Sloane, western museums, J ohn Oliver, Museum, present antiquities market, Natural History Museum, American museums  
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940 clicks; posted to Politics » on 03 Oct 2022 at 5:00 PM (24 weeks ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



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JessieL [TotalFark]
2022-10-03 2:50:14 PM  
In this thread I predict lots of colonialist apologists explaining that they're only protecting these artifacts from all the violent political instability they caused.
 
whidbey
2022-10-03 2:55:32 PM  

JessieL: In this thread I predict lots of colonialist apologists explaining that they're only protecting these artifacts from all the violent political instability they caused.


And John Oliver haters in general...
 
I Ate Shergar [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2022-10-03 3:07:32 PM  
Oblig:
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
I Ate Shergar [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2022-10-03 3:08:11 PM  
And:
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
I Ate Shergar [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2022-10-03 3:08:41 PM  
Also:
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
little big man [TotalFark]
2022-10-03 3:10:26 PM  
Counterpoint:

Egypt: Hundreds of priceless artefacts destroyed in museum looting
Youtube 1i-38AWATok
 
oldfarthenry [TotalFark]
2022-10-03 3:34:13 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size

'I'll 'ave you know it was detriments like us who committed those acts of genocide
so you posh upper-crusters could nick those antiquities!'

Next century:
Oh, dear. Maybe the chaps at the BBC can spin this in a more positive light?
Fark user imageView Full Size

'Today on "Looting for Brit-'

'CUT!! "Digging", Alice! Bloody hell.'
 
raerae1980 [TotalFark]
2022-10-03 4:11:50 PM  
*keeps head down...maybe no one will notice....*

/tiptoes out of thread
 
IRestoreFurniture
2022-10-03 5:06:10 PM  
The V&A museum is still pretty cool.
 
kidgenius
2022-10-03 5:10:42 PM  
Stuff The British Stole is an interesting podcast created by the Australian Broadcast Company and goes over the history of a lot of these items and the fight to get them back
 
stamped human bacon
2022-10-03 5:14:10 PM  
I liked the pictures he showed labeled 'loot' and 'more loot'. Not much doubt of intention there.
 
gilgigamesh
2022-10-03 5:15:37 PM  
The explanation in the British Museum for why the Parthenon friezes are better off where they are than where they were stolen from is pretty infuriating.  Condescending, arrogant, and oh-so-typically British paternalism about maintaining those and similar world treasures in one place where they can be viewed in context; with similarly typical British obtuseness over the point they come so close to getting but miss by *that much.*

Meanwhile, Greece built a brand new state of the art Acropolis museum specifically for the purpose of accommodating the friezes, should the Brits ever decide to get over themselves and return the stolen property.  I went by it, but I couldn't bring myself to go in.  It just struck me as a sad memorial to something that will never farking happen.

England, don't get me wrong.  I love you guys; love your country.  You have enough of your own fantastic culture and history that you don't need to hold on to those of other people against their will.
 
Porous Horace
2022-10-03 5:15:40 PM  
The Brits should be proud of their conquering past, not cowed into shame.
 
gilgigamesh
2022-10-03 5:17:18 PM  

stamped human bacon: I liked the pictures he showed labeled 'loot' and 'more loot'. Not much doubt of intention there.


i.kym-cdn.comView Full Size
 
rikrok
2022-10-03 5:17:54 PM  
James Acaster On The Absurdity Of The British Empire
Youtube x73PkUvArJY
 
thealgorerhythm
2022-10-03 5:18:01 PM  

Porous Horace: The Brits should be proud of their conquering past, not cowed into shame.


I mean they're just wankers. We on the other hand were colonized by wankers.
 
thealgorerhythm
2022-10-03 5:18:47 PM  

kidgenius: Stuff The British Stole is an interesting podcast created by the Australian Broadcast Company and goes over the history of a lot of these items and the fight to get them back


Is there a Falklands episode?
 
Target Builder
2022-10-03 5:19:03 PM  

kidgenius: Stuff The British Stole is an interesting podcast created by the Australian Broadcast Company and goes over the history of a lot of these items and the fight to get them back


Item 1: "Australia"
 
Smelly Pirate Hooker
2022-10-03 5:19:15 PM  
Per the headline, it's not just the British, submitter.
 
Snapper Carr
2022-10-03 5:25:39 PM  

Smelly Pirate Hooker: Per the headline, it's not just the British, submitter.


Fark user imageView Full Size
 
Senseless_drivel
2022-10-03 5:29:50 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size
from Imgflip Meme Generator
 
HugeMistake [TotalFark]
2022-10-03 5:33:08 PM  
The British Museum, or as my son SmallMistake calls it, "an active crime scene".

Q: Why are the pyramids in Egypt?
A: They wouldn't fit in the British Museum
 
mathamagical [OhFark]
2022-10-03 5:34:41 PM  
Pretty much everything the British nicked is absolutely in better, more secure, and more careful hands than it otherwise would be. This is generally self evident in that the silly bastards lost all this stuff in the first place and if the Brits hadn't got there first it would have gone to Paris, or Germany or Rome etc.

Now is that a good justification? Perhaps not, should my neighbor steal my tv on the basis that he has a better sound bar and a guard dog?

Should these items be repatriated, in many cases to governments who have no more legitimate claim to them than the British themselves? Maybe.

Would I be eager to return them if I had em in my living room? Well you'd probably have to come up with a compelling offer or else I might assume you weren't really that serious about having them. Or you could break in and Nick them back, turnaround is fair play too.

Anyway if you don't like your stuff being taken try winning some wars. Losers whine about their priceless cultural treasures, winners go home and fark... Up their entire economy by making idiotic knee jerk decisions... At the rate things are going in old blighty Greece may well have an opportunity to pick the marbles back up at auction soon if they start saving their pennies.
 
Magnanimous_J
2022-10-03 5:38:01 PM  
I think the best we can hope for is to end the practice going forward. In a lot of these cases, the nations/governments that the artifacts were taken from don't even exist anymore.

Just figuring out who to give them back to could be virtually impossible. Plus, you know, statute of limitations and all.
 
Bith Set Me Up
2022-10-03 5:39:37 PM  

Senseless_drivel: [Fark user image 606x412]from Imgflip Meme Generator


"Raiders" is the only time where Indy walked away with the artifact, and that was to stop the Nazis from taking it.

Temple Of Doom: Gave the Sankara stones back to the village they belonged to.

Last Crusade: Nobody walked away with the Holy Grail since the Temple was set up to self-destruct to stop anybody from taking it.

Crystal Skull: Returned the skull to the aliens they belonged to.
 
IRestoreFurniture
2022-10-03 5:39:46 PM  

mathamagical: Pretty much everything the British nicked is absolutely in better, more secure, and more careful hands than it otherwise would be. This is generally self evident in that the silly bastards lost all this stuff in the first place and if the Brits hadn't got there first it would have gone to Paris, or Germany or Rome etc.

Now is that a good justification? Perhaps not, should my neighbor steal my tv on the basis that he has a better sound bar and a guard dog?

Should these items be repatriated, in many cases to governments who have no more legitimate claim to them than the British themselves? Maybe.

Would I be eager to return them if I had em in my living room? Well you'd probably have to come up with a compelling offer or else I might assume you weren't really that serious about having them. Or you could break in and Nick them back, turnaround is fair play too.

Anyway if you don't like your stuff being taken try winning some wars. Losers whine about their priceless cultural treasures, winners go home and fark... Up their entire economy by making idiotic knee jerk decisions... At the rate things are going in old blighty Greece may well have an opportunity to pick the marbles back up at auction soon if they start saving their pennies.


I found lois' father's alt!
 
emtwo
2022-10-03 5:40:56 PM  

little big man: Counterpoint:

[YouTube video: Egypt: Hundreds of priceless artefacts destroyed in museum looting]


How is that a counterpoint?

Look, you should really be thanking me for robbing that bank. If I hadn't, somebody else would have robbed it and I wouldn't be able to protect your money forever.
 
Iczer
2022-10-03 5:42:39 PM  
Have to admit I started wondering about 2/3rds of the way through the episode how feasible it would be for Africa to steal the Eiffel Tower and claim that nobody seemed to raise a stink about it while they were doing it.

On the plus side, I don't think the Museum of Flight has to worry too much about this stuff. It's a wee bit difficult to steal a whole airplane.

/Wandering around inside Kennedy's Air Force 1 was pretty cool
 
JessieL [TotalFark]
2022-10-03 5:44:07 PM  

Bith Set Me Up: Senseless_drivel: [Fark user image 606x412]from Imgflip Meme Generator

"Raiders" is the only time where Indy walked away with the artifact, and that was to stop the Nazis from taking it.

Temple Of Doom: Gave the Sankara stones back to the village they belonged to.

Last Crusade: Nobody walked away with the Holy Grail since the Temple was set up to self-destruct to stop anybody from taking it.

Crystal Skull: Returned the skull to the aliens they belonged to.


You forgot the Cross of Coronado from Last Crusade. Indy finally got it back from Panama Hat and donated it to Marcus Brody's museum.
 
Smelly Pirate Hooker
2022-10-03 5:44:23 PM  

Snapper Carr: Smelly Pirate Hooker: Per the headline, it's not just the British, submitter.

[Fark user image 304x166]


Among others, yeah.

The west, including us, has been looting the rest of the world for a very long time.
 
HugeMistake [TotalFark]
2022-10-03 5:44:27 PM  

Bith Set Me Up: Last Crusade: Nobody walked away with the Holy Grail since the Temple was set up to self-destruct to stop anybody from taking it.


So... what was the point of preserving the Grail for all that time, and making Prester John (?) live for hundreds of years in a cave? Just like in Temple of Doom, nothing that Indiana did made any difference in the end.
 
gilgigamesh
2022-10-03 5:46:21 PM  

mathamagical: Pretty much everything the British nicked is absolutely in better, more secure, and more careful hands than it otherwise would be. This is generally self evident in that the silly bastards lost all this stuff in the first place and if the Brits hadn't got there first it would have gone to Paris, or Germany or Rome etc.

Now is that a good justification? Perhaps not, should my neighbor steal my tv on the basis that he has a better sound bar and a guard dog?

Should these items be repatriated, in many cases to governments who have no more legitimate claim to them than the British themselves? Maybe.

Would I be eager to return them if I had em in my living room? Well you'd probably have to come up with a compelling offer or else I might assume you weren't really that serious about having them. Or you could break in and Nick them back, turnaround is fair play too.

Anyway if you don't like your stuff being taken try winning some wars. Losers whine about their priceless cultural treasures, winners go home and fark... Up their entire economy by making idiotic knee jerk decisions... At the rate things are going in old blighty Greece may well have an opportunity to pick the marbles back up at auction soon if they start saving their pennies.


No, that's too shiatty.
 
Senseless_drivel
2022-10-03 5:52:25 PM  

Bith Set Me Up: Senseless_drivel: [Fark user image 606x412]from Imgflip Meme Generator

"Raiders" is the only time where Indy walked away with the artifact, and that was to stop the Nazis from taking it.

Temple Of Doom: Gave the Sankara stones back to the village they belonged to.

Last Crusade: Nobody walked away with the Holy Grail since the Temple was set up to self-destruct to stop anybody from taking it.

Crystal Skull: Returned the skull to the aliens they belonged to.


Fark user imageView Full Size
 
Senseless_drivel
2022-10-03 5:54:15 PM  

JessieL: Bith Set Me Up: Senseless_drivel: [Fark user image 606x412]from Imgflip Meme Generator

"Raiders" is the only time where Indy walked away with the artifact, and that was to stop the Nazis from taking it.

Temple Of Doom: Gave the Sankara stones back to the village they belonged to.

Last Crusade: Nobody walked away with the Holy Grail since the Temple was set up to self-destruct to stop anybody from taking it.

Crystal Skull: Returned the skull to the aliens they belonged to.

You forgot the Cross of Coronado from Last Crusade. Indy finally got it back from Panama Hat and donated it to Marcus Brody's museum.


There is at least one other case where Brody congratulates Jones for bringing some other crap back at the beginning.
 
darkman2000
2022-10-03 5:56:56 PM  
The British Museum: the evidence locker of Imperialism
 
little big man [TotalFark]
2022-10-03 5:58:15 PM  

emtwo: little big man: Counterpoint:

[YouTube video: Egypt: Hundreds of priceless artefacts destroyed in museum looting]

How is that a counterpoint?

Look, you should really be thanking me for robbing that bank. If I hadn't, somebody else would have robbed it and I wouldn't be able to protect your money forever.


The counterpoint is that artifacts in the British Museum are preserved, are available for the world to study and enjoy, and can be repatriated in the future if the circumstances arise to do so.  If the U.S. ever had a period of severe civil strife, I'd rather have our artifacts preserved elsewhere instead of being destroyed.  YMMV.
 
kidgenius
2022-10-03 5:58:23 PM  

Bith Set Me Up: Senseless_drivel: [Fark user image 606x412]from Imgflip Meme Generator

"Raiders" is the only time where Indy walked away with the artifact, and that was to stop the Nazis from taking it.

Temple Of Doom: Gave the Sankara stones back to the village they belonged to.

Last Crusade: Nobody walked away with the Holy Grail since the Temple was set up to self-destruct to stop anybody from taking it.

Crystal Skull: Returned the skull to the aliens they belonged to.


Last crusade and raiders he was still attempting to steal the artifacts to put into a museum.
 
Inebriated Bolshevik Muppet
2022-10-03 6:03:14 PM  

raerae1980: *keeps head down...maybe no one will notice....*

/tiptoes out of thread


We know you aren't a Britton.
.
 
KB202
2022-10-03 6:08:15 PM  
Excellent. Now I don't have to look like a barbarian when I don't go to museums because they are boring - I can say I'm taking a stand against stolen antiquities!
 
JessieL [TotalFark]
2022-10-03 6:09:16 PM  

little big man: emtwo: little big man: Counterpoint:

[YouTube video: Egypt: Hundreds of priceless artefacts destroyed in museum looting]

How is that a counterpoint?

Look, you should really be thanking me for robbing that bank. If I hadn't, somebody else would have robbed it and I wouldn't be able to protect your money forever.

The counterpoint is that artifacts in the British Museum are preserved, are available for the world to study and enjoy, and can be repatriated in the future if the circumstances arise to do so.  If the U.S. ever had a period of severe civil strife, I'd rather have our artifacts preserved elsewhere instead of being destroyed.  YMMV.


You seem to be missing just who caused all that civil strife that happened right at the same time the Brits showed up.

You don't get credit for saving someone's family photos after you burn down their house.
 
Bith Set Me Up
2022-10-03 6:09:17 PM  

JessieL: Bith Set Me Up: Senseless_drivel: [Fark user image 606x412]from Imgflip Meme Generator

"Raiders" is the only time where Indy walked away with the artifact, and that was to stop the Nazis from taking it.

Temple Of Doom: Gave the Sankara stones back to the village they belonged to.

Last Crusade: Nobody walked away with the Holy Grail since the Temple was set up to self-destruct to stop anybody from taking it.

Crystal Skull: Returned the skull to the aliens they belonged to.

You forgot the Cross of Coronado from Last Crusade. Indy finally got it back from Panama Hat and donated it to Marcus Brody's museum.


All the same, it'll be interesting how the next Indy movie will address this topic.
 
houstondragon
2022-10-03 6:14:08 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
dywed88
2022-10-03 6:14:11 PM  

HugeMistake: Bith Set Me Up: Last Crusade: Nobody walked away with the Holy Grail since the Temple was set up to self-destruct to stop anybody from taking it.

So... what was the point of preserving the Grail for all that time, and making Prester John (?) live for hundreds of years in a cave? Just like in Temple of Doom, nothing that Indiana did made any difference in the end.


What was the point? So the movie could happen.

More specifically, the temple was destroyed because the Nazi lady tries to escape with the Grail. If they had just left the grail there it would have been fine and they could have returned later.

In Temple of Doom he rescued many enslaved children, saved the local area by returning the stone, and destroyed the evil cult. That is hardly nothing.

Though, yes, for The Last Crusade he could have quit at any time with no change to the results. The Nazis would have either all tied trying wrong cups or destroyed everything trying to escape with it. Heck, you could say Indy made things worse by being there, the temple may well have survived if the Nazis had to keep guessing until they were all dead.
 
mofa [TotalFark]
2022-10-03 6:14:27 PM  
I was an Anglophile for over half a century. Then I visited the British Museum. It was great for the first half hour, but by the end of the day I was pretty disgusted. So I spent the next ten days in Scotland and salvaged the whole thing.

That vacation had been "London with options." The next UK visit will be "Scotland with options."
 
little big man [TotalFark]
2022-10-03 6:16:18 PM  

JessieL: little big man: emtwo: little big man: Counterpoint:

[YouTube video: Egypt: Hundreds of priceless artefacts destroyed in museum looting]

How is that a counterpoint?

Look, you should really be thanking me for robbing that bank. If I hadn't, somebody else would have robbed it and I wouldn't be able to protect your money forever.

The counterpoint is that artifacts in the British Museum are preserved, are available for the world to study and enjoy, and can be repatriated in the future if the circumstances arise to do so.  If the U.S. ever had a period of severe civil strife, I'd rather have our artifacts preserved elsewhere instead of being destroyed.  YMMV.

You seem to be missing just who caused all that civil strife that happened right at the same time the Brits showed up.

You don't get credit for saving someone's family photos after you burn down their house.


I'm not interested in the credit or the blame; I'm just focusing on the outcome.  A thousand years from now when the world map is scattered with new countries, I hope someone manages to preserve humanity's artifacts one way or another - perhaps it will be a deliberately good way of pulling that off, but if it isn't, you look on the bright side.
 
raerae1980 [TotalFark]
2022-10-03 6:19:56 PM  

Inebriated Bolshevik Muppet: raerae1980: *keeps head down...maybe no one will notice....*

/tiptoes out of thread

We know you aren't a Britton.
.


Heh!

<_<
>_>


We recenty returned some looted objects back to Italy this year, so I'm getting a kick...
 
JessieL [TotalFark]
2022-10-03 6:20:05 PM  

little big man: JessieL: little big man: emtwo: little big man: Counterpoint:

[YouTube video: Egypt: Hundreds of priceless artefacts destroyed in museum looting]

How is that a counterpoint?

Look, you should really be thanking me for robbing that bank. If I hadn't, somebody else would have robbed it and I wouldn't be able to protect your money forever.

The counterpoint is that artifacts in the British Museum are preserved, are available for the world to study and enjoy, and can be repatriated in the future if the circumstances arise to do so.  If the U.S. ever had a period of severe civil strife, I'd rather have our artifacts preserved elsewhere instead of being destroyed.  YMMV.

You seem to be missing just who caused all that civil strife that happened right at the same time the Brits showed up.

You don't get credit for saving someone's family photos after you burn down their house.

I'm not interested in the credit or the blame; I'm just focusing on the outcome.  A thousand years from now when the world map is scattered with new countries, I hope someone manages to preserve humanity's artifacts one way or another - perhaps it will be a deliberately good way of pulling that off, but if it isn't, you look on the bright side.


If you want things to get better - not just for artifacts but for people - you have to abandon the idea that anyone has the right to continue imposing themselves on the world by force. That includes keeping the stuff that was stolen.
 
Inebriated Bolshevik Muppet
2022-10-03 6:26:31 PM  

raerae1980: Inebriated Bolshevik Muppet: raerae1980: *keeps head down...maybe no one will notice....*

/tiptoes out of thread

We know you aren't a Britton.
.

Heh!

<_<
>_>


We recenty returned some looted objects back to Italy this year, so I'm getting a kick...


Still love you here raerae,

Still know you're not a brit.
 
lilplatinum
2022-10-03 6:46:12 PM  

JessieL: Bith Set Me Up: Senseless_drivel: [Fark user image 606x412]from Imgflip Meme Generator

"Raiders" is the only time where Indy walked away with the artifact, and that was to stop the Nazis from taking it.

Temple Of Doom: Gave the Sankara stones back to the village they belonged to.

Last Crusade: Nobody walked away with the Holy Grail since the Temple was set up to self-destruct to stop anybody from taking it.

Crystal Skull: Returned the skull to the aliens they belonged to.

You forgot the Cross of Coronado from Last Crusade. Indy finally got it back from Panama Hat and donated it to Marcus Brody's museum.


He didn't steal it, it was in a grave, that's fair game.
 
Znuh [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2022-10-03 6:49:44 PM  
scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.netView Full Size
 
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