The Elgin marbles are safe in the British Museum. Would they have been safe, left where they were found, for 100 years?
Being PC about antiquities is intellectually interesting. But practically, it means many antiquities will be broken up, lost or hidden.
Your logic is absurd. Should a rich and stable nation steal all things of historical value from a poorer nation, in the name of history preservation?
> The Elgin marbles are safe in the British Museum. Would they have been safe, left where they were found, for 100 years?
It frankly doesn't matter. It was the right of the native people to decide what to do with them.
None of that argument actually addresses the safety of the artifacts, which is my single point I'm making here.
Argue all we like about what 'should' be. The reality is, they were lost once and could be lost again. All in support of the 'native people', who in these cases would include hungry looters.
One is 'better' than the other, only from a comfortable armchair far from the turmoil.
Do you want to share the natural resources of your own nation with others for free? If not, how on earth is it OK to snatch that of others from them, just because they fit your historical curiosity? This is basically saying we are superior people, and we need to keep things away from the hand of barbarians.
No. But two wrongs don't make a right.
> a methodical effort of record-keeping and analysis is wrong, simply because of the thieves nationality?
When the thieves illegally steal a nation's artifacts and illegally sell them to a private buyer? Yes.
> One is 'better' than the other, only from a comfortable armchair far from the turmoil.
... he said, from a comfortable armchair far from the turmoil.
you paint an unfair picture.
you fail to mention that, in the case of this argument at least, preserving the artifact by means of foreign intervention may very well result in the starvation of the would-be local thieves.
many would argue that the loss of any human life is greater than the loss of all the world's artifacts.
It isn't really that unfounded a concept.
A well studied and documented artifact has only a specific amount of practical importance, aside from some sort of cultural significance. A human life has an unknown future, be it good or evil -- and unlimited (human) possibility if given the opportunities.
It's a fairly simple value proposition when simplified unreasonably this way : "Do you let another human die for the sake of storing an already studied artifact in a location where the object is safer?"
It is obvious that the people who think otherwise employ double moral standards and would never agree to the theft of their country's cultural heritage under similar conditions.
The Iraqi dictatorship was not stable at all. There were constant purges, murders, by Saddam Hussein's regime. That occurred the entire time Saddam was in power. Please explain how that's a stable situation.
The fact that Saddam had to constantly murder members of his own government, demonstrates beyond doubt that it was not stable at all. The routine execution of members of the Iraqi Government was required due to the extreme instability that such an oppressive minority dictatorship prompts.
And off course, stability is relative. Compared to the current state of affairs, Iraqi government 20 years back was far more stable.
But I think I'm with Danny Hillis, anything buried and forgotten is safer than anything in a museum.
There's a safe, climate controlled, stable spot waiting for them in Athens now. They would not be left in the elements to be ruined if Britain were to choose to return them.
Come on! The Nazis systematically plundered art treasures across Europe. After the war much of that was lost. There is not really much doubt on this.
I really wish you would do some research before spouting off with ill-informed opinions. The Nazis and Italians conquered Greece during WW2, they didn't take Acropolis marbles.
Anyway, Elgin 'rescued' the marbles after a period of particularly egregious destruction of Greek history. Much was lost, blown up or deliberately demolished. If the Greeks didn't give a damn, why should Elgin be blamed for caring?