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James Acaster does a great job highlighting the absurdity of the British refusing to repatriate stuff taken from the empire. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7

• jfabre 4y ago
  It's only absurd if you think that countries ought to behave like people in a society. All the laws and rules of societies serve one purpose, to keep themselves stable. The abstraction of Justice doesn't apply outside of society, unfortunately.
  • abeppu 4y ago
    Let's not mistake laws for ethics. At bottom, there are people. A group of them will sometimes call themselves a government. The ethical understanding of the actions undertaken by people ("ought to behave") doesn't need to change based on whether they claim to be a government or not, or claim to be operating within the law. Trail of Tears? Japanese American internment? Abu Ghraib? Guantanamo Bay detention camp? The fact that these were actions of a country does not stop us from saying that they were wrong, and yes, absurd given the self-righteous pomposity of my and other western governments who pretend to be special defenders of liberty.
  • kelseyfrog 4y ago
    The actions countries take are beyond ethics? How exactly does a country take an action?
• smcl 4y ago
  Brit (well Scot) here. Can only say: yes and it's insane
• concordDance 4y ago
  The idea of talking about the ridiculous modern abstraction of the state and claiming it has moral relevance is far more absurd.