3 ms·

oh man, idk if you've ever been to the metropolitan museum of art in NYC, but they have dozens, maybe even hundreds, of dead bodies that were removed from their

oh man, idk if you've ever been to the metropolitan museum of art in NYC, but they have dozens, maybe even hundreds, of dead bodies that were removed from their burial sites without consulting any next-of-kin (not that you'd be able to figure out who that is) on display in glass cases. But apparently its alright since nobody's left to argue on behalf of whatever pagan religion or cult they participated in.

bluGill 2y ago
There is a museum near me with an Egyptian mummy on display and notes that the Egyptian government now wants it back even though it was legally bought from Egypt 100+ years ago. Last I heard it wasn't going back, but I suspect just a matter of time.
- mschuster91 2y ago
  > even though it was legally bought from Egypt 100+ years ago One might ask - particularly in a colonial history case - if that "legal purchase" was made under fair conditions and not by exerting undue pressure, as it often happened.
  - ahmeneeroe-v2 2y ago
    Cultivating unfair conditions and exerting pressure is just good negotiation. The modern Egyptian government doesn't actually want mummies back, they just want to get paid again. They are going to use various means at their disposal to get paid once more. Which is "fair" in the All's fair in love and war sense. Edit: Egypt just wants to pivot a subscription model: https://tutankhamunexpo.com https://tutankhamunexpo.com
    - mschuster91 2y ago
      > Cultivating unfair conditions and exerting pressure is just good negotiation. I heavily disagree. Bullying may work in a short term but in the mid to long term it can have disastrous consequences - we're seeing this play out right now with the US government and all its major allies looking for a way out and divesting from the US. Decades worth of "soft power" building effort and hundreds of thousands of lives lost in various wars (WW2 alone >400k!), for nothing, all gone in the space of a few months.
shadowgovt 2y ago
An interesting counter-example is the Museum of Us in Balboa Park, San Diego. They have on display a Mexican mummy (if memory serves, naturally dessicated by a desert burial) that was smuggled across the border from Mexico to the US. At some point, the museum got in touch with Mexican authorities and agreed to repatriation. However, the museum they've worked with in Mexico doesn't really have use for the exhibit, so it's on indefinite loan to the Museum of Us with full understanding that this is a generous privilege provided by the museum in Mexico and the people of the nation. ... All in all, a quite excellent win-win negotiation to mutually-agreeable conclusion, it seems.
- WalterBright 2y ago
  In the Ye Olde Curiosity Shop in Seattle, there's a mummy of a cowboy on display that was found in the desert. He died of a gunshot wound. Nobody knows who he was.

bluGill 2y ago

There is a museum near me with an Egyptian mummy on display and notes that the Egyptian government now wants it back even though it was legally bought from Egypt 100+ years ago. Last I heard it wasn't going back, but I suspect just a matter of time.

mschuster91 2y ago
> even though it was legally bought from Egypt 100+ years ago One might ask - particularly in a colonial history case - if that "legal purchase" was made under fair conditions and not by exerting undue pressure, as it often happened.
- ahmeneeroe-v2 2y ago
  Cultivating unfair conditions and exerting pressure is just good negotiation. The modern Egyptian government doesn't actually want mummies back, they just want to get paid again. They are going to use various means at their disposal to get paid once more. Which is "fair" in the All's fair in love and war sense. Edit: Egypt just wants to pivot a subscription model: https://tutankhamunexpo.com https://tutankhamunexpo.com
  - mschuster91 2y ago
    > Cultivating unfair conditions and exerting pressure is just good negotiation. I heavily disagree. Bullying may work in a short term but in the mid to long term it can have disastrous consequences - we're seeing this play out right now with the US government and all its major allies looking for a way out and divesting from the US. Decades worth of "soft power" building effort and hundreds of thousands of lives lost in various wars (WW2 alone >400k!), for nothing, all gone in the space of a few months.

shadowgovt 2y ago

An interesting counter-example is the Museum of Us in Balboa Park, San Diego. They have on display a Mexican mummy (if memory serves, naturally dessicated by a desert burial) that was smuggled across the border from Mexico to the US. At some point, the museum got in touch with Mexican authorities and agreed to repatriation. However, the museum they've worked with in Mexico doesn't really have use for the exhibit, so it's on indefinite loan to the Museum of Us with full understanding that this is a generous privilege provided by the museum in Mexico and the people of the nation. ... All in all, a quite excellent win-win negotiation to mutually-agreeable conclusion, it seems.

WalterBright 2y ago
In the Ye Olde Curiosity Shop in Seattle, there's a mummy of a cowboy on display that was found in the desert. He died of a gunshot wound. Nobody knows who he was.