American Reacts | JAMES ACASTER | The Absurdity of the British Empire | REACTION
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- King Boomer's Reaction and first time watching James Acaster do stand up comedy where he talks about how absurd the British Empire is. ENJOY!
Original Video: • James Acaster On The A...
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In Scotland, Kelvingrove musuem had a Lakota Warrior Dance shirt, taken during the Wounded Knee Massacre. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe asked for it back. So in 1999 we handed it back. To show gratitude they presented Glasgow with a Replica shirt to put on display. I think this was the correct thing to do.
You should have threatened to send them a kilt, they would've let you keep the shirt.
@@michaelglass1911 🤣🤣
The British Museum has so much storage space, even if we did give back all the contended artefacts, there's still plenty in storage to fill the empty shelves.
It wouldn't exactly be a disaster, plus a lot of the important stuff gets scanned and photographed anyway, so they could display it through the museum web site.
That's how it should be done.
Beautiful and respectful to return culture and heritage back to its rightful place. How lovely for the replica, proper respect.
James is referring to the British Museum, which contains ancient historic artefacts including those from Egypt and Greece. Other museums tend to contain British and/or non-contentious items - including geology, natural history, science, transport etc. Galleries containing artworks invariably are there with permission and shared with other gallereis around the world in special exhibitions.
We are closer related to ancient Egyptians than the people who live there now
@@haileuropa3708 Very close considering the British elite ATE THE EGYPTIAN MUMMIES and that's why there's so few
I can't remember the joke word for word, but Frankie Boyle had one about museums from Mock the Week. "A lot of you will be wondering why there's so many _foreign_ treasures on display here at the British Museum. The answer is quite simple, really: gun beats spear."
I've always enjoyed Eddie Izzards joke about us taking over India with a few muskets and a flag. Absolute genius.
The marbles were taken from Greece to Malta, then a British protectorate, where they remained for a number of years until they were transported to Britain. The excavation and removal was completed in 1812 at a personal cost to Elgin of £74,240 (equivalent to £4,700,000 in 2019 pounds).Turkish soldiers used the marbles for target practice, and the locals burned statues to make lime for the mortar to build their houses. His purchase of the marbles was motivated by the real risk to their survival.
not only that but both the Turks and the Greeks were using the Parthenon as a fortress and ammunition dump and most of it was destroyed by an explosion.
And we have a receipt!
Seems a fair enough deal then that Greece stump up £5m in costs and UK returns them to Greece.
@@jonsouth1545 As was Dover Castle, and no fucker would say it would be appropriate to pick it up and take it to Berlin.
So it was stolen, Just because I pay someone to dig out the relics and ship them back home to my country doesn't mean I owe them.
I applaud his actions of saving them and preserving them, Now hand them back to Greece.
I bet Buddhists wished their ancient giant Buddhas of Bamiyan statues had been safe in England before the Taliban blew them up with rockets in Afghanistan in 2001 for being un-Islamic along with the destruction of many other artworks and ancient artefacts.
I'm sure they do.
And if the Taliban requests to have to be given the Parthenon marbles I FULLY support that you reject that request.
How is that relevant though?
Ok, so in this scenario, we protected it and it’s safe in the museum. They ask for it back. Surely you say “fine, it’s safe now” is that not what you do for countries like Greece
I understand the reasoning why the countries what their artefacts back..but this is a short version of how the British museum saved 90% of these priceless artefacts from the nazis destroying them or selling them to finance their war effort..or ending up in the hands of private collectors and never being seen by the public..
The nazis from the Victorian era...?
Whether we should give things back is a mixed bag. There are clear cut cases like what we took from India, but a lot of what is presumed Britain stole isn't actually the case, we traded for it. And then sometimes there's hypocrisy like the Arabs of Egypt demanding stuff back that they gained by forcing the Byzantines off the land they gained by forcing the Kemet off the land where I have no idea who's entitled to have it back.
"traded for it". Yeah, just like the Vikings "traded" with English farmers....
Obviously there can be cases where the cultural heritage is ambiguous, but if it came from the region that is now Egypt (even if it used to be called Byzantium) then send it there.
If someone in Dublin asked to have something returned from Denmark it wouldn't be bewildered about where to send it even if it has since become an independent nation by throwing out the colonial power...
@@christiansebastianlauritse2404by all actual accounts the Vikingrs weren't as bloodthirsty and violent as we portrayed them.
Many reports of them forcing the women ect. But then more accurate reports and records of a lot of our women choosing to be with them as they were well groomed, strong, and clean. Something that many of us weren't during that time.
As Steve Hughes said “if it wasn’t for looting, the British museum would be a spitfire and a squirrel”.
Love Steve 😂
You've got to remember he's Australian, and therefore his opinion on anything is invalid.
Wedgewood plates! How dare he!
A red squirrel
I know he said it as a joke, but people parody it in arguments, as if it's true.
British history is littered with inventions that changed the world.
Some for the better, some for the worse. Any other statement is ignorant.
The British Museum is probably the greatest museum in the world with the collection it has. It's stuff from literally everywhere with the Rosetta Stone front and centre in the first gallery.
Most brits wouldn't argue too much with giving stuff back but there is a strong argument that a lot of the relics and artefacts would have been destroyed a long time ago if it weren't for western collectors preserving them, even if that did mean taking them back home.
Exactly. Those artifacts are much safer, and more well looked after where they are now, than they would be if we gave them back. They'd just end up in some rich cunt's house, never to be seen by the public again.
I went last month for the first time and it was brilliant but I did feel a sense of shame because as James says, it’s stolen.
We need to keep them safe
Many of these relics had to be dug out from locations where they were perfectly preserved for hundreds or thousands of years. The British were not required to "save" these items any more than the Nazis were needed to "save" valuable artwork they took from the countries they invaded. It was theft on a global scale. Nothing less. And let's not forget the mass murder that often accompanied it.
The argument that stuff would have been destroyed otherwise is pure colonialist 'primitive' narrative. Look I've been a member of the BM for yonks, and love the place but we didnae save anything from anything.... it was just robbed for collections. Its best ot be honest about ALL history, even the uncomfortable parts, the other position is weak and for weak people.
I couldn't put a percentage on it but a lot of artefacts in British museums were taken in order to save them from deliberate destruction by locals or before valuable materials were repurposed for e.g. new buildings or simply before they were allowed to decay to nothing.
Yep, I had read this also. Back in the day, the locals didn't care about their heritage or culture and just wanted to reuse the raw materials, a lot of the original marbles had already been lost, so if it wasn't for the horrible British Empire there would be none left at all.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY has tons of stuff from around the world, perhaps they should send it all back?
It's a very tricky issue, but somehow, it's all Britain's fault, as usual.... The history of the USA hardly covers itself in glory, treatment of native Americans, slavery?
😂 that’s what they tell the Brits at school eh? 🤣
@@Dr_KAP and your point is? Perhaps have a go at making one... is some reasoned detail? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😂
@@paolobacardi 😂 sensitive much? It was a joke Joyce 🤣
@@Dr_KAPDr of what?. Make a sensible point or STFU. I made a point about pots calling the kettle black. NSW? How's the history of Aboriginals going....? oh... just to add in jest...🤣
Koh-I-Noor. The crown jewel of India, it’s a 105 carat diamond that has pride of place in our Majesty’s crown. India would like it back but also Pakistan and Afghanistan say they own it aswel.
It's exactly the same for almost all museums around the world. Egypt wants there stuff back too, not just from the UK, but France the USA and everywhere else
The Arabs living thier have less relation to the ancient Egyptians than we do
In the past most sites were destroyed looking for gold or silver etc.. when the Romans, mongols or any other conquering army went through a place anything seen as valuable was taken to be broken down and turned to coin💰 + the rise of the museum's collecting artifacts came long after over 1000's of years of looting where locals would sell whatever they could find for profit. The limestone outer skin of the pyramids was taken to make cement too, because it was easier than quarrying / mining the stuff. It only today that we like to judge the past by modern views and see the people that collected these artifacts not made of precious materials as evil monsters
@@robertlowe4784 Or, maybe, we'd just like to do better from now on.
Stolen NO , just borrowed on a semi permanent basis . When we have finished with them you can have them back 😎😎😎
Firstly there's museums all over the world with other cultures stuff in them
America has many museums with Egyptian and sumarian artifacts in.
See it like this
Museums preserve things
People like isis and other conquering aggressive attackers or invaders destroy other cultures history.
Look at the 800 year old 100ft high Buddhas in Afghanistan 💥💥
Wiped off the face of the earth with TNT
That's just one example
Hey Kb✌️they are called the Parthenon sculptures or Elgin marbles acquired by Thomas Bruce aka Lord Elgin in 1801 while Greece was under Ottoman rule and not Greek governance, the sultan passed a 'firmen' allowing Elgin to take 247 feet of the marbles in 1801 and essentially when Elgin was skint the British government bought them of him for a commission of £35000. The dispute about the acquisition being done under dubious conditions continues to this day. 👍
I believe Acaster is pronounced as Aycaster, Stressing the A.:) He's brilliant. There is currently a new problem - one of the most famous diamonds in the world , the Kohinoor, is in one of the royal crowns, It was apparently given to someone by some Indian prince or rajah or some such and India would like it back, but the problem is that he got it from someone else, who got it from someone else....etc.... so who should get it back? What will King Charles do? Who can say? James also did another WILTY about sleeping in a bush. Very funny.
I'm English and I love the Greeks but they can jog on
Actually. I think an agreement has been made or a basis of one. for returning the Stones.
A lot of artefacts taken from overseas territories were actually 'saved', researched and preserved for all to enjoy. For example the Rosetta Stone was being used as part of a doorway in Egypt. If the British hadn't 'nicked' it then the decoding of ancient scripts would never have taken place.
It's the British Museum he's talking about in this clip. While most of us these days in Blighty would be OK with artefacts going back to the countries they were taken from (if they promised they would take care of them) - they would almost certainly have been lost/destroyed in the day we took them for the museum.
The British Museum is one of the best experiences in London - not only is it (currently) free but has a VAST amount of cultural exhibits from around the world, as found by travellers from the UK from the Victorian era.
Not only that - if a country wanted an artefact back - these days it could be replicated accurately in 3D and exhibited in the museum as such...
All we have from Greece is some marbles of theirs, apparently. I don't know what all the fuss is about, though, as I often lost marbles to opponents in the school playground - and won some too - and you don't see me going on about them.
Spain want Gibraltar back, we couldn't fit that in a museum lol👍❤🏴
Unless the people of Gilbraltar want that then Spain can go away :p and I’m saying this as someone who really likes Spain
@@pipercharms7374 fully agree , entirely up to the people who live there 👍
We bailed most countries out with billions of pounds. Gave them railways and infrastructure. They couldn't ever pay us back.
We stole 43 trillion from India in exchange for trains and railways that we made them pay for. India was a prosperous and rich country before the British came. Much of Indias problems stem from British rule.
but didn't we get the billions of pounds from the exploitation of most countries
@@simonwinwood try trillions. Those big stately homes, infrastructure and the industrial revolution was all fueled from theft and exploitation
@WatchEuropaTheLastBattle sorry. i meant exploitation.
@@simonwinwood exploited or not. In recent times we have bailed out countries from economic failure and stopped war to desolation. Like, Greece. The UK has been one of, if not, THE biggest charity on the planet.
KB, as a Brit , I hope this sums up the contents of the British Museum:
“The only reason the Sphinx is still in Egypt is because it’s too heavy to carry to the British Museum”
Quite a few (genuine) Egyptian needles adorn cities around the world because the component blocks weren't to heavy to loot.
You mean the Louvre. Napoleon was the one who started all the egyptian looting.
This is one of my favourite stand up sets. It’s so painfully true and I love how he turns it around and makes people think about how they would respond if it was them. The British Museum actually only displays around 1% of their collection, it rises and falls slightly occasionally, because if they’re doing a short run exhibition they may display other items to suit that, but it never rises much above 1.5%. They have around 8 million items and display about 80 thousand. There are also a lot of artefacts from the British isles in their actual collection, but the ones on display are a mix of different cultural artefacts and as some of the biggest ones are from Egypt, Greece, etc they stand out, especially when most of those were gained as a part of colonialism. Yes, some of those items were displayed because they’re bigger and more awe-inspiring, but I’ve always thought that the British Isles themselves have a beautiful intense history and it's a shame that some many items representing that are locked away because they’re maybe not interesting enough when they could teach us so much. As an Archaeologist I love looking through the British Museum collection on the website and seeing all the other things they could display if they just gave those artefact back or maybe came to an agreement where they could replicate it, which is also possible for some artefacts and would allow them to continue teaching people about them without having the actual items, and would probably solve the whole “we still looking at it” excuse, because after all education about other cultures is needed, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of that culture. Also, it should be remembered that not every item from different cultures were gained through colonialism, some were actually donated or are created by people who lived in Britain but have ancestry from different places and so used materials from outside of Britain to reflect their heritage, one that jumps to mind is a collection of clothes they have by Thea Porter who lived in Britain for years but was born in Jerusalem and grew up in Syria and so used fabrics from the Middle East combined with European fabrics to reflect that. But yeah, sometimes the British Museum seriously makes me want to bang my head against a wall.
Definitely his best bit by far.. And so true..
Finders keepers, shut up 😛🤣
If Elgin hadn't rescued those beautiful Marbles they would probably be rubble and dust by now, given how the Parthenon was used as a munitions store under the Ottomans and left to exposure to the elements. The British Museum is a window into the ancient world. I passed it by every day in my youth without a second glance or thought. The old adage is true, youth is wasted on the young. The Marbles are better on display in a museum for those who wish to learn rather than being sold on the black market and hidden away in millionaires mansions or used as garden ornaments on their estates.
Did you know that Lord Elgin actually asked permission for, and paid for, the marbles They weren't stolen at all. Had he not bought them, the marbles would probably, not even exist today as they were already laying around in bits seemly, at that time, disregarded by the Greeks.
He didn’t buy them from Greeks, he bought them from the Ottomans who owned Greece at the time lol. That would be like if the French conquered Britain and we asked France if we could buy Stonehenge and take it back to the USA lol.
That and the Parthenon was being used as a Fortress and Ammunition dump at the time and was almost completely destroyed in an explosion most of what is there now is a reconstruction.
@@KingBoomer Don't confuse him with facts! Of course we should give them back. Last time I was in the British Museum I wanted to ask them why we've still got them there but I was with my son's 10 year old class trip and I thought I'd better not make a scene!
And you don't want to look stupid in front of 10 year olds. 😂
@@KingBoomer Conveniently missing out a huge chunk of history and the story.
The tricky thing is, the population of Egypt for example, are mostly not descended from the ancient Egyptians. So the people wanting it back aren't even related. Many museum artifacts were gifts, on loan, or were preserved in different museums around the world, from countries where the inhabitants were tearing apart their own history to sell to rich Americans anyway, with no respect for it.
Why are there Pyramids in Egypt ? Because there was no more room in the British museum.
This is my brothers favourite comedian. My brother used to work in a restaurant with a hotel. He was running late to work one day and rushed in with his head down. Walked past James on the way out and didn’t see him. The staff told him who he had just missed and he went running out to try and meet him but he was gone, this was at least 4 years ago and he’s still salty
I think "we're still looking at it" 😂
James AyyCaster (pronounciation).
The (Lord) Elgin Marbles are probably one of the most disputed British Acquisitions. The Parthenon was in a dreadful state, terribly neglected and it has to be said that they would have been in much worse condition if they had been left in-situ or would inevitably have been looted by Greeks. It is quite obvious that they should go back to Greece, the British Museum bought them from the thief Elgin, the Greek government should be allowed to buy them back for an RPI adjusted price.
The problem is with a lot of these overseas countries that have been looted of their treasures is that they are corrupt unstable democracies or dictatorships, if items of value are returned to museums they disappear onto the black market and are immediately acquired by wealthy private collectors, never to be seen in public again.
The British Museum in particular is full of things we've looted from around the world.
We (the British) bought the Elgin Marbles from Greece and we have a receipt. They're ours now and we're not finished looking at them.
The current inhabitants of the land we call Greece are just the most recent tenants.
It'd be like you moving into a house and claiming ownership of all the deeds of the previous owners.
Remember there has been no bigger empire than the British Empire. Countries paid tribute and some soId things. It wasn't as if we sent in the SAS to steaI things. I aIways find it funny that no one ever mentions the things Spain, The Dutch or the French have from other countries. I aIso find it hiIarious that a country as brazen as the US, that insists on pIanting a fIag anywhere it goes is trying to give us advice.
Stop talking sense. It's only Britain that ever did wrong, every other country was perfect.
Also if these things wasn't saved especially from Greece they would probably have been destroyed.
Greece didn't exist as a modern country till 1821 and was ruled by the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) from the mid 1600s. Lord Egin "rescued" the marbles, with "permission" from 1801 to 1812 to protect them from being burned to make lime.
We've got part of a German zeppelin in our local museum that was shot down in World War I. So far no one has asked for it back!
That’s an interesting debate there. I went to Greece with an ex girlfriend, we had the same argument. My sadness at the pantheon was the stray dogs just peeing on everything, so my (albeit mostly to wind her up) position was if they can’t look after it properly then we will 😂😂
I saw more cats than dogs lol
If your an ancient Roman or Greek artist that wants to be remembered for ever. Do a sculpture with no arms. London will be all over it.
Listen tho, I'm a massive fan of Greek culture and history and they should defo have the Elgin marbles back coz they built an entire museum for them and they're still in England😂. However, Britain is not subject to any natural disasters, so they're pretty safe here. Whereas plenty of countries, although they belong to them, they could be destroyed...
We have, I believe possibly, the only surviving statue (a bust) of Mussolini, don't think the Italians are fussed much!
If they want their stuff back they can take it from us.
Or alternatively, we can give them their stuff back and the Norwegians can pay massive reparations for their plundering, the Italians can do the same and the various African countries we paid to free their slaves can repay us...Where does it end?
The slaves were slaves because of the European nations enslaving them. Let’s not pretend that Britain had nothing to do with starting the transatlantic slave trade…only freeing them.
@@Cleow33 European nations are far from the only nations to take slaves.
Name 'a people' who never engaged in slavery?
Now. Name the very first nation who tried and (within its sphere of influence at least) succeeded in ending it?
Answer one - None.
Answer two - The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (as it was then).
NB The Portugese/Brazilians took nearly twice the number of West African slaves, I don't hear them mentioned very often in talks of reparations... funny that!
I was going to take issue with the _'Let’s not pretend that Britain had nothing to do with starting the transatlantic slave trade.'_
But you worded it well, Britain did have a part in its 'ramping up' certainly. It engaged in a wholly morally acceptable (at the time) practice and was able to capitalise through ingenuity.
British children were still being sent down mines, into cotton machines, up chimneys and God only knows what else Claire. Are you really going to judge people 300 yrs ago by our current moral standards?
All of which makes it even more incredible (to me at least) that people 200yrs ago decided that slavery is a moral wrong and decided to literally blockade Africa in that pursuit.
TLDR Those who give even the first sign of agreement towards reparations on this subject have an uncontextualised view of history AND are totally blind to moral shifts through time.
@@carlhartwell7978 one: I didn't say that Europeans were the only nations to enslave people. Two: Haiti.
One of the Assyrian statues of the city of Nimrud was given to Britain, and if it hadn't have been taken to London it would be rubble now as ISIS demolished everything that was there.
The Elgin Marbles were bought from the Turks: whether they'd still exist without that is moot - probably should give them back once the Turks pay us
Koh-i-Noor diamond is claimed by 8 countries - it was a gift from the then 'owner'
Moghul Overlord gifted it to Queen Victoria..
The British museum specifically has a lot of stuff that’s not ours. Though no the “no British people go in there” is not true, plenty of us go in there. It’s looked at an important museum for people to visit if you go to London even to us Brits.
Gotta see "DRESSED TO KILL" with Eddie Jazzed explaining history, British empire, HILARIOUS!!!😆😆
steven wright. "i visited all the museums that had the arms and legs that was missing from all the other museums"
I think that stuff stolen should be returned, no question. The thing to rememeber, though, is that some stuff was given/bought, and it's tricky when new generations say that the sale/gift was invalid... Imagine if France asked for the Statue of Liberty back?!
Some discussion like that is going on here in the Netherlands. Indonesia, a former colony of us, wants the Java skull back, it's the oldest humanoid piece of bone in existence. It was found by Eugene Dubois, a Dutch archeologist, in 1891 in Java. The Indonesian government also requested other huge collections to be given back.
Discussion is about if it's "robbed" , because it was acquired by Dubois while in military service, but he spend a lot of time finding and exploring. Without him, it was never acquired...
But you don't know if it would never have been found, because it was taken.
Nobody in the comments seems to be acknowledging the very valid and obvious argument that Britain held a massive empire, that most of the worlds history is also British history. The things in the museum tell a story of the British empire, a very significant period in global history. The reason they're not mentioning this? Virtue signalling. People want to be the ones to say let's do the nice thing and give back the things! Personally, I don't care enough either way, much like everyone else commenting. I just wanted to make sure at least someone mentioned the general mentality in favor of keeping these things in the British museum.
'Muppetry' isn't used that way in the UK. It's a word that's used to describe the act that makes someone a muppet. eg. If you got on the wrong train and ended up miles from where you intended to be you are a muppet and the act of getting on that train without checking where it's going is muppetry.
P.S. You'll probably soon come across James' cabbage battle with a 9 year old boy. I suspect you'll really enjoy the whole story and end up making more than one reaction video about it.
You must be new to this channel.
@@mancuniangamecat8288 Actually, I'm not. I know it's all meant kindly but calling a group of muppets muppetry is plain wrong. Muppetry means something else, as I've explained and you know full well. A collective noun needs to be decided on. I suggest 'marvel'. A marvel of muppets has a certain ring to it.
In regards to your questions, you asked, how many percentage of the uk museum belongs to others!? 99/99% if you wondering and the other 1% are pirate's ships 😇
Yay! James Acaster is one of my faves😊 thanks for your fun vids😊
If Howard Carter had not been so curious, I wonder how archaeology would have fared since his time? Without the fascination for Tutankhamun, would there have been as much interest? Would so many artefacts have been saved without those foreign hunters?
Not British Museums, but 'The' British Museum, it's one specific museum; the first national public museum in the world, founded in 1753. Its permanent collection of 8 million items is arguabley the largest and most comprehensive in the world. It has more Egyptian artifacts than Egypt.
There is joke "Why are the Pyramids in Egypt?"
-"Because they couldn't fit them on the boat to England."
90% of things in British museums aren't even on display. 90% of those items aren't British originally
To be fair, if europeans didnt put these items in museums to be studied, then we wouldnt know about human history. What would have happened to these items if we hadnt have taken them?????
It would still be there and we'd just study them over there. What if Egypt decided to take the Lincoln memorial or stonehenge because they wanted to "study" it. You'd be outraged. Have some empathy
@@sampeeps3371 Or you could do a little more research about how they came into our possession!
@@sampeeps3371 so going by what you are saying we can be outraged by what is being taking off us now by people like the channel jumping lot .
@@sampeeps3371 why you think they wouldnt have been left to rot, or stolen for private collections??? I know its shitty the way its happened but it was all in the name of science and knowledge!
@@danjames5552 what?
The Elgin marbles were sold to great Britain in 1816
And to be honest...we're still looking at them
Of course, we SHOULD give the stuff back, but the thing is, we look after it far better. Nobody managed to steal it from us right?!!?
Edit: tourists massively outnumber natives in the museums.
Don't forget Jasper carrot 24 carrot gold 🥇
The most egregious thing is that most of ‘the stuff we stole’ is siting in storerooms and drawers and not even on display. Including human remains. There is no reason for them not to be returned.
The thing about countries wanting things back that were taken, is where do you draw the line? Should the USA give back America to the native American tribes? If so, where will you all go? I do hear that there's lots of space in Greenland, Antarctica and the Australian outback.
The Australian Outback is already under mostly native title, thanks. Terra nullius was reversed.
It's rather ironic how much little British artifacts are in the British museum in London. I can just about remember seeing some poor Anglo Saxon bloke's bones on display and not much else.
Tell you what we haven’t got…..anything from the US…..there’s nothing old enough🤓
Yep, pretty much 100% true, frankly I don't know how we get away with it, but for some reason we do. It's probably because we say no, very politely and with a lovely smile. 😊 😁🤣🤣
I'm English and there's no dilemma for me. The British Museum is a fascinating place to visit but I'd happily allow anything in there that wasn't a genuine gift to be returned.
Totally agree.
To whom ? The owners are gone into History. Stonehenge is in England, but there were no Saxons here when it was built
He's talking about "The British Museum", not all British museums in general.
As an archaeology student im writing a thesis on artefact repatriation atm, its actually quite complicated. Especially in regards to the Elgin Marbles that you mentioned as they were removed with the permission of the Ottoman Empire (which Greece was part of at the time of their removal). For other examples see the Benin Bronzes, Egyptian artefacts and aboriginal Australian artefacts.
That permission being unverified and murky.
I don’t think the aboriginal skeletons gave their permission ….
So the conquerors of Greece gave us permission to steal stuff from Greece, and that makes it ok.
@@lordcharfield4529 even the ones that were removed from Afghanistan where the taliban are known to destroy any cultural heritage that isnt specifically muslim in origin? See Buddhas of Bamiyan. As i said, its more complicated than that.
@@MagnusMaximusinWales the Firman is lost but there are records of a government comission that saw it when investigating the original removal, ill dig them up and send you a link when i get to that part of my essay.
While I love this as comedy what a lot of people conveniently forget or ignore is most of this "stuff" was being sold to western tourists at the time by the people and government of the country in question who did not value it so British archeologists bought it and shipped of to the British museums with the full cooperation with everyone involved. So sorry just because you've recently decided it's a lot more valuable than when you sold it doesn't mean you can demand it back Karen.
Glad you finally found James! He's brilliant.
As a Brit, I say that if a country asks for their historical national items back, there's no moral reason to refuse them. They should just be returned. End of.
Give America back to the American Indians, same logic
Agree with returning items to their native homelands. For some years they have been returning Maori (Indigenous people of New Zealand) Items main items wanted are our Shrunken Heads.
There was a few times when the Elgin Marbles was a dispute between Greece and the UK. There was a Greek politician who’s mantra was we want our marbles back. Take a quick look at that 🌺🌺
Oh it is still a very active dispute. Just as recently as the Greece wanted the return of the Marbles made a condition for getting a Brexit agreement.
Actually it looks like it will get returned, because I read not that long ago that they had actually come to a basis of an agreement.
Most of the things we have in museums in the UK are stored away from people view anyway, I don't think anyone would notice much of it going back.
Most countries didnt have any concept of preserving their history back at the time of the Empire. Old structures were often torn down for easy access to building materials. The colluseum in Rome is a prime example, the vast majority of the damage to that structure is from locals taking it apart themselves to build up new buildings. The same goes for the Patheon and Greece at that time. Britain took a lot of artifacts to preserve them. There are also many items that were gifted to British monarchs by other countries, who are now trying to claim them back... As far as Im concerned the accumulation of these artifacts is part of British history, it is a legacy of our Empire to be enjoyed and marvelled upon by anyone who wants to come here. To start giving these items back to countries who would have destroyed them hundreds of years ago if not for us, would be destroying our own history and our own legacy. To put it another way, during ww2 America took a lot of art and artifacts to protect them from the germans.... They even made a film about it called "monuments men".... Many of these artifacts are now protected in American museums, do Americans feel under an obligation to give it all back to Europe?
We didn't rob the Elgyn marbles , we bought them and very likely saved them but I think we should let them have it back now, it's there heritage and that's more important than having it in a foreign museum.
Old saying to the Victor's goes the spoils ,so tough lol
It's a complicated issue - many of the items taken could have possibly been destroyed if they hadn't been taken from their original locations. They're incredibly well looked after and admission to the museum is free so anyone can go view them. Morally it probably is wrong that we have them but you can not take any risks when it comes to items that are so priceless and their loss so detrimental to history.
Well I applaud the British for saving them, Now hand them back to the rightful owners. You have had them on loan for a 100 years.
Now return them.
Not only did we steal from most countries but we pinched stuff from regions of the UK, well when i saw we i mean London, lots of artifacts in the museums in London come from areas around the country such as the 'Lindisfarne Gospels' which belong to the north east of England but currently reside in ... yes a London museum! they even had the gall to lend us a copy version to display in Durham Cathedral for a short while but on the understanding that we returned it! museums around the country (London excluded) generally have exhibits from the local area or those donated .
One of my favourite empire based skits. The other is Eddie Izzard 🤪
You could say everything in a museum doesn't belong to the original owner ......
If your going to give each country all its relics back , then all of The American continent should be given back to the native Americans ..
The native Americans want the country back 😂
Problem is,a great deal of the countries that have their stuff in our museums often destroy them anyway
Thanks for reacting to this. One of my favourite comedians ever. I'm actually a semi-professional card magician and have performed to james acaster live after seeing his latest show
The Victoria and Albert museum has a room dedicated to replicas of large scale monuments/sculptures. They have the Statue of David, Trajan's Column, The Apprentice Pillar and many others. With 3D scanning technology and printing, every museum could have incredibly detailed replicas.
The Parthenon could be reinstated to look as it once did, but with reproduced panels, whilst the original panels were placed in the Athens Museum.
Not everything in the British Museum is from elsewhere, the Sutton Hoo treasures for instance are British. The Louvre in Paris is also home to many "stolen" or purchased treasures. However, the British Museum is the most prestigious institution that does not charge an entry fee, while the Louvre and so many others do.
It doesn't change a thing. They are also returning a lot of their Stolen artifacts to the rightful owners.
Also 98% of the people it belongs too will never see them because they don't travel to the UK.
I went to the British Museum. Once. When I was 13. Mostly full of people who were certainly not of "British Ethnicity". Probably staring longingly at their stuff. That we're keeping safe, and sound. Behind the ropes.
When you come to the UK and if you visit the museum, you're gonna find it hard not to laugh now, after seeing this :D
Brit, French and Spain ALL LOOTED THE WORLD!!!!😎
The Greek artefacts are know as the Elgin Marbles, looted by Lord Elgin. There seems to be no reason at all why they haven’t been returned yet.
The Elgin marbles are staying in London. They were legally purchased from the Ottoman government who ruled what is now Greece. If it wasn’t for Elgin they wouldn’t now exist. The Ottomans were smashing them up into small chunks to sell as souvenirs.
Britain still has some Australian First Nations people skeletons. They been asking for their returns since they were formally classed as Australian citizens in the 1960s. They’ve returned a few and their families have buried them properly, but they still have some they refuse to give back to families ….
That is true and he’s absolutely right! But that more a thing of most Museums, especially on the U.K., France and USA…
Koh-i-Noor has to be one of the best artifacts we won’t give back, it’s a 105.6 carat diamond. How much truth in this next bit, it’s value basically priceless a friend was telling me the only way to value it is take the worlds GDP and triple it. And we won’t give it back
Problem is that the Brits have receipts for a lot of this stuff i.e. it was legitimately purchased from previous regimes in those countries and now those countries have different regimes and want stuff back. I think work out / negotiate today's monetary value for the original purchase and the centuries of ongoing maintenance and then sell it back, which seems fair enough if it's something important to their heritage.
There is a lot of stuff in museums that has a very clear lineage to people who are still around, so some of them are straightforward, it’s basically just people looking for ways to not give it up. The marbles being a perfect example. There is absolutely no good reason Anymore if there ever was for them to not be in Greece. Greece has museums, Greece can take care of them, they are Greek. All the rest is just justification after the fact. Even the people who claim that the Lord wanted to protect them, okay, he protected them, now give them back.
There is a whole podcast series called „Stuff the British Stole“.
When the Queen passed away, the African's demanded there jewels back, they were taken years ago and I think may have been in the crown,