AIBU to wonder why the British Museum gets singled out?

[BluesandClues]

I am forever seeing posts on social media about how the British Museum stole everything, and they should give things back. It always someone just ranting at the camera as well, with lots of bad guy/good guy vibes. There’s never a discussion of the various facts of the matter.

I never see posts about other museums, why is it always the British museum?

You are right. You have provided the all important missing context. That was all perfectly fine, in the greater cause of annexation, neutralisation, crushing Sikh resistance and being strong.

Probably because it's stolen the most. If you colonise and plunder other cultures, you get hate for it in 2026. Seems fair.

They could redeem themselves by giving the stolen treasures back to their proper nation.

if the items were taken years ago under different legal frameworks then how can any claim them legally today ?

Yes human remains can be returned under the National Museums legislation. It is a rare exception. I think there is 1 other exception.

lets say they became all powerful and were the next genghis khan type army and conquered Britain / Europe , would you be happy then etc ?

people seem to forget in those times, it was their armies vs our armies etc

So when you Brits whine about immigrants you should really see it as a conquest of your weak nation and not think there's anything wrong with it. If it's okay for you to do it to others, it's also okay for others to do it to you.

different rules different agreements these days thats part of the issues, eg nato, etc

It belongs to them , not us. Why is that so hard for you to grasp?

You are ridiculous. The Sikhs had no intention or capability of conquering Europe or Britain with a Genghis Khan style army. It was the other way round, as you well know.

But no point engaging with goady trolls.

because once they had it back its either distoryed or resold, thats why, the survival of the artifacts is for the greater good of the world,

The point she was making is that the cultures she mentioned are long dead. What don’t you get about that? The vast majority of cultures ARE dead. Many were forgotten. Many were despised by the new invaders of their lands. We re-told their stories, not the later invaders of those lands.

Yes indeed. The poster i was replying to was contrasting forceable looting vs sales from owners. I think i was trying to make a point badly that a lot of this has shades of grey, so eg not all sales were good or wanted.

yes of couse, i challenge conventional history and hell im a troll because i dont follow convential wisdom what happened to being in a democracy where we can debate history and different ideas even if im not logical ?

or do you only want democracy if its what you decide is correct thinking ?

some of you should read the books by graham hancock

What legal framework are you talking about - finders keepers? Successful conquerors stealers keepers?

@BluesandClues, I think you might really enjoy this book: The Brutish Museum.

And these podcasts: Stuff the British Stole.
And https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0ckffkw

As someone who works in this field, this is a global conversation, not just a pile on at the British Museum. And it needs to be.

I would think many of the early 20thC wealthy American collectors, who were obsessed about provenance and their collections, had a fair idea where much of their collections came from and didnt care.

Probably? What possible reason can you give for the British museum not returning the 6000 requested items to Australia?

I don't know anything about the Rosetta stone, but the British museum clearly has form for keeping things it should no longer keep.

someone had to save the artifacts from other looters and destroyers etc

There is an exhibition running at Kensington Palace until November callled 'The Last Princesses of the Punjab'. It's interesting for anyone who wants to see how the Sikh empire was looted for its riches, including the Kohinoor, Jindan Kaur's priceless jewellery and many sacred artefacts, now dispersed between the BM, the V and A and others.

By looting them themselves? So that's your argument - the British had to steal them from Australia because otherwise the French would. Possibly they'd be back in Australia by now if the French took them so its not a good argument.

If we had just left these things lying about left to rot and someone came along who held in them some value and would seek to preserve them then I couldn’t really have much to say.

Indeed, the word ' loot' actually comes from the Hindi word ' lut', originating from the plunder of the East India Company.

well thats what nic cage in national treasure film did the declaration of independence so yea why not

The idea that everything in the BM was just lying about before kindly British collectors swooped in to rescue them is absolute garbage. Whole temples were broken down and sent back to the BM.