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by fellellor 3202 days ago
The downvotes here just go on to show the inherent racial bias of quite a few commenters here. The argument is simple. Either you think conquest, enslavement and exploitation of peoples around the world was right or you may think that was the unfortunate relic of the past and we must all move on. If you think it was wrong, then you should return the cultural relics plundered from the erstwhile colonies.

Seeing this manuscript "housed" in the UK is just sad. Seeing people continuing to support this situation just shows what really lies beneath the surface of "western civilization".
2 comments
vidarh 3202 days ago
Some people also thing that "we must all move on" also involves not trying to rectify or unravel everything that was done that was wrong, and/or think that it is hypocritical to e.g. want to undo acts related to colonization without e.g. also push for radically reshaping all other property relationships, which have similarly problematic origins.

To assume it's all racial is just as sad.

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fellellor 3202 days ago
Well it is racial. What is really sad that you want to still be one of the good guys while supporting a clearly immoral thing. It would be more respectable, and less pathetic, to just accept your pride in the actions of the colonizers, no matter what the consequences of those actions were for the colonized.

And what property rights are you even referring to? The relic in question is a physical item that can be moved without affecting those that continue to possess the stolen item in any way. It's certainly not something those who possess the item have earned. It's not even land that you have long settled, which may be much harder to part with.

Continuing to hold on to it just says, "Yeah our ancestors were a bunch of bandits. We don't apologize for it". Why would anyone move on when one of the parties holds such an attitude? Let alone the aggrieved party.

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vidarh 3200 days ago
Try reading my comment again, as you don't seem to have understood a word of the intent of it, and is ascribing me opinions that the comment does not in any way support.
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pvg 3202 days ago
It's the top comment which is probably a sensible reminder it's silly to go on about downvotes, let alone in reply to a part of a comment going on about downvotes.
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fellellor 3202 days ago
It's funny you chose to extend it then.
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