[luaybs]

The amount of pro-colonial sentiment in the thread here is baffling. The people that were colonized and stolen from have the right to do whatever they want with these artifacts, even if you believe they may not have the means, or will sell them to private collectors.

[krapp]

Hacker News is comprised almost entirely of privileged people from colonizing cultures, and tech culture has been going through a neo-reactionary renaissance for a while, so it shouldn't be surprising. It is weird how aggressive this specific subject makes them, though.

[jbjbjbjb]

Why not just accept the situation as part of the ebb and flow of history? They certainly weren’t the first empires in history. I think a lot of the objection is more about nationalistic sentiment than anything else and I don’t feel it needs to be done to reclaim cultural heritage.

[legacynl]

> Why not just accept the situation as part of the ebb and flow of history?

Why would you? By calling it the 'ebb and flow of history' you seem to imply that the things we do to each other is beyond the control of humans.

But of course we're fully in control of what we do, so the question is rather: if we have the possibility to do good, and it comes at virtually no cost to us, then why not do good?

[jbjbjbjb]

In my opinion it’s still more driven by nationalistic agendas than the ethical imperative and as others have said there are good reasons to leave the artifacts where they are. I’ve only ever seen people make heated demands based on past grievances. A lot of this stuff happened a long time ago now, anyone influential has died, it really is time to at least take the heat of these conversations.

[luaybs]

I will never accept colonialism in whatever way, shape, or form.

[corimaith]

Unification and Colonialism are two sides of the same coin. You think the former provinces, cities and then villages all willingly integrated in to country you live today?