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Nighthawk42's latest comments
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18th Mar 2023Nighthawk42 commented on:
Should museum artefacts be returned to their country of origin?This is such a fascinating philosophical issue. Where does the music stop? We want to paint Greece as the victim (and we certainly could in many cases), but they were not always the victim. In ancient times, when the Melians tried to argue for their continued independence, the Athenians had the right idea - they didn't waste time trying to argue the morality of their demand for surrender and taxation. They just claimed that 'the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must'. Now, I don't think anyone should pay for the sins of their father (overly simple claim - I think future generations of oppressed people have a strong claim of unjust enrichment), but where do you draw the line? What civilizations did Greece colonize, absorb or erase from the earth. Why arbitrarily pull a few discrete items from a museum and give them back to Greece if we are not willing to trace all things to all origins and reset the world. The concern I have is this could be a slippery slope. If you start giving back some things, where do you stop? What lines will be drawn. My preference would be to intentionally decide where the line will be drawn - what is the procedure for repatriating artifacts, and then go through the systematic process of doing it. Otherwise, we will draw the line at some point after we start giving things back and it will look worse than if we refused to give anything back at all.ViewDate:
18th Mar 2023Nighthawk42 commented on:
Getting along with teenage grandchildrenMine do the same thing. I used to feel like I was torturing them when I asked them to take a break and play trivial pursuit, dominoes or scrabble. Now I think they like it (though they won't always admit it). I try and go play their video games with them. There are a few that aren't terrible - and it's a win/win - I get to spend time with them and they have someone they can beat mercilessly. I asked them why they are so engrossed in their phones. The fifteen-year-old said he feels like he's forged a relationship with his favorite youtubers. He is invested in their post. It is so scary!!