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The Koh-i-Noor diamond, and why the British won’t give it back (2017)

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171–180 of 327 posts

Re: The Koh-i-Noor diamond, and why the British won’t give it back (2017)

#171
post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay. But that's surely not a reason why the Brits get to keep it. "This is too hard, let's give up and keep bringing in tourist money to our museums through these artifacts" feels like an awfully convenient excuse.

Possession is 9/10 of the law.

This is along the lines of the other, equally glorious line:

"Property is theft, therefore theft is property."

Re: The Koh-i-Noor diamond, and why the British won’t give it back (2017)

#172
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a fan of the British crown (why are they exempt from taxes during record high inflation) The rest of your comment scans, but this bit seems weird to me. What does the rate of inflation have to do, with taxation? Some points: - we are no where near record inflation, at least not in the US and Canada, and I presume the UK too. I recall 18% being thrown around in the 80s. - changing tax policy due to inflation seems…

By record high I meant in recent memory - good catch, should have clarified. To your second point, CoL in London is basically LA level. London rents+council tax make rental prices SF level (around $1-2k/month in rent and around $1-2k/month in local property tax, which rentors apparently pay as well) while London median incomes are below poverty line LA or SF levels (around $40,000/year) [0], and inflation around 8-9%…

That makes it sound like a small miracle that 80% of the people there can afford to live there at all.

Re: The Koh-i-Noor diamond, and why the British won’t give it back (2017)

#174

Not a fan of the British crown (why are they exempt from taxes during record high inflation) but who should they return the diamond to - Afghanistan (it was the Durranis that looted it from Nader Shah after he looted it from the Mughals), India (Maharaja Ranjit Singh took it as tribute from Shah Shuja after conquering Kashmir from the Durranis), or Pakistan (the Sikh Empire capital was Lahore and the Durrani Empire c…

Those diamonds were mined in Kollur in modern day south India. It should go back to them. And yes, before you harp on it, the land we call America should go back to the Native Americans, the aboriginals of Australia and New Zealand should also get their lands back. Or whoever else has been the subject of conquest. Ultimately, slavery, caste, and colonization are institutions of brutality. Reparations are owed. Britai…

How do we know which Native Americans to give it back to? The land I sit on has been taken by conquest by many different tribes.

Re: The Koh-i-Noor diamond, and why the British won’t give it back (2017)

#175
post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay. But that's surely not a reason why the Brits get to keep it. "This is too hard, let's give up and keep bringing in tourist money to our museums through these artifacts" feels like an awfully convenient excuse.

Possession is 9/10 of the law.

You won't mind if my gang and I steal your TV at gunpoint then?

Re: The Koh-i-Noor diamond, and why the British won’t give it back (2017)

#176

Not a fan of the British crown (why are they exempt from taxes during record high inflation) but who should they return the diamond to - Afghanistan (it was the Durranis that looted it from Nader Shah after he looted it from the Mughals), India (Maharaja Ranjit Singh took it as tribute from Shah Shuja after conquering Kashmir from the Durranis), or Pakistan (the Sikh Empire capital was Lahore and the Durrani Empire c…

Those diamonds were mined in Kollur in modern day south India. It should go back to them. And yes, before you harp on it, the land we call America should go back to the Native Americans, the aboriginals of Australia and New Zealand should also get their lands back. Or whoever else has been the subject of conquest. Ultimately, slavery, caste, and colonization are institutions of brutality. Reparations are owed. Britai…

Civilizations clash. Some win, some lose. Should Gaul go back to the Romans?

You would have the Earth remain completely static, and wherever your ancestors happened to evolve into humans that’s where you and your descendants live forever until the end of time?

It’s ridiculous. Things change. Move on.

Re: The Koh-i-Noor diamond, and why the British won’t give it back (2017)

#177

I am so tired of people romanticizing the monarchy, especially one of the bloodiest colonizers on this planet - the British monarchy! The year is 2022! Can't we finally grow up and stop telling girls stories about princes on white horses and stop talking about monarchs like they are some kinds of saviors!? Instead of wasting billions less than 20 years from now to wipe our Charles' face and name, end this now and tur…

> turn them into a British Disneyland! That's been the case already for decades. The Royals are largely a revenue-generating tourist attraction.

Still not there yet!

Re: The Koh-i-Noor diamond, and why the British won’t give it back (2017)

#178
post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not? Almost everyone that had it before won it through conquest, but only Britain is being held to a standard where that is forbidden.

How about because it is the Year of our Lord 2022, the last monarch of the British Empire is dead, and humanity generally agrees now that theft through conquest is a bad idea, and Britain realizes that decolonization has to cost it something to mean something, and giving back a shiny rock on the Queen's hat which literally serves no purpose besides being a gaudy symbol of a shameful, spiteful legacy, really isn't muc…

> decolonization has to cost it something to mean something

Didn't they, you know, give up their empire? And invite their former colonies to colonize them, to the point that they are now a minority in their own capital?

If anything this should have taught them that, not only will it never be enough, but every act of atonement will count for nothing and be immediately forgotten and discredited.

Re: The Koh-i-Noor diamond, and why the British won’t give it back (2017)

#180
post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those diamonds were mined in Kollur in modern day south India. It should go back to them. And yes, before you harp on it, the land we call America should go back to the Native Americans, the aboriginals of Australia and New Zealand should also get their lands back. Or whoever else has been the subject of conquest. Ultimately, slavery, caste, and colonization are institutions of brutality. Reparations are owed. Britai…

Civilizations clash. Some win, some lose. Should Gaul go back to the Romans? You would have the Earth remain completely static, and wherever your ancestors happened to evolve into humans that’s where you and your descendants live forever until the end of time? It’s ridiculous. Things change. Move on.

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