Earlier quoted context omitted.
the harm is that usually the decision about whether the "one group" wanted it was made by the "another group", probably without actually consulting with anyone in the first group. And you know what, maybe they don't in the moment. But essentially none of these things ever get repatriated even when the people they came from explicitly say they want them back . And you can see the logic that justifies this ongoing thef…
> If I steal your TV and then your house burns down, have I "saved" your TV even though I still won't give it back? What if you die and i buy your tv at an estate sale, and then later your ancestors change their mind? [I'm mostly just posing this as a thought experiment, i dont think its exactly the same as this either] I mean there is a lot of nuance involved. Sometimes i think repatriating artifacts is the right th…
But really, for the most part Roman artifacts are in Rome or Italy or the descendants of Roman client states they came from. Rome was never really looted like Africa or the Americas or even much of Asia were over the colonial power era. Likewise, neither were the colonial powers themselves, so there’s no real culture drain being helped along by holding on to a Roman or British or French or Spanish artifact.
For the most part when conversations need to be had about restoring artifacts, it’s that period we’re really talking about.