“The entire British museum is an active crime scene” - John Oliver
[image description: two pictures, one above the other. The first image shows a statue originally from the Acropolis in Athens, now in the British Museum. The statue is a column shaped like a woman. It is labelled London. The bottom image is from the Acropolis Museum in Athens, showing the other five matching column/statues, with a space for the missing statue pointedly left open. This picture is shot from above and is labelled Athens.
image in savvysergeant’s reblog: screencap of tags from two people. Feeblekazoo’s tags read: the degree to which the Acropolis museum is designed to shame the British Museum is spectactular. butherlipsarenotmoving’s tags read: the acropolis museum is the most passive aggressive museum i’ve ever been to and i love it
/end id]
For those of you who don’t know museum drama, one of the largest and most famous parts of the British Museum’s collection is the so-called Elgin Marbles, which were looted from the Acropolis by Lord Elgin in the 18th Century. (The Acropolis is the hill in Athens, Greece which has some of the most amazing Greek ruins anywhere, the most famous of which is the Parthenon.) Elgin had (or at least claims to have had) permission from the Ottoman Empire to take stuff home with him, but a) this is one empire asking another empire if they can loot stuff from the other empire’s subjugated people, so, not exactly any moral high ground there Elgin, and b) he took a lot more stuff than the Ottomans said he could have.
Greece has been asking for those statues and sculptures to be returned since they won independence in 1832. That’s right, 1832, 190 years ago. The British Museum has had a number of excuses over the years, one of the biggies of the late 20th Century being “we couldn’t possibly give them back because Athens doesn’t have a nice enough museum to display them” and ignoring Greece’s response of “we will BUILD a museum just for them if you will just give us our damn stuff back!“
Finally, Greece said “fuck you” and built a museum at the bottom of the Acropolis called the Acropolis museum. It is huge, it is gorgeous, the collection of objects is amazing and the educational bits (“this is what it is and why it matters”) are really well done. It’s probably one of the best archaeological museums in the world; it definitely is the best collection of ancient Greek artifacts in the world, both for the size of the collection and the way it’s displayed.
Oh. And it is amazingly passive-aggressive. Every single piece of the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum has an empty spot on display waiting for the piece to be returned to Greece. For example, there are a lot of pieces where Elgin took, say, the nicest (or easiest to remove) one of a set. The column/statue in the OP’s image is one of these. Friezes from the roof of the Parthenon are another example. The Acropolis Museum displays each one of these sets with space for the stolen pieces, along with a picture of what the stolen piece looks like and where it is. It is a giant middle finger at the British Museum, disguised as helpful information.
There’s no chance that the British Museum will return any of this in the next generation. It’s not up to the curators at the British Museum; they don’t get any say in this. The board of governors of the British Museum is made up of old posh English people who genuinely believe that the Empire was awesome and England has a perfect right to everything in the British Museum. They have set policies about what can and can’t be removed from the collection, and according to those policies nothing of any historical or monetary value can be given away or sold. And they actively promote the idea that their predecessors had a perfect right to loot the cultural heritage of the world, and that the museum has a perfect right to keep it forever. The only way to get anything out of the British Museum and back to its rightful place would be to completely replace the entire board of the museum with new people who think completely differently. And that’s not happening any time soon, alas.
By the way, the British argument that Greeks wouldn’t know how to care for the antiquities……. Greece has 206 archaeological museums. It’s not only incredibly demeaning as an argument, it’s also straight out false and misleading.
One thing (and with the massive caveat of I don’t disagree with the above in the slightest): the Board of Trustees isn’t like that. They’re not all white, they’re not all rich, and they’re not all English. By and large they’re academics. I was speaking to them the other week with regards to repatriation when I visited and they’re actually very much all for it (bar one or two exceptions…looking at you George) and are working on things. A group of 5 of them I can confirm actively loathe Elgin and the marbles room. The problem lies with the British Museum Act of 1968 (hereafter referred to as BMA68) which was a law created by the government to prevent anything within the BM, which the government owns but wants very little do to with unless you’re trying to repatriate fyi, being removed in the “national interest”. Repatriation is, annoyingly, illegal in the case of the contents of the BM. So the Board have been trying to change this by putting pressure in various areas to get the laws changed, and the government screws them by enforcing term limits for serving on the board and then trying to stack the board in their favour to prevent further action. It’s a game of politics and the government do not want to give up BMA68 at all.
I know we like to categorise everyone we’re up against in the fight for repatriation as “old, white, rich guys” but it’s not helpful when it is decidedly not the case. We need to be mad at the right people and focusing on efforts to change this ridiculous law. At this time, supporting projects like the International Training Partnership, which is the BM’s way of building a network of curators and training them so organisations like the British Government can’t say “hurr durr they can’t look after their artefacts” because actually they can, we trained them ourselves. The network of curators also allows them to build mounting international pressure. It’s not going to happen overnight, but the pressure is building now, I promise you.
The Acropolis Museum is amazing on many levels, but my favorite part is that it’s built over an active archaeological excavation. Parts of the floor are clear, so you can look down and see archaeologists working.
best advice i ever got as a writer was to pick a hobby that i hated more than writing and stick with it. i’m a runner now and it’s miserable and i Hate It and writing is so lovely in comparison. bonus: i’m in excellent shape and running gives you a lot of time to think about writing. i’ve solved a lot of plot complications while running.
The thing with the writers strike and actors strike is that. You ALL have to start realizing that the cool creative jobs they paint as “glamorous” in the media are actually ALL struggling in a big way, and basically everyone below “Huge Household Name” is actually often having to spend THEIR OWN DAY JOB MONEY to keep trying and trying to “break into” that household name status.
Like, im a cartoonist. Just starting out, but already fairly successful! My comics are sold in a handful of states, i sell out of my works, and i even have been featured as a finalist in a couple awards shows AND have pieces bought by a cartooning museum. I still barely make a couple hundred per month off it IF IM LUCKY, and spend almost as much trying to print more. Oh yes, i have to print my own comics! And working for a big comic company, they generally require you to bring some level of your own equipment. Heck, even if you make it “big” as a cartoonist…you wanna know how much you get paid if your comic that you spent months of back-breaking labor on is adapted into a marvel movie? A one-time check for $5000. Out of the BILLIONS those movies make, in perpetuity for eternity, you are given $5k. Pre-tax. Pre-agent. Pre-lawyer. (Yes we have agents and lawyers too, quite often). There’s hardly any cartoonists who can afford to quit their day jobs, and even those who do are never living above the lower middle class range.
Now obviously cartooning is not the same as acting or writing, but my point is that we NEED yall to stop thinking just because you see our work as cool that we are living some dream life!!! Basically the only people who are living these dream lives you think of are CEOs of major companies and the occasional celebrity. The rest of us are just out here, struggling to survive just like you, we just happen to have a side hustle which is Kinda Cool.
All the arts. Writing, music, movies, dance, theater, design, all of them are important. We assume people with “real talent” will be able to make a living at them but even the super talented people can’t, and a lot of people who might be super talented never get to try because they have to do something else to keep a roof over their heads.
this is completely true. when i went to school to learn animation, the teachers there (who all worked at the now-shuttered fox animation studios) basically said don’t expect to get paid a lot. you’ll be the cool parent with the cool job, but you’ll never be Really Rich, and that sure is the gd case, ain’t it.
i’m mentally ill too but fucking listen to me here. you need to take responsibility for your actions regardless of whether or not they’re a product of your mental illness. you don’t get to manipulate, gaslight, take advantage of, or straight up abuse people because you’re mentally ill! you don’t! what the fuck! why are some of you still thinking it’s okay to say things like “manipulation is okay because i have _____ and need attention from my significant other” oh my god. Don’t fucking do that
Also, like if you need something from others, like attention or to be left alone or whatever, you can ask for it. It’s not manipulative to be like “hey, can you focus on me for a bit I really need that right now.” Like attention and love is not worth less if you ask for it vs. manipulating someone into volunteering those things. And if your partner is a jerk about giving you attention when you need it, dump them.
Quick shoutout to everyone whose disability directly conflicts with their passion.
People who love light and color and photography but have extremely sensitive eyes. People who love food but have digestive disorders and intolerances. People who would play every instrument they could get their hands on but lack dexterity and muscle strength to play. People who can’t make themselves focus long enough to study the field they want to be in. People who want to paint and draw and sculpt but can’t coordinate their hands well enough, or cramp up every time they hold a brush/pencil/tool. People across all passions who face a massive barrier to learning because following a set of instructions is difficult when they don’t feel specific enough.
There’s nothing more frustrating than knowing you’d be good at something and that it’s not your fault you can’t prove it. Especially in a world that seems to only recognize top level picture perfect talent at all times. Your passion isn’t negated by not being able to follow it, and neither is your potential. You’re not lazy. Do what you can and fuck ‘em if they think it’s not good enough.
Fun Fact! Two Weeks Notice is not a REQUIREMENT in any sense of the word. It’s a nicety. A polite gesture, and only polite for the MANAGEMENT because THEY want time to find someone to replace you. They cannot withhold your last paycheck if you refuse to give two weeks notice, and they cannot force you to work the two weeks. Additionally, they cannot report that to any future employers who call them regarding your work history. In fact, they’re not allowed to comment on your performance AT ALL! Legally they are only allowed to confirm that you were an employee during the dates you list - anything else and they open themselves up to civil lawsuits in which they can be sued for damages for any number of reasons. So fuck Two Weeks Notice. if you work for a fucked company, they deserve to get fucked in return.
If you ever feel bad about not giving two weeks’ notice, or like you’re being unprofessional/unfair, think about this:
If your boss fired you, would they give YOU two weeks’ notice? Or would they have you escorted out of the building then and there?
Anything they don’t owe you, you don’t owe them. Fuck ‘em.
Oh these are therapeutic
I’d just like to add a classic:
Recently quit my job with a whole lot of fuckery going on surrounding it, but I wanted to be professional and give my two weeks instead they told me your done at the end of the current week. I had a coworker who I was quitting with who submitted their letter at the same time who was kept for the full two weeks they said they were staying. Fuck two weeks notice. Just get the fuck out when you’re ready and make sure you’re taken care of.
What if you were dating a moth prince and living in his kingdom and he knew how out of place you felt so he made you dozens of silk dresses and blankets and gave you lots of fuzzy shawls and scarves so you wouldn’t stand out so much and always said you were so beautiful you were glowing and occasionally bump right into your face because it was a little joke and he would pretend you were a light bulb and give you tiny kisses
Half of me is like “what the fuck am I looking at” and the other half finds this inexplicably adorable and good.
@shirosucks
Okay, so, I saw this and did a little sketch.
why am i imagining it like this
Okay but what if the Moth-Hubby could switch between the two forms (Big Lovey-Dovey™ and Adorable Face-Crawler™) and he loves to give hugs and cuddle but also to just chill on your face and give lil tiny kisses a bunch just because.
“milk is from bre*sts EW” “eggs are basically menstruation” “honey is bee barf yuck!!” do you guys ever stop sounding like 4th graders who think cooties still exist or what
