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Prof. once denied meeting with MSA execs about DPS Oversight Committee, airs issues at meeting
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Comments
Mr. Syed:
It is clear that you did not attend the Kelsey Museum opening, nor did you speak with anyone on the Kelsey staff. While it's true that the vast majority of the Kelsey's collection is kept in storage, by no means are these items being "hoarded" or are "concentrated in the hands of the elite few." The Kelsey Museum is open to the public, and their collections are used by researchers from across the Michigan campus and indeed from throughout the world. Pieces from the Kelsey's collection are on display in museums in other states and countries. Additionally, these items are not displaced because they are "redundant or conventionally uninteresting to the museum. Items are kept in storage for many reasons. Some are not stable enough for display and need to be kept in climate controlled settings. Others are not a part of the Kelsey's current thematic display. Some are currently being used by researchers or are being repaired by conservationists.
While I understand the basis of your argument and your dissatisfaction with 19th and early 20th century antiquities laws and in fact share your view, your argument about returning items to their countries is lost in the seemingly random list of complaints that you seem to have. You move from the concentration of wealth at the top of society to the fact no one ever uses these artifacts, detour to a comment about "colonialist advances" and then somehow end with a demand for recognition that an archaeologist somewhere might have gotten an artifact under less than ethical conditions. What is your real complaint here? That the Kelsey has too many artifacts in storage? That the Kelsey should give everything back, except for the things they're using, the things they loan to people, or the things other people use? Or that colonialism is bad?
Your article would be well-served by researching your topic and focusing your argument. Complaining about a lot of different things on a similar topic doesn't mean you have a valid argument about any of them.
Before calling for the return of antiquities or accusing the museum of "hording" please check your facts. A little more research into the actual contents of the 100,000 + collection and the collecting practices of this particular museum as well as the current state of antiquities law might be useful before lambasting a reputable institution. Yes these are all issues that relate to the current state of museums and the antiquities market. Can they be applied randomly and without proof to any institution? No. Get your facts straight, then maybe you can craft a convincing argument.
Dear Editors: The paucity of research about the Kelsey and absence of thought behind these issues make this article an embarrassment to your paper. Your standards should be higher than armchair commentary. While some issues raised about museums in general are interesting and merit coverage, the entire piece is uninformed. In the future, please send your writers to the events they wish to cover.
Here is what Muslims have done recently to one of Judaism's most sacred sites:
Joseph's Tomb.
On February 23, 2003 the carved stone covering the grave was destroyed.[citation needed]
On May, 2007, the Breslov hasidim visited the site for the first time in two years. In 2007, it was discovered that the tomb had been vandalized, and filled with burning garbage.[citation needed] In February 2008, vandals set burning tires inside the tomb.[citation needed] As a response, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas declared the tomb a Muslim holy site, and downplayed reports of joint Israeli-Palestinian cooperation on restoring the tomb.[citation needed]
In late April 2009, a group of Jewish worshipers found the headstone smashed and swastikas painted on the walls, as well as boot prints on the grave itself. [18]
Hey! Sometimes Islam is an equal opportunity destroyer. Let's not forget Muslims do NOT only destroy non-Muslim artifacts. They destroyed the following grand mosque too. Maybe they did it to perfect their art?
• The Golden Mosque is one of the four major Shiite shrines in Iraq. The other major sites are in Najaf, Kerbala and the Baghdad district of Kadhimiya.
• Two of the 12 revered Shiite Imams are buried in the shrine. Imam Ali al-Hadi, who died in 868 AD and his son, the 11th Imam Hasan al-Askari, who died in 874 A.D.
• Shiites believe the 12th Imam, Imam Mehdi, known as the hidden Imam, went into hiding from a cellar in the complex in 878 A.D. Shiites say he will return before the Day of Judgment to return justice to a world full of oppression.
• Iraqi commandos retook the Golden Mosque from insurgents during a U.S.-led offensive against Samarra in October 2004.
Since the Turkish occupation and ethnic cleansing of Greek Cyprus began in 1974:
* at least 55 Greek churches have been converted into mosques
* another 50 Greek churches and monasteries have been converted into stables, stores, hostels, museums, or have been demolished
* the cemeteries of at least 25 Greek villages have been desecrated and destroyed
* innumerable icons, religious artifacts and all kinds of archaeological treasures have been stolen and smuggled abroad
* illegal excavations and smuggling of antiquities is openly taking place all the time with the involvement of the occupying forces
* all Greek place names contrary to all historical and cultural reason were converted into Turkish ones.
Why doesn't anyone howl about the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus? People have been driven out of their homes, churches have been converted into mosques, and the thriving resort of Famagusta transformed into a ghost town. Nobody cares. Instead, Dearbornistan obsesses over the trumped-up plight of "Palestinians"-- an invented nationality, committed to eradicating a sovereign state in the name of Islamo-supremacism.
VIDEO: Famagusta, The Hostage Ghost City of Europe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcfBJ7DimB8
Return occupied Constantinople and the sacred Hagia Sophia (Christendom's 2nd most holy cathedral)-- then victimhood cultists can howl about alleged "rights" to artifacts from ancient cultures that Islamo-supremacists extirpated through genocide.
The Buddha called-- he'd like his Bamiyan monuments back.
I'm sure you're equally incensed about the Panthéon, Mezquita etc.
No, sane folks don't share bin Laden's outrage over the fate of the Mezquita in al-Andalus. There is simply no moral equivalence between how Spaniards recaptured their ancestral homeland (from a brief period of Muslim occupation) and the cultural genocide that global Islamo-supremacists inflict upon the antiquities of invaded lands. One need not reach back centuries to observe their misdeeds.
The destruction of pre-Islamic and non-Islamic artifacts (which historically took place everywhere that Islam conquered) continues to this day. The destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas by the Taliban in Afghanistan, with Pakistani and Saudi help, was not a unique event, but merely an event that happened to take place in the last decade rather than a century or two ago. And it took place in 2001, not 1901 or 1801, because the explosives and technical know-how (Pakistani and Saudi "engineers") had become available.
If not for Italian police, Bologna's Church of San Petronio would have suffered the same fate in 2002 and again in 2006 when jihadists plotted its destruction.
The destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas was no different from the 1350-year destruction of non-Muslim sites. The world has seen the destruction of the Greco-Bactrian culture of Central Asia, of the Hindu and Buddhist temples in Hindustan and in the East Indies (now Indonesia), of the monuments of pre-Islamic Persian civilization, of the Orthodox and Catholic churches of the Balkans, Greece, Rumania, Bulgaria, and Hungary, of the art work of every kind that has been destroyed by Muslims or at least vandalized not quite to the point of total destruction, as in the case of Hagia Sophia, where crucifixes were ripped off walls, and paintings defaced, and statues destroyed.
All this must be remembered.
The destruction or conversion of past religious monuments is not strictly Muslim, they just happened to conquer more of the world. Any pagan monument in Europe were destroyed by the Christians. The Catholic Church in Rome destroyed many Pagan Roman statues and converted most of their temples. Oh, and then there was that whole CRUSADE thing where they burned down mosques and synagogues that were in their path. Most pre-Columbian temples in the new world have been built over by cities. Its what has been going on throughout history. AND I think most educated people can agree that the recent destruction going on is the work of extremists- and should not at all be associated with the religion as a whole.
I'd also like to point out that there are areas of the world that are predominantly Muslim and are taking wonderful care of their ancient temples. Egypt anyone?
Notwithstanding your ahistorical slander of the Crusades (defensive wars against multiple Islamo-supremacist invasions), the relevant difference, of course, is that Christians aren't TODAY running around purposefully destroying cultural artifacts-- unlike Islamo-supremacists.
Your defense of Muslim treatment of Egyptian artifacts is especially ironic. Today's Muslim Egyptians are descended from genocidal invaders and hold no special claim to ancient Egyptian temples. I'd cite historical attempts by Muslims to destroy the Great Pyramids-- and the multiple modern jihadist attacks on Egyptian tourist locations-- but all this would (no doubt) fall on deaf ears.
The author's obnoxious suggestion-- that pre-Islamic cultural artifacts should be "returned" to the descendants of Muslim invaders (who hold less than zero legitimate claim to them)-- is absurdity on stilts. It is a pernicious nonsense that does not withstand educated scrutiny.
The attacks at the sites of ancient ruins – such as the Luxor attacks of 1997 and the shooting at the Pyramids in 1996 – most likely also have another motivation... the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Ali Gomaa, issued a fatwa declaring statues un-Islamic. His ruling was based on statements of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad such as: “Angels do not enter the house in which there is a dog or a statue” (Sahih Muslim bk. 24, no. 5250). Muhammad’s favorite wife, Aisha, recounted: “I never used to leave in the Prophet’s house anything carrying images or crosses but he obliterated it” (Sahih Bukhari, vol. 7, bk. 72, no. 836). To the pious killers who commit terror attacks near the artifacts of Egypt’s pre-Islamic past -- pyramids, sarcophagi, temples -- these treasures are thus all just so much trash: monuments of jahiliyyah, the pre-Islamic period of ignorance, and, in modern times, any society not governed by Islamic law (including Mubarak’s Egypt, with its decadent beaches of revelry). Since in its pre-Islamic era Egypt was a great civilization, it is full of the remnants of jahiliyyah, which were -- at best -- neglected by Egyptian Muslims until the British colonialists arrived and began both to restore them and show the Egyptians how lucrative they could be. But today, the sheer abundance of such artifacts in Egypt makes the tourist sites a nature target for the mujahedin.
The great theorist of the Muslim Brotherhood, Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966), foresaw a titanic struggle between Islam and jahiliyyah: “Islam cannot accept any mixing with Jahiliyyah. Either Islam will remain, or Jahiliyyah; no half-half situation is possible. Command belongs to Allah, or otherwise to Jahiliyyah; Allah’s Shari’ah will prevail, or else people’s desires: ‘And if they do not respond to you, then know that they only follow their own lusts. And who is more astray than one who follows his own lusts, without guidance from Allah? Verily! Allah guides not the people who are disobedient’[Qur’an 28:50]; ‘Do they then seek the judgment of (the Days of) Ignorance? And who is better in judgment than Allah for a people who have firm faith’ [Qur’an 5:50]. The foremost duty of Islam is to depose Jahiliyyah from the leadership of man, with the intention of raising human beings to that high position which Allah has chosen for him.”
That has always been, and remains, the program of the jihad against tourist sites in Egypt.
Haha. The only thing more astonishing than your sheer stupidity (your first paragraph stands on its own) is that you actually take significant amounts of time to write out these comments week in and week out on the website of a college newspaper behind an anonymous moniker. Must be a fulfilling life.
Everyone needs a hobby. Here we learn that your's involves using your head for a public colonoscopy, then crabwalking across the stage of Dearbornistani wacademia expecting folks to admire your new Haha hat. But I accept your inability to address evidence as an admission of your intellectual bankruptcy.
Might want to look up proper use of an apostrophe before bringing out the big words.
You need help with the big words, huh? how sad.
Obviously a rant by an ignorant fool who knows nothing about academics, knows nothing about how museums work, and knows absolutely nothing about cultural property and their laws. If this person had ever bothered speaking with anyone rather than just spouting off without any information, they would understand how useless this article is.
Certainly not as useless as your comment.
Hhmm...that was a very well-thought out response to my response. You sure put me in my place
Excuse me, but what was there to respond to? You called the column "a rant" and "useless," and the writer an "ignorant fool who knows nothing about... academics/museums." Not once did you address a single point of his argument, so please don't give me that. Asides from perhaps allowing you to vent your frustrations, your comment was useless, adding absolutely nothing to the discussion.
while the western " plundering of indiginous civilizations' artifacts'" argument has its appeals, the fact is that alot of ancient artifacts are as culturally alien to current indiginous populations ( due to historical waves of invaders) as they are to the westerners who unearthed them....
that said, a generally good and balanced article
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