[todeen]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Eric, I don't expect everyone to agree with me or for people I disagree with not to voice their views. I want to hear those views, but I also want to hear the rationales behind the views. These are difficult subjects and people hold a variety of views.

I have a lot of friends and family tell me that they like talking to me about sensitive topics because I rarely get upset when someone thinks differently than I do. I completely 100% agree that life is rarely black/white like many many people want it to be. Trying to look at life as gray, and deciphering gray scale is what makes it interesting. Almost all of my friends are Republican. Nearly all of my family are Democrats. I find talking to each of them is very rewarding.

Originally Posted by Shemp

Nobody seems to have brought up the biggest issue.....was this mask stolen from Gabon years ago? If so, shouldn't this mask be returned to the rightful owners?

I thought about this. If the item was bought by a private collector, I'm not sure the item will be repatriated. But if a museum bought it, there is a good chance that the provenance behind it would eventually force it to be returned to Gabon. The current ethics of museums is to return items stolen during colonialism. I don't necessarily agree to that every time. Some of the places getting items back are dangerous locations that have seen their museums pillaged within the last decade. To me, it's like returning an abused child to abusive parents. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn't. But the blanket sweep of "return all colonized stolen items" IMO seems to be mistaken.