Last Week Tonight with John Oliver has not only consistently been informative but has shocked us with an interesting take on the current world’s problems. Using HBO’s big budget to using it for a humorous take on the story portrayed that week is something that the audience loves about John and well, John also likes to spite so it’s a win-win for both of us. It is, 3rd October and what John Oliver has done on this week’s Episode is something truly remarkable.
With an Episode of close to 40 minutes, covering the main story in two parts he not only showed us the grim reality of a divided world but also showed us the horrors of what we simply didn’t have time for in our busy-busy schedules.
This week’s Episode was focused on “Antiquities” specifically The British Museum which is home to a lot of stolen goods from around the world like The Koh-i-Noor from India.
The whole story started with the British representatives of the Museums patronizing the stolen artifacts from other countries even saying that if they started giving back the artifacts/antiquities, the British Museum would soon be empty.
John discussed the pointers that the British Museum gives for keeping the artifacts with them like they’re a worldwide repository of artifacts and people can come to see them anytime they can but not understanding that those artifacts could be not just artifacts for the country but can be a symbol of something religious or the country’s history.
What the Episode ended on, was the most interesting part. The show has Kumail Nanjiani as the host for a museum titled “The Payback Museum” which is the World’s First Museum to provide recourse to the nations that have plundered the greatest treasures or artifacts throughout history by colonials. It’s a way to disconnect people, specifically the Western People exactly the way they did to everyone else. The tour of the museums starts as follows
1). Africa Wing: Where there should’ve been Benin Bronzes that show the story of a Kingdom, but since they’re not there its home to one of the Stonehenge Arches since it was just collecting dust.
2). Latin America Wing: Where they’d like to show Latin Indigenous, and Peruvian Textiles but since they’re in the Philadelphia Museum instead the Museum features The Liberty Bell in their Latin America Wing.
3). Mount Rushmore: The Payback Museum also has a Mount Rushmore, well just the tip of it. To be more specific, the tip of George Washington’s nose.
4). Asia Wing: Where they wanted to show the priceless religious statues of Asian Heritage, they only have their feet to showcase because the rest has been stolen away by the Westerns. But instead, they got a couple of things from France, like Monalisa, a bunch of things from Versailles, and Eugene Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People.
5). Last Wing is the collection of most prized treasures, in a so delicately designed room we call the Storeroom that has the items that have an immense value which is also staying inside a box.
The tour of the Museum ended with an invitation to the countries that the stuff portrayed in the Museum belonged to but only come during the Open Hours, and definitely do not ask these antiquities back because if they start giving it back, the whole Museum will be empty.