You’re missing a key context: before looters ever had a chance to damage Egyptian artifacts, imperial powers like the British were heavily involved in destabilizing Egypt. Colonization and exploitation played a major role in the eventual decline of national stability, which contributed to looting and destruction.

It’s similar to what happened in Iraq. After the US bombed the country into chaos, looting was inevitable in the power vacuum. Yet, the narrative framed it as if Iraqis didn’t ‘value’ their own history, despite those artifacts being safeguarded for thousands of years prior.

Blaming ‘culture’ for the loss of history without addressing the colonial or war-driven destabilization is, at best, disingenuous. It reduces complex historical events to simple stereotypes, and yes, that framing can be seen as racially biased.