Looting the Looter State

I got an E-mail from dj the other day about Strawman's post Treasure the Memories at the Australian Libertarian Society Blog. Strawman questions whether the looting of Iraq's museums is such a bad thing:

The fact is that some individual (or individuals) made a decision in Iraq to deprive the collective of these relics of the past. Perhaps this was the act of a thoughtless hooligan, or perhaps it was someone who thought that it was time for Iraq to move forward.

Thinking about it, there's some merit to the idea of depriving the collective (an organisation which imposes the wishes of the group at the expense of the freedom of the individual) of treasures that they really don't appreciate anyway. Especially in my current circumstances: as well as feeding the cats and fishes (but not, I hope, acting as feline undertaker) it would be pleasing to repay my absent hosts with some small gift to show my appreciation for the way they have more or less given me the run of their house for the next couple of weeks. There's a couple of Arthur Streetons and Frederick McCubbins at the National Gallery of Victoria which would really enhance the decor. However much the curators might miss them, I doubt that the hoi-polloi who drag their icy-pole sucking toddlers through the place would notice much more than a few blank spaces on the walls. While I'm at it, I might as well pick up a Norman Lindsay for myself. After all, it was my taxes that paid for the damn things.