> Thiel is not a donor to the museum and no money has been received via him or his businesses.

Yet? Seems like a pretty good way to get him to start donating?

I kinda hate this article. Yes, wealthy and powerful individuals will get special treatment over the general public. No, people who require a shit ton of private security will not be entering with the general public to see your cool tapestry, sorry to say.

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jstanley 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

It's fine, of course, but unwillingness to view with the general public should not constitute grounds for a private viewing.

I don't like the general public either, can I have a private viewing?

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Integer 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Sure, here's the link to the page to do so: https://www.britishmuseum.org/commercial/venue-hire

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gambiting 2 days ago | parent [-]

And can you book a private viewing of the bayoux tapestry on the ground of "I don't like the public" or are you just being flippant linking the general venue hire page.

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Integer 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

On the Bayeux Tapestry page [1] you can see that "there are no restrictions on dates or time slots for groups" and "For premium tours out-of-hours please contact traveltradebookings@britishmuseum.org"

It may have been arrranged by a business associate or a personal assistant, but I bet Thiel spent less time thinking about getting access to this tapestry than you reading through the article.

[1]https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/bayeux-tapestry#ti...

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chucksta a day ago | parent | prev [-]

No you book it on the grounds of "I have too much money" and then they don't ask questions.

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gambiting a day ago | parent [-]

...why would they do that? British Museum is a public insitution, is the director corrupt?

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chucksta 16 hours ago | parent [-]

Public institutions don't take donations in the UK? They certainly do in the US.

Since when are donations equal to corruption? I certainly wasn't claiming that.

	▲	novia 13 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		They have a donation page and everything https://www.britishmuseum.org/support-us/donate
	▲	gambiting 10 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		The article explicitly says Thiel hasn't made a donation. So if it's not in exchange for a donation, why is he being put forward for this? Ie - is the director of the museum(or someone else) receiving some benefit under the table to make this happen?

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2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

[deleted]

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gambiting 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

...so what's the benefit of letting him see it in a private viewing?

>>No, people who require a shit ton of private security will not be entering with the general public to see your cool tapestry, sorry to say.

Then...they don't have to see it? Like if Beyonce wanted to come in with her 20 bodyguards, should she be given an exclusive VIP viewing just because?

Like, the entire point this article tried to convey(and which I guess you missed), is that this artifact has a limited number of hours it can be displayed for, because every lux hour damages it further. It's not like opening the Louvre at night so you can come in and look at the mona Lisa for a few hours without the public. Him seeing it for an hour means it can be displayed for an hour less.

In general I'm just like....why. Why him. If he at least made a significant donation to the museum....we could argue that the financial benefit is worth it. Right now it begs the question - is it just a favour from someone to him? Like what's going on? That's exactly what journalism should be focusing on.

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novia 2 days ago | parent [-]

I did not miss that. I still see nothing amiss here.

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gambiting 2 days ago | parent [-]

...how? How do you not see a problem with the limited hours being effectively given to a billionaire for....what reason exactly?

That's what I mean by saying this is what journalism is for - to ask these kinds of questions. British Museum is a public institution funded by us taxpayers(all museums in England are free to visit!) and they have an artifact that can only be shown for X number of hours and they are deciding to give some of these hours to an American billionaire? Like, is the director taking bribes? Is someone else?

How do you look at it and go - meh, I don't see a problem here.

	▲	novia a day ago \| parent [-]
		> The exhibition gallery is still under construction, and only limited viewings of the tapestry have been possible across a range of stakeholders. The general public cannot even see it yet. > ...how? How do you not see a problem with the limited hours being effectively given to a billionaire for....what reason exactly? I don't have a problem with it because I am not naive to the way the world operates. The thing that is important to rich people is being able to have experiences that are rare and hard to obtain with money alone. If the museum wants something from Thiel that they need (his money, his resources, whatever) then giving him something rare up front (without actually losing anything I might add!) seems like a good deal that might make a future donation more likely to happen. And, if it is possible to obtain a private viewing of the tapestry with money alone, like another commenter pointed out could be the case, then there's no story here, because Thiel surely paid. Disclaimer: I am an American, so my money makes the world go round bias may be showing