"In front of something like this, we are speechless."

There were reports this week (complete with video) that ISIS fighters had "ransacked Mosul’s central museum, destroying priceless artefacts that are thousands of years old."  The Met (among others) issued a statement condemning the destruction as "a tragic assault not only on the Mosul Museum, but on our universal commitment to use art to unite people and promote human understanding."  But there were later reports that "according to archaeologists, most if not all the statues in the Mosul museum are replicas not originals. The reason they crumble so easily is that they're made of plaster."  Leading LA Times art critic Christopher Knight to wonder: "If smashed Mosul Museum sculptures were replicas, is ISIS' propaganda video (gross) performance art?"