Stop the press! The Crab Museum has spoken out on “Palestine”!
To be honest, this wasn’t the connection between crabs and Israel-haters I was thinking of, but there you go.
Mind you, the UK Sex Worker’s Union has already spoken up, so crabs was already represented.
But joking aside, there is something rather cancerous insidious about this. From a 2023 New York Times article on the museum:
At a time when museums around the world are grappling with how to attract new audiences, with visitor numbers still flagging since the coronavirus pandemic began, the two-year-old Crab Museum’s use of silly humor in its exhibits and wall texts is proving to be a success. It now attracts around 80,000 visitors a year and recently won an award for its social media presence, which it uses to sell jokey merchandise including T-shirts and tote bags.
Much of the humor is childish, and aimed at young visitors. A section on mating habits, for instance, features a photo of crabs midcoitus, emblazoned with the word “censored.” Other elements are more involved. To illustrate how the animals “molt” — a process in which a crab pulls its body out of its shell so that it can then grow a larger exoskeleton — the museum has a bizarre video of Ned Suesat-Williams, one of its founders, struggling to crawl out of a suit of armor backward, without using his hands.
The museum’s text and graphic-led exhibits try to teach visitors about crab anatomy, mating habits and the importance of decapods to marine ecosystems, but also use crabs as ways into discussing bigger issues, including environmental threats and the inequities of capitalism and colonialism.
The more serious displays include postage stamps from former British colonies that featured depictions of crabs, displayed next to wall text discussing imperialism, and a cupboard labeled “Truth Inside! Do Not Open!” that contains text asserting that capitalism has warmed the planet and is threatening ecosystems.
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Staff at some of Britain’s more renowned scientific institutions are paying attention to the Crab Museum’s approach. Chris Stringer, of the Natural History Museum in London, said in an email that the museum’s silly approach leads to learning “by stealth.” It “teaches more in a small space and short time than many others with far larger budgets,” he added.
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In 2019, Ned Suesat-Williams, 30, and his brother Bertie, 33 — who both have a background working for children’s magazines — plus their friend Chase Coley, 32, decided to create a museum that could discuss political issues that they were concerned about, while still engaging young people. They eventually settled on crabs as the museum’s focus because of Margate’s seaside location. Plus, Bertie Suesat-Williams said, crabs were “funny and weird”
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“Cosplaying as a museum seems to mean we’ve become one,” Coley said.
In other words, a self-described “funny and weird” crab museum run by ex-children’s magazine writers is using cartoon crustaceans to indoctrinate kids with anti-West and anti-Israel propaganda – all under the guise of science and silliness.
It’s brinewashing brainwashing.
And no, this isn’t satire. It’s just Britain 2025.
Let the kids learn about molting, not moral rot.
