(no subject)
I watched Agora, as one of the essay topics my students could choose relates to the film. I wish very much that I hadn't. Though the story is, I think, of great value and something that people should be exposed to, it was utterly gut-wrenching to watch.
The destruction of the great Library of Alexandria is, to my mind, one of the greatest tragedies that humanity has inflicted on itself. The loss of the books and plays, the knowledge of centuries is senseless and irrational. To burn books because they belonged to someone not of your faith... To destroy centuries of knowledge because one person believes something different than you... It is monstrous and heinous. One can only imagine where we might now be, what we might now know, had we the materials that were destroyed in the Library.
I have always felt a particular irrational connection with the Library of Alexandria, as my father very much wanted to name me Hypatia, after the philosopher-scientist who was, some stories say, martyred defending the Library, or at least the principles of the Library. (He still does, we have semi-annual conversations about how unlikely it is that he'll convince me to change my name.)
Watching a mob, even of actors, destroy just a representation of the Library of Alexandria made me nauseated and tense. I can't stop crying. I just... don't understand what could drive that level of wanton hatred and willful ignorance. I don't understand why it should matter so much if the person next to you believes the same things about the nature of the universe as you do. Which, I suppose, is why organized religion and I get along so very very poorly.
Mostly though, I find myself devastated and upset. I... don't really have more to say than that.
::edit::
Having now read my students' papers on Agora, I am now upset and furious. Of the eight papers on the film, no less than five of them defend the poor poor abused Christians and the "unscrupulous" accusations against St. Cyril (don't get me started on some of the people who are saints), how dare anyone blame them for the destruction of the Sarapeum and flaying Hypatia alive with broken pottery?!
*growl*
The destruction of the great Library of Alexandria is, to my mind, one of the greatest tragedies that humanity has inflicted on itself. The loss of the books and plays, the knowledge of centuries is senseless and irrational. To burn books because they belonged to someone not of your faith... To destroy centuries of knowledge because one person believes something different than you... It is monstrous and heinous. One can only imagine where we might now be, what we might now know, had we the materials that were destroyed in the Library.
I have always felt a particular irrational connection with the Library of Alexandria, as my father very much wanted to name me Hypatia, after the philosopher-scientist who was, some stories say, martyred defending the Library, or at least the principles of the Library. (He still does, we have semi-annual conversations about how unlikely it is that he'll convince me to change my name.)
Watching a mob, even of actors, destroy just a representation of the Library of Alexandria made me nauseated and tense. I can't stop crying. I just... don't understand what could drive that level of wanton hatred and willful ignorance. I don't understand why it should matter so much if the person next to you believes the same things about the nature of the universe as you do. Which, I suppose, is why organized religion and I get along so very very poorly.
Mostly though, I find myself devastated and upset. I... don't really have more to say than that.
::edit::
Having now read my students' papers on Agora, I am now upset and furious. Of the eight papers on the film, no less than five of them defend the poor poor abused Christians and the "unscrupulous" accusations against St. Cyril (don't get me started on some of the people who are saints), how dare anyone blame them for the destruction of the Sarapeum and flaying Hypatia alive with broken pottery?!
*growl*