Happening right now in Hong Kong - the police is firing rubber bullets and using batons, pepper spray, tear gas and water cannons on peaceful protesters who took the streets to protest against the passing of a controversial law which would allow China to extradite people.
Protesters set up camps, gave out snacks and surgical masks before all of this started. Tanks are apparenrly out in the streets as well and people are being hurt as I write this, but they are not backing down.
Most of the protesters are young people, university students, even high schoolers.
THE OFT-LAMENTED “BURNING OF THE LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA” STRAIGHT-UP DID NOT HAPPEN. THERE WAS AN ACCIDENTAL FIRE IN PART OF ITS ARCHIVES NEAR THE END OF ITS PERIOD OF OPERATION, BUT THE LIBRARY SURVIVED AND THE DAMAGE WAS REPAIRED WITH MINIMAL, IF ANY, LOSS OF INFORMATION.
THE ACTUAL REASON FOR THE “DESTRUCTION” OF THE LIBRARY IS AS MUNDANE AS ANY OTHER LIBRARY CLOSING— ALEXANDRIAN SCHOLARSHIP HAD DECLINED IN PROMINENCE AND THE LIBRARY WAS LACKING IN GOVERNMENT FUNDS AND PUBLIC SUPPORT. UPON ITS CLOSING, MOST IF NOT ALL OF THE WORKS CONTAINED IN THE LIBRARY WOULD HAVE BEEN DISTRIBUTED AMONG ITS DAUGHTER LIBRARIES. BY THE TIME THE ACTUAL PHYSICAL LIBRARY WAS DESTROYED, IT’S UNLIKELY IT WAS EVEN STILL IN OPERATION.
IF YOU ARE KEPT UP AT NIGHT WONDERING WHAT WE LOST IN THE BURNING OF THE LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA, REST EASY, IT WAS “BASICALLY NOTHING” SINCE THE BURNING DID NOT HAPPEN AND MOST OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE LIBRARY SURVIVED ITS CLOSING. HOWEVER, IF YOU STILL WANT SOMETHING TO WORRY ABOUT, MIGHT I SUGGEST THE THOUSANDS OF YEARS OF HISTORY, SCIENCE, MEDICINE, LANGUAGE, AND CULTURE WIPED OUT IN RECENT CENTURIES BY ONGOING COLONIALIST CAMPAIGNS?
Source?
YOU WON’T FIND A BETTER LIST OF SCHOLARLY AND PEER-REVIEWED SOURCES ON THE RISE AND FALL OF THE ALEXANDRIAN LIBRARIES THAN THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE WIKIPEDIA PAGE FOR THE LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA.
IT’S ALSO WORTH NOTING THAT THE POPULAR STORY OF THE LIBRARY BEING MALICIOUSLY BURNED AT ITS PEAK IN ORDER TO WIPE OUT THE KNOWLEDGE CONTAINED THEREIN STARTED AS AN ISLAMOPHOBIC LIBEL BY A CHRISTIAN BISHOP (GREGORY BAR HEBRÆUS) WHO CLAIMED THAT THE “MOSLEM” CALIPH OMAR BURNED THE “GREAT LIBRARY CONTAINING ALL THE KNOWLEDGE OF YHE WORLD” BECAUSE THE WORKS INSIDE WOULD LIKELY CONTRADICT THE QU’RAN. THIS IS 100% A FABRICATION WRITTEN OVER 300 YEARS AFTER OMAR’S DEATH BY A CHRISTIAN INTENTIONALLY TRYING TO PIN ATROCITIES ON MUSLIMS IN ORDER TO DISCREDIT THEIR FAITH
BECAUSE OF THE FACT THAT THE REAL MOTIVATION BEHIND THE STORY IS WILDLY BIGOTED, MANY BLAME THE EMPEROR THEODOSIUS FOR THE LIBRARY’S DESTRUCTION, SINCE HE DID ORDER THE RAZING OF THE TEMPLE THAT HOUSED THE LIBRARY IN ORDER TO WIPE OUT PAGANISM IN THE REGION AND REPLACE IT WITH CHRISTIANITY. HOWEVER, BY THIS TIME, THE LIBRARY WAS ALREADY MOSTLY (IF NOT ENTIRELY) DEFUNCT, AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN IT WOULD’VE SURVIVED IN THE MANY COPIES MADE BY ALMOST EVERY SCRIBE WHO STUDIED THERE
OTHERS ATTEMPT TO BLAME CAESAR, WHO DID IN FACT START A FIRE IN THE PART OF THE CITY THE LIBRARY WAS HOUSED IN THAT MIGHT HAVE AFFECTED PART OF THE LIBRARY’S WAREHOUSES, BUT THIS FIRE HAPPENED SEVERAL HUNDRED YEARS BEFORE THE LIBRARY’S ULTIMATE CLOSURE. AS MANY HISTORIANS WILL POINT OUT, CAESAR HAD HIS SHARE OF ENEMIES, AND HAD HE BEEN RESPONSIBLE, THERE WOULD BE MORE SPECIFIC DOCUMENTATION THAN “CAESAR STARTED A FIRE NEAR THE LIBRARY ONCE HUNDREDS OF YEARS BEFORE IT WAS DESTROYED”
IT’S ALSO WORTH NOTING THAT “THE LIBRARY” REFERS TO THE SCHOLARLY ORGANIZATION THAT RAN THE VARIOUS BRANCHES OF THE LIBRARY, WHICH WERE LOCATED IN VARIOUS PARTS OF THE CITY
“Inspired by Fallout 4. For anyone who hasn’t played any Fallout games,
feral ghouls are humans who were horribly irradiated in the nuclear war.
The radiation caused their brains to deteriorate, they are violent
and have no ability to reason. But sometimes after killing one, you
might find that they were carrying with them a baby rattle or some
keepsake from their lives before.I always wonder if they get glimpses of loved ones and memories from
their old lives. And if they retain any part of themselves from before.
