Hooray for books!

Today I took the time to seek out the philosophy section in the library-- what fun! The only sad thing was, with my Spanish, Philosophy, and Communications textbooks, as well as my Spanish-English dictionary, Greek book, binder, and Logic book from Gonzaga, I only had room for 4 more books in my backpack. Oh for backpacks with unlimited space! Still, I managed to cram in Aristotle's Ethics, a collection of Plato's Dialogues, Herodutus' History, and Nietsche's On Rhetoric and Language. I had to save more Aristotle and a Greek lexicon for next time :( And oh! So many more left behind on the shelves, and how rarely are they used! I am awed by the sheer volume of resources available, yet apalled that they are rejected so among my fellow students.

Random humorous incident of the day:
One of my professors, in an attempt to explain the concept of carpe diem, wrote instead carpe deum. She insists that it means "seize the day," and I cannot persuade her of its true meaning- literally, "seize the god."

Ok, so most people don't find that funny...oh well.

Today's thoughts and speculations:
The idea of cultural tolerance pops up frequently at a secular university. What I don't understand is why people presume that knowing or "understanding" a different cultural necessarily generates tolerance. I mean, the more I learn about an immoral society, the more likely I am to reject it. Simple ignorance is not the reason cultures conflict. Hitler didn't slaughter the Jews becasue he didn't know about their culture-- indeed, he slaughtered them because he knew. Evil and ignorance, though related, are not the same.