Wednesday 3 January 2007

A hundred score and seven years ago

A year is a fairly artibary unit, but we have them, and moreover they are increasing as we count them, which means we are counting away from something. Something that happened 2007 years ago.

When this type of counting was first initiated in 525 AD, it was calculated that it was 525 years from the birth of Jesus Christ (as that was considered the most important event to those who were doing the calculating). However, current scholars believe that Christ was born at least 4 BC if not earlier (due to Herod), so it's good to see that accuracy was built in from the beginning. But hey, what's a few years when designing a new calender system? At least, they were making the point that this event was a new beginning and everything referred to it.

But what of CE? 2007 AD = 2007 CE, so what happen 2007 years ago to initiate what is called the "common era"? (Also called the "Christian Era" which would be more accurate, but not very secular based if that is the point of changing notation.) Well... not a heck of a lot. At least, from a secular standpoint. Sure, the Greeks and Romans were doing amazing things, but why then and not some other event in a nearby year?

Or, even better, why not some other point entirely for a secular beginning? Why not the first recorded note of civilisation? Or why not when America was established as a country? (Let's face it, America thinks it's the greatest country in the world, so it would certainly favour an American-centric view like this.) Why choose the same starting point as the religious dating you're objecting to? WHAT'S THE FRICKIN' POINT???

Heck, why not switch to the Chinese or Mayan dating system? When you come down to it, it's only for forming a common basis and one can easily convert from one to the other.

But if you really want a new, entirely secular and, probably, rational standpoint, you can't just adopt another system and change one or two items. Either go whole hog and start from scratch, or just lump it and deal with it. The rest of us are capable of doing that...

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