Nails on a Chalkboard

[etherial]

I've been listing to Introduction to Judaism from The Teaching Company, and every time the Professor gives a date, the sound of the CE grates on my ears like nails on a chalkboard. Now, I understand that the whole point of CE is to make the calendar less "Christocentric", but not only do I feel it fails in that regard, I feel it perpetuates the supremacy of the Christian Calendar whilst smacking of Revisionist History.

It wasn't anno Domini, it was of the Common Era. Bullshit. Why do we use a Calendar where the months have an idiotically variable number of days? Why do we use a Calendar where half of the months are named after Pagan gods and the other half are named after numbers (that don't correspond to their ordinals)? Why do we use a Calendar that is neither absolute nor relative and crossing where Year 0 should be is a pain? Why do we use a Calendar with a Leap System accurate for only 4000 years? Why do we use a Calendar that has been moved several times over the course of the centuries? Why do we use a Calendar with 7-day weeks? Why do we use a Calendar whose origin is the (presumed) date of birth (or by some accounts conception) of the Christian God? Because it was divinely given to us by the Pope.

Replacing anno Domini with Common Era does nothing to change the Christian origin of the Calendar and serves only to perpetuate its (divine) "rightness". In its historical light, the use of "Common Era" can be seen as merely a shortening of "the common era of the Nativity of Our Lord" or "the common era of the birth of our Saviour". Ever since I got my very first checking account, I've been writing AD on my checks. Most people who notice it are bemused that I would put in the effort, but a few people, mostly Chinese and Jews, understand the point: The Christian Calendar is not the One True Calendar. Yes, it's the one used (nearly) everywhere right now, but not only could that change, but there are very good reasons to do so.

I've also, as an intellectual exercise, been keeping track of the date using the Calendar of the Illuminati that I devised back in 5999, after rereading The Illuminatus! Trilogy. If anyone's wondering, today is the second day of the month of A, 6007. For eight years, I've been telling time in my head using another Calendar, and it's been interesting. When we hit the next Leap Year (6011, for those of you who are counting), I'm planning on making some of the adjustments I've been thinking of, including adjusting the Leap System to remove some of its swing.

We haven't reached consensus on which Calendar to move to (I'm currently favoring the Tranquility Calendar with my Leap System), so I'm content at continuing to use the Christian Calendar. But I find it intellectually dishonest and disgustingly PC to call it anything but.

Comments

Re: It is truly the Common Era.

[bronzite.livejournal.com]

Why did the Common Era begin with the (incorrectly measured) birth (or was it conception) of Jesus of Nazareth?

Well, the Gregorian Calendar, which places Year 1 at the place we're familiar with it today, was spawned by Pope Gregory the Umpteenth in 1582. The Gregorian calendar was structurally very similar to the calendar that was dominant in Europe at the time, namely the Julian calendar. The Julian calendar was in use all over Europe because it was the calendar that was used by the Roman Empire from about 45 BC onwards. Gregory modified the Julian calendar to move Year 1 forward 750-some-odd years. This split is where the AD/BC split first appears.

During the 16th century, and for some time after that, the Catholic Church was a major player in the geopolitics of Europe. As their clergy had far-reaching influence in many of the nations of Europe, as well as a position in society as recognized scholars and, more significantly for these purposes, timekeepers, as many of the major clocks of the 12th-17th centuries were housed in churches or other major religious structures. Thus is was natural for secular society (such as it was) to adopt the church's time system, including its calendar.

From the 17th Century to the 19th Century, Europe began and ran through its major colonial period, colonizing, conquering, and making contact with all corners of the globe. Everywhere they went, they brought their time and their calendar with them. In order to do business with Europe, you dealt with the Gregorian Calendar for all records and scheduling. In addition, all of Europe colony's would end up using Europe's calendar, including the United States. We'll get back to that in a moment.

During the 19th Century we see the first emergence of a truly global superpower, namely the British Empire. Operating from their island off the European Mainland, Britain would dominate the world stage from the Napoleonic era up to the First World War, and even then the United Kingdom's power would be slow to fade. Again, the British were using the Gregorian calendar, and all the many nations of the world that interacted with Britain began using British systems not only for working with the Empire, but also with each other. Interesting, we still see the effects of this today in the widespread use of English between non-native speaking nations.

Britain begins its decline in power in the post-World War I years only to be surpassed by its former colony, the United States, which would continue to dominate the global economy until and through the end of the 20th century. The United States also used (and uses today) the Gregorian Calendar, giving that calendar an even more lengthy tenure as the calendar of commerce around the world.

The result? A calendar that was born out of religious decree, but has expanded far beyond its less-than-humble beginnings to become the world's most used calendar. From Rome to the Vatican to Europe to the rest of the World, there's a distinct train of events that lead to the particular Year 1 that is recognized and has been for centuries.

And that's my James Burke impression for the evening.

Re: It is truly the Common Era.

[bronzite.livejournal.com]

Preemptive note: I am aware of the resistance that Great Britain presented in initially adopting the Gregorian calendar and that they did not actually do so until the 18th Century, but trying to include that in the main text broke up the narrative a bit too much)

Re: It is truly the Common Era.

[dirkcjelli.livejournal.com]

... and what does that have to do with the Common Era year 1/zero?