Consider this a sidenote to Fatwa #9
On the question of calendars:
BCE is stupid.
CE is even more stupid.
It pains me to side with the kind of rank ignorant "politically incorrect" people who rise up against BCE and CE in favor of BC and AD, because I do not share their regressive reasons for disliking the neo-terminology that much of academia has attempted to pass off as being more equitable to people who are not Christians.
The fact that it has sparked a backlash from people who are obsessed with seeing themselves as oppressed despite their longstanding dominance does not change the essential problem with the new formulation. If you really think about it, the notion of referring to the obviously Christian BC/AD dating system as a "Common Era" is more patently offensive to non-Christians, because it essentially cements the idea of Christian cultural dominance by referring to the Christian dating system as being "common" to all cultures. It's a good thing the regressive movements of Christian thought haven't quite understood this otherwise they might really get on board the whole foisting the "common era" on everyone. Instead, they are obsessed with making sure they retain the "year of our lord" and "before Christ".
On the other hand, they are quite right in retaining the old terminology because at least it's honest about what it is. If I started trying to convince people that we should use hijri dates and just call it "the common era" I would hope for a similar coalition of diametric opposites would align to consign such terminology to the dustbin. You should call a thing what it is instead of trying to disguise it as something it isn't.
There is no such meat as "long pork" and there is no such thing as a "common era". Many graves can attest to the fact that people on every side of this issue deny the very notion of a common era. And it seems also illogical for the idea of a "common era" to emanate from quarters that use the new terminology on the behalf of diversity. Isn't it more sensitive to cultural diversity to acknowledge that different cultures use different calendars?
Ah, but I can already hear Mufti Dor berating me for exercising this kind of "politically incorrect" polemic, and I will admit that it is with extreme distaste that I pick up this cudgel because I know where it's been and what else it's used for as Fatwa #9 clearly demonstrates. So, I will leave it at this: I may dislike the people who share my opinion on this, but I believe there are sound logical reasons why BCE and CE should be dispensed with in favor of the more traditional BC and AD designations. Of course, for those of us who also use the Jewish, AHL and AHS calendars it means very little to have to call it BC or AD. It is just another dating system that we have to keep track of.
On that note, I believe the heat of Thermidor is already approaching and I must draw the shades.
as noted in
ReplyDeletehttp://duelingfatwas.blogspot.com/2011/06/fatwa-9-on-politically-incorrect.html
i give an exemption to those, like Mufti WMR, who have seen what the PC police are, and aren't.
so i will not berate.
and, i note that my colleague has implied an important observation: there are few principles so unequivocally just that they can stand being agreed with by a smug frat boy with his first subscription to national review.