BCE,HAHAHAHAH! That's the mad cow disease !
I agree. REJECT NEWSPEAK.
My professors use "B.P.", meaning "before present".
On several occasions I was "corrected" - "you mean CE."
So I started saying things like: "When the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in the year of our Lord 70" etc.
People were absolutely fuming.
CE has been in use for at least 100 years.
I've seen this before:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29870
And I blogged about it:
http://www.wholewheatblogger.com/index.cfm?fa=blog.entry&permalink=2002%5C12%5Cpoint-is-still-made.xml
Of course, the question that most begs to be asked here is, what event are we dating the Common Era from? Answer: the approximate birth date of Jesus of Nazareth!
Don't accept the common era BS. It's AD and BC just like it always was.
"C.E." is so blue state...
The birth of Christ is, frankly, as good as any whether you're Christian or not. It has the advantage of long usage. The Muslims use the Hejira, which is just as arbitrary (and contains similar but smaller elements of uncertainty). But "B.C.E." and "C.E." are simply silly. Using a reference point while pretending to ignore the referent is an insult to anyone's intelligence.
Everything that is significant in the world began on 9 September 1998. Someday soon historians will be using BBtD and ABtD. Or else.
Though I could really care less what terminology anyone else uses, I use bce and ce. Let me explain to you why. The term before "Christ" automatically acknowledges Jesus as the Messiah and son of G-d. Since I a Jew do not believe he was (is) it makes no sense for me to use the term BC. In respect of the Christian calender which bases its 2 era's on the life and death of Jesus I believe that by using the same timeline but not acknowledging Jesus as more than a Rabbi ie. BC, I am showing respect to your religion while not using terminology which defies mine. Let me know what you all think.
-Priceofreedom-
Sorry, I meant "8 September." But if I can get my own signup date wrong...
Ditto. BCE and CE are obnoxious and wouldn't be done if they were taken from any non-Christian dating system. I'm taking a Chinese archaeology class and the American instructor uses CE/BCE. Interestingly, the Chinese don't use them. They use AD and BC when using Gregorian dates.
I noticed this when I returned to college in the early 90s, for an advanced degree. I had to take more history, and kept seeing "BCE" and "CE," and couldn't figure out what it meant. When I finally figured out what it meant, I was incensed. But what could I do? If there's a way to stop this PC madness, I' love to know what it is. This essay is right on track, I couldn't agree more.
I always use BC and AD. If the professor insists on using CE and BCE, usually I put a description: Christian Era and Before Christian Era.
No BC or AD? Fine, how about we call the current year 228 US. New Years Day will from now on occur on July 4.
Oh, you don't like this? Suck lemons.
It seems to me, if we really want to be totally PC and not offend anybody, there are only two solutions. One, we reference from the date the earth was condensed out of a blob of dust and gas ("BE" for Birth of Earth). I think that was about 4 billion years ago. Now pinpointing this exact date could pose a problem and there may be a bit more uncertainty than there is about the birth of Jesus. At the other extreme, we could use the aforementioned "Before Present" reference point. We all certainly know when the present is, there's no doubt about that. This is very useful to university academics because there are no longer any absolutes in the academy -- everything is relative anyway. Furthermore, academics insist on rewriting history anyway, so what's the point of having a fixed reference date if history is going to change? Just look at the Clinton library that opened today. Instead of "Impeachment," it focuses on "Persecution." That's rapid fire revisionism and strongly supports the use of BP over the use of BE. Since there's not point fighting the tide of liberalist fantasies, I suggest we pick on, be done with it and get on with our lives.
They can take the "Common Era" and stick it where the sun don't shine.
Yeah, the 'educated' archeologists have been using BCE and CE for awhile.
Trying to figure out what years they are speaking about is insane.
Well, he got these bass ackwards, didn't he? Mars is the god of war and Janus the other things.
As for the BCE and CE thingy, I see nothing wrong with it. It does not change the culture one iota, because most people can't even use AD and BC correctly (the former goes before the date and the latter after).
My personal pet peeve, however, is the lack of a year 0. I think we should take 1 BC (or BCE) and make that the year 0. Dates before then would be proceeded by a minus sign (-) making the whole BC/BCE thingy moot.
BTTT