It's a matter of guess whether these people are being serious, but it seems that at least some people think United States just turned 2013 years ago. Boy is this wrong on so many levels.
What could possibly explain this kind of misconception? Let's dive in and think what is really wrong here.
- The years we have are actually sequential numbers, so if people claim United States was, indeed, founded on 4th of July, 1 AD, then it would only be 2012 years old, not 2013. This is my main point.
- In addition, because there was no year zero, if the United States actually turned 2013 years old, then it would have had to be founded on 4th of July, 1 BC, which is even more awkward. Of all the possible years, why would this happen in 1 BC?
- In 1 BC - or even in 1 AD - people of America did not know of this year number thing. They are based on an old theory about the birth year of Jesus. American Indians didn't even know who he was (though Mormons have some interesting ideas about what happened soon thereafter).
- Even the Julian calendar didn't use these years until long after the events involving Jesus, instead referring to the year of an emperor's reign and other temporal anchors points.
- The differences between Julian and Gregorian calendars mean that the real original date would have been other than 4th of July, so Americans may have been celebrating on the wrong date all along! Maybe it was actually 22nd of July.
2013 - 1 = 2012. Not 2013. Get it?
No comments :
Post a Comment