So I'm reading in Wikipedia the other day when Summer and I were having a discussion on how time is measured. We use B.C. and A.D. to note the year, but this is a result of us being part of Western Society (which is somewhat synonymous with modern society), and not because it's been the universal standard. In fact, there is an interesting theory on the idea that 297 years of our recorded history never existed.
I had read how the Myans, the Chinese, and many other civilizations had their own ways of keeping track of time, and specifically decimal time had them dividing the days into 10 hours, with 100 minutes each, with 100 seconds per minute. The most interesting of these (to me at least) was the French Republican Calendar, which hasn't been used since 1795.
But I digress...
As I was reading the entry on the causes of the French Revolution, it started to sound very familiar to our current situation.
- Pre-revolutionary France's famine, disease and malnutrition is our modern day equivalant of a healthcare system in dire need of reform, and our growing epidemics of obesity, diabetes, and increased rates of cancer diagnoses.
- France's balooning national debt was a result of fiscal mismanagement and a budget drained by years of war as well as the consipicuous consumption by the noble class. I would equate France's nobility and clergy with our modern day politicians and deep-pocketed corporations who actively lobby to ensure profitability at the expense of taxpayers.
No, I'm not against capitalism, I'm not pro-Obama, and I'm not turning into a liberal or a radical but from what I read... I really wonder how long this situation can go on before it ends violently.
Just a thought.
1 comments:
You're fired you democrat
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