Chapter 77.3: Honey, I'm Home!

Possibly the most significant "welcome home" moment in literary history has been given a pinpoint date. That is, if you believe in the scientists' interpretations of some possibly metaphoric allusions.

According to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, researchers have identified April 16, in 1178 BC as the day on which Odysseus returned home to win the archery competition as well as the heart of faithful Penelope — and then proceeded to murder the 109 suitors and the dozen frisky maids.

Feel free to comment with quibbles, for there are many possibilities. For example, was that moment one of "the most heralded events of Western literature" as the Times describes it? Are the scientists taking liberties with their interpretations? Was Plutarch right in believing that Homer (or whoever is the true author of this epic tale – if there is one) was describing an eclipse when he relates: "The Sun has been obliterated from the sky, and an unlucky darkness invades the world"?

I'm open to getting into a playful online discussion about this whole thing. I find it fascinating. I don't pretend to be an expert, but the idea of getting to the exact date of such a seminal moment in the history of Western literature strikes me as fairly exciting!

Chapter 63.5: Ripple Effects

The Los Angeles Times published an interesting opinion piece in today's paper about the campaign ads of Democrat Mike Gravel. I can't say I've been following his presidential campaign, but I might take a look at his ads. The opinion item itself is not your average read either. More art school than political science, but I read it.

Chapter 62.4: Conservative Truth?

Ok, a quick note -- but I'll need to read on. I can't believe what I've just read in the Los Angeles Times: a history teacher got angry because a student used the term BCE (before common era) rather than BC (before Christ), which the student got it off of Wikipedia?! And as a result of this anger, the teacher decided that conservatives needed to create a wiki-based encyclopedia that conveys the conservatives' perspective.

That's ridiculous! The point of an encyclopedia is to convey information in as objective a manner as possible. It should inherently be neither conservative nor liberal, Democrat nor Republican, western nor eastern. I recognize that objective truth is a matter of debate, but that's part of the point too. If this teacher wants to dispute BCE, wonderful! Go for it. But it's not as though it was created by Wikipedia. The term has been around for many years. Personally, I think it's an unnecessary attempt at political correctness: the timeline starts at the same point, so the Christian bias remains intact. But I think Muslims and Buddhists recognize the historical significance of Jesus, regardless of whether they agree with the tenets of Christianity. Jews have a different calendar than Christians; these things coexist without any significant problems, right?

If the teacher wants to complain about the potential for anonymous changing of Wikipedia entries, fine. That's actually being addressed in something called Citizendium. I'd rather complain about why a teacher seems to have a problem with a student venturing beyond the teacher's information in order to learn. The teacher should be helping to mold this student's mind, helping the student to think for himself and assess the veracity of sources of information. Just because a book is published, for example, doesn't mean it's accurate. Interpretations cannot be assumed to be fact. As far as I can tell, BCE is a term of art -- and not a particularly elegant one. But teaching students to only use one perspective is simply ugly.