It's not that far off the solstice.
this post was submitted on 31 Dec 2025
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The point isn't arbitrary. It's the winter solstice. It just drifted a bit due to history and stuff.
It's Xmas that highjacked the winter solstice. New year used to be the start of spring (March) then the Romans decided to acknowledge the first 2 months, and then changed the start of the year to January so they could elect some officials to govern Spain instead of waiting an extra 2 months. It's about as arbitrary as it can get.
https://youtu.be/RrGHtl5qJfk About 24 minutes in to skip to ^
Is the fact that the start of spring is 2 months after the solstice arbitrary? Seems a pretty clear cause and effect.
But honestly we should make a new calendar that starts on the spring solstice, is subdivided by solstices, and doesn't have weeks (I just don't like them).
But it isn't. Winter solstice already happened before Christmas. New Year, un our current culture, is 100% arbitrary.
It's distorted by a fuckton of history and stuff, including the invention of yearly calendars and manipulating them over millenia, plus whatever christianity added to the mix, but it's not arbitrary.
It's a fuckton of "history and stuff", including the invention of yearly calendars and manipulating them over millenia, plus whatever christianity added to the mix, but yes, it's not arbitrary.
edit: my apologies for the Northern hemispherism.
I don't see how this is so heavily downvoted...? It makes complete sense that humans (by far most of which live in the northern hemisphere) would celebrate that the darkest days have passed and that we're heading from a dark and harsh winter towards a promise of spring. Coming from the north, I can definitely testify to the fact that you feel in your whole body that the days start getting longer.
The fact that the exact date is slightly off basically amounts to a rounding error, and making a point out of it is just pedantic.
But it's the middle of summer!
Ssh! If the northern hemisphere people figure out how awesome summer Christmas and new years is we'll never get rid of them.
The fact that the other hemisphere exists did cross my mind, but I decided to ignore it because clarifying would have reduced the quippy nature of the comment.
The comic is also saying that the entire world lives by the Gregorian calendar but that isn't true as well.
So idiots.... 🫣
I was going to point out that if it isn't, in fact, the winter solstice, then it is arbitrary.
But I decided to start the new year without the pretentiousness and pedantic proclamations
Shit, if we all do that, it's gonna be real quiet around here.
There's always room for more humble brags
We'll just enjoy the silence.
♪All I ever wanted. All I ever needed. Is Here. In my arms. Words are very unnecessary, They can only do harm.
Actually this is a fair point. What counts as arbitrary? For me the slight drift is just due to the way calendars and culture works, and while it is more arbitrary than having it on the solstice. It is less arbitrary than having it on your(anyone who happens to read this) birthday. It's ultimately a matter of where you draw the baseline. Even if new year was on the winter solstice you could still argue that it's arbitrary because there are four others. Arbitrarity is relative.
100% arbitrary
Sure, if you ignore the expansive history of humans' measurement of time and the cultural impacts on it. That's just looking for reasons to be a dismissive ass, though.
The sun and moon dont give a fuck
The sun is not conscious and so not capable of giving a fuck... so what?
|The sun is not conscious and so not capable of giving a fuck… so what?
We actually do not know that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panpsychism
Is Our Sun Conscious? A theory of stellar consciousness
Fringe Theory Claims the Sun May Be Conscious
Could The Sun Be Conscious? Enter The Unorthodox World Of Panpsychism
Could a planet really develop a brain?
Earth Itself May Be an Intelligent Being, Suggests New Theory
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Irrelevant to the claim. Something isn't arbitrary just because you don't care about it.
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The fact you think that's the moon explains a lot.
Isn't the moon next door to the sun? Theyre both in thr sky together