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CALIFORNIA - As the magical date of January 1st, of
the year 2000 approached, people all over the world began to make
plans. Vintage champagne tripled in price, and star performers
agreed to engagements for unprecedented pay, and millions of people
traveled thousands of miles to remote and exotic locations, so
that they could ostensibly usher in the New Millennium in a special
way. The only problem is that the commencement of the next century,
as well as the next millennium, did NOT take place at midnight,
December 31st, 1999.
Every source for authenticated news came out with official millennial
editions, and every source was informed that they were cashing
in on popular sentiments, instead of conveying hard facts, and
even in the face of the most scholastic efforts to remind people
that the new millennium would not begin for an additional year,
the greater majority of the population was swept up into Millennial
Fever, as the hype washed over the world like a tidal wave. Major
television networks covered global time changes, celebrating the
arrival of the year 2000 as the world turned. Of course, after
watching midnight arrive in far off lands for 12 hours, the arrival
of midnight in one's own time zone could become anti-climactic.
Worse yet, all the predictions of doom and gloom failed to materialize.
All those Y2K "experts" who had generated profits from
raising alarm, now found that they had accomplished their appointed
tasks so successfully, that they were now out of business.
Again and again when informed that the genuine new century would
not begin until January 1, 2001, personalities with power and
influence indicated that it was their belief that
the Millennium can come whenever any individual so chooses. The
hysteria of the masses was raised in expectation by these same
personalities, who now declined to be governed by the laws of
time and space, and chose instead to pander to mass instinct,
regardless of how inaccurate or unlearned that instinct might
be. After the New Years' hangover wears off, sounder minds shall
prevail, and the population will ultimately be faced with the
absolute rules of the calendar, which remind us that a millennium
is one THOUSAND years, and that calendar years begin with the
year 1. The year 1000 of the common era (or AD) constituted the
end of the so-called first millennium of the Gregorian calendar,
the calendar in use in the Western world, and by modern international
business. However, it did not constitute one thousand
years on New Years' Eve of the year 1000, December 31st
of the year 999. That first millennium had not actually passed
into history until the one thousandth year had come
and gone, and the year 1001 began. The year 1001 was the first
year of the second millennium of the Gregorian calendar, and the
third millennium shall not begin until January 1st,
of the year 2001.
The reason the 2000 "Millennium" celebrations were a
hoax is simply because the year 2000 must pass before
the new millennium commences. The year 2000 is actually the last
year of the old millennium. Furthermore, this is not
subject to debate. The broadcast and cable television networks
blew their credibility by not giving their audience genuine and
truthful information. They will all declare loudly that they
"informed" their audiences that "according to some
experts and authorities" the new millennium would not begin
until 2001, but then they all titled their coverage of the New
Years' festivities as Millennial, and reporter after reporter
proceeded to discuss this supposed commencement of the "New"
millennium with their guests, very few of whom felt called upon
to clarify that they, themselves, realized that the new millennium
would not begin for an additional 365 days. The televised celebration
became a celebration of illiteracy; of millions of people taking
pride in their ability to ignore knowledge, and
to embrace the excitement of sloganeering.
The best excuse made for ignoring the scientific basis of the
Gregorian calendar was the fact that the marking of the passage
of the second millennium really only had significance to the Christian
community, because it was based on the notion of the birth of
Christ in the year 1. To justify this, the fact that the Jews
have their own New Year has been cited, the year 2000 under the
Christian calendar being the year 5760 to the Jewish community,
the Jews celebrating the sixth millennium since
their origin. The Muslims have their own calendar; the Chinese
have their own calendar; and the Hindus of India have their own
calendar. Now all of this is true, each of these
religious communities does, indeed, have its own dating system
for figuring out when certain rites and observances are to be
performed. The modern world, however, including the scientific
community, the academic community, and the world of international
finance, have adapted to the Gregorian calendar, which has been
kept to the pace of the earth in its rotations around the sun
within atomic seconds of accuracy. At some point in the past
the dating system was made to subsume religious affiliations,
at which time dates after the year 1 became known as the Common
Era (C.E.), and those dates before the year 1 became known as
Before the Common Era (B.C.E.) That is why the true date does
have some genuine relevance to modern human beings, aside from
their personal or religious beliefs.
Yet just because the beginning of the year 2000 is not the beginning
of the next century, or the millennium, does not
mean that people should not celebrate and party and have fun.
New Years' Eve is one of the most popular holidays in the modern
world, and there is no reason for people not to enjoy their lives.
The only distinction that needs to be made for the benefit of
those who value education, and true information, is the fact that
the rules of the calendar are strict enough that we can definitively
state for the record that January 1st, of the year
2000, is NOT the first day of the new millennium. It is instead
the first day after the passage of 1,999 years since the beginning
of the second millennium, as the first day of the 2000th
year itself. We know, without doubt, that the first day of the
new millennium shall be 1 January, 2001. So if you want to go out and drink Millennial beer, or Millennial champagne, or wear millennial designer clothes, or dine on special Millennial meals served at fine restaurants anxious to cash in on the Millennial hype monster, go ahead and enjoy yourself. Just remember that 2000 is not the millennial year, except as the last year of the old millennium. The commencement of the next millennium is an event that is at this early date, still in the future. SOURCE: Written exclusively by the CNS for the World Free Internet News and Current Events Channel, 01/07/2000. |
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