6 ms·

After the EU does this, 90%+ of the world population will have abandoned DST changes. The only holdouts will be North America, a few Middle Eastern & African co

by mrb 8y ago

After the EU does this, 90%+ of the world population will have abandoned DST changes. The only holdouts will be North America, a few Middle Eastern & African countries, some Brazilian provinces, and 4-5 other small countries or provinces. Sounds like a repeat of the Imperial vs Metric system divide. Why does the USA always have to be the odd major modern country using obsolete customs? Is there a cultural explanation?

purpleidea 8y ago
> Is there a cultural explanation? Yes they're lacking in culture. :P Seriously though, I think culturally they think whatever they're doing must be "the best", irregardless of whatever the rest of the world thinks. And it caused NASA disasters too!
- lloeki 8y ago
  > they think whatever they're doing must be "the best", irregardless of what <others> think The word that comes to my mind is "arrogance". Is there a better fitting word? (Honest question, not a native speaker)
  - phds 8y ago
    As a fellow non north american, that seems quite fitting.
  - afroisalreadyin 8y ago
    I think the proper academic term for it is "American exceptionalism"
    - kmano8 8y ago
      Even American chauvinism.
- shrimp_emoji 8y ago
  >I think culturally they think whatever they're doing must be "the best", irregardless of whatever the rest of the world thinks. Funny, one could say the same about Europeans. And it'd be an equally sweeping and divisive claim.
toomanybeersies 8y ago
You've missed parts of Australia and New Zealand, plus the UK (which will have left the EU by then and may keep DST). DST seems to be one of those weird Anglophone things that we do, I would't criticise the USA directly for this one, they're not alone. As a New Zealander I was actually surprised to learn that DST isn't standard across the globe.
- century19 8y ago
  You think UK will keep it after Brexit if EU doesn't? I doubt it. Australia has a strange situation where some states observe DST and some don't. (Or had 10 years ago anyhow)
  - xmodem 8y ago
    Still does - Queensland doesn't observe it, while most of the rest of the country does.
  - scaryclam 8y ago
    I don't think it's going to be much of an issue for the UK to keep it. They're not on the same timezone anyway, so it won't change much. So yeah, considering the amount of hassle it would be to change, I wouldn't be surprised to see them stay with it.
    - tomxor 8y ago
      > I don't think it's going to be much of an issue for the UK to keep it. They're not on the same timezone anyway, so it won't change much. But it will change, specifically: twice a year any UK-EU timezone offsets would change, affecting all communication and arrangements between UK and EU. Currently we are all in sync even though we are offset, so it might actually be more hassle to keep it DST if the EU does not.
    - tom_mellior 8y ago
      > They're not on the same timezone anyway, so it won't change much. It would change the time relative to Ireland, which is in the same timezone as the UK and has very close ties to it. It would introduce timezone differences along the Irish border. It would also change the time difference to every EU country twice a year; those differences are currently constant. > So yeah, considering the amount of hassle it would be to change What hassle would that be?
caiob 8y ago
Brazil does not have provinces, it has states and territories.
sneak 8y ago
In my experience, americans say “everyone” when they mean “everyone in the country” and “the whole world” when they mean “the usa”. This may shed some light into the psychological context for such decisions (or lack thereof).
freetime2 8y ago
Setting aside the fact that public opinion is already changing in the US and several states are already voting to do away with DST, do you really think it’s fair to criticize the US for being one of the few countries using an “obsolete” custom when the EU hasn’t even made the transition yet? There are plenty of valid reasons to criticize the US but this isn’t one of them. And the mere fact that you would read an article about the EU and your mind immediately jumps to what the US will do almost lends credence to the idea that the US is indeed exceptional.
monochromatic 8y ago
Unwillingness to change, plus a STRONG unwillingness to be told to change.
fl0wenol 8y ago
Anecdotes aren't data but everyone I've talked to about this subject in the states is either ambivalent or tired of DST and would not miss it. It's just that in order to make the switch, the whole country has to commit together for it to not be a pain, and that's a big lift for something that the public thinks about twice a year. It'd take some current event or an extended public campaign plus momentum to get over the hump.

by mrb 8y ago

purpleidea 8y ago

> Is there a cultural explanation? Yes they're lacking in culture. :P Seriously though, I think culturally they think whatever they're doing must be "the best", irregardless of whatever the rest of the world thinks. And it caused NASA disasters too!

lloeki 8y ago
> they think whatever they're doing must be "the best", irregardless of what <others> think The word that comes to my mind is "arrogance". Is there a better fitting word? (Honest question, not a native speaker)
- phds 8y ago
  As a fellow non north american, that seems quite fitting.
- afroisalreadyin 8y ago
  I think the proper academic term for it is "American exceptionalism"
  - kmano8 8y ago
    Even American chauvinism.
shrimp_emoji 8y ago
>I think culturally they think whatever they're doing must be "the best", irregardless of whatever the rest of the world thinks. Funny, one could say the same about Europeans. And it'd be an equally sweeping and divisive claim.

toomanybeersies 8y ago

You've missed parts of Australia and New Zealand, plus the UK (which will have left the EU by then and may keep DST). DST seems to be one of those weird Anglophone things that we do, I would't criticise the USA directly for this one, they're not alone. As a New Zealander I was actually surprised to learn that DST isn't standard across the globe.

century19 8y ago
You think UK will keep it after Brexit if EU doesn't? I doubt it. Australia has a strange situation where some states observe DST and some don't. (Or had 10 years ago anyhow)
- xmodem 8y ago
  Still does - Queensland doesn't observe it, while most of the rest of the country does.
- scaryclam 8y ago
  I don't think it's going to be much of an issue for the UK to keep it. They're not on the same timezone anyway, so it won't change much. So yeah, considering the amount of hassle it would be to change, I wouldn't be surprised to see them stay with it.
  - tomxor 8y ago
    > I don't think it's going to be much of an issue for the UK to keep it. They're not on the same timezone anyway, so it won't change much. But it will change, specifically: twice a year any UK-EU timezone offsets would change, affecting all communication and arrangements between UK and EU. Currently we are all in sync even though we are offset, so it might actually be more hassle to keep it DST if the EU does not.
  - tom_mellior 8y ago
    > They're not on the same timezone anyway, so it won't change much. It would change the time relative to Ireland, which is in the same timezone as the UK and has very close ties to it. It would introduce timezone differences along the Irish border. It would also change the time difference to every EU country twice a year; those differences are currently constant. > So yeah, considering the amount of hassle it would be to change What hassle would that be?

caiob 8y ago

Brazil does not have provinces, it has states and territories.

sneak 8y ago

In my experience, americans say “everyone” when they mean “everyone in the country” and “the whole world” when they mean “the usa”. This may shed some light into the psychological context for such decisions (or lack thereof).

freetime2 8y ago

Setting aside the fact that public opinion is already changing in the US and several states are already voting to do away with DST, do you really think it’s fair to criticize the US for being one of the few countries using an “obsolete” custom when the EU hasn’t even made the transition yet? There are plenty of valid reasons to criticize the US but this isn’t one of them. And the mere fact that you would read an article about the EU and your mind immediately jumps to what the US will do almost lends credence to the idea that the US is indeed exceptional.

monochromatic 8y ago

Unwillingness to change, plus a STRONG unwillingness to be told to change.

fl0wenol 8y ago

Anecdotes aren't data but everyone I've talked to about this subject in the states is either ambivalent or tired of DST and would not miss it. It's just that in order to make the switch, the whole country has to commit together for it to not be a pain, and that's a big lift for something that the public thinks about twice a year. It'd take some current event or an extended public campaign plus momentum to get over the hump.