8th December 2008, 11:41 PM
I think defining what's east and west based on the person is exactly the right way to go about it. I mean, that's what those directions are for. Position IS a relative constrcut after all.
And that comic is meant to illustrate exactly why it seems so weird. Seriously? You're looking at that, and you aren't getting it? If I look west and see "the east", it suddenly seems a little weird to me. Sure if I go west enough, I hit the east coast, but we're talking in relative terms, and what's closer and further from your own position. What better way to do it? I don't see a problem with people calling europe "the east", because it objectively IS east of us.
I suppose I could meet you halfway and add in an awkward "the east, as relative to the Americas".
And that comic is meant to illustrate exactly why it seems so weird. Seriously? You're looking at that, and you aren't getting it? If I look west and see "the east", it suddenly seems a little weird to me. Sure if I go west enough, I hit the east coast, but we're talking in relative terms, and what's closer and further from your own position. What better way to do it? I don't see a problem with people calling europe "the east", because it objectively IS east of us.
I suppose I could meet you halfway and add in an awkward "the east, as relative to the Americas".
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)