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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 9, 2024

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You seem, probably unconsciously, to be using arguments as soldiers here.

If we went dst all year, it would mean school started in the dark. ‘Just start school an hour later’ doesn’t really work since it’s timed to start before the workday, also getting out an hour later means getting home in the dark.

As things stand, your kids are already getting home in the dark, so that’s not a good argument to oppose any changes to the DST status quo.

In many parts of the country, it’s just not possible to have sunlight both before and after the work/school day. DST and choice of time zone have nothing to do with it.

As things stand, your kids are already getting home in the dark, so that’s not a good argument to oppose any changes to the DST status quo

It's not an argument as a soldier, it's a stupid mistake of math on my part. Shifting both the time and the school day an hour wouldn't change the fact that my kids don't get home in the dark, you are right.

But the broader point stands: pushing both the school day and the time and my work an hour, undermine the argument for DST all year long. as it effectively negates it. My arguments are:

  1. DST in the winter means a great deal of the morning happens in the dark (school being the most relevant).
  2. This is unsatisfactory imo
  3. A solution which advances the start time of these things, effectively undermines DST all year argument.
  4. Therefore you are left with no DST year long or a variable schedule at different parts of the year which is just DST in effect.
  5. Thus the argument needs to either be for standard year round (for which the objections are the 4:30 sunrise) or for everyone negotiating their own schedule shift preferences in the winter, which has it's own drawbacks against centralized coordination.

Personally, I find the idea of standard time year round much more palletable