Living In Their Own Private Idaho

Rather than seeing a common time standard as an advantage, the Moslem world's leadership has declared war on time with their own Mecca Clock. Although it is annoying to see Islamic years and have to translate them into common era, I can at least understand their desire to avoid using a Christ-based standard. But getting all worked up for Greenwich Mean Time? Oh, please.

But at least amongst the easily excitable, even this revolt against modernity isn't taking hold:

The Mecca Clock is a more aggressive challenge to the Greenwich standard, countering not only the specific time assigned but the very notion of a global standard seated in the West. As such, far more than daylight saving time, it shares the spirit of the broader and fiercer original objections to Greenwich Mean Time, and even of the symbolic threats on the observatory. The problem is that nearly one year after its initial unveiling, the Mecca Clock (which, after a three-month test last year, is undergoing further construction) has failed to gain widespread political traction. In an online poll by an Arabian business news site, only 15 percent of respondents stated they would change their watches to Mecca Time, while more than 57 percent affirmed their belief that Greenwich should remain the standard. After initial pronouncements that Mecca Time would stand proudly “in the face of Greenwich,” the Royal Hotel Clock Tower has generated more debate over its garish architecture than the time it plans to display.

But don't do a victory dance over this rejection of time wars. You just wait. Jihadi lifestyle enforcerss will start enforcing your watch setting along with your haircut, facial hair, and head covering choices.

Really, it's just a matter of time.