2000-11-23
American's don't care what the world thinks. Distrust and resentment are
seen as jealously by a people who don't have it as good as Americans do and
deep inside, really want to live here. Most Americans already feel the rest
of the world owes them big time for all the countless times "we" saved their
asses from dictators. war, pestilence, and everything else you can name.
Americans feel that they support the world and get nothing in return. And
if you are an American and don't agree with the way things are done here,
you are usually told in so many words, that you should go live somewhere
else where it is better. That being said in a sarcastic tone as there is no
better place on earth than the US of A.
If you are foreign born, you don't dare tell an American that something
about America is wrong. If you do, you will get a very strongly worded
suggestion to return to the hell from which you came, and a comment that if
your motherland was so great, why did you leave it to come here? Americans
are constantly reminding each other of the "millions" who are dying to come
here and the countless hundreds of millions who want to come here but can't.
Never is a mention of those who want to leave, unless someone did and
returned because life was unbearable somewhere else. For this reason, you
will not get much support for metrication from immigrants. They are too
afraid to make waves, thinking they will be asked forcefully to leave if
they are unhappy with our ways of measuring.
This attitude is hidden in the word "culture". America resists metric,
because FFU is part of America's culture. Culture is the politically
correct term to describe the reason for not adopting a foreign idea. That
is why the masses don't rally behind metric, and most likely never will.
And, yes, as Rome once fell, so will America. When? No one knows. And,
I'm sure it won't be in my lifetime either.
John
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
Behalf Of Ma Be
Sent: Thursday, 2000-11-23 13:09
To: U.S. Metric Association
Subject: [USMA:9313] Re: American vs. Foreign
Yeah, right... And then afterwards many American folks would...
"look" surprised when they find out or experience why a
significant number of people and countries "out there" look at the
USA with a lot of... distrust/resentment, to say the least! On
the other hand, history has been proving over and over again what
kind of result emerges when... "empires" behave in such a
fashion... Unfortunately though, noone can tell *when* that
expected... fall would take place... (in any case I don't think it
will happen in my lifetime...)
Marcus
On Thu, 23 Nov 2000 10:04:11 kilopascal wrote:
>2000-11-23
>
>Even though this sounds like a good idea, I doubt the US will
ever adopt it.
>For one reason, it is a foreign idea. No matter how flawed an American
>method might be, it is perceived to be better than anything foreign.
>Imperial/pre-imperial units are not perceived as foreign. They are the
>units the founding fathers used. Even if they came over on the Mayflower,
>they are still seen as American, because they were used by Americans from
>day one. SI is foreign, because it is something we would have to change
>over to. And worst of all, it was not an American idea.
>
>Once a method or system is established in this country it is very hard to
>change it. Changing it means it was wrong from the beginning; that it was
>flawed. And if one part of an American method is flawed, others
parts might
>be too. We would have a domino effect. This country prides
itself in being
>consistent and stable for over 200 years. This may sound arrogant, but I
>don't think Americans care. They feel superior to all and want it to stay
>that way.
>
>Being different than everyone else and/or doing things in a less efficient
>way is not a concern to most. What is important is that the good
old US of
>A sticks out as being the best for all to see and admire.
>
>In addition to SI, money is another issue. We mint dollar coins and print
>two dollar bills, but they are rarely used. Using them would be
like saying
>we were wrong for not having them a long time ago. And arguing in their
>favor based on the fact that others have them is even more reason
to reject
>them. Even when we come up with new money, we don't immediately pull the
>old stuff from circulation. We let it gradually wear out.
Pulling it from
>circulation before it wears out is like saying American money has
no value,
>and that would be a blow to our ego.
>
>Nothing must place into doubt who and what America is. America may not be
>perfect, but pretty damn close to it.
>
>So, as you see change is an uphill battle.
>
>John
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
> Behalf Of Bill Potts
> Sent: Tuesday, 2000-11-21 02:14
> To: U.S. Metric Association
> Subject: [USMA:9281] Re: US metric and integers -- OFF TOPIC
>
>
> A helluva good idea, Joe.
>
> Maybe the current fiasco will lead to some revisions in that direction,
> although it might possibly require a Constitutional Amendment. (I
> don't have
> time to read through it at the moment, so I don't know for sure.)
>
> Bill Potts, CMS
> San Jose, CA
> http://metric1.org [SI Navigator]
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
> > Behalf Of Joseph B. Reid
> > Sent: November 20, 2000 17:54
> > To: U.S. Metric Association
> > Subject: [USMA:9276] Re: US metric and integers
> >
> >
> > Bill Potts wrote in USMA 9272:
> >
> > >Scott Clauss wrote:
> > >> I suspect this is why other countries have run off elections.
> > >
> > >Which is really the only fair way to deal with a mere plurality.
> > That way,
> > >there is no such thing as a spoiler.
> > >
> > >If run-offs were the normal practice here, Nader could have got his 5%
> > >without affecting the outcome for the other two.
> >
> >
> > I might add that the same result would be obtained in one
election using
> > the Australian system of single transferable vote, in which the
> > voter marks
> > his preferences by 1, 2, 3, etc. It was introduced in
Queensland in the
> > 19th century and is now used in all electios throughout
Australia to the
> > lower houses of parliament.
> >
> >
>
>
>
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