http://www.metric4us.com/whynot.html
This is an **excellent** site, with a lot of good hard-hitting no-nonsense
replys to typical naysayer propaganda. Everyone should read, just to quote a
few:
Nat
-----------------------
We have a perfectly good measuring system, so why does the USA have to
change to using the metric system?
No, we don't have a perfectly good measuring system! We have a clumsy,
entangled, confusing measuring system! And it not only confuses the rest of
the world - no, it perplexes Americans themselves!
----------------------------
But the English system represents our culture and traditions, it's our
heritage - we can't give it up!
....The world is continuously changing, and humans are ceaselessly improving
their living conditions. That includes getting rid of old, stupid procedures
and habits, and acquiring new, more intelligent procedures and
habits....would you not take some good advice just because it was not your
idea? Would you be a fool for the sake of being different? ... Be proud of
the constitution, the Space Shuttle, the Internet, the Pentium processor,
but - please - don't be proud of the English system.
----------------------------
Why should we switch to metric just because all other countries did?
Right, we should not switch to metric just because all other countries did -
we should switch because the metric system is the better system!
---------------------------
America became the great country it is using the English system!
How about: America became the great country it is despite using the English
system! And it could be an even greater country without it!
---------------------------
American units naturally evolved, while metric units were arbitrarily
defined.
Oh come on, at some point in time, every unit on this planet was arbitrarily
defined by someone. Regardless if referencing human feet or the earth's
circumference.
-----------------------------
The introduction of the metric system does not undergo a democratic process.
Who ever asked the American people if they want to have part of their
culture erased by metricators?
The U.S. have a so-called representative democracy. Decisions are not made
by the people, but by representatives elected by the people. These
representatives then make laws, decide if to engage in war with other
countries, or if to update weights and measures. If you wanted a public
ballot on the metric system, you would have to question how democracy works
in the U.S. in general, and that is a whole different topic.
-------------------------------
The metric system in the U.S. has spread through the lobbying and
implementation efforts of bureaucrats, technocrats and other individuals and
bodies not representative of the majority of the population.
Well, bureaucrats and "technocrats" are appointed through elected federal,
state or city governments, and are therefore in fact representing the
majority of the population. We could engage in discussion how democratic
U.S. democracy really is, but that is not a problem of the metric system.
------------------------------
Since the size of a degree Fahrenheit is smaller that that of a degree
Celsius, Fahrenheit is more accurate!
Sure! But you are really arguing against yourself here. You can't say on one
hand that the centimeter is less handy than the inch because it's smaller,
so measurements result in larger numbers � and on the other hand turn that
same vice into a virtue when the degree Fahrenheit being smaller than the
degree Celsius is handier because measurements are more accurate.
---------------------------------
Boeings and Space Shuttles can be made using English units.
Better say: They can be made despite using English units! And they could be
made even easier using metric units. In fact you should pay special tribute
to our scientists being able to build planes and spacecraft using such a
convoluted system of measurement.
---------------------------------
>
> I didn't write this. It came from http://www.metric4us.com/. You might
> want to send the author your comments.
>
>
> John
>
> Keiner ist hoffnungsloser versklavt als derjenige, der irrt�mlich glaubt
> frei zu sein.
>
> There are none more hopelessly enslaved then those who falsely
> believe they
> are free!
>
> Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Joseph B. Reid" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Saturday, 2001-06-16 09:03
> Subject: [USMA:13800] Re: Let's have a look what supporters of the English
> Imperial system have to say and why it's all nonsense:
>
>
> I congratulate Kilopascal for his thorough refutation in USMA
> 13786 of many
> of the myths producewd by opponents of the metric system. Here are a few
> comments.
>
> Burma authorized the use of the metric system in 1920 (just as the USA did
> in 1865). Travellers to Burma and Liberia have the impression that they
> are metric, or changing to metric. I prefer to say "the rest of the world
> is metric". If anyone objects, press them to prove their statement.
>
> I consider the prime reason to go metric is that the rest of world is
> metric. American export trade would be helped if American goods were
> metric. Secondarily, going metric would save America a lot of unnecessary
> arithmetic, and would allow many calculations to be done that are now too
> complicated to be attempted in inch-pound.
>
> Another killer-question is "What are the various imperial electric and
> magnetic units?"
>
> I believe the Mayans used base-20 arithmetic and that Babylonians used 60
> as their base. Anyway, it is from the Babylonians that we got degrees,
> minutes, and seconds. Adopting a meaurement system based on 8, or 12, or
> 16 would be theoretically better than our decimal metric system, but would
> be practically advantagous only if all numerical records in the last
> several thousand years were converted to the new base at the same time. I
> shudder at the thought and would never propose it.
>
> Kilopascal mentions that the US military as the strongest in the
> world. It
> is thoroughly metric because it wants to be able to operate efficiently
> with its NATO allies, and there is no way that they are going to use
> imperial. Also, maps made in other countries are made to metric scales.
>
> >The U.S. have a so-called representative democracy. Decisions
> are not made
> >by the people, but by representatives elected by the people. These
> >representatives then make laws, decide if to engage in war with other
> >countries, or if to update weights and measures. If you wanted a public
> >ballot on the metric system, you would have to question how
> democracy works
> >in the U.S. in general, and that is a whole different topic.
>
> Quite right! I believe that social scientists distinguish between
> delegates and representatives. A delegate votes the way his constituents
> want him to. A representative votes for what in his judgement would be
> best for his constituents. I don't know of any country that has gone
> metric as the result of a referendum.
>
> >Since the size of a degree Fahrenheit is smaller that that of a degree
> >Celsius, Fahrenheit is more accurate!
>
> On most Fahrenheit thermometers there is a graduation every 2 degrees,
> while on a Celsius thermometer there is a graduation every 1 �C = 1.8 �F.
> Therefore the Celsius thermometer by that argument is the more accurate.
>
> >The fractional scale of the English system uses a binary
> subdivision scale
> >(1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64). This is what computers use, too!
>
> In 1940 I was sent to work at the Royal Aircraft Establishment. Although
> they still used feet and inches, binary fractions of an inch were
> forbidden. 1-1/8" had to be written as 1.125", and so on.
>
> Regarding Napoleon Kilopascal wrote " But after the French got sick of him
> and banned him to Saint Helena,". It was not the French. They were not
> asked. It was the British and the Prussians who banished Napoleon..
>
> Joseph B. Reid
> 17 Glebe Road West
> Toronto M5P 1C8 Tel. 416 486-6071
>
>
>
>
