On Fri, 12 Jul 2002 08:52:23 Jim Elwell wrote: >...Europeans are hardly the only people using or promoting the metric system, >and hardly deserve sole credit for its spread. > Perhaps so. However, Anglo-saxons in general are *certainly* the ones (maybe even the ONLY ones) fighting it!!!
>In general (aside from the metric issue) European standards are no "better" >than American ones -- there are some that are better, some that are not, >and some that Americans have that Europeans don't, and vice versa. Aside >from the metric issue, I challenge you to defend your claim here. > You may be right, Jim. However, defining standards which are *ifp-based*, no matter how you look at it, is an extremely serious handicap! So, to the extent that such "superior" standards are not measurement-related, fine, I may go along with that. >And if you consider "environment[al] consciousness" to mean "believing the >Litany of the environmental crisis hysterics regardless of scientific >merit," then I will grant you that Europe leads the world in that -- a >rather dubious accolade. > I'd like to believe that 'ec' is NOT a European... "phenomenon". The entire planet is involved in this. The environment affects us ALL! >To me, at least, "Europeanization" is nearly the equivalent of >"socialization" and is hardly something of which to be proud. ? I honestly fail to see the connection, Jim. Do you or have you lived in Europe or have had extensive contact with Europeans? Well... I have, practically all my life and that is certainly NOT the perception I have about them. Nonetheless I also see nothing wrong in "socialization". But I take a much less... "political" view about this word than probably you do, so... > That is not >to say I am proud of all "Americanization" -- I deplore some of it -- but >McDonald's does not ask for laws forcing Europeans to buy Big Macs, whereas >plenty of you folks would love to have laws forcing Americans to use the >metric system. > Now, well... you're going overboard with your libertarian views, Jim (which I've always indicated I respect, BTW). So, I'll refrain from discussing this again here as we've done it to death. But, I guess the main point that Madan was perhaps trying to make was that Americans DO push their way of life onto others, under the auspices of (or under the hideous umbrella of) marketing gimmickery! By and large the vision of globalization vehicled by NA corporations is a "one product fits all", basically (and guess what that product is, usually... ;-) ). And this, as I've demonstrated sometime earlier is a huge mistake, *as a single/universal/only philosophy* of selling products! Please, notice that I'm not discussing measurements here, BTW, but a skewed perverse concept of disallowing cultural variations!!! Marcus > >Jim Elwell, CAMS >Electrical Engineer >Industrial manufacturing manager >Salt Lake City, Utah, USA >www.qsicorp.com > > Is your boss reading your email? ....Probably Keep your messages private by using Lycos Mail. Sign up today at http://mail.lycos.com
