I must confess that this has been one of the most well-reasoned posts we have seen in this forum for quite some time. Excellent, Carl. I "tiro o chapiu para vocj"! :-)
Marcus On Tue, 22 Oct 2002 20:33:50 Carl Sorenson wrote: >I agree with what several of you said about keeping posts culturally >sensitive, intelligent, non-offensive, etc. Here are my thoughts. > >1. I suppose that many Americans do tend to have insular or less >cosmopolitan attitudes than Europeans, due to geographic, demographic, >political, and economic realities (such the fact that the US is one big >country, rather than dozens of countries next to each other). > >2. This is entirely their prerogative. > >3. The purpose of USMA is not to make the US more "global" or "nice to >Europe" or anything like that, as agreeable as those things may be. Its >purpose is to encourage metrication. > >4. We will make progress toward metrication by a) educating and helping the >public accept, understand, and use SI, and b) influencing key political, >educational, and industrial leaders to make helpful policies, legislation, >and products. > >5. In order to influence the public and its leaders, we need to have a >worthwhile message and a reputation as a rational, intelligent, >professional, and mainstream organization. I think that most USMA members >(and certainly its leaders) understand this, but a few people on this list >aren't convinced yet. > >6. Since our purpose is metrication, it doesn't matter if countries drive >on the left side of the road, use dollar bills or coins, or write the date >and time in various ways. Insisting that everyone does everything a certain >way is unnecessary, distracting, and detrimental to our public relations. >PR is, I think, pretty much the main point of USMA. > >7. Inflexible rigidity and obsession with inconsequential minutiae is >called extremism. We will be marginalized and people will leave if we become >extremist. > >8. The vast majority of people are not engineers. They don't want to be >and they don't need to be. SI is obviously the best system for scientific >purposes. Although it is best for everyday life, too, people won't be >convinced of that if we just call them stupid or irrational. They will >respond much more positively to respect, tolerance, patience, and cultural >sensitivity. What may be obvious and important for scientists and engineers >will not be that big a deal for the public. By contrast, grammar and >punctuation are important to linguists, but not every engineer considers >them important. A healthy person tries to balance things in life. > >Carl > > > > > > ____________________________________________________________ Get 25MB of email storage with Lycos Mail Plus! Sign up today -- http://www.mail.lycos.com/brandPage.shtml?pageId=plus
