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
