[USMA:23821] Re: CNN article

[kilopascal]

2002-12-07   I wonder how many people would read far enough down the page to see this.  Most Americans already are either anti-metric or maybe afraid of metric, and any article that has even a hint of negativity will re-enforce their hate or fear.    Americans will look for any reason or justification not to metricate.  And articles like this where the positive points are little blurbs here and there do not help our cause.  What we really need are more articles like the one that appeared in the Wall Street Journal.  Americans need to be told that FFU is killing them and their children.  It needs to be driven deep that FFU is costing American jobs.  That in the future only the metric numerate will get the good paying jobs and the metric innumerate will get the low-pay, toilet scrubbing jobs.  It has to be drummed into their heads day and night.   Only a few Americans can see the forest between the trees.  They know that as the world becomes more global, it will be a world measured in SI and those that don't know SI will pay a big price to be different.  Yet, they insist on resistance.  And they will continue to resist until they are defeated.    The EU is the hope of our victory and our enemies defeat and destruction.  EU resistance to the status quo or an equal partnership between SI and FFU is the only hope to destroy FFU.  Let these 10 years be FFU's "Battle of the Bulge", but let 2010 be FFU's Waterloo.    We can not be deceived by subtle attacks on FFU that appear in articles like these.  We must fight the supporters of FFU until FFU is wiped out.  And the sooner the better.   John       ----- Original Message ----- From: Mike Joy To: U.S. Metric Association Sent: Thursday, 2002-12-05 18:37 Subject: [USMA:23820] Re: CNN article Han, I think you may have over-reacted to this article - it wasn't supposed to be anti-metric. For instance the sentence:- " Eventually, he says, Americans will fully adjust. The metric system was meant to be global, and the meter created by the surveyors has become the worldwide standard. " indicates that the SI system will be accepted and the article didn't say that the small error mattered:- "The irony of the situation was that his mistake didn't matter. The scientists who created the meter wanted it to be close to the commonly used yard (or aune, in France), so Delambre and Mechain's mission was, in many ways, a fait accompli". Hope this helps Regards and Season's Greetings Mike   ----- Original Message ----- From: Han Maenen To: U.S. Metric Association Sent: Thursday, December 05, 2002 2:51 PM Subject: [USMA:23805] CNN article The CNN article about the metric system angered me so much that I sent this message through their feed back page: "The article by Todd Leopold about the 'wrong' metric system has angered me. Another of these American attacks on the metric system. If the metric system is wrong, I suppose that it should be replaced globally by American units. I challenge Mr. Leopold to find out about the Mendenhall Order of 1893 and about an agreement by English speaking non-metric countries in 1959 about the standardization of their Imperial and US Customary measuring units. He will find out that the 'wrong' metric system now defines all those splendid and vastly superior American units." Han Historian of Dutch Metrication, Nijmegen, The Netherlands