No, it was relevant, insofar as there are those who think metric is anti-American. Just so happens that my political views help to close the gap, so I expressed them.
Thanks for your kind words. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Potts" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, June 14, 2003 4:55 PM Subject: [USMA:26082] RE: In for a penny, in for a ... kilogram--your recent column > Excellent letter, Paul. > > I would have left the political stuff out of it, not just because my view of > George Bush is very different from yours, but because it's not really > relevant. > > That doesn't detract from the excellence, though. > > Bill Potts, CMS > Roseville, CA > http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] > > > >-----Original Message----- > >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Behalf Of Paul Trusten, R.Ph. > >Sent: Saturday, June 14, 2003 14:42 > >To: U.S. Metric Association > >Subject: [USMA:26081] In for a penny, in for a ... kilogram--your recent > >column > > > > > >Dear Mr. Lewis, > > > >I read with great interest your online column "In for a penny, in for > >a...kilogram" (May 29, 2003), and have spent the interim preparing my > >response. Since my parents did not raise me to speak and write > >vulgar slang, > >I waited two weeks so I could calm down before writing this. > > > >Your article asks why the United States, after 28 years of considering > >conversion to the metric system, is still "pounding and inching along". One > >of the primary reasons for this, I believe, is because people such as > >yourself have newspaper columns, and singlehandedly, are in a position to > >publish opinions and information as prejudiced, as narrow, and as fractured > >as the material you put into the above-mentioned column. The prevalence of > >such dim views of a subject make me yearn to have a newspaper column of my > >own so that I could at least back up my widely disseminated opinions with > >facts. Does your paper have an opening for a new writer? > > > >I start by saying that I am an American, native born and lifelong, who is > >proud of the United States and what it has done for its people and for the > >people of the world. I wholeheartedly support President Bush in his effort > >to protect the United States from terrorism. And accordingly, I condemn the > >French for their barbed opposition to our efforts to eliminate a great > >threat from Iraq. But there is one thing that I will always thank > >the French > >for, and that is their invention of the metric system. > > > > > >You say that the metric system is "boring and sterile", and "suitable only > >for mathematicians and other colorless folk". I've never before heard > >someone compare units of measurement for their entertainment > >value, and I do > >not measure things to be entertained. I measure things to accomplish some > >task, such as framing pictures, cutting paper, or judging how much space I > >need for a carpet. Sometimes I need to expand these measurements > >into larger > >units or reduce them to smaller units. The American plan of measurement, > >using 12 inches to a foot, etc., is so cumbersome and so silly > >compared to a > >decimal system that I would equate it to being sterile of thought. > >I long to > >use a measurement system in which all the units are decimally > >related. That, > >this inch-weary American feels, would be a most exciting and fertile change > >in our society. I yearn for what you call, almost with approval, "the > >all-too-even 10". No, the "Way Of Measuring Badly in America > >Today" (I use > >the acronym WOMBAT to describe our "system" of measurement, which is > >unsystematic) is not, as you say, "just fine". It is bad for the > >individual > >user, and, as you shall shortly read, bad for America. > > > >You were partially correct when you observed that the United States is one > >of only three nations not officially using the metric system. However, the > >Congress declared in 1988 that the metric system is the "preferred > >system of > >measurement for trade" in the United States. Congress has long known what > >the American people have been reluctant to recognize: that being alone in > >the world with our measurements is a major hindrance to our global > >competitiveness as a people, both in academics and in trade. American > >producers must produce one set of goods with US units for domestic sale and > >one set of goods with metric units for export, and this has to be a major > >incumbrance to our economy. So, I must disagree with your > >statement that our > >metrological kinship with Liberia and Myanmar is "a good thing". I think it > >is a very bad thing, since much of the world looks to the United States for > >wisdom, not backwardness. > > > >Of all the provocative statements you made in your column, the one notion > >which irks me above all the others is your using that > >ignorance-perpetuating > >old ruse about metric units, making hard conversions of US units to metric > >and using them in a statement to show how supposedly cumbersome metric is, > >e.g., that Newville was 17.7028 kilometers from Carlisle. Please tell your > >readers that, in a metric America, one will say that Newville is about 18 > >kilometers from Carlisle, period. Once the US converts to metric, there > >will be no more frequent converting. There will only be metric units being > >used. Please stop spreading that kind of prejudicial venom, which I believe > >is a hindrance, not just to metric conversion, but to much of human > >progress. > > > >You may know that the United States was the first nation to introduce > >decimal currency. Would you like to return to the "human touch" of the old > >British system of (this may not be right) 20 pence to the shilling and 12 > >shillings to the pound, the system discarded by the British in > >1971 in favor > >of our own decimal system? > > > >I'm not a mathematician, but I would not describe mathematicians as > >colorless folk. On the contrary, I sense that their craft brought > >much color > >into the world, including the color pictures of all types we now see from > >around the world on our web browsers. These people are actually > >the color of > >the world, and a few of them, a couple of hundred years ago in France, gave > >the world an easy and convenient way of measuring things. Both as a > >patriotic American, and as someone who just has to measure stuff from time > >to time, I want to join that world. But I can't join it if American > >columnists like you persist in attempting to rob America of the measurement > >system it deserves. > > > >Please reconsider what you have written. > > > > > >Sincerely, > > > > > >Paul Trusten > >3609 Caldera Boulevard, Apartment 122 > >Midland TX 79707-2872 USA > >432-694-6208 > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > >"There are two cardinal sins, from > >which all the others spring: impatience > >and laziness." > > ---Franz Kafka >
