Some people say that metric is bad because it is compulsory, or that
because the EU wants us metric therefore we should fight to stay imperial.
But, in regards to choice vs. compulsory directives, let us look at a
few examples.
If you use public transport, e.g. a bus or train, you have to pay for a
ticket, either in advance or on the bus. If you decide that you should
have a choice, and you choose not to pay, and then get caught without a
ticket you get fined and have to pay the penalty. Repeated offences may
even land you in prison. So, in that case there is a compulsory
directive to pay your fare to use the transport services. However, there
remains a hardcore minority who refuse to buy tickets, unless they get
caught, then they pay the penalty. But does this make it wrong for train
and bus companies to charge us to use their services? Of course not,
otherwise they would go out of business.
It is the same with various goods and services, there is some choice,
but when it comes to paying for something the choice is pay up or face
the penalty, for the good and benefit of society as a whole. We cannot
afford to have everything for free, so we have a system where people
have to pay for things, which means people have to go to work and earn
money in order to pay for things. There are choices along the way, but
the overall compulsory aspect is that people must pay their way in society.
For the overall good and benefit of society, things need to be done
decently and in order. There needs to be a common set of rules that
applies to everyone for fairness, and in the international community we
have various rules and laws, etc., which regulate the way we do things.
None of these things stops us from being free. In the UK and USA, we
live in free countries. We are free to make certain choices and live how
we want, but those choices will always be limited in some way and some
things have to be done a certain way, e.g. you have to have a passport
to go to another country.
But when it comes to measurements, some people want to say we should
have choice and buy our fruit and veg in either pounds or kilograms. But
most of the world works very well in having only kilograms. If the whole
world used pounds, then someone using kilograms would be out of place,
but the majority of the world would use kilograms. Most of the world
never uses or even knows how to use imperial/US measures.
For the sake of the benefit of society, we need to have a unified and
common measurement system. The old imperial/US systems have had their
day, and were not too much of a problem when the world was not so
international. But today, we have more mixing and working together
internationally, we have more trade internationally, and we have more
international communication than ever before. It is hard enough trying
to communicate in different spoken languages, so why complicate things
by insisting on more than 1 measurement system?
The International System (SI) is the only system we need. We don't need
older systems. They had their place in history, and served us well in
the past. But today we need a completely international and easy to use
system that surpasses all other measurement systems.
The only measurement system that serves us all well is SI, aka metric.
We need progress and we need to move forward. There was a good letter in
the Metro newspaper in London today, which read:
"I have just moved back to the UK after living abroad and I was
impressed to
see Metro using metric. It makes your paper much more straightforward and
progressively British."
If only the BWMA would support metric instead of imperial, if only the
USA would metricate soon, we could make this world a much easier place
to live in and cope with, instead of a muddle of multiple systems that
hinders progress.
I have always regarded metric as being British, and it is about time
that all British people saw it the same way. Being British has nothing
to do with using imperial measures, but more to do with politeness,
defiance in the face of terrorist attacks, having quaint villages in the
countryside with thatched roofs, red buses in London, and so on.
David King
Avoid confusion with conversion, just learn to think metric!
http://www.thinkmetric.org.uk
Daniel wrote:
But, according to the BWMA it was joining the EU that made metric
usage compulsory. Making it legal for use but having it become used
are too different things. It took the legislation in the 1960s
(before the UK entered the EU) to make it compulsory. The BWMA feels
that if you remove the compulsion metric will fade away and everything
will become imperial again. Britain will regain its lost empire, the
British fleet will rule the seas, the pound will replace the euro as
the world's second major currency (the pound isn't even #3, the Yen
is), the Queen will rule the world, and everyone will live happily
ever after.
Dan
----- Original Message -----
*From:* john mercer <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*To:* U.S. Metric Association <mailto:[email protected]>
*Sent:* Thursday, 2005-07-14 22:39
*Subject:* [USMA:33558] metric system in u k
*Hello Dan and everybody. I did some searching to find out when
the metric system was made legal in the UK for all perposes. It
was in 1896. Go to UK metric assoc and look at metric time line.
It was made legal but not compulsory. So the metric system has
been legal in the UK for all purposes long before the EU ever
existed. *
------------------------------------------------------------------------
