At 18 September 2005, 04:59 PM, John Nichols wrote:
The US citizens can not be seen as inherently dumber or smarter than their neighbours. However they are more isolated in terms of understanding the rest of the world.
No argument with this.
There is a difference between dumb and ignorant. I can be intelligent but ignorant.
While your premise is certainly correct (i.e., dumb & ignorant are different), that Americans do not pay as much attention to the rest of the world does not make them more ignorant on the whole. There is far, far more stuff in the world than any human being can learn. That Americans in general do not find international affairs as important as other interests does NOT make them ignorant, only ignorant of international affairs.
You have to take in account all of a person's knowledge before you can call him ignorant. If Julie calls Joe "ignorant" because Joe hasn't studied a particular issue that Julie thinks is important, what you have is arrogance on that Julie's part, rather than ignorance on Joe's.
The US has always had a philosophy of entitlement - how else do you explain the movement westward and the displacement of just about everybody or everything in their path. The analogy would have been if England had conquered Europe from 1768 to 1934( when they got Hawaii).
Historically (including the period during which the USA was expanding across the North American continent) the USA has been far LESS imperialistic than England, France, Germany, Portugal, China, Japan, and on and on. Or are you, as an American, unfamiliar with such names and events as Napoleon, Hitler, Hirohito, Attila the Hun, the Crusades, the Mongols, Mussolini, Ivan the Terrible, and hundreds more?
That the USA happened to be formed on a continent that was largely empty, and whose few residents were relatively undeveloped (and thus could not hold off the settlers) does not make America more of an entitlement nation.
Ask yourself: how many times in the last 2000 years would France, Spain, Germany, Russia (or their predecessors), etc., have taken over Europe if they had had the ability? They all certainly tried to do so.
I fear with the growth of China and India as economic powerhouses, (5% of the world's population can not out perform the majority in the long run - Clyde ship building industries shows this point well) the US will be displaced and the norms of the 16th century will return.
This presumes that economic growth of one party is detrimental to another, i.e., that commerce is a zero-sum game. While Danielstiltskin believes that, it is patently and demonstrably false. In a free-market economy (which the world as a whole is), all parties to trade benefit, big and small alike.
While China may grow to be a larger economy than the USA, it will only HELP the USA. If that were not the case, then all countries other than the USA right now would be "16th century," and that is obviously not the case.
It is intellectual ignorance that keeps the US in customary units, it is intellectual ignorance that has meant that the dollar has halved in value in the last three years.
Better check your numbers: three years ago the euro was about $1.0, now its about $1.20 (and dropping). For yen, it was about $0.0084, now its about $0.0089 (and dropping). Ditto other world currencies.
Regarding intellectual ignorance: your comment is astounding. Some of you continue to attribute the USA's lack of metrication to entirely wrong reasons, so how in the world do you expect to help with metrication?
Intellectual ignorance has **nothing** whatsoever to do with our use of customary units. A country of 300 million people, with an economy of $11 trillion or so, and untold trillions of dollars invested in colloquial infrastructure, 15 or so million businesses, is not going to change quickly. Period. Get used to it. Get over it.
Sure, in a fantasy world we could let the "anointed" members of society, who know what is best for the rest of us, command instant metrication, and it would happen, and the untold trillions of costs of doing it that way would never be seen, since they would be absorbed by millions of businesses and individuals.
Or, we can have patience, promote metrication where we can, and know that it will continue to progress (as it has) and will eventually be complete.
But I'm starting to think I am the only one on this list who has the patience and faith in the free market to do it that way. Fortunately, the "anointed" don't run things in this country.
Jim Elwell Jim Elwell, CAMS Electrical Engineer Industrial manufacturing manager Salt Lake City, Utah, USA www.qsicorp.com
