At 19 09 05, 03:09 PM, John Nichols wrote:
Corrections:
1. I am an Australian living in Texas.
Sorry -- your prior email did not make this clear.
2. I spend at least 2 months a year O/S and have a reasonable understanding
of the views of foreign folks about Americans I can tell you it is not
pretty.
While I am no fan of US foreign policy, including the war in Iraq,
neither do I think ANY country should conduct its affairs based on
popularity surveys of people in other countries. For example, I don't
recall the Germans consulting Americans before their vote yesterday.
Nor should they.
3. The sun set on the British Empire, the German Empire and the French
empire. The sun does not set on the USA army as the standard prerequisite
for defining an empire.
Aside from Iraq and Afghan, where the majority of both populations
welcome the US presence, US troops are in no country which has not
asked them to be or remain there. Even European countries such as
Germany can ask American troops to leave. That makes for an odd
definition of "empire."
4. The death toll in SC between 0 and 1 is 3 times the Japanese average. One
of the reasons is the lack of metric in doctors surgery to a 100% level -
see the CDC web site for medical error details.
Did I ever say there was a cost to NOT being metric? Answer . . . no.
Have you acknowledged that there is a real cost to changing to
metric? As far as I recall . . . no.
5. Hawaii did not want to become part of the USA. It is hard to justify the
acquisition of this island except as a military conquest.
That's funny. Last I checked Hawaiians themselves voted by about 90%
in a plebiscite in 1959 to become a state.
6. I am well aware of history having studied modern and ancient in school. I
am also a reader of the book Bury my Dead at Wounded Knee, which paints a
slightly different picture of the US conquest of the America. I would refer
you to the trail of tears.
Again, did I claim the history of the US is pure and pristine? Answer . . . no.
My point was that your claims to the USA being uniquely imperialistic
are not correct. ALL countries that have had the ability to conquer
their neighbors have done so at various times. That the sun set on
other empires but has not yet set on the USA does not change that fact.
7. 6 of the 7 students at a Tier 1 US university who sit within 10 metres of
me at cold desks (a Uni term for permanent desks like in Kindergarten) do
not know that 50 mm is about 2 inches. I know this for a fact.
Your point? Did I ever claim most Americans are very familiar with
metric? Answer . . . no. I merely stated that it is not a lack of
familiarity that holds back metrication in this country.
8. Texans can not understand why the world sees them as a bit savage for
still executing people, mainly poor white and mostly black folks. We still
execute women and until very recently mentally retarded people.
This is an example of your own egocentrism. You believe that
executing people is "wrong" so you look down your nose at people who
believe otherwise. Should Texans run their affairs based on what
(say) the French think is right? If so, why not the converse?
Shouldn't the French adopt capital punishment, since clearly (to the
Texans) it is a proper and civil aspect of governance?
9. It is hard to justify the US need for so many carrier groups except to
project force. Last time I looked no one in the world has the ability to
invade the USA.
Again, what is your point? Where did I say anything different?
Whilst I appreciate your points, I still contend that the US are a warrior
people who need to take some Prozac, and are a people who are generally
ignorant of the outside world. Which is why TAMU encourages all our students
to do a study abroad. They return much changed people, some of whom even
consider metric a better system.
Geez, John . . . you are certainly entitled to your opinion of
Americans, and I am certainly entitled to disagree. But you keep
making points that have no point -- I as much as you or anyone
believes metric is better!
The fact is that any normally intelligent person can learn enough
metric to be reasonably functional in, at most, a few hours. Far, far
less time than most people spend watching TV, playing video games,
arguing on forums, etc., in any given week.
My point being that it is NOT metric education that is stopping
Americans from metricating. It is NOT some deeply-held belief that
metric is worse. It is NOT some anti-foreign feeling. It is NOT some
evil plot to force colloquial measures onto other countries.
It is much more diffuse (and, thusly, difficult to address): since
the American economy is so huge, and since the vast majority of jobs
require little or no knowledge of measurement, there is simply
nothing in most Americans' daily experience to indicate any NEED to
metricate, or, at least, to do it quickly.
And, to be sure, nothing ever posted on this forum has convinced me
we "need" to do it quickly, since such posts never address the costs
of metricating.
You can complain about Americans' lack of international focus --
fine, there is some truth to that. You can complain that our (public)
schools do a crap job at teaching metric -- there is probably some
truth to that. But if, as I claim, neither is the cause of our slow
metrication, then addressing them will not speed up metrication.
Jim Elwell
