It is interesting that in South Africa metrication was not part of a communist plot - they had draconian anti-communist laws in the 1960's and 1970's - Mandela was imprisoned under the anti-communist laws.
Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) likewise had draconian anti-communist laws, yet they too adopted the metric system at the same time as did their arch-enemy Zambia. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Han Maenen Sent: 12 June 2007 19:33 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:38895] Re: Persistent attitudes toward metric In fact, the USA fell victim to this 'communist plot' as early as 1893 with the Mendenhall Order. Then all English speaking nations fell for it in 1959 when they agreed to define the inch as 25.4 mm exactly, and also defined the yard and the pound on such lines. All measurements made in the UK and the USA are metric, albeit second hand. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Scott Hudnall" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, 2007, June 12 6:05 Subject: [USMA:38893] Persistent attitudes toward metric >I was talking with a co-worker the other day, and was appalled to learn he >thought metrication was a communist plot. I had heard this once as a >school boy back in the 1970's , but thought it was a joke. I did some >searching on the Internet and found this clip from 1977 in the CBC >archives. > > http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-75-1572-10614/science_technology/ > metric_system/clip5 > > The clip is 30 years old, and communism is all but dead - so what can we > do to change these attitudes? > > Scott > > >
