Dear Wizard: Well, I have abstained from responding to this long enough, I think. To start off, I am not an American. I live in the U.S., yet not until very recently did I decide to become an American citizen (and primarily for the reason to ease travel around the world). But that is beyond the point. This email is to let you know what I have felt when I was reading your posts over the last several months.
1. With your pro-metrication posts you are preaching to the choir on this list, 2. With senseless bashing of Americans, who comprise a majority of this list, you are angering even your supporters-in-the-cause, 3. With this negative attitude you are also angering non-Americans on this list as well (I have a feeling that there are others besides me who feel this way), 4. Generalising all Americans (or any other nation for that matter) into one single group is wrong. Others expounded on that, and I shall spare the list from exhausting repetitiveness, 5. Etc. I understand that you have too much teenage anger in your blood. Yet, there are several of us here, on this list, who consider ourselves young (I am 24, if you care to know). But it would serve the list well, if you learn to control your anger, and prevent yourself from turning this list into a forum discussing each nation's mentality, deficiencies, and weaknesses. Moreover, this type of self-control will benefit YOU the most, because you will not be able to achieve anything in life if you continue practicing what you were doing in the past little while (My first half a year in the U.S. as an exchange student in 1994 at age 17 was a true test of this theory). Diplomacy is the key to co-operation and mutual understanding! I wish you well in your future endeavours, hoping that at some point of your life, you will get to know various cultures better and will learn to understand and APPRECIATE the differences that they have. Cheers, Nikolay Malyarov P.S. Nobody likes to be hated, and judging from your email address, I am sure you are more than familiar with that. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Wizard of OS Sent: Monday, 17 December 2001 9.04 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:16682] Re: I don't understand American attitude! yeah yeah "And if you want to help the USA metricate, I suggest you start trying to understand what motivates Americans, rather than just berating us for not thinking like you do. Because we do NOT think like you and that is NOT going to change." sometimes I have the impression that Americans dont think or dont want to think at all!! Like that nintendo guy! >From: Jim Elwell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [USMA:16681] Re: I don't understand American attitude! >Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2001 08:46:31 -0700 > >Marcus: > >Unfortunately I do not have the time right now to address your lengthy >email point by point, so please forgive this brief response. > >Some of what you say may be true (e.g., what others think of Americans), >but it is also totally beside the point. > >What some German or some Frenchman or some Canadian (or a whole group of >them) think of the USA and the metric system has very, very little to do >with when and how the USA actually metricates. You do not have to like >that, and you can call us names if you want, but that is the reality. > >And if you want to help the USA metricate, I suggest you start trying to >understand what motivates Americans, rather than just berating us for not >thinking like you do. Because we do NOT think like you and that is NOT >going to change. > >Whether or not you agree with the reality (or even the philosophy), >Americans think of themselves as individuals. NOT as cogs in some >super-governmental system. And many of us get our dander up at the thought >of ANYONE telling us how to run our lives, except in very restricted >circumstances (e.g., public safety). > >THAT IS THE REALITY OF MANY PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY!!! As I said, you do not >have to like it, you do not have to agree with it, but if you ignore it, >you will be far less effective (or even counterproductive) in helping us >metricate. > >Wizard's and Kilopascal's posts are perfect examples of lack of >understanding of Americans. If those were widely distributed, do you think >half of this country would wake up one morning and say, "Golly, we've been >terribly arrogant, and we really should switch today to a much nicer >measurement system." > >Far more likely is that a huge number of Americans would read Kilopascal's >posts and think, "That German SOB can take his metric ruler and shove it >where the sun don't shine!" > >So I ask: are you non-Americans on this forum just to have some Americans >to berate, or are you here to actually help us metricate the USA? > >Jim Elwell > _________________________________________________________________ Downloaden Sie MSN Explorer kostenlos unter http://explorer.msn.de/intl.asp.
