This statement of Zach is one that I have been trying to get the USMA to
embrace in its outlook. Instead of the drone that only the U.S. and some
unpronouncable Asian country are not metric is not only, I think,
defeating, but inaccurate. There are a number of countries like the U.S.
(Canada and England come to mind) that are stuck in the middle of a metric
transaction. The U.S. is by law metric, so that isn't the difference.
I think that a better message for us (USMA) to take, in addition to the
strong economic arguments, is that the U.S. is are already about 50%
metric anyway. Our people understand a lot of metric already. Why not go
all the way and achieve the benefits of a single system?
Just think of how many areas are already metric here: medicine, pharmacy,
alcoholic beverages, lighting, electricity, automotive (under the hood),
solar, nuclear and other new technology. The idea that Americans can't
convert is nonsense because we already have, to a considerable degree.
I asked a friend of mine the other day, do you know how many ounces there
are in a standard 750 ml bottle of wine? He didn't (I don't either -- I
would have to figure it out). I asked, Do you care? You are thinking
metric already. Do you want to go back to ounces? He said, No.
Where is the outcry to go back to measuring aspirin tablets in grains,
alcohol and soft-drink bottles in ounces, and automobile screws to 1/64s
of an inch? There just isn't.
I have come to think that what Zach said is the best argument for
metrication in the U.S>: It's not as hard as you think; you're half there
already! If the Wall Street Journal article had been written from this
perpective, I think that a number of thinking people might have been
convinced into a new paradigm of thinking.
Martin Morrison
Metric Training & Education Columnist for USMA's "Metric Today"
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On Tue, 4 Dec 2012, Zach Rodriguez (Metricate America) wrote:
Most don't realize how metric we are....
