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in the US, at this point, advocating for metrification is associated with a sort of odd, fringe type of political figure. See the recent presidental campaign o

in the US, at this point, advocating for metrification is associated with a sort of odd, fringe type of political figure. See the recent presidental campaign of Lincoln Chafee. Or the very humorous "Stonecutters' Song" from the Simpsons (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoSLiHKrzRU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoSLiHKrzRU), in which a parody of the Freemasons confesses to covering up UFOs, sabotaging electric cars, and suppressing the metric system.

ghaff 6y ago
And whatever some people on forums like this may think about it, there is zero widespread interest in a wholesale switch to metric in the US. Where there's an advantage to using metric like in science and engineering, people use metric (mostly). For day to day life, they mostly use US units and they work fine. As someone else noted, even if you look at the UK, they use the metric system more than the US does, but they also still use imperial units in a lot of contexts--including some we don't use in the US like stones.
throw0101a 6y ago
> in the US, at this point, advocating for metrification is associated with a sort of odd, fringe type of political figure. Tucker Carlson of Fox News thinks that metric system is a form of tyranny: > CARLSON: Almost every nation on Earth has fallen under the yoke of tyranny -- the metric system -- from Beijing to Buenos Aires from Lusaka to London, the people the world have been forced to measure their environment in millimeters and kilograms. * https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/can-the-us-continue-to-stand-alone-against-the-metric-system https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/can-the-us-continue-to-st... Nothing new, with things going back to 1977: > Dean Krakel thinks metric is more about Marxism than measurement. As director of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma, Krakel is waging a war against metric on political grounds. In this 1977 clip from As It Happens, he says it reflects "the philosophical way communists want one of everything" - one world, one monetary system, one educational system and, now, one measurement system. "We're Americans, we're different. We're individualistic, we're strong," he says with passion. * https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/is-the-metric-system-a-communist-plot https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/is-the-metric-system-a-com...

ghaff 6y ago

And whatever some people on forums like this may think about it, there is zero widespread interest in a wholesale switch to metric in the US. Where there's an advantage to using metric like in science and engineering, people use metric (mostly). For day to day life, they mostly use US units and they work fine. As someone else noted, even if you look at the UK, they use the metric system more than the US does, but they also still use imperial units in a lot of contexts--including some we don't use in the US like stones.

throw0101a 6y ago

> in the US, at this point, advocating for metrification is associated with a sort of odd, fringe type of political figure. Tucker Carlson of Fox News thinks that metric system is a form of tyranny: > CARLSON: Almost every nation on Earth has fallen under the yoke of tyranny -- the metric system -- from Beijing to Buenos Aires from Lusaka to London, the people the world have been forced to measure their environment in millimeters and kilograms. * https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/can-the-us-continue-to-stand-alone-against-the-metric-system https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/can-the-us-continue-to-st... Nothing new, with things going back to 1977: > Dean Krakel thinks metric is more about Marxism than measurement. As director of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma, Krakel is waging a war against metric on political grounds. In this 1977 clip from As It Happens, he says it reflects "the philosophical way communists want one of everything" - one world, one monetary system, one educational system and, now, one measurement system. "We're Americans, we're different. We're individualistic, we're strong," he says with passion. * https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/is-the-metric-system-a-communist-plot https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/is-the-metric-system-a-com...