Re:Ask HN: Why it is hard for US to move to metric system?
by toss1 on Thursday January 12, 2023 @11:23AM
(#34355927)
You are evidently getting downvoted out of ignorance.
In 1975, congress passed the Metric conversion act, and created the US Metric Board for planning, coordination, and public education.
This was disbanded under Reagan, particularly due to White House Advisor Lyn Nofziger's efforts [0]. The killing came from the conservative side, straight up.
And yes I was in HS then, and was very enthusiastic about the conversion, and the opposition was generally driven by conservative xenophobic sentiments (and frankly, laziness to learn a new system). I literally heard people say they "didn't want no damn foreign system here", nevermind their ignorance that "standard" wasn't invented in the US either.
The fact is that the same xenophobia, laziness, and willful ignorance is being exploited today to drive RW voting blocks. Metric is now so far off their anti-scale as to be invisible, but if another push comes, I can guarantee that the RW media will be all over the same anti-foreign-stuff on metric.
What's worse, I use both systems nearly every day in my work, and metric is WAAAY easier.
Example: Quickly subtract 5/8" of an inch from from 1' 5 25/32" or subtract 16mm from 452mm - which is easier? Or add 3 tablespoons to 3/4 of a cup vs 44 ml added to 177 ml.. Hell, just the notation in the "standard" system is insane, nevermind the origins (3 barleycorns to the inch or the length of the current king's foot...).
Yes, I get that doing conversions is a pain, but once you get used to the switch (maybe just spend a couple weeks in any other country) it is way easier. Opposition is really either political or an unwillingness to think about it.
In 1975, congress passed the Metric conversion act, and created the US Metric Board for planning, coordination, and public education.
This was disbanded under Reagan, particularly due to White House Advisor Lyn Nofziger's efforts [0]. The killing came from the conservative side, straight up.
And yes I was in HS then, and was very enthusiastic about the conversion, and the opposition was generally driven by conservative xenophobic sentiments (and frankly, laziness to learn a new system). I literally heard people say they "didn't want no damn foreign system here", nevermind their ignorance that "standard" wasn't invented in the US either.
The fact is that the same xenophobia, laziness, and willful ignorance is being exploited today to drive RW voting blocks. Metric is now so far off their anti-scale as to be invisible, but if another push comes, I can guarantee that the RW media will be all over the same anti-foreign-stuff on metric.
What's worse, I use both systems nearly every day in my work, and metric is WAAAY easier.
Example: Quickly subtract 5/8" of an inch from from 1' 5 25/32" or subtract 16mm from 452mm - which is easier? Or add 3 tablespoons to 3/4 of a cup vs 44 ml added to 177 ml.. Hell, just the notation in the "standard" system is insane, nevermind the origins (3 barleycorns to the inch or the length of the current king's foot...).
Yes, I get that doing conversions is a pain, but once you get used to the switch (maybe just spend a couple weeks in any other country) it is way easier. Opposition is really either political or an unwillingness to think about it.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_the_United_Stat...