• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Why doesn't the US use the metric system??

Why isnt the US on the metric system?

  • The public is too stupid to change

    Votes: 9 28.1%

  • Conservatives. Its why we cant have good things.

    Votes: 8 25.0%

  • Liberals. Its why we cant have good things

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • The rest of the world should switch to the US system!

    Votes: 3 9.4%

  • The downside of change is greater than the upside, and I'm a short term thinker.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Who needs the metric system? My moms basement is all in inches.

    Votes: 1 3.1%

  • I have no idea. Not changing is absolutely stupid.

    Votes: 13 40.6%

  • Its a French idea.

    Votes: 3 9.4%
  • Total voters
    32
Henrin said:
The government can't really give you good things. I know you will mention the internet, but you should take note of the fact that the infrastructure is dependent on government. That is a problem in case you didn't know.
Click to expand...

Universities. The military. Roads. Air traffic control and commercial airline safety.
 
Arrogance and stubbornness - pure and simple.
 
Threegoofs said:
Universities. The military. Roads. Air traffic control and commercial airline safety.
Click to expand...

universities - better if left private
roads - better if left private.
the military- better without a standing army.
air traffic control- better if left private
commercial airline safety - better if left private
 
Threegoofs said:
I was thinking about this as I was working with my daughter this AM baking, and to adust the recipe we had to figure out how many tablespoons in a cup, how many cups in a quart, etc. I, as usual, converted everything in my head to metric and I just showed her the rough metric approximations (tsp=5ml tbsp=15ml, cup 240ml, pint ~ 500ml ) and figured it out from there. She looked at me and said "why dont we just use that measurement in the first place?".

The metric system is much, much more simple than the Imperial system... it makes doing simple things like doubling a recipe, calculating distance, and scaling up fluid and weight measurements much easier. The US is virtually the only nation in the world that sticks with the old, goofy imperial system, which probably costs a whole lot of money (everyone else sells stuff or buys stuff in metric units - the US has to be the exception), and we know has destroyed at least one space mission.

Its a simple system to use. We half-use it already anyway - you buy pop in 2L bottles, all food items are at least marked in metric volume or weight, and people run 5k races. Why dont we complete the job and ditch these worthless british holdovers that even the brits ditched years ago.

I dont know whatever happened to the metric initiative in the 70s (but I'm guessing Reagan killed it because it was too French and would confuse his constituents) and I know getting the old voting crowd to actually want to change would be tough, but why has there been no major initiative in the US for the last thirty years to finally join the rest of the world in measuring sanity?
Click to expand...

The metric initiative died long before Reagan.

Americans in general reject the metric system because it is inferior.

For example try laying out a baseball diamond using metrics. One of the lessons in the 1970s initiative involved a commercial where some kid used a tape measure and calculator to teach his buddies how to lay out a baseball diamond in metric measurements rather than standard. Of course as a propoganda commerical it had a happy ending. What they did not film was the kid getting his butt kicked by his buddies after the cameras stopped rolling.

This does not even begin to make us think of how hard is would be to lay out a football field according to metrics. That's read REAL fooball as opposed to the pansy european soccer variety.

untitled.jpg

Much like the individual's who make up the USA the USA tends to go it's own way. We do not need the example or methods of inferior nations who we have to bail out frequently from one war or another.
 
Threegoofs said:
I was thinking about this as I was working with my daughter this AM baking, and to adust the recipe we had to figure out how many tablespoons in a cup, how many cups in a quart, etc. I, as usual, converted everything in my head to metric and I just showed her the rough metric approximations (tsp=5ml tbsp=15ml, cup 240ml, pint ~ 500ml ) and figured it out from there. She looked at me and said "why dont we just use that measurement in the first place?".

The metric system is much, much more simple than the Imperial system... it makes doing simple things like doubling a recipe, calculating distance, and scaling up fluid and weight measurements much easier. The US is virtually the only nation in the world that sticks with the old, goofy imperial system, which probably costs a whole lot of money (everyone else sells stuff or buys stuff in metric units - the US has to be the exception), and we know has destroyed at least one space mission.

Its a simple system to use. We half-use it already anyway - you buy pop in 2L bottles, all food items are at least marked in metric volume or weight, and people run 5k races. Why dont we complete the job and ditch these worthless british holdovers that even the brits ditched years ago.

I dont know whatever happened to the metric initiative in the 70s (but I'm guessing Reagan killed it because it was too French and would confuse his constituents) and I know getting the old voting crowd to actually want to change would be tough, but why has there been no major initiative in the US for the last thirty years to finally join the rest of the world in measuring sanity?
Click to expand...

I don't know, but I use the metric system regularly when converting sizes in my paintings. Using the imperial system would be impossible.
 
The USA went to the Moon because of the assimilation of Nazi rocket scientists from World War 2 into our country .
Soupnazi630 said:
The metric initiative died long before Reagan.

Americans in general reject the metric system because it is inferior.


Much like the individual's who make up the USA the USA tends to go it's own way. We do not need the example or methods of inferior nations who we have to bail out frequently from one war or another.
Click to expand...
 
As usual, the far more important feature of the SI--System Internationale has been missed and/or ignored in this thread.
That being that there are seven base/fundamental quantities and their SI units--with all other quantities derived from these seven.
This was the greatest thing I could ever teach in High School Chemistry and Physics
since we never left it when encountering new concepts.

For instance in Physics, most of you know that F = ma, where F is force in Newtons, m is mass in kilograms, and a is accelearation in m/s[SUP]2[/SUP].
Acceleration in itself being a derived quantity using displacement and time.
So a Newton equals a kilogram times a meter per second squared.
Units are made larger or smaller by using metric prefixes.

It's not surprising conservatives line up against the Metric system as they are opposed to "hard" science .
 
Last edited:
The entire "decimals are easier than fractions" argument misses the point. The reason we should adopt the metric system is because it's the standard across the world.

Having multiple measurement systems is completely unnecessary. It serves no useful purpose. At best it's simply inefficient and wasteful, at worst it results in unnecessary and costly mistakes like the crashed martian probe.
 
Threegoofs said:
I was thinking about this as I was working with my daughter this AM baking, and to adust the recipe we had to figure out how many tablespoons in a cup, how many cups in a quart, etc. I, as usual, converted everything in my head to metric and I just showed her the rough metric approximations (tsp=5ml tbsp=15ml, cup 240ml, pint ~ 500ml ) and figured it out from there. She looked at me and said "why dont we just use that measurement in the first place?".

The metric system is much, much more simple than the Imperial system... it makes doing simple things like doubling a recipe, calculating distance, and scaling up fluid and weight measurements much easier. The US is virtually the only nation in the world that sticks with the old, goofy imperial system, which probably costs a whole lot of money (everyone else sells stuff or buys stuff in metric units - the US has to be the exception), and we know has destroyed at least one space mission.

Its a simple system to use. We half-use it already anyway - you buy pop in 2L bottles, all food items are at least marked in metric volume or weight, and people run 5k races. Why dont we complete the job and ditch these worthless british holdovers that even the brits ditched years ago.

I dont know whatever happened to the metric initiative in the 70s (but I'm guessing Reagan killed it because it was too French and would confuse his constituents) and I know getting the old voting crowd to actually want to change would be tough, but why has there been no major initiative in the US for the last thirty years to finally join the rest of the world in measuring sanity?
Click to expand...

I thought about this over and over. I've got nothing. I guess some in this country equate going to the metric system with some sort of world wide currency movement or us joining EU lol.
 
Soupnazi630 said:
The metric initiative died long before Reagan.

Americans in general reject the metric system because it is inferior.

For example try laying out a baseball diamond using metrics. One of the lessons in the 1970s initiative involved a commercial where some kid used a tape measure and calculator to teach his buddies how to lay out a baseball diamond in metric measurements rather than standard. Of course as a propoganda commerical it had a happy ending. What they did not film was the kid getting his butt kicked by his buddies after the cameras stopped rolling.

This does not even begin to make us think of how hard is would be to lay out a football field according to metrics. That's read REAL fooball as opposed to the pansy european soccer variety.

View attachment 67171107

Much like the individual's who make up the USA the USA tends to go it's own way. We do not need the example or methods of inferior nations who we have to bail out frequently from one war or another.
Click to expand...

Ah. It's too hard.

And yards would be impossible to convert to meters!

Another indication that it because of Conservatives that we can't have nice things.
 
Henrin said:
universities - better if left private
roads - better if left private.
the military- better without a standing army.
air traffic control- better if left private
commercial airline safety - better if left private
Click to expand...

Sure.

Keep telling yourself that. I'm sure it makes you feel better.
 
Threegoofs said:
Sure.

Keep telling yourself that. I'm sure it makes you feel better.
Click to expand...

Ok, so tell me why it is better that the government builds road, be involved in air traffic control, handle commercial airline safety, and have their own universities? Why is it better to have a standing army that only enables the government to engage in more war?
 
Threegoofs said:
I dont know whatever happened to the metric initiative in the 70s (but I'm guessing Reagan killed it because it was too French and would confuse his constituents) and I know getting the old voting crowd to actually want to change would be tough, but why has there been no major initiative in the US for the last thirty years to finally join the rest of the world in measuring sanity?
Click to expand...

Ever heard of the saying if it ain't broke then don't fix it? Besides the US is on top,so why should we be like the rest of the world?
 
NIMBY said:
The USA went to the Moon because of the assimilation of Nazi rocket scientists from World War 2 into our country .
Click to expand...

So goes one revisionist theory
 
Threegoofs said:
Ah. It's too hard.

And yards would be impossible to convert to meters!

Another indication that it because of Conservatives that we can't have nice things.
Click to expand...

It's an American thing not a conservative thing.

You can have it all youlike the rest of us are just smarter.
 
KevinKohler said:
Multiplying? Decimals are easier.
Dividing? Decimals.
Subtracting? Decimals.
Adding? Decimals.


Is there anything else you would do with either?
Click to expand...

So we should switch to metric because its easier for stupid people to use?
 
Let the average ****kicker do as s/he likes. No biggie. I do know that particle physicists won't be exploring the subatomic in sixteenths of an inch, any time soon.
 
Who were the scientists who worked on the rockets that sent the USA to the moon?
Soupnazi630 said:
So goes one revisionist theory
Click to expand...
And, who were the great scientists after the Civil War and before World War 2 who developed Chemistry and Physics as we know it today ?
 
More like picometers or so much smaller--think they know these prefixes go by thousands?
I'm sure the non-SI scientists have ways of making their units smaller and giving them a new base name.
NoC_T said:
Let the average ****kicker do as s/he likes. No biggie.
I do know that particle physicists won't be exploring the subatomic in sixteenths of an inch, any time soon.
Click to expand...

I wonder if they know that THC is measured in Nanograms of THC per deciLiter of blood .
 
Soupnazi630 said:
The metric initiative died long before Reagan.

Americans in general reject the metric system because it is inferior.

For example try laying out a baseball diamond using metrics. One of the lessons in the 1970s initiative involved a commercial where some kid used a tape measure and calculator to teach his buddies how to lay out a baseball diamond in metric measurements rather than standard. Of course as a propoganda commerical it had a happy ending. What they did not film was the kid getting his butt kicked by his buddies after the cameras stopped rolling.

This does not even begin to make us think of how hard is would be to lay out a football field according to metrics. That's read REAL fooball as opposed to the pansy european soccer variety.

View attachment 67171107

Much like the individual's who make up the USA the USA tends to go it's own way. We do not need the example or methods of inferior nations who we have to bail out frequently from one war or another.
Click to expand...

Yeesh.
The metric system is inferior to one based on the length of the King's foot? Divided by 12 and multiplied by 5,280? A system where water freezes at 32 (instead of 0) and boils at, what, 212 (instead of 100)? I mean, at least an Imperial gallon is 10 lbs. of water, which kind of makes sense, but what the heck is a US gallon? And then you divide it by 4 and then by two and then by 16.
Yeah, that all makes much more sense than metrics.
 
NIMBY said:
More like picometers or so much smaller--think they know these prefixes go by thousands?
I'm sure the non-SI scientists have ways of making their units smaller and giving them a new base name.


I wonder if they know that THC is measured in Nanograms of THC per deciLiter of blood .
Click to expand...
Let's not get started on time. That's where the whole ****house goes up in flames. lulz
 
Threegoofs said:
I was thinking about this as I was working with my daughter this AM baking, and to adust the recipe we had to figure out how many tablespoons in a cup, how many cups in a quart, etc. I, as usual, converted everything in my head to metric and I just showed her the rough metric approximations (tsp=5ml tbsp=15ml, cup 240ml, pint ~ 500ml ) and figured it out from there. She looked at me and said "why dont we just use that measurement in the first place?".

The metric system is much, much more simple than the Imperial system... it makes doing simple things like doubling a recipe, calculating distance, and scaling up fluid and weight measurements much easier. The US is virtually the only nation in the world that sticks with the old, goofy imperial system, which probably costs a whole lot of money (everyone else sells stuff or buys stuff in metric units - the US has to be the exception), and we know has destroyed at least one space mission.

Its a simple system to use. We half-use it already anyway - you buy pop in 2L bottles, all food items are at least marked in metric volume or weight, and people run 5k races. Why dont we complete the job and ditch these worthless british holdovers that even the brits ditched years ago.

I dont know whatever happened to the metric initiative in the 70s (but I'm guessing Reagan killed it because it was too French and would confuse his constituents) and I know getting the old voting crowd to actually want to change would be tough, but why has there been no major initiative in the US for the last thirty years to finally join the rest of the world in measuring sanity?
Click to expand...

As usual, this poll doesn't contain the option for my answer. My answer is:

There is no need to change.
 
Grand Mal said:
Yeesh.
The metric system is inferior to one based on the length of the King's foot? Divided by 12 and multiplied by 5,280? A system where water freezes at 32 (instead of 0) and boils at, what, 212 (instead of 100)? I mean, at least an Imperial gallon is 10 lbs. of water, which kind of makes sense, but what the heck is a US gallon? And then you divide it by 4 and then by two and then by 16.
Yeah, that all makes much more sense than metrics.
Click to expand...

Yes it does since we think in such terms and that is that.

We are better than the euro trash and they know it. They way we measure is also better.
 
jamesrage said:
So we should switch to metric because its easier for stupid people to use?
Click to expand...

It's also more precise, more user friendly, more practical (slide rule, anyone?), all around...better.

At the very least, it would make owning a proper set of tools cheaper.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom