Tucker Carlson: metric system is weird, utopian, inelegant, creepy

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a post by Alan Smithee
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Even Colbert couldn't make stuff like this up.
Watch: Fox News host attacks "inelegant, creepy" metric system that America alone has resisted

"Almost every nation on Earth has fallen under the yoke of tyranny—the metric system," Carlson said. "From Beijing to Buenos Aires, from Lusaka to London, the people of the world have been forced to measure their environment in millimeters and kilograms. "The United States is the only major country that has resisted, but we have no reason to be ashamed for using feet and pounds."

(guest James) Panero called the metric system "the original system of global revolution and new world orders."

Carlson replied: "God bless you, and that's exactly what it is. Esperanto died, but the metric system continues, this weird, utopian, inelegant, creepy system that we alone have resisted."​

It's one thing to have crazed, unhinged conspiracy theories about the metric system, but one should educate oneself before saying things that are factually incorrect.

"The metric system, meanwhile, is the product of the French Revolution. It was imposed at the business end of the guillotine," Panero said. "It's assumed to be progressive. It's assumed that everyone has gotten to be behind it."

Carlson characterized the metric system is "completely made up out of nothing."

"It's totally made up," Panero said. "Even worse than overturning custom has been the meter's imposition of ten. It's a ten size fits all mentality. Now here's how it gets crazy. The French Revolution went all in for 10. They tried to impose a 10 day week, 100 hours, 100 minutes, 100 seconds—they had a whole revolutionary calendar."​

International System of Units - Wikipedia
>> The group, which included preeminent French men of science,[32]:89 used the same principles for relating length, volume, and mass that had been proposed by the English clergyman John Wilkins in 1668[33][34] and the concept of using the Earth's meridian as the basis of the definition of length, originally proposed in 1670 by the French abbot Mouton.[35][36] <<

So while SI did come out of the French Revolution, it was based on measurements proposed by clergymen and the base units were based on various known quantities like the circumference of the earth and the mass of a liter of water.
 
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Allandavid

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Good grief...

There are some perfectly good reasons as to why most of the advanced nations of the world have adopted the metric system...

And none of them have anything to do with bizarre conspiracy theories...
 
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Brightmoon

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Lol the metric system is actually easier to use and easier to switch between units . Americans are just used to the minor inconvenience of using the old British imperial system . 12 inches = 1 foot ; 3 feet is a yard , 5280 feet is a mile. (approximately 2.5 cm per inch ) VS the metric system 1000mm = 1 meter =100 cm ; 1000meters = 1kilometer. Anyone who’s taken physics or chemistry in high school or college knows this ( but we Americans still use the old pain in the butt system anyway) go figure
 
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Zoness

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lololol oh wow I thought this was satire.

In case any passers by are wondering how we're doing right now, this is a pretty good barometer of things....
 
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Perhaps Tucker’s fears would be eased if the US monetary system was switched back to the Imperial......12 pennies to the shilling, 20 shillings to the pound, etc.....?
What you mean it's not 240 cents to the Dollar! Philistines!
 
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Kaon

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It's so lacking in "elegance" that the scientific community uses it whenever it can.

Seriously though? Bashing the metric system? In favor of the English system?

This is how destabilization works.

I am very anti-academia, but I can recognize Soviet-style psychology when I see it. No need to attack a subjective system of measurement for cheap isolationist tricks, and illusions of exceptionalism. Carlson may not realize it, but the nationalism and alienation from the world wont work for America: that type of polarity is reserved for nations built on people, not ideas.

We are witnessing the fall of an empire as we type and ready. Pay attention, so that (after the 100th historical example, we may not allow the same thing to happen.)
 
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Occams Barber

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Even Colbert couldn't make stuff like this up.
Watch: Fox News host attacks "inelegant, creepy" metric system that America alone has resisted

"Almost every nation on Earth has fallen under the yoke of tyranny—the metric system," Carlson said. "From Beijing to Buenos Aires, from Lusaka to London, the people of the world have been forced to measure their environment in millimeters and kilograms. "The United States is the only major country that has resisted, but we have no reason to be ashamed for using feet and pounds."

(guest James) Panero called the metric system "the original system of global revolution and new world orders."

Carlson replied: "God bless you, and that's exactly what it is. Esperanto died, but the metric system continues, this weird, utopian, inelegant, creepy system that we alone have resisted."​

It's one thing to have crazed, unhinged conspiracy theories about the metric system, but one should educate oneself before saying things that are factually incorrect.

"The metric system, meanwhile, is the product of the French Revolution. It was imposed at the business end of the guillotine," Panero said. "It's assumed to be progressive. It's assumed that everyone has gotten to be behind it."

Carlson characterized the metric system is "completely made up out of nothing."

"It's totally made up," Panero said. "Even worse than overturning custom has been the meter's imposition of ten. It's a ten size fits all mentality. Now here's how it gets crazy. The French Revolution went all in for 10. They tried to impose a 10 day week, 100 hours, 100 minutes, 100 seconds—they had a whole revolutionary calendar."​

International System of Units - Wikipedia
>> The group, which included preeminent French men of science,[32]:89 used the same principles for relating length, volume, and mass that had been proposed by the English clergyman John Wilkins in 1668[33][34] and the concept of using the Earth's meridian as the basis of the definition of length, originally proposed in 1670 by the French abbot Mouton.[35][36] <<

So while SI did come out of the French Revolution, it was based on measurements proposed by clergymen and the base units were based on various known quantities like the circumference of the earth and the mass of a liter of water.


The US joins Liberia and Myanmar as the only three countries in the world which haven't adopted the metric system.
Map of countries officially not using the metric system

Myanmar is planning to convert.
OB

 
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variant

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This is how destabilization works.

I am very anti-academia, but I can recognize Soviet-style psychology when I see it. No need to attack a subjective system of measurement for cheap isolationist tricks, and illusions of exceptionalism. Carlson may not realize it, but the nationalism and alienation from the world wont work for America: that type of polarity is reserved for nations built on people, not ideas.

We are witnessing the fall of an empire as we type and ready. Pay attention, so that (after the 100th historical example, we may not allow the same thing to happen.)

I mean Tucker has always been a loathsome and shameless propagandist, but trying to link up the metric system with the evils of the french revolution is really rather stupid.

Calling it inelegant is amazingly stupid.
 
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Is this intended to be a joke?

Sometimes I wonder if Tucker is engaging in performance art... and then I remember that this is Tucker we're talking about.
 
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