6 ms·

I don't think this is a US only thing. Even in India, where I'm from, everyone I've spoken to or know tends to like this change.

flohofwoe 7d ago
Yeah but does the Indian education system actually use Mercator projection on their wall maps and geography learning material? E.g. how much is the average Indian citizen actually confronted with highly distorted map projections in their daily life (unless their professional job is involved with navigating ships of course where Mercator projections makes sense). From my side of the world (Europe), this whole "Mercator projection is associated with colonialism" drama seems to have originated a couple of years ago in the US and was mostly amplified by artificial social media outrage.
- philipallstar 7d ago
  It's from longer ago than that. There was a West Wing "big block of cheese" episode that made it out to be a white supremacy issue, when the map is really just a useful map for navigation.
- WelkinFolk 7d ago
  At least from my own experience, the map used the most throughout school was the Mercator projection. When I first discovered that Greenland and Canada were not really that big during one of my many wikipedia tours as a kid, I was incredibly disappointed.
  - GJim 6d ago
    Are you saying that as a kid, you never had a globe in your geography classroom? Seriously?
    - WelkinFolk 6d ago
      I mean, of course we were shown a globe "once". My father had one at home too, though tucked away under a mountain of files and other things in his gigantic cabinet. But 99% of the time, a kid would see the world via maps in books, notebooks, projected onto the board, etc. And we didn't have a "geography classroom". We had one classroom for a set number of kids - like 8A, 8B, etc. (where "8" is the class/grade). The teachers would come in and go as per the period. The kids stayed right where they were.
      - GJim 5d ago
        Good Lord! I can only suggest that your education system was in a state of failure.
        WelkinFolk 5d ago
        I mean, most nations aren't as rich as the "West" + East Asia. I come from a small town, but I still managed to do fine for myself.

flohofwoe 7d ago

Yeah but does the Indian education system actually use Mercator projection on their wall maps and geography learning material? E.g. how much is the average Indian citizen actually confronted with highly distorted map projections in their daily life (unless their professional job is involved with navigating ships of course where Mercator projections makes sense). From my side of the world (Europe), this whole "Mercator projection is associated with colonialism" drama seems to have originated a couple of years ago in the US and was mostly amplified by artificial social media outrage.

philipallstar 7d ago
It's from longer ago than that. There was a West Wing "big block of cheese" episode that made it out to be a white supremacy issue, when the map is really just a useful map for navigation.
WelkinFolk 7d ago
At least from my own experience, the map used the most throughout school was the Mercator projection. When I first discovered that Greenland and Canada were not really that big during one of my many wikipedia tours as a kid, I was incredibly disappointed.
- GJim 6d ago
  Are you saying that as a kid, you never had a globe in your geography classroom? Seriously?
  - WelkinFolk 6d ago
    I mean, of course we were shown a globe "once". My father had one at home too, though tucked away under a mountain of files and other things in his gigantic cabinet. But 99% of the time, a kid would see the world via maps in books, notebooks, projected onto the board, etc. And we didn't have a "geography classroom". We had one classroom for a set number of kids - like 8A, 8B, etc. (where "8" is the class/grade). The teachers would come in and go as per the period. The kids stayed right where they were.
    - GJim 5d ago
      Good Lord! I can only suggest that your education system was in a state of failure.
      - WelkinFolk 5d ago
        I mean, most nations aren't as rich as the "West" + East Asia. I come from a small town, but I still managed to do fine for myself.