MAPS and our place in the world...

I’ve been giving some thought to why so many Americans have such a pathetic sense of geography and even worse sense of the importance of events that are happening throughout the world.

At work the other day I tried to talk to someone about current events going on in Timor. All I got back was a very blank look and the question “Where is Timor?” Once the person I was speaking with learned that Timor was a small island country between Australia and Indonesia, she completely dismissed the conversation. It could not have seemed less relevant to this person. Her perception was that any events in Timor had no direct bearing on her life, and any views or actions she took could not possibly have any influence on what happens in Timor, so why bother with it? Change the channel. End of story.

So I’ve been thinking more on the processes we rely on for whose suffering matters to us and whose does not.

First, there is an element of whether we consider the ones suffering to be an “us” or a “them” that influences whether or not we will become emotionally involved or take any action. On a personal level, in a crowded room of mothers and toddlers playing together, no matter how noisy it gets, each mom is atuned to know if HER baby is crying. That signal tells her brain when she should get up and intervene and when she can carry on with whatever conversation she may be having. This is also demonstrated by the different ways we respond to genocide, depending on whether the peoples being systematical slaughter look like the dominant white culture of America or not. Just compare knowledge of and reaction to the European Holocaust with how most Americans respond to the atrocities of the Hutu-Tutsi conflict or the travesty of Pol Pot.

Then there is the whole issue of self interest. Is there oil involved? Whether our government cares who invades who definitely gets measured on THAT scale.

Beyond that – there is the whole issue of MAPS. Throughout our entire educational experience, Americans are exposed to word maps that show the United States smack dab in the middle – reinforcing the silly notion that we are the center of the universe. Just as the Sapir Whorf hypothesis would suggest that the words we use shape our perceptions of the world, I think the symbolic representations we surround ourselves with – like our maps – have power to reinforce ideology.

Maybe it would do us some good to throw out all our old maps and replace them with new ones that demonstrate that the good ole U S of A is just one land mass of many, and that OUR culture, OUR views and OUR traditional practices are not the end all, be-all of the world.

When will we ever learn to take our place at the world’s table as collaborating partners rather than egocentric, oblivious thugs pushing our weight around?