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[ CJ ] Hi. I'm sorry. Sorry to be late.

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[ Dr. Fallow ] Oh, not a problem. [ CJ ] I'm CJ Cregg.

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[ Fallow ] Course you are. I'm Dr. John Fallow. This is Dr. Cynthia Sayles and Professor Donald Huke.

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[ CJ ] Huke? [Huke] Huke.

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[ CJ ] Okay, and you are the Organization of Cartographers for Social Equality.

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[ Fallow ] Well, we're from the OCFSE. We have many members. [ CJ ] How many?

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[ Fallow ] 4,300. Dues paying members.

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[ CJ ] What are the dues? [ Fallow ] $20 a year for the newsletter.

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[ CJ ] Let's start.

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[ Josh ] Wait, I want to see this.

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[ CJ ] This is Josh Lyman

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[ Fallow ] Indeed you are.

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[ CJ ] Josh, this is Dr. Fallow and his merry men.

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[ Fallow ] Yes. [Laughter]

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[ CJ ] Should we begin?

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[ Fallow ] Yes. Plain and simple, we'd like President Bartlet to aggressively support legislation that would make it mandatory

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for every public school in America to teach geography using the Peters Projection map instead of the traditional Mercator.

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[ Josh ] Give me 200 bucks and it's done.

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[ Huke ] Really? [ CJ ] No. Why are we changing maps?

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[ Sayles ] Because, CJ, the Mercator Projection has fostered European imperialist attitudes for centuries

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and created an ethnic bias against the third world. [br][ CJ ] Really?

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[ Fallow ] The German cartographer, Mercator, originally designed this map in 1659 as a navigational tool for European sailors.

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[ Huke ] The map enlarges areas at the poles to create straight lines of constant bearing or geographic direction.

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[ Sayles ] So it makes it easier to cross an ocean.

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[ Fallow ] But it distorts the relative size of nations and continents.

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[ CJ ] Are you saying the map is wrong?

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[ Fallow ] Oh dear, yes. Look at Greenland.

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[ CJ ] Okay. [ Fallow ] Now, look at Africa. [br][ CJ ] Okay.

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[ Fallow ] The two land masses appear to be roughly the same size. [ CJ ] Yes.

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[ Fallow ] Would it blow your mind if I told you the Africa was in reality 14 times larger?

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[ CJ ] Yes!

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[ Sayles ] Here, we have Europe drawn considerably larger than South America when at 16.9 million square miles, South America is almost double the size of Europe's 3.8 million.

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[ Hukes ] Alaska appears three times as large as Mexico when Mexico is larger by 0.1 million square miles.

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[ Sayles ] Germany appears in the middle of the map when it's in the Northern most quarter of the Earth.

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Wait, wait. Relative size is one thing but you're telling me that Germany isn't where we think it is.

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Nothing's where you think it is.

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Where is it?

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I'm glad you asked.

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The Peters Projection.

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[ Sayles ] It has fidelity of axis.

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[ Huke ] Fidelity of position.

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[ Sayles ] East-West lines are parallel and intersect North-South axes at right angles.

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What the hell is that?

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It's where you've been living this whole time. Should we continue?

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[ Josh ] Uh huh.

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[ Huke ] So, you're probably wondering what all this has to do with social equality.

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No, I'm wondering where France really is.

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[ Josh ] Guys, we want to thank you very much for coming in -

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[ CJ ] Hang on. We're going to finish this.

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What do maps have to do with social equality, you ask?

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She asked.

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Salvatore Natoli of the National Council for Social Studies argues, in our society we unconsciously equate size with importance and even power.

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[ Josh ] I'm gonna check in on Tommy.

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[ CJ ] Go.

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[ Josh ] These guys find Brigadoon on that map, you'll call me, right?

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[ CJ ] Probably not.

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[ Josh ] Ok

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[ Fallow ] When third world countries are misrepresented, they're likely to be valued less.

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When Mercador maps exaggerate the importance of Western civilization,

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when the top of the map is given to the Northern hemisphere and the bottom is given to the Southern,

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then people will tend to adopt top and bottom attitudes.

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[ CJ ] But, wait - where else could you put the Northern hemisphere but on the top?

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[ Sayles ] On the bottom.

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[ CJ ] How?

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[ Fallow ] Like this.

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[ CJ ] Yeah, but you can't do that.

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[ Fallow ] Why not?

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[ CJ ] Because it's freaking me out.