There is a magic power to maps that makes us want to believe them. Maybe it's the inherent god's eye view, omniscient over all we see. Part of it for me, too, is knowing how the geodetic framework controls the accuracy of maps and links them all together, and makes them--theoretically--authoritative. There's this subtle cultural reinforcement--at such an early age I don't remember it, I learned that benchmarks are inviolate, and that it's both a legal and moral crime to mess with one; as if, if you screwed with a benchmark, you screwed with the fabric of reality. (A useful confusion of the map with the territory.) It's just part of the map mystique. The flip side is the sense of betrayal when maps are misused, in propaganda and real estate or anywhere else. Bad mojo to mess with maps.
Current Events » in reply to Recommended Reading
map, territory
The whole thread (25 posts)
- What "path to citizenship" is all about.
- They come for jobs. For whom do they work?
- Also I forgot to thank you for telling me what it was all about. So thanks.
- apropos
- It is Republicans who are pushing it. And your map explains why quite vividly.
- Map of the US by population
- Petard auto-hoist karma dept.