What does this say to us? Well, aside from the humbling reminder of just how small the UK and Europe is, it tells us something of those who initially created maps and that they usually created maps that would tell them how to navigate around coastlines, and use this to their financial advantage and at the exploitation of the natives. In the age of exploration, the West as we know it, were greedy for gain.
This Peters Projection was brought to my attention again by friend, Anna. I was first drawn to the potential for injustice maps have in the US political drama 'The West Wing', when, in one episode, Press Secretary CJ Cragg had to take a meeting with a group who wanted to turn the map upside down. They claimed that the psychological effect of the 'West' being in the Northern Hemisphere was damaging on the Southern Hemisphere in so far as the West gained a perceived upper hand and felt entitled to certain 'inalienable' rights.
This humbling should be well noted by us here in the West, we are not all that big, and we have exploited most of the world for a long time. Now, it is clear that my comments here are not going to fix anything. But this topic, like many, just show how easy it is to be completely unthinking and naive in our opinions, and the need for Christ to give us his wisdom in dealing with the everyday and ordinary thing, like maps, and the resulting attitudes that they teach and encourage.
So, here's my suggestion: buy a Peters Projection map - you can find them for a fiver on the internet - and hang it somewhere where people will see it and talk about it, let's see if we can't take the world more seriously...
