Quote:
Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker
I don't understand how people end up this way. I really don't. I never consciously studied or paid attention in geography. I would probably barely pass assigning the names of American states to their shapes. But I can put in a pin in a globe for any country or any significant city you want and be within a reasonable distance. I know Beijing is inland from Shanghai. I know Vienna is a few millimeters from the "east". I know where Papua New Guinea is. How do people not pick these sorts of things up over the course of their lives? Even just through osmosis? How do you avoid it? I couldn't if I tried. And with Trump these days, I'd like to know how to be warm and shallow like yesterday's beer. lol Seems happier.
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I don't really sweat that that much. If people don't exactly know if Lithuania is above Estonia or Belarus that is not too much to sweat or if they mix up Benin and Burundi. Or can't locate Benin at all. Seriously. There's some tiny countries that are almosst never in the news here. Guyana versus Guinea?
I know most of this now, but I've made it one of my hobbies to read books from as many different countries as possible. Going to pick up a Burundi book at lunch maybe. Or maybe that will be Serbia instead or Croatia.
Ignorance like that is more a function of how good your news sources are. In this Internet age, ignorance is only going to get worse, not better. We have so much at our fingertips, but we are very much at risk of being isolationist in our sources.