fandomhigh | Dealing With Stupid People [Tuesday, August 14, 2nd period]

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stupid people

Dealing With Stupid People [Tuesday, August 14, 2nd period]

Josh leaned up against a desk in the Danger Shop, hands in his pocket and a grin on his face.

"President Andrew Jackson, in the main foyer of his White House, had a big block of cheese and I can't believe I'm giving this speech," he began. "He did not, sadly, have a cracker the size of Lake Tahoe. I checked. My old boss, the White House Chief of Staff, used this folksy excuse to make us all talk to total crackpots once a year and today that privilege falls to you."

He waved his hands. "Pick a desk, make yourself comfortable, the computer'll drop someone insane off to talk to you. Try not to laugh in their faces--they're all based on real people. Um, sadly."

My Stupid Mouth - John Mayer

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"Hello," a woman said, poking her head into his cubicle. "Is this where I'm supposed to be to talk about the injustice of using the Mercator projection map?"

"Ah, yes. This is the place, I suppose," Rodney attempted to start out on the right foot. He even set down his coffee. "What was your problem?"

"The Meracator projection predisposes people to view Europe as more important that it is, and to unvalue Southern Hemisphere continents," she said.

"Well, it is true that there's a great deal of distortion when projecting the surface of a sphere in two dimensions," he agreed. "But do you really think that's what makes people think Europe is more important?"

The woman brought out ~~visual aids, yay~~ two different maps. "The Mercator projection (http://z.about.com/d/geography/1/0/t/A/mercator.jpg) makes Greenland and Africa appear to be almost the same size, and Europe of a size with South America. The Peters projection (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.public.asu.edu/~aarios/resourcebank/maps/img29.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.public.asu.edu/~aarios/resourcebank/maps/page9.html&h=330&w=515&sz=106&tbnid=_WkQBDhTv6xpkM:&tbnh=84&tbnw=131&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpeters%2Bmap%26um%3D1&start=1&sa=X&oi=images&ct=image&cd=1) is much more accurate and should be the map included as the default in school textbooks."

"Right, I get that land masses are not shown in their correct proportions," he waved dismissively at the maps. "What I'm wondering is if you believe that changing to a more accurate map will make all that much of a difference since European history is still emphasized in most North American schools."

She nodded. "It's a starting point," she said. "I represent Cartographers for Social Equality. I'm sure someone else has covered the market on 'Europe isn't really that special'."

"'Cartographers for Social Equality,'" Rodney repeated incredulously. "Wow. They really have thought of everything."

She frowned. "We're a completely legitimate organization. There's a newsletter and everything."

"How very nice for you," Rodney nodded at the woman. "Maybe once you've taken care of the map problem, you can focus your energy on something... else. Curing cancer, for example," he suggested.

"I'm not a doctor," she pointed out. "At least not that kind of a doctor."

"Ah," he pointed. "Anyone can help raise money for cancer research." He said this as if he didn't believe that medicine was more voodoo than science. That was beside the point. "Or really, any other charitable organization that actually helps people."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "This helps people!"

"Of course it does," he nodded again. "But there's a big difference between helping people by changing their attitudes about something that doesn't exactly affect their daily lives, and helping people by improving their quality of life," he shrugged. "So, once we change the maps in all future textbooks and such, you'll be free to find a new cause."

"So you'll do it, then?" the woman asked eagerly.

"Well, I'm not going to issue a recall on all the old Mercator maps or anything, but replacing them in the future is doable. So, sure, why not?" He waved his hand again.

She smiled at him. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome," he said amused.

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Dealing With Stupid People [Tuesday, August 14, 2nd period]

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