Author Topic: What Maps Can Tell Us About U.S. Strategy for Europe and Asia  (Read 126 times)

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What Maps Can Tell Us About U.S. Strategy for Europe and Asia
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By James Holmes
April 13, 2021
 

An old book from the 1950s explains How to Lie with Statistics. Author Darrell Huff alerts readers to be on guard against those who misuse numbers—wittingly or unwittingly—as an implement of persuasion. A world of mischief lurks within statistical analysis. Numbers are neutral. How people use them may be subjective.

And often is.

It turns out the same goes for visual imagery. Even seemingly objective imagery such as cartography can convey political messages as well as facts. So mapmaking, like mathematics, can mislead. In fact, it almost has to. It’s impossible to render a globe on a flat page with perfect fidelity. Some degree of distortion is baked into maps.

Think back to the caterwauling in 2012, when the Obama administration announced that the Pentagon would “pivot” to Asia, reapportioning naval and air forces in particular to favor the Pacific theater. Almost instantly Europhiles took to protesting that the pivot was a grave mistake because it meant that America was turning its back on Europe.

https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2021/04/13/what_maps_can_tell_us_about_us_strategy_for_europe_and_asia_772499.html