As Seen By...

The sad thing about these maps is that the stereotypes they illustrate are too commonly true. I feel that a very large part of the United States' culture and trends can be traced to New York City, and that a large part of the world's culture and trends can be traced to the U.S.. Obviously, people who live outside of the U.S. or NYC are more familiar with the geography around them, but the point is that people adopt parts of a worldview that is so ethnocentric when they are part of so many vastly different ethnoses--for example, western capitalism--this is grounds for internal conflict and clash that leaves entire peoples and lands decimated and uprooted. Just put yourself in the shoes of someone who lives outside NYC or the U.S. and you may get the smallest sense of this self-conflict and marginalization.