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I find this bit ironic: (Respondents were so unsure of Ukraine’s location that the median guess was wrong by eighteen hundred miles, roughly the distance from
by Mz 10y ago
I find this bit ironic:
(Respondents were so unsure of Ukraine’s location that the median guess was wrong by eighteen hundred miles, roughly the distance from Kiev to Madrid.)
If this is written for an American audience, the odds are good that most of us not only don't know where the Ukraine is, we don't know where Kiev and Madrid are relative to each other. It would have made more sense to use two U.S. cities to give some perspective on how far off people were.
- chki 10y agoWell Kiev is in Ukraine and Madrid is in Spain, so that is just the full width of Europe which makes it really funny for those who know (and those who know are - to honestly reply to your concern here - those who read The New Yorker)
- Mz 10y agoI know where Madrid is and I have lived in Europe and I just read an article in the New Yorker. I even have a spiffy Certificate in GIS. I still don't find it to readily be a good comparison for a mostly American audience. If the point is to elucidate, I don't think it is a great example to use. If the point is to be all superior and imply or emphasize the idea that "if you don't know where these things are, you are dumb," hey, it works well. But trying to make your audience feel stupid is not really a great place from which to start. I mean, unless the point is to be toxic. Then, sure, go with that.