The World according to the United States

map

This link is to a silly map that I stumbled on last semester called "The World According to the United States." I think it's pretty funny, but it is not exactly politically correct, so I hope no one is offended. Despite its silliness, I think there is some value to it-it reminds us that many people in the U.S. really do think of the rest of the world the way this map shows-they just know the simple stereotypes and not much else. This definitely applies to Latin America-many estadounidenses only know about Mexico's tequila and illegal immigrants, Colombia's coffee and drug trade, Cuban communism, and they probably also have lots of misconceptions (for instance, the makers of this map think the Patagonia is a jungle). I think it's important that we LAST majors remember that not everyone understands the region as well as we do, especially when we're thinking about U.S.-Latin American relations.