> Geographic knowledge itself may contribute to an increased appreciation of the complexity of geopolitical events<p>What? Aren't the confounding factors glaringly obvious here?
It's not unlikely that knowing the distance to North Korea, and hence the incredibly slim chance that a North Korean missile could make it all the way, factors into this opinion.
>“the American public is the geographically most illiterate society of consequence on the planet, at a time when United States power can affect countries and peoples around the world.”<p>Hmm where are they going with this? They stop just short of suggesting that only 'spatially literate' Americans should be able to vote. Since they don't actually suggest it, they need not address the obvious racism/classism allegations backlash that would inevitably occur.<p>>Americans’ relatively low interest in North Korea is not returned in kind. “North Koreans are obsessed with the United States,” ....“The cruelest thing you can do is tell a North Korean that many Americans couldn’t locate North Korea on a map.”<p>I could be wrong but I'd guess your average North Korean has more tangible things to worry about.<p>Maybe the point of this article was to say Americans need to improve their geography skills but the author chose a head-scratcher of an example.
How many people even know what the flag of Seychelles looks like, where is this country and what is it's infamous distinction without cheating by looking it up?