[XorNot]

Because the equator in the Mercator projection is the closest to "true size"...which means that the wealthier nations, well above that, are in fact exacerbated in apparent land mass.

I like this site[1] for showing the true size of countries on a standard projection. Look at how much the US actually changes in size when you move it's latitude even a little.

Like it or not, the perception of scale of a problem is linked to apparent size - Africa looks smaller then it is, whereas the European countries look a lot larger then they are. When we talk about a problem affecting somewhere, the idea that "most of the world is experiencing it" is contraindicated by our maps even if only subconsciously.

[1] https://www.thetruesize.com/#?borders=1~!MTc0MzY1MDE.NTAzNDg...

[kortilla]

Nobody looks at a map before saying “most of the world is experiencing X”. This is a fantasy straw man.

[InSteady]

No one claimed people do this. You have created a straw man-ception. Our awareness of the world is informed by distorted maps, even if it only impacts us subconsciously.

[kortilla]

No it’s not. Nobody cares about Greenland despite it being larger than all of Europe on the projection.

[darkwater]

Well I actually used to think - before being educated about map constraints and the Mercator projection - that "Wow Greenland is HUGE".

[kortilla]

How old were you when you learned that though? I thought the same thing until we were shown why it’s misleading in like the 4th grade.

[nerdbert]

Obviously not. And nobody said that. Talk about straw men.

People have internalized a sense of the relative sizes of different countries, and that internal representation is what they refer to.