# Is northism evil? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 19, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-northism-evil/564734 "2010-12-19T18:27:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-northism-evil/564734/81 "2010-12-20T22:26:27Z")
I try to fight against Northism by going down south once in a while. It seems to help, everyone involved ends up in a better mood. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-northism-evil/564734/82 "2010-12-20T22:30:52Z")
> [@Galileo](#): > > And who here has never rotated a road map to get a better sense of the direction of travel? _raises hand_ That’s why I gave up on the AAA TripTic thingies; they’re oriented in the direction of travel and I just get confused. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-northism-evil/564734/83 "2010-12-20T22:35:37Z")
No northism is not evil. However, were I in charge of the world, Geography could only be taught in rooms oriented to the cardinal directions (walls running N, E, S, & W) and maps could only be hung on the north wall. Any map hung on another wall would have to be turned so that the viewer was facing the direction at the top of the map. I went to an Elementary School that was Skewed 45 degrees, and the Maps in second and third grade were hung on the SE wall. I still have to think which way is actually north. Mercator projections…now those ARE evil. Or maybe not. I first realized adults could be idiots from a teacher that insisted that Hawaii is West of Japan. Might as well learn that lesson sooner as later. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-northism-evil/564734/84 "2010-12-20T22:40:08Z")
How do we know they didn’t just flip a coin centuries ago and the south lost? ---
**Author:** ![Galileo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Galileo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galileo)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-northism-evil/564734/85 "2010-12-20T22:50:50Z")
> [@wmfellows](#): > > The 90% of humanity that doesn’t have access to GPS. Jaysus, GPS is bloody new even in Developed markets, it’s some gobsmacking myopia… Do those people use compasses? That’s what I was comparing with GPS. Also, I wasn’t suggesting abolishing maps at midnight tonight. This is a speculative thread. I mentioned cars, boats, and planes. Not many people have planes, and certainly not everyone has a boat or a car. So, I’m just talking about what is currently possible if someone has the resources. One more point: I’m pretty sure that practically 100% of humanity has access to the GPS satellite signals - you just need a GPS device, and they’re pretty cheap nowadays, as far as new technology goes. Of course, the devices have to be available in your area. I think, though, that your 90% figure is a bit of an overstatement. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-northism-evil/564734/86 "2010-12-20T23:29:03Z")
Every time one enters an Outback Steakhouse, one is faced with a south-oriented world map. Maybe we should just require all restaurants to turn their maps. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-northism-evil/564734/87 "2010-12-20T23:33:53Z")
> [@Kevbo](#): > > a teacher that insisted that Hawaii is West of Japan. Well, it is. It’s also east of Japan. Round world, and all that. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-northism-evil/564734/88 "2010-12-20T23:40:50Z")
> [@Galileo](#): > > One more point: I’m pretty sure that practically 100% of humanity has access to the GPS satellite signals - you just need a GPS device, and they’re pretty cheap nowadays, as far as new technology goes. Of course, the devices have to be available in your area. I think, though, that your 90% figure is a bit of an overstatement. Just a wild arsed guess, but do you think more than 10% of Americans actually own a GPS unit? ---
**Author:** ![Galileo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Galileo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galileo)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-northism-evil/564734/89 "2010-12-20T23:45:11Z")
I didn’t interpret “has access to” to mean “owns”. I thought it meant that they have access to buying and using one. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-northism-evil/564734/90 "2010-12-21T00:02:53Z")
I assume that that’s where Santa gets the power to see us when we’re sleeping, and how he knows when we’re awake. Because he’s the Emperor of the Entire Fucking World. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-northism-evil/564734/91 "2010-12-21T00:50:39Z")
> [@Galileo](#): > > Well, there’s Buckminster Fuller’s [Dymaxion Map](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dymaxion_map). It has no “up” or “down”. Oddly enough I first became aware of this map on Wikipedia a week ago, and mocked it then elsewhere. It didn’t take long to realise that Mr./Prof./Dr. whatever he was Fuller was one to be avoided. If nothing else, to quote: “_Fuller championed, and for many years adhered to, a dietary regimen that consisted exclusively of prunes, tea, steak, and Jell-O_.” ---
**Author:** ![Galileo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Galileo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galileo)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-northism-evil/564734/92 "2010-12-21T01:28:03Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > If nothing else, to quote: “_Fuller championed, and for many years adhered to, a dietary regimen that consisted exclusively of prunes, tea, steak, and Jell-O_.” What are you quoting? What’s the source? ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-northism-evil/564734/93 "2010-12-21T01:34:22Z")
[A 2008 New Yorker profile of Fuller.](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/09/080609fa_fact_kolbert) ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-northism-evil/564734/94 "2010-12-21T01:44:33Z")
_looks really unthrilled_ You realise I have to go back to that other board, find the post, find the link I gave there and bring it back, don’t you ? Just for the unique culinary preferences of a nutcase… Here ya’ go: **[The New Yorker : Dymaxion Man, by Elizabeth Kolbert; 9 June 2008](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/09/080609fa_fact_kolbert/?printable=true)**. Take it up with her. _Fuller was fond of neologisms. He coined the word “livingry,” as the opposite of “weaponry”—which he called “killingry”—and popularized the term “spaceship earth.” (He claimed to have invented “debunk,” but probably did not.) Another one of his coinages was “ephemeralization,” which meant, roughly speaking, “dematerialization.” Fuller was a strong believer in the notion that “less is more,” and not just in the aestheticized, Miesian sense of the phrase. He imagined that buildings would eventually be “ephemeralized” to such an extent that construction materials would be dispensed with altogether, and builders would instead rely on “electrical field and other utterly invisible environment controls_.” ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-northism-evil/564734/95 "2010-12-21T01:46:12Z")
> [@wmfellows](#): > > I thought this kind of useless bloody tripe died out in the 1990s after the American universities got wrapped up in other bits of useless leftist Academic wankery. Yeah like being upset about Christian churches and other righties supporting beating fags to death and hanging niggers. Seriously, can we get over the idea that this is some sort of wide-spread liberal idea? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-northism-evil/564734/96 "2010-12-21T02:29:59Z")
Fuck Sigma Octantis! Polaris rules! ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-northism-evil/564734/97 "2010-12-22T09:14:15Z")
I’m one of the Southernmost 'dopers (there’s all those Melbourners and Chileans, but they don’t count) and a survivor of colonialism, and I say the whole idea in the OP is stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-northism-evil/564734/98 "2010-12-22T09:19:37Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > _looks really unthrilled_ > > You realise I have to go back to that other board, find the post, find the link I gave there and bring it back, don’t you ? Just for the unique culinary preferences of a nutcase… That “invisible environmental controls” in building thing does sound kind of neat, tho’. A good SF author would probably do some interesting things with it. (I haven’t read any who have yet, but that probably means I’m just not well-read enough in the genre.) ---
**Author:** ![wmfellows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@wmfellows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wmfellows)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-northism-evil/564734/99 "2010-12-22T14:10:18Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > Yeah like being upset about Christian churches and other righties supporting beating fags to death and hanging niggers. > > Seriously, can we get over the idea that this is some sort of wide-spread liberal idea? Perhaps if knee jerkers actually respond to what was written. No where did I write that the concept was wide spread among the American left. Read it again mate. It was certainly something quite popular for Left activist American students to blither on about in the late 1980s as they banged about London pubs (etc). Doubtless a marginal bit of idiocy, but one quite promoted by youngsters. What the bloody fuck gay rights or lynching has to do with any of this entirely escapes, doubtless more blind knee jerking. The "Woe is us in the Left’ blithering on this Board is about as tedious as the Woe is us Right on the board. American speciality, it appears, woe is me victim card playing. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-northism-evil/564734/100 "2010-12-22T15:08:47Z")
**wmfellows** , back off. Everyone else is having a good time deriding the concepts of the OP and a few of the other ideas proposed in a humorous fashion while you appear to need to stomp around and hurl mean-spirited insults. Your attitude is doing nothing to promote your views or keep the thread on topic. Take it to The BBQ Pit or drop it. [/Modding] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-northism-evil/564734.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-northism-evil/564734.md?page=6)