Consider the North-South comparison on the Mercator projection (in black and white) which shows distances correctly but not areas. On a Mercator projection, the North (shown in black) is 18.9 million square miles vs. the South (shown in grey) is 38.6 million square miles. Actually, the South is much larger in area than the North (look at the Peters projection and read the justification for this map projection). The Peters projection was created in 1974 by Arno Peters who claims that his map "takes us into the 21st century without reproducing existing distortions and biases of other maps. The importance of Peters map goes beyond its superior portrayal of sizes and proportions. The Peters map leads us to a new view of the world." Many international agencies, including the United Nations, now use this "better"  (as in socially justice towards Third World people) map. Unfortunately, this is hardly the case! Critical thinking is not commonly found among people and institutions that should know better; hence, the strong emphasis in Geography 111 on dialectical and ideological thinking.