Sniggering with Maps For US

Cartography met pop culture a week ago when a candidate for Miss South Carolina answered a tough question about American school children’s geographic myopia.  She was asked what the reason could be for the fact that 1/5th of Americans cannot locate the US on a world map. (That was the NOTfunny part of the story.)   Her bizarre answer included the assertion that “Some… people out there in our nation don’t have maps.”   Since then, more than 11 million people have viewed the YouTube video, making it the most viewed video for the past month, and in the top 50 for all time, even after just a week!   Embarrassing as it was and is for us “U.S.-Americans”, it is also hilarious and provoked many delightful responses, especially the website MapsForUs.org, which continues the exploit the merriment (and has a link to the video). Did she win? Came in fourth.

Update: 27/6/2018:  67 million people have viewed the video.  Miss South Carolina, Caitlin, had a rough time after the video went viral, but seems ok for now. The website MapsForUs.org, meanwhile, has not fared so well.  Doesn’t exist.