Headline Sep 18, 2015/ ''' MAPS : THE SAD HISTORY OF THE WORLD '''

''' MAPS : 

THE SAD HISTORY OF THE WORLD '''

FIRSTLY, - I MUST THANK every single one of you, for the kindnesses of your very worthy messages acknowledging the worth of : 

!WOW! -the World Students Society Computers-internet-Wireless and Sam Daily Times -The Voice Of The Voiceless.   Both these honour belong to every single student in the world: ''One Share-Piece-Peace.''

One case in point : Over all these many years, !WOW!  relentlessly pointed out, and even took on very personal visits to the policy makers, with a simple message:

*That education was getting expensive. And very soon it would be unaffordable*. 

The world of  ''private education merchants''  was becoming one of competing business cartels-

Increasingly backed by invisible hands. The brutal  zero-sum competition was on.  

The Pakistani parents, are now taking to the streets in mass protests right across the nation. In such cases, all societies get based on informal alliances. The snowballing will continue.

Everybody : The private school owners, the parents, the students, the academics will end up suffering. And that too at a very sensitive time for the country.

The nation will now pay the price for succumbing to the values of merchants, who believe in justice of the market, prize the pursuit of short-term profit and worship credit and risk.

AND, and, mark my words, that in my best judgement, unfortunately, no one seems to have an idea of how to handle the crisis and how the change is to come about. If asked,  !WOW! will volunteer and help.    

A VIEW OF HISTORY as a perpetual tussle between competing classes and interest groups is not exactly very new: Max Weber and Karl Marx, the founders of historical sociology, spawned an army of disciples.

But any view of history, should never ever estimate the importance of the way people in power think, behave and persuade others of the supremacy of their values.

Throughout most of world history, three  ''castes''   -the soldier, the merchant and the sage  -have struggled for predominance over a fourth........the worker.

When one of these castes achieves unchallenged control over the others, the result is instability, war, revolution, or economic disaster. This is what will always govern the fate of the world.  

Many of these maps, like those of the Spanish and Portuguese imperialists of the 16th century, did more to illustrate dominance and ambition than to improve cartographical practice.

Even now, when mapmakers have access to tools such as satellite images, there is still no objective and universally accepted map, argues Professor Brotton.

''The idea of the world may be common to all societies; but different societies have very distinct ideas of the world and how it should be represented.''

The author reckons that  Google Earth and other digital mapping applications are just as vulnerable as their predecessors to to national priorities and cultural norms.

These maps can be cluttered with links to commercial enterprises and are subject to censorship. At their most penetrating, they raise questions of privacy.

Though he sets out to examine a mere 12 maps, Professor Brotton cannot help but give dozens more at least a passing  mention.

Ironically this can be disorienting. Still, there is much to gain from this rich if overly detailed book.

As the products of both art and science, maps are often fascinating interpretations of the perceived world. They are about data and spatial awareness, but also about money, empire and discovery.

They tend to reveal more about the map makers than the land they chronicle. Mr Brotton may fall short of providing the promised  ''history of the world'', but he offers plenty of good reasons-

To see old maps as windows to lost times.

With respectful dedication to the  People of Pakistan, Students, Professors and Teachers. See Ya all on !WOW!   -the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless:

''' Look !WOW! '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless