Geography is irrelevant!
Geography is irrelevant. In today’s interconnected, globalized economy and communications culture, geography no longer matters. Both ends of an internet connection may physically terminate at two computers thousands of kilometers apart, across oceans and continents, but there is no real difference in the location of those two points. They are essentially coincident, both in the abstract and in the real-time nature of connectivity. Geography is irrelevant in so many ways, due in part because of the technological advancements in communications, geospatial technology, consumer behavior and education, content and choice.
For many, geography has ceased to exist as a define subject in schools and universities around the world, save the dedicated Geography Departments of a small percentage of Universities. It is no longer even a subject worthy of it’s own course title. It has become subsumed in the realm of social sciences, always condescended to by the more defined sciences; biology, physics, math, chemistry, economics. Geography is so irrelevant that it does not even garner a seat at the executive table at any Fortune 500 company, nor is it granted Cabinet status for the President or even any State Executive Office.
With so many complex and pressing issues facing Government and business today, why is geography so irrelevant? The rate of change in our globalized world leaves no time for geographic comprehension and appreciation. Our own Kanesha Price recently conducted a small geographic literacy survey at a local college campus, and while they did score better than the national average, the questions were surficial and encyclopedic in nature. If Americans are near bottom in understanding even these “low hanging fruits” of geographic literacy, is it any wonder why policies and strategies lack any real application and appreciation for more meaningful geographic issues. The simplest conclusion must be that geography is no longer relevant.
Think more about it – GPS navigation devices lead us to and fro, there is no need to retain mental maps or think about location; we have countless media outlets telling us all we need to know, but it matters little where the who did what and when to whom. Celebrity anchors bedazzle viewers with mangled explanations of geospatial technology and shine a blazing spotlight on just how irrelevant geography appears to be to just about all but the ivory-tower big-brain academics. I am surprised the term “geography” still has a place in Webster’s, aren’t you?”
