I think the reason we have such an aversion to Meerkat's entry is probably due in large part to the left-wing bias present on the forum (myself included) - we quite happily bash right-wing ideologies in even more scathing terms.
Really? In my case it's because he's taken a stereotypical strawman version of feminism, then taken that to extremes, and presented it like that's the logical conclusion of any and all feminism.
Admittedly I wouldn't be so unnerved by, say, someone taking a stereotype of homophobia and taking that to its logical extremes - so I guess you're actually right - but I'm okay with that bias in myself because things like homophobia work in favour of established inequalities whilst things like feminism works against them. For me saying they're both equally bad is like saying stealing from the rich and giving to the poor is as bad as stealing from the poor and giving to the rich - sure, maybe the action's the same, but the context and relationship between the elements isn't.
Anyway, I think I'm on the precipice of turning this into a political discussion, which rarely ends well on the internet. So, let's try and turn the discussion back to maps - what did people think about histories and concepts behind the different maps? Was there anything you particularly liked, or disliked?
Personally, I was a bit disappointed that everyone decided to do a world map for this contest. I did expect it, considering the global focus of the challenge, but I liked that the challenge specified the "initial stages" of a global unification as that allowed for regional maps. I talked to Reagent about his ideas for entries, as I often do, and a lot of his ideas were regional or focused on one continent, so I was hoping for a few entries with a more regional focus. I can't say that this was a failing of any one map or map-maker, so I'm not criticising any entry in particular, but I was a little disappointed by the lack in map variety, even if there was plenty of variety in the background.
