Summary

Rep. Dan Crenshaw criticized Apple Maps for not renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, as mandated by Trump’s recent executive order titled “Restoring Names that Honor American Greatness.”

Crenshaw’s complaint reflects broader conservative frustration, as tech platforms and the global community continue to use the original name.

Critics compare the move to past nationalist gestures like renaming french fries “freedom fries,” accusing conservatives of embracing identity politics and culture wars despite their political dominance.

The name change is unlikely to gain international traction.

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        what’s funny is Trump didn’t directly change the name. that takes time. the relevant naming-people have to take it up and formally do it. All Trump did was order them to, and, uh, that only affects goverment things.

        Everybody else, Apple included, are going to be using the familiar name. because Trump is a moron.

        • andallthat@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          I don’t know… Isn’t naming (and even country boundaries) already localized based on where the users are? Isn’t a possible scenario that Apple and others could show Gulf of America to US users and Gulf of Mexico to everyone else without even spending too much effort?

  • withabeard@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    They want an efficient government not wasting time and resources on unnecessary things …

    They get a government crying over the name of a body of water.

    • ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      Their job is to do nothing and cede power and influence to unregulated, uncontrolled private interests of billionaires. It is now, was last week, and was years back. It is the merging and takeover of state power by corporate power.

      • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Indeed. It is the hurricane class five generating hot tub. How else could nature teach the most boneheaded MAGA-brains that climate change and global warming is real but by depopulating the coastal states…

    • slingstone@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Thank you for your service, sir/madam. You’re already a better executive than some presidents I can think of, thinking of what the people want.

      • Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        As the first matter of business I need to immediately address, my resignation. No one man is equipped to weild the power of the lemexcutive for much longer than I have.

        Farewell lemmings. Until we shit post together again.

        • slingstone@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Good night, sweet prince(ss)! Though your reign in this (lemmy.) world was short, your reign in our hearts will last at least a few more minutes!

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Real question here: It is titled “Restoring Names that Honor American Greatness.” - Has the Gulf of Mexico ever been named “Gulf of America” in any reasonable historical context, or is this just the usual made-up “fact” from Donald the Jester?

  • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Wait, that really happened? I thought the gulf of Mexico renamed shit was just memeing. Google maps still shows the proper name instead of the tantrum name.

      • olympicyes@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Honestly that makes more sense than Gulf of America because at least it is a bit more descriptive. Looking forward to Mexico renaming Gulf of California next.

        • VerifiedSource@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          Mexico has two states named Baja California and California Sur at the gulf of California.

          If anything California should be renamed to something less Mexican like Triumphia. Renaming the major cities to City of Angels, Saint Francis, Saint Joseph, Sacrament, Saint Doug, Ash Tree would then follow suit.

    • bestboyfriendintheworld@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      This is a huge distraction to get you worked up about a meaningless name change. Elon is heiling on stage like an edgy teen for further drama. Meanwhile EO are signed en masse and action is taken by the new administration. This time Trump and his cronies came well prepared with a plan.

  • BradleyUffner@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Executive orders have no control over non-government entities. They are just official instructions given to lower executive office departments on how to operate.

  • bobagem@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    Who’s gonna tell him?

    The earliest known use of the name America dates to April 25, 1507, when it was applied to what is now known as South America. It is generally accepted that the name derives from Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer, who explored the new continents in the following years on behalf of Spain and Portugal, with the name given by German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naming_of_the_Americas

  • merc@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    As someone who worked in mapping, many people don’t realize how much this kind of BS actually comes up.

    The map you see in Google / Apple maps isn’t the map the whole world sees. What you see is what’s culturally / legally appropriate for viewers in your region.

    For example, in parts of India it’s legally required that Jammu and Kashmir be displayed as being part of India on their maps. On Pakistan’s maps it’s legally required to be weirdly ambiguous, with a strange open border that doesn’t properly close. The rest of the world gets dotted lines indicating it’s complicated.

    For most of the world the body of water between Korea, Japan and Vladivostok is labeled as “The Sea of Japan”, but users in Korea will see “The East Sea”. Is the body of water around Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, etc. the Persian Gulf or the Arabian Gulf? Depends on where you are when you ask that question.

    This even has a strange effect when all the countries involved agree that a certain geographic feature is the border, but that geographic feature is a river. Some rivers, especially ones like the Amazon river keep shifting. Sediment piles up, erosion happens, and the river shifts. The river is still the border, but now someone has to go in and adjust the political border to match the river’s new position.

    So, if Trump does do something official to rename the Gulf of Mexico, the online mapping companies (and any offline ones that are left) will probably follow the rule and rename it… for their American users. The rest of the world will still see it as the Gulf of Mexico. It will just be yet another one of those funny exceptions the companies have to keep track of while displaying maps for a certain subset of users.