Omphalos Syndrome

This is something interesting that I learnt in International Business.

In India and Europe, kids grow up with a world map that looks like this:

Kids in USA grow up with maps looking somewhat like this:

School children in China have this as their world map:

And the reason is 'Omphalos syndrome', misguided belief that one's polity is the center, or navel (omphalos), of the world. 'The-world-is-the-way-I-say-it-is' philosophy has often created a sense of artificial supremacy and blinded the citizens to potential dangers. The so-called powerful nations are the biggest victims of this syndrome.
To extend this a little further, the refusal to accept reality as-is is the real problem. And this is true at a micro level - in households, families and individuals. We always see what we want to see. This is where education should make a difference which literacy alone cannot.