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.

  • circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org
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    5 hours ago

    Anyone else remember “freedom fries”? That’s what we were supposed to call french fries when conservatives were upset that the French were not supporting the US invasion of Iraq.

    • Skeezix@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      Remember how if you didn’t want our boys coming home in flag draped coffins then you “Didn’t support out troops?”

    • a9cx34udP4ZZ0@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      “Mission Accomplished” might be one of the greatest all time. And to think I thought that would be as low as it could get for our country.

  • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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    7 hours 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.

  • callouscomic@lemm.ee
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    10 hours ago

    Ahem. Umm, conservatives are angry that others are not calling something what THEY want it to be called?

    Hmm. So… I just feel like… perhaps, there’s a similarity here. Some people… want to be referred to a specific way… but usually conservatives have a problem with that.

  • danc4498@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    Can the president unilaterally change the names of anything he wants? Seems like there at least needs to be a vote on this.

    • Weslee@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      That’s what an executive order is isn’t it? The pres just saying this is how something is without challenge

      • BradleyUffner@lemmy.world
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        5 hours ago

        An executive order is just official instructions to a lower office on how they are to operate. They have no legal authority outside of that purpose. They are not laws. They do not apply to the public or other businesses.

        It’s the equivalent of a supervisor writing memo to the staff that the department break room should have tea instead of coffee. No one outside the company, or even the department, has to obey it

    • Auli@lemmy.ca
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      9 hours ago

      I mean yes they could be if the order affected them. I mean as everyone famously says they are beholden to the rules of the country they are in.

      • AstridWipenaugh@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        EOs are not laws and can only direct the federal government’s actions. The President has no authority to unilaterally control a company, except for scenarios where it is interacting with the federal government. Just like the “two genders” EO, it only applies to the federal government. States and companies can continue to support non-binary and other options for sex and gender identity.

      • _cryptagion@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        8 hours ago

        No, executive orders are not laws, and they apply only to the federal government. The reason for that is the president is not a king, and so their word cannot be law. That requires congress to make the law, and the Supreme Court to uphold it, if that law is challenged.

  • BradleyUffner@lemmy.world
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    10 hours 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.

    • Saleh@feddit.org
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      9 hours ago

      President just orders the police to kill everyone, who names it wrongly…

      Now private business can decide if they want to comply or not.

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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        13 hours 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.

        • Auli@lemmy.ca
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          9 hours ago

          They’ll follow suit. Apple is not the company people think it is. Tim was at the information along with all the other oligarchy. I know people well make excuses like he had to and blah blah blah. But no he did not. This a a openly gay man who chose to go support people who hate him why because he loves money more.

        • andallthat@lemmy.world
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          12 hours 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?

          • veroxii
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            7 hours ago

            Yeah there’s already support to name things differently based on your locale. If you have an English locale you see “Germany”. Inside German it’s called Deutschland and if you’re in a Spanish speaking place it’s Alemania.

            You could probably distinguish between en-us and en-gb to have different names in the USA and UK.

            So yeah I totally think it’s possible.

  • withabeard@lemmy.world
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    13 hours 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.

    • Signtist@lemm.ee
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      11 hours ago

      They say they want an efficient government not wasting time and resources on unnecessary things. What they actually want is a government that makes them feel superior to all the people they’ve been convinced to hate, in this case Mexicans and Leftists. Trump knows this, and gives them what they want so that he can get what he wants, which is free reign to exploit his position and his country for profit while his loyal voter base blindly supports his efforts to usher in their demise.

    • ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works
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      9 hours 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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        12 hours 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…

        • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
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          12 hours ago

          Oh, no, it doesn’t work that way for them. See, if a natural disaster strikes a blue city/area, it’s god doling out punishment for their wickedness. If a natural disaster strikes a red city/area, it’s god testing their faith because he loves them so much.

      • Tinidril@midwest.social
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        12 hours ago

        It will be a body of oil soon enough. Then the world will probably get on board with the new name.

        • This is one of the worst things of this asshole’s term.

          We’re living in a climatic emergency that is going to affect the world forever, reaching a tipping point, and this bastard and his voters are working to accelerate the proccess while the rest of the world tries to fight it. At this point, my only wish is that things like the Los Angeles fires spread in that shithole of a country until there’s nothing left.

          Innocents will pay, but so are we, who couldn’t even vote there and will be “enjoying” his actions as if we did.

  • callouscomic@lemm.ee
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    10 hours ago

    Let’s just call it the gulf of shit and dump all conservatives in there.

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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    12 hours 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?

    • AbsolutelyNotAVelociraptor@sh.itjust.works
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      12 hours ago

      Actually, the Gulf of Mexico appears called like that around 1500 AD, when the United States were not even an idea of a nation. So no, it never was called like that because it was named centuries before the US existed.

      • Jerkface (any/all)@lemmy.ca
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        8 hours ago

        America is not “The United States” in the context of naming global features on a map. We have two continents call that, for example.

        • Sure, but the name Gulf of Mexico, actually named Golfo de México since it was a Spaniard who named it, doesn’t come from the country of Mexico, but of the Mexica civilization (aztecs for many but called mexihkah in nahuatl), the name comes from the even older name “seno mexicano” (seno meaning gulf or bay).

          If any, the other known name was Gulf of New Spain, but I suppose Turd would rather die than call it such name.

      • ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml
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        11 hours ago

        In this vein, I’m ok with calling it Gulf of America, the (super)continent, so long as the denonym for people of the USA also changes, since it’s a continent.

        • Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          6 hours ago

          Agreed, I’ve been trying to move away from the terms “America” and “American” when discussing specifically The United States or it’s people.

          Not doing so is often at insult to the majority of people living in the Americas.

        • callouscomic@lemm.ee
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          10 hours ago

          Agreed. We should no longer be referred to as Americans, and instead let’s call ourselves the Shitholes.

        • atzanteol@sh.itjust.works
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          10 hours ago

          It’s weird how people seem to think that demonyms should match the name of the country exactly…

          Should we also say “united kingdomer”?

          • callouscomic@lemm.ee
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            10 hours ago

            No. We say English, for England, and Irish for Ireland, and Scottish for Scotland, and Welsh for Wales. French for France. German, Germany. Italian, Italy. Japanese, Japan. Canadian, Canada. Australian, Australia. Brazilian, Brazil. Mexican, Mexico.

            I mean come on.

            • atzanteol@sh.itjust.works
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              9 hours ago

              “British” isn’t a thing?

              How colonial of you to determine that you get to tell other people what they should be called.

              • Saleh@feddit.org
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                9 hours ago

                British does refer to the English blokes though. Don’t call a proud Scotsman that you think him to be British.

              • frazorth@feddit.uk
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                7 hours ago

                “British” isn’t a thing?

                Not really, no.

                A Scott wouldn’t because it would associate them with England, a Welshman wouldn’t, because it would associate them with England.

                And I wouldn’t, because someone might think I’m Welsh or Scottish. 🤷

                • atzanteol@sh.itjust.works
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                  5 hours ago

                  "Well I’m going to call you british because you’re from the british isles. "

                  This is my point - you don’t get to define how others refer to themselves.