Freaked Me Out Too

Here is the West Wing episode I watched in high school and never thought had much importance. Little did I know....watch the clip then read the rest of the blog, please and thank you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8zBC2dvERM
When they flipped the map upside down it really did freak me out and I still can't get a handle on it. In physics and reality, it really doesn't matter which way is up. Earth is round and thus top and bottom are arbitrary. So I suppose the fact that we believe the northern hemisphere is on top is a social construction of white, northern superiority.
Also, I found it very interesting that if you look at the first 1700's map we looked it, it looks most similar to the Peterson projection they are proposing in the episode. Whats with that? Can anyone explain that one to me? Did the northern hemisphere not feel as dominant back then?
I feel like the only real solution here is to look at the map upside down, inside out, and backwards. Try it. Let me know if you can wrap your head around that one.