|
Edited on Wed Feb-08-06 09:58 AM by Atman
I'm totally serious. We have created our own echo chamber, and we immerse ourselves in politics, and we tend to think therefore the rest of the world knows what's going on, too.
We bitch about the lies we hear on cable news, as if everyone will know they're lies. But take a week off from DU, stay away from the computer. Read only as much as the average American -- like, almost nothing, just scan the newspaper headlines but don't go past page 2, or the Irish Sports Page. Then, at dinner time, turn on the evening news in the background while you prepare a meal for the family.
What you'll find if you do this is that things are really going quite well in the world. Very few stories about Iran or Iraq. The economy is SOARING. Some blonde girl is still missing. Democrats hate Bush, still. *YAWN* Basically everything is just peachy in America.
That is what the rest of the country sees while we're immersed in it up to our eyeballs, and that is why we go so nuts when others don't get it. In fact, after the last conversation I had with my mom, she said "I always enjoy talking to you...I learn so much. But I don't sleep for a week afterwards!" She's a rabid-Bush hater, but even she doesn't really have a clue what is really happening.
In short, we all owe it to ourselves to "get in touch with the people." You'll also get feel for how/why politicians become so insulated within THEIR own world.
|