When things were going well during the Clinton regime, we Americans, for the most part, were withdrawing from the world and basking in our good fortune and indulgences. The media focused on stories that enhanced market share, which generally were NOT to be found on the international page.  We chose to remain ignorant because we only wanted to hear good news or gossip.

We were broadsided by 9-11 in part because our political leaders, along with the media, distracted us with Monica and pandered to us about what a good job they were doing with an economy that was essentially doing well on its own.  Who knows what might or might not have happened had Americans truly been aware of the resentment our foreign policy in the Middle East had aroused over the previous forty years.

What did happen is that we had to be jolted into awareness, as is usually the case, by a crisis.  And as we ran out to read the Koran and brush up on our geography, the sore (I mean Gore) losers and the rabid Clinton haters churned up their power-mongering blame game.  In the meantime many of us have taken the easy path of joining in, almost blindly, as the radio talk shows and major media outlets form our opinions for us.

We listen to paid, bottom-line entertainers instead of reading thoughtful, informed commentary by scholars or primary sources.  Why should we think when we can turn the knob and get the adrenaline rush that a good dose of hate or anger can provide!  If we think as we observe, we may hesitate and question spoon-fed assumptions.  I recently compared us to sheep but, in our world of information and communication, perhaps parrots would be a more apt analogy.

We live in a world where everyone can watch events unfold in real time almost anywhere on the planet, yet we've spawned a culture of Jay Leno