In the past couple of weeks, two massive articles were released in major publications: a look at the somewhat ridiculous infrastructure of our security-scared nation's intelligence sector, and previously unreleased information about America's actions in Afghanistan.
And no one cared.
Perhaps we were too busy reading about Chelsea Clinton's wedding plans.
Michael Barthel tried to examine why the general populace didn't read the articles. Among his reasons are, "They lacked a simple, relatively novel takeaway point," and, "They did not have a direct, obvious impact on readers."
Have we really come to the point as a population where we won't read anything that can't be broken down to a single easily digestible blurb, or we don't care about what's happening overseas because "most of us don't know the soldiers coming home in body bags"?
It's easy enough to sit around living our easy suburban lives and not paying attention to what happens outside that bubble. I've done it for years at a time when I was living far, far away. But what is the cost if too many of us fall victim to this behavior? America is built on the ideal of government of, by, and for the people. But if we hit a point where only the politicians know or care what's happening, that American dream we all thought we were living could disappear in a hurry.
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