In the newspaper this morning was an analysis of last night’s presidential debate. The opinion was that the debate was too “wonky” for most people. People watching would have to actually have known something about current events, proposed bills and basic economics. Apparently that would be too much to ask of viewers.
My daughter was reading Reader’s Digests from the 1940’s that my Aunt had saved. The articles were much longer and more involved then the short and simpler ones in today’s popular magazines. It seems that we have advanced in knowledge since the 1940’s, but in other ways we are not as smart.
The problem is that an ill informed and unknowledgeable public is easy prey for cute sound bites and catchy phrases from both sides of the political spectrum.
Is there any hope for democracy in a country where a sizeable percentage of the population still thinks that the Earth is less than 10,000 years old?
