Can a Person Really be This Insulated from World Events?

[Montagnard]

A Pew Survey, conducted just a few days ago, reports that 25% of Americans say they had not heard any reports of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison.

How does one go about shutting out the world that effectively?

Is there something of importance, politically,to be garnered from knowing that the public is so unaware of world events?




http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/06/13/news/pew1.php

[skypilot]

1. I'm sure some of them...

...are idiots who've heard about Abu Graib but don't consider what happened there to be abuse, hence they've never heard any "reports of abuse". It was just some guys "blowing off steam".

[Sal Minella]

13. Same people who think we're fighting Iraqis because Saddam

brought down the World Trade Center. So if any Iraqi enemy bad guys get caught and put in prison, they can't expect it to be the Abu-Ritz.

[izzie]

2. It is easy. JUst do not turn on the news

It is done all the time.

[liberal N proud]

3. bu$h appears to be much of the time

When these things break in the news, bu$h always claims to not have heard anything about before the public

[Tab]

4. Easy

Don't read newspapers (many people don't), don't watch the news, just sports, or soap operas, and when you turn on your radio only listen to those dumb morning everyone-laughs shows or Imus in the Morning. Other than that, hang out at the bar, do your shit, go home.

I'd say 25% might even be low.

[ChicagoRonin]

5. Ignorance (Selected, Inherited and Institutional)

One of my ex-girlfriends was a Bush voter. She came from a solidly working-class family, had a job as a corrections officer and frequently did whatever her parents told her (even if it was a bad idea). We argued about politics, and she called me both a "liberal" and a "hippie." The only sections of the newspaper she ever read regularly were the metro sections related to crime-reporting (as it applied to her job). She showed no understanding of the world beyond her job, community and family, and no interest. When discussing world affairs, she'd make comments like, "Who cares what other countries think." When she listened to NPR together with me once, she complained that the announcer sounded "pretensions" (and though I sometimes agree with that label of NPR, she wasn't capable of giving any substantive reasons why she thought that way when prodded). Funny enough, she never watched FOX news either (in fact, and try to believe this, she didn't even KNOW what FOX TV was!). I don't think she's a hate-monger or crazy, but before we broke up, I did tell her that, from my point of view, she was one of the most scared people I ever knew. Anything that fell outside the realm of her known experiences - people, ideas, activities, movies, etc. - she reacted to negatively. Oh, her reaction to Abu Ghraib: She sided with the guards. She felt that the only mistake they made was getting caught on camera.

[newyawker99]

14. Hi ChicagoRonin!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Freedom_from_Chains]

6. Americans, for some time now, have been fully ignorant of world events

[bdamomma]

10. Very true and shameful

[enlightenment]

7. I have a student in my summer class who

is an active duty member of the Air Force, stationed at Nellis AFB. Early 20s, by the look of her. The first day of class she told me (and the class) that she considered the course a waste of time -- exactly what relevance, she asked, did history have in her life?

After a second or two of internal shrieking, I asked her if she could explain why there was so much conflict between the cultural and religious factions in Iraq - or in the Sudan, Darfur, or the Congo (to name just a few places).

She allowed that she didn't know what I was talking about. We're fighting the "terrorists" in Iraq and "where are those other places?"

The excuse for not knowing was the standard and often heard "I don't read the papers or watch the news because (drum roll) it's TOO depressing."

She has no clue, and no idea how depressing I find her attitude. It is all too common among this age group, it seems. I've been wondering if there isn't some way we can subliminally feed news through their cell phones and mp3 players -- it may be the only way to get through . . .

[unpossibles]

8. why is it always about 25-30% that have no clue?

I saw a stat that about 30% of people completely don't believe in evolution, or global warming, and now this. is it any wonder Bush's approval ratings are around the same number?



But, I guess we don't need money for education - that's a waste... </sarcasm>

[bdamomma]

9. that is why so many other countries laugh at us

because we (not all of us) are so unaware of things that are happening around us. Shameful

[leftchick]

11. that would be bush's actual base number

and we know they lie. To themselves and others.

[LizW]

12. No. But some people are liars.

There are people taking that survey who would like it if fewer people had heard of the torture at Abu Graib because they know it reflects badly on their Dear Leader. So they follow his example and lie.

[KyuzoGator]

15. Because they don't run news crawls on-screen during American Idol.

I love America, but most Americans annoy the piss out of me. You don't have to be a news junkie to at least have an idea of what's happening in the world.

I mean, just glance over the USAToday headlines for 30 seconds a day.