Submitted by William J. Sturm(United States), May 29, 2002 at 05:18
It seems to me one of the biggest culprits in modern American society is that folks no long take and read a newspaper. They have no written word to examine. They are either too busy or too lazy to accomplish this task of staying informed.
I am certain that 99.99% of Americans have never ever heard of Daniel Pipes. And, even fewer have read anything he has very carefully reseached and brought to our attention.
Oh, but we have the internet. Sure, but a very large number of folks only use it to get e-mail messages! That would be like buying a new automobile and only using it to back up to the mail box each day to pick the mail! Not much content coming from that source.
What we do have is the sanitized and processed evening news presented in extremely short sound bites. This news is carefully spun to portray the views of the media bringing the news. News is no longer just reported. It is spun and created as it moves on to our television sets! And we have all cable news...whatever that is.
Is it any wonder Americans are so illiterate on world affairs?
In short, the vast majority don't have the pure distilled truth about any subject what-so-ever. This is a politician's dream and a recipe for disaster.
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