Noam Chomsky: Why Americans Know So Much About Sports But So Little About World Affairs

[Populist_Prole]

40. Excellent post. Noam is always so astute despite not exactly being the best speaker.

This passage really stood out, as it is my observation exactly:

"People call in and have long and intricate discussions, and it's plain that quite a high degree of thought and analysis is going into that. People know a tremendous amount. They know all sorts of complicated details and enter into far-reaching discussion about whether the coach made the right decision yesterday and so on. These are ordinary people, not professionals, who are applying their intelligence and analytic skills in these areas and accumulating quite a lot of knowledge and, for all I know, understanding. On the other hand, when I hear people talk about, say, international affairs or domestic problems, it's at a level of superficiality that's beyond belief"

It irks me to no end when I witness this among so many I know. Blissfully ignorant to the point of slow-motion self destructiveness on matters other than sports or entertainment. I always said "Imagine the influence these people could have if they put their minds to shit that actually matters".