As my first OP (and I'm not even sure I can get my point across properly)

[The_Commonist]

93. Welcome to the human condition.

People will want to tell you that it's the TV, or that it's just "those other guys on the other side," or because the super-rich are distracting you to steal your money, or even that it's just us Ugly Americans who behave like this. But no, it's all of humanity through all of history.

Greek comedy based on blunder and tragedy based on hubris was around 2500 years ago, and we are still blundering and hubrising, but now the entire world can watch minutes after the event. 2500 years is an eyeblink in the scheme of things, and although we might be quite a bit taller than we were then and can peer into the heart of the Big Bang and the atom, we're really not all that different than we were back in those days.

Why does the human condition cause us to behave this way? Answer that, and you'll win the prize.

And of course, it's not each individual, we can see reality with varying degrees of clarity. But I do think that veils of clouds and tears and bullshit is the default position, because seeing and understanding reality for what it really is can be VERY HARD WORK! Most people don't want to work that hard, for what seems like little reward. In fact, it often seems like downright punishment! You can walk around in a daze and enjoy the bread and circuses, and of course the prurient controversies, or you can work hard to see what's really going on here and be rewarded with those real body parts haunting your dreams.

A few days ago, someone here posted a question: "When Did Right-Wing Anti-Intellectualism Start?"

Answers ranged from "It started with Vice President Spiro Agnew," "It goes back to the late '40's," "when the left/right line of demarcation was drawn," "1776," and many other answers, both good and shallow. Even though I thought my answer was the cleverest, someone else wrote this, which said the same thing in a clearer way:

"Ever since our ancestors discovered that some people think about things more thoroughly and soundly than others? Since the first bully squared off with the first human who was smarter than he was, and lost? Unfortunately, power and the capacity for sound reasoning seldom travel in the same company..."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017251549

Point is... It ain't the email, it ain't the sexting, it's not even just us dumb Americans. We've always been like this, All of us, and probably always will be.

Hope that helps, and welcome to DU.
You will see the human condition on full display here...