The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[oldberkeley]

OT general thought: Now the media have a new war to obsess over, every combat scene lovingly covered, Japan moves to page two.

People are whipsawed by headlines and sound bites across the surface of events. No time to read deeply, to discuss extensively, to think for awhile. A nuclear reactor, a cruise missile, Charlie Sheen: each gets its fifteen seconds.

Any wonder that many are so poorly informed? That their knowledge is so thin and shallow? That they have the attention spans of a flea? That as a nation, we make irrational decisions?