Other countries manage to do this and people still have a life.

For instance the country that I currently call home - Canada - is very similar to the US in many aspects but people are far better informed about the rest of the world. Being German and having lived in both countries I don't have a stake in this one way or another, yet almost every time I talked to another immigrant in the US they eventually expressed their astonishment about the lack of knowledge of the outside world that Americans displayed. In the 14 months that I've lived in Canada this has not happened here. And I met and talked to many immigrants within that time frame.

...

The clear voice of the other 43 per cent.

Hmmm. Note to self. Check with creative if 100 minus 57 is, in fact, 43. In US numbers, that is. Heh.

Poutine is a Quebecois (French Canadian dish) which is hot french fries with hot gravy mixed in with melted cheese curds. Used to eat them when I was a bike courier - a crazy huge load of fat and carbs. A lot of people consider poutine pretty disgusting, and certainly it's so full of fat that it sends people into coniptions.

and didn't dare ask.... (who could blame you?)

Recipe and best sources, too. Yum. Yum. Yuk.

Poutine Primer

clicking on this before breakfast...

Since you bring it up, I just read about Putin's "photo shoot". Check out His Buffness: http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/08/17/321396.aspx

I don't think he eats poutine!

I'd say it's more accurate to say Americans more often choose to see how their lives are affected by golf/gossip/sports, and ignore the very real effect of global politics on their lives. While Americans live this privileged life (relative to the rest of the world), they have the option. But to say global politics doesn't visibly affect them is just wrong. I mean, aren't oil prices and the Iraq war "negatively affecting their economic state"?

I hate to put this in the form of a tautology, but if global politics actually affected the lives of Americans, then Americans would make themselves more aware of global politics.

Drunk drivers kill vastly more Americans than terrorists... and oil price increases are barely a blip on the radar compared to what Americans spend on junk they know they don't need.

Most Americans live in a bubble, because there simply is not enough incentive to care. If there was an incentive, then naturally, more would care.

--
http://bexhuff.com
Of COURSE you can trust the US Government! Just ask the Indians.

What's important is social capital. It doesn't matter what you talk about, what matters is you talk. That's what builds communities. That's what's needed to make the world a better place. Not screaming your opinion at others.

Do you chat about global politics with a tight circle of like-minded friends? Fine! Great! But don't assume you're any less ignorant than others. You're just as vulnerable to manipulation and propaganda, it just needs to be sneakier.

Play bridge, go to bible study, or just watch TV with your friends. As long as you're forming relationships, it all helps.

--
http://bexhuff.com
Of COURSE you can trust the US Government! Just ask the Indians.

Why did Congress get involved originally with the big three: Baseball, Football, and Boxing? What is the governments interest in professional sports and the Olympics? Is the US Olympic team foreign policy for consumption by foreigners or foreign policy for consumption by Americans? Try watching the Olympics on foreign TV and you will know the answer. Now think about the American military and how you feel about it; is there a connection? Is our technology superior? Does the F15 deserve a gold medal for a decathlon of dogfighting and missile shooting? Is the M1 Abrams a weight-man that can throw spent Uranium harder and farther than anything else? Get'm? No, get-some because those kids in the Marines know who is better!

Spend your time watching TV, the one eye, so that you will know your culture because that is where it comes from; our common knowledge is the things the TV tells us. That beer commercial during the Super Bowl! Everyone knows about that one. Our culture is the guy with the two beer cans on his hat. Now you can talk about that with your friends. Funny? Hilarious, we know about ourselves from our culture!

Bible Study as a way of generating social capitol? You are speaking of the greatest purveyor of a patriarchal power that I know of. Let us study it, immerse ourselves and see what we find. The truth? God is a man, we know the truth!

You are right though about propaganda being sneaky.