Helen Thomas is still a very respected journalist and I imagine that her remark about the most informed was based on her detailed knowledge of the vast amount of information available to people in the U.S. Americans probably do have the opportunity to be well informed; clearly, relatively few of us actually take the trouble to read it.

This tendancy of Americans to stay on the stupid side isn't a new development. I remember having lunch with some engineers in 1967 or so and discovering they were hopelessly misinformed about our nation's activities in Viet Nam and the history of that conflict. When I asked for the source of their information, it turned out to be Steve Canyon, a comic strip in the daily newspaper.

It's common to see articles reporting that new graduates in this country don't know where states and cities are located and haven't even heard of most countries let alone have some clue as to their whereabouts. Americans don't know the history behind almost any given conflict and that includes local ones like the War with Mexico and the American Civil War. Many Americans seem to practice a faith that is a combination of Christian fundamentalism and ill-informed patriotism. Long dead leaders like Abraham Lincoln are often jumbled together with Jesus in a pretty confusing way. They really practice a sort of generalized religion of Goodness that confuses politics, religion, nostalgia and soft rock music together in one murky born-again soup where everyone feels good.

Sigh.

      - Mark