My neighbors are not oblivious to their own ignorance. They know what they think they need to know and that is all they know.
Everthing they do to others is based on the knowledge they hold inviolate which is mainly religious, racist and tribal.

They are careful not to engage people who are outspoken and brand that person as one who never shuts the fuck up.

These are middle class Americans who live in half a million dollar homes and vote against their own economic self interest and may in fact lose their homes in the 7 million home forclosure crisis that is loomng over the next 3 years.

Some of them are just trying to go with the flow but many of them are more interested in keeping up with the Jones' than developing a cosmopolitan base of knowledge.

C'est la vie.