Well worth the read, very, very well worth the read.

I think, that maybe, it's the reason behind the political inactivity of the youth population. No one does much for the War on Crime, the War on Drugs, the War on Cancer, or any other over-cliched and silly-named "war" on X thing here - sure they're bad, but not bad enough to get up and DO something about it. This is why no one's really getting up and DOING anything.

If anyone cared about stopped cancer, they'd donate to science, they'd learn the facts, they'd offer better medical care and support systems. If anyone really cared about terrorism they'd make an effort to stop racism, bigotry in any form - especially religious, and try and understand what causes other nations to hate us. But we really don't care. It's a distant, far off "war" because it's not tied to our personal daily lives, and things not tied to our personal daily lives just aren't taken into consideration.

Similarly, the fact that the War in Iraq is so distanced from the public and so glossed over by the media is discussed again on Reclusive Leftist - a good post to read. I caught part of the nightly news on this recent event in Iraq tonight and was slightly appalled at how quickly it was glossed over, how little the anchorman seemed to care, and how distance he was even from the story he was reporting. It made me realize another part of this apathy - the anchormen don't even care. Watch some old news footage of the real Big Names in Broadcasting reporting on Vietnam or anything - they are visably and audibly upset, angry, and appalled at what they're reporting - that sort of emotion carries through and gets the audience involved and emotional as well. Now though, they don't care, their audience doesn't care, and it's one more news story to be forgotten at the end of the week.

Until it really, honestly effects day to day American Life, people won't care. They'll brush it off, and move on, and hide behind reality television and candy coated news stories and be surprised when something big really does happen. Ignorance is bliss eh?