And So It Goes

What Every American Should Know About the Rest of the World - M.L. Rossi.

David Harris's Science & Literature blog mentions this book, which from its Amazon description seems to be a Dummies Guide to International Affairs. Given the breathtaking--umm, call it lack of knowledge and leave it at that--among Americans and the way the US seems to be getting itself tangled up in international affairs in ways that may come to bite us on the ass later, this seems to be the kind of book that ought to be widely circulated.

But--call me cynical--I have a hard time imagining it being even welcome in some homes, since a studied disinterest in the reality outside America's borders seems to be the order of the day among most Americans. I mean, last time I looked, opinion polls indicated that a majority of Americans believe Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11 (no evidence but some tenuous--to put it charitably--reports of meetings between Iraqi intelligence and al-Qaeda), and a disturbingly large percentage (not yet a majority, thank God for small favors) believe that the US has found the alleged Weapons of Mass Destruction.

The cynic in me believes that not only are Americans generally not interested in being educated about the rest of the world, but actively avoid it.

Fine, I'll shut up now and order that damned book.

[David Harris' Science and Literature]