katieog, Charlie.

Sad... on all counts and all sides.

It seems that between TV and the internet, Americans have forgotten how to read (newspapers, magazines and books) for depth of information, analyze for truth and bias, and form an original opinion (many folks just parrot what others say).

Also, TV and the internet have enflamed the nature tendency of young people to ridicule and mock the establishment.

The other day on another forum, I had a young man tell me that the Declaration of Independence is not relevant because it was written by slave owners, who had no business discussing freedom, in his opinion. His opinion was (by his own admission) influenced by the comedian Tosh.o on Comedy Central. Another young person concurred with that assessment of the Declaration of Independence, though she did disavow Tosh.o. She did however claim to identify more with Jay Leno skits than "Faux News."

The framers of the Declaration had issues (by their own standards and ours), but to call the entire document "irrelevant" is just stupid. I won't even be polite - STUPID!

Eh. Mocking and ridiculing the establishment is a time-honored tradition, and the shocking lack of awareness (not to mention curiosity) exhibited by the survey numbers cannot be laid at the feet of young people alone.

Actually, knowing the ages of the respondents would have been interesting, but I'd wager not many kids took part.

Nope, it's us grey hairs leading the stupid parade. We'd rather have a pompous talking head feed us our opinions than come up with our own researched and thought-out opinions.

Plus, we all have the attention span of gnats. Like crows, we will follow the shiny thing right into the gutter.

Katie, please do not lump all of us into the "attention span of gnats" category. Quite a few on this blog are knowledgeable and present reasoned, rational arguments. Granted there are others who do parrot the latest from Fox or other biased sources.

Charlie, I feel sorry for those young people. They would probably feel that the Magna Carta and Hammurabi's Code were irrelevant because they were not promulgated in America. Need to watch more Daily Show and Colbert Report and less Tosh.0. Might actually learn something while being entertained.

Guilty as charged for using a sweeping generalization about the American electorate as a whole in a cavalier fashion, without a thought that someone might be personally offended at the characterization.

It was a throw-away comment, Bryant. A thousand pardons. I'll try to watch where I'm throwing them in the future.

Bryant, Charlie.

I feel sorry for the young folks as well, at times. Other times, I think they get all the respect and success they earn/deserve. I am not sure I agree with Daily Report and Colbert. I do not watch them, so I am not sure if I would like/agree with them or not.

Personally, I like to consider foundation documents like those we mentioned and imagine myself in the writers' shoes. What were they thinking? I also try to understand how things changed and evolved to the way they are now. Probably sounds boring, but I don't think it is. Sometimes, it is actually entertaining, if only to me.

Charlie, Bryant

You should give the Daily Show a try. He skewers left and right and the media with equal zeal - and hilarity. And Colbert's faux right winged zealotry is pretty funny most of the time. I find them a refreshing change from FOX, MSNBC and the ilk.