Many Americans I've mentioned the Kyoto Protocol to have no idea

[feline01]

I find it embarrassing and scary regarding how many Americans I've mentioned the Kyoto Protocol (and Bush's refusal to sign) and they have no idea what I'm talking about. The US government relies on the complacency of its citizens.

[eve]

feline01, I really do believe that there is a deliberate policy to keep the public in the US as well as in Australia, completely in the dark, about all sorts of topics.

Only today I was with a group of friends (ladies indoor bowls), and during the tea break there was the usual highly intellectual discussion of cake recipes! I just listened, but noticed that just about every recipe mentioned the use of margarine. So I said something about the dangers of transfats, and not one of them had heard of transfats. When somebody said that they use safflower or other oil margarine, I asked how they imagined the oil became thick and spreadable. Well, it was too much for my friends to contemplate, so the subject was dropped.

However, one friend who is lactose intolerant, told me that she now uses VitaSoy milk. Vitasoy has brought out a new soymilk, ge-free etc, and it is called 'So Milky'. Is it to trap people into thinking they are buying cows milk?

[1vegan]

The US government relies on the complacency of its citizens.

*nods* And it's strong too. Telling "americans" what happens outside the US or even worse, what impact the US has on the rest of the world, doesn't go down well with "the majority" so it seems

*disclaimer : I don't mean every american, don't feel offended if you feel you are more aware then others

feline01, I really do believe that there is a deliberate policy to keep the public in the US as well as in Australia, completely in the dark, about all sorts of topics.

um....yes, but..... but people don't want to know.
Let's turn a blind eye and live a "cossy, comfortable" life.

Sometimes that irritates me soooo much.. most people seem to do soo much effort to not know/feel what is going on in the world...

[feline01]

In fact, yesterday I was talking with my coworkers. They told me they couldn't believe how "unaware" I was because I didn't know that Ray Charles died or that our governor's wife had suffered from mental illness. I wanted to ask them if they knew what post-traumatic slave syndrome was or what Tony Blair's position on the Kyoto protocol was but I knew I'd get the usual result when I bring up what they onsider non-issues (which is anything that doesn't have to do with what's on sale, who is in American Idol, and what's on television) which is "Sue, you're so weird."

I'd rather be weird than ignorant.