You know, I just don't know what to say to make you feel better because you're right and reality is bleak. I have to say, I did read about a study that said over half of Americans failed to identify the US on a world map, and ninety percent could not identify the backs of their own hands when shown them in photographs. It's really sad. The social order right now needs the majority to be undereducated so they can get away with all their crap. And they're getting what they want. We need more upstanding, decent, educated people in "The System". (If I sound particularly communistic- is that a word? Look who's talking it's because I recently watched and loved Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story)
Anyway, on a more positive note, have you seen the literal video versions of Total Eclipse of the Heart, Hooked on a Feeling, and Safety Dance on youtube? because while they don't help the idiocy situation any, they are hilarious and a great way to get away from it all.
But then again, there's a Lewis Carroll quote that might mean that's not the answer, and that you should do something that makes you happy on a more meaningful level; "While the laughter of joy is in full harmony with our deeper life, the laughter of amusement should be kept apart from it. The danger is too great of thus learning to look at solemn things in a spirit of mockery, and to seek in them opportunities for exercising wit." but I don't know what to recommend that might help you in that department...Anyway, now I'm rambling and being strange and overly considerate to the point of being a nuisance and so I'll shut up and go to bed.

Thanks, Alice, you made me feel better. And now I'm going to go to bed too. I got under five hours of sleep last night. It's been like this night after night recently so I'm going to take a sleeping pill so I can break this damn cycle, drink some milk, and drift away to (I hope) pleasant dreams.

Thanks for the youtube recommendations. I'll check them out tomorrow.

Melinda, if you haven't seen this Jon Stewart clip, it's great. It's about Fox news complaining about the "Terror Mosque Follow The Money" and who really is part owner of Fox news

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-august-23-2010/the-parent-company-trap

There is a theory about this, called rational ignorance. Basically, it says that the chance that you will cast the deciding vote in an election is so tiny that no matter how big a difference the outcome will make to you, it's not worth taking the trouble to inform yourself about it, and most people don't. (There's also a tragedy of the commons aspect to voting: I don't get the government that I personally deserve, but the government that the majority deserves.) People who invest time and effort in learning about political candidates or issues are mostly people who gain private payoffs unrelated to the outcome of the vote from doing so, such as the ability to have knowledgeable conversations about issues, candidates, or campaigns, and to pick a side to cheer and boo for.

That probably sounds pretty bleak, but I'm afraid I find it convincing. If you can track down a book called The Myth of the Rational Voter you can see a better explanation of the idea than I can give.