tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13027633.post3150404494617383147..comments2023-05-27T06:05:06.589-05:00Comments on Berkeley Heights Public Library Book Blog: Dumb and Dumberer: U.S. Teens Failing HistoryUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13027633.post-26873553170873336062008-03-14T13:36:00.000-05:002008-03-14T13:36:00.000-05:00I think that as a nation we have lost what can be ...I think that as a nation we have lost what can be described as our collective frame of reference. Until very recently, news, history and "thought" were packaged for us by a relatively small group of media outlets and academic centers. No, I'm not about to launch into a conspiracy theory or anti-elitist rant! In fact, one benefit of this "system" was that it fostered a consensus about who we are and what we need to know in order to be culturally literate. For better and for worse, that consensus no longer exists.<BR/><BR/>It also doesn't help matters that our natural-albeit-ignoble taste for sensationalism is indulged at every turn. Every issue of Newsweek that I get seems to be more "lite" than the last.<BR/><BR/>There's one bit of good news, though. We can't literally be dumber than we were thirty years ago; genetic mutations don't happen that quickly.<BR/><BR/>VKAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com