I believe that, as a nation, the population is not well informed. We are not well informed when it comes to national and international news. While we are not well informed, we are, though, well entertained. The media controls, to a certain extent, what the nation sees, and overall, knows about world wide and even country wide issues. The news would rather show a story on pop princess Britney Spears basically having a mental breakdown. The media has had a field day discussing her baldness, her flashing everybody when getting out of a car, or largely losing her children to her ex-husband, (loosely named) rapper Kevin Federline. The country would rather watch and be amused by Britney and Kevin than learn about the reduction of the Al-Qaida numbers in Baghdad or the beatification of 498 Spanish martyrs. The United States, as a whole, would rather learn about the death of Anna Nicole Smith and who just happened to be her baby’s father, than of the death of a teenager from a suburban area, who managed not to die of an overdose or have a baby out of wedlock. Although I believe that we are not well informed, in certain times of conflict, I also believe that a nation, our nation, simply chooses to be entertained rather than filled with panic.

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