The bliss of ignorance

The following clip from RT makes the point that the clowns running for president are doing grave harm to the country because they want to be the top officer in an empire they cannot describe.  I know this is hard for the American Exceptionalists to grasp, but turning your country into a series of crude jokes is not good for long-term international relations.  I know you folks don't actually CARE what those furriners think about our lack of international awareness, but remember, you are but 5% of the world's population so it actually matters.

And YES!  I AM embarrassed about the nearly universal geographical illiteracy of my fellow citizens.  Of course, I am willing to believe this is a feature, not a bug, of mass control.  If the only time they mention geography on the teevee is when some faction in government is ginning up a war somewhere for some reason, then it is good for the warmongers that the public is a blank slate on which to project their lies.  The crack that a non-American city is only mentioned if we are bombing them is unfortunately all too true.  There are exceptions—but outside of the PBS infatuation with costume dramas about the English upper classes and the "royals" and the goings-on in Palestine, I would be hard-pressed to think of any.  I mean, even the weather maps lose all detail in the terra incognita that is Mexico or Canada.

The ugly "secret" is that these same politicians are just as ignorant about history, economics, industrial competitiveness, energy policy, and host of other serious issues but our so-called "journalists" don't know enough about any of these subjects to even ask a decent question.  They wouldn't even ask about geography if they could, but the subject comes up as an attachment to questions about how willing are the candidates to murder perfect strangers in places like Afghanistan.