Here's my rant for the day. I'm tired of how everything has been reduced to the barest of details, pre-analysed and presented for specific effect. It's like having your mental food pre-chewed. Obviously, you should question whose interests the "digestion service" serves.
Last night, I was browsing Barnes & Noble (the brick and mortar kind, near home) and ran across "Encarta Book of Quotations." Hmm, how special - isn't that basically what the online version is, about a mile wide and 1 inch deep? Everything seems to be geared to the USA Today crowd - written for a 12 year old, with lots of flashy pictures, charts for everything and little substance. There is no emphasis on presenting background information and allowing (forcing?) readers to analyze and draw conclusions. Instead, conclusions are the presentation.
I hate myself for succumbing to its effects. I've been reading more meaty books lately like "War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning" (great book) and finding my powers of analysis sharply lower than when I was at university. Americans are, on average, fat and weak-minded. I'm right up there with them... Sigh