A Nation moving on.
 

Not certain whether this is truly a positive or negative thing, but the buzz around the issues of the world, the war, our troops have essentially dissipated down around to absolutely nothing at all. At least the awareness, and concern has for not only myself, but everything I see happening. I find this ironic, because it's like some Canadians said, don't let your national patriotism dwindle once this begins to go away. That's exactly what we're doing, in my eyes. We're returning to normalcy effectively, but are we doing it almost too effectively? Not that we're unaffected, or indifferent even, but it's like we get so emotionally depleted from the media blitzing us with incessant coverage, that we get to a point where our mentality become, I don't even care to watch/see/read what happens anymore. I'm not saying I don't care. Of course I do, I care with all my being, but my interest no longer lies there, discussions on campus no longer revolve around these issues and what should/is be/being done to counter their measures, and the like. Our only interest now is Anthrax, and everyone with a sore throat in America has it. I'm just curious if you are seeing the lack of interest that I see, and feel.

I feel that America has a strong sense of security in our nation. Although the Sept 11 events were a severe blow to our US defense ego, many citizens retain a sense of invinsibility. The mindset that the decline of Pax-Americana will never occur. As far as our interests shifting to anthrax, I believe that this is due to the fact that we as humans focus on immediate threats. I know in San Diego, we are on high alert constantly as we have military bases and the border and other such things in such proximity. But as for the rest of the nation, people tend to deal solely with immediate dangers and feasible threats. In addition, the media providing a barage of anthrax news to its public just narrows the focus.

To answer your question, yes...I do believe that our interests are shifting.