Titanic Goes On and On

This weekend marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.  Recently, I read a report based on Twitter strings, that many people--I'd guess mostly young adults who have grown up having watched Jim Cameron's film from 1997--didn't realize the Titanic was an actual ship that sank, killing 1500+ people. I don't know why this surprised me. But it did. 

It is rather telling that so many people get their "news" from the entertainment that they choose. Sadly, you can hardly tell the real "news" from the entertainment anymore...like that Larry O'Donnell piece (and his pathetic apology) from MSNBC.  But I do worry a little bit that kids--including my own--don't really see the need and interest to study history, or even current events.

Many of the kids I see, especially if I try to talk to them about current events stuff, want the info in 140 characters or less.  They don't see the need to delve any deeper to understand the parameters to which new legislation reaches, or the unintended consequences of a Supreme Court ruling may create.  Our world doesn't work that way.  And it certainly seems so biased one way or the other, it is difficult to get both sides of a story told accurately.

I feel for these kids.  And worse, I worry for our society.

In the meantime, the rush of Titanic remembrances--including a pretty great on on the National Geographic channel I caught up with last week--might spark a little interest of days gone by.  Before we know it, these will be days gone by too.  I hope we can learn our lessons well enough to do better in the future.