Twenty years ago we had no Google, no Bing, very few cell phones, and the world wide web was but a compelling theory. There were no text messages; there was no Facebook, no Twitter, and no electric cars.

To watch a movie, we’d drive to BlockBuster to rent it on VHS. We had no concept of Homeland Security; the NSA still limited their spying on foreign communications. Federal spending was $1.5 trillion. Now it’s $3 trillion. We’ve cut federal employees, marginally, but more than doubled spending on federal contractors.

We didn’t know the term home invasion and we didn’t name winter storms. Is it any wonder the ferocity and tenacity of both have increased? The war on drugs was an abject failure. The war on terror is too.

We’ve always been somewhat excessive in our predilection to celebrating (inadvertently) drama, but with the replacement of the morning paper and the evening news with a near constant inundation, it’s increasingly difficult to distinguish the news that might actually matter with all that which only serves to add to our societal drama and trauma.

I’m not suggesting you tune out. I’m suggesting you do the opposite. I’m suggesting you dig deeper and find the truth, and then use your intellectual facilities to decide on your own that which is true, and that which is diversion, euphemism, and fear.