Cultural understanding, anybody recognize the term?

Once again, the world is being painted in the stark black and white of an old Western, where you can tell the "good guys" and the "bad guys" apart by their choice in headgear. (Though I will confess that my own division in my last post, based on the fuel efficiency of one's mode of transport is only slightly better...)

One aspect that has been driving me absolutely nuts is the number of people pronouncing opinions on the current government of Iran who have no idea how that government came to be, no idea of significant bits of Persian culture, and often no notion of Persian history aside from a vague reference to "the Shah". As I found myself saying to a professor I had taken several classes from when I attended university, I'm appalled at the level of ignorance prevalent among the so-called "experts" paraded before the American public.

Last night, as I waited to be seated in a restaurant in my neighborhood, I happened to look up at the television, tuned to some "news" program, where two men were trading banter back and forth that demonstrated a deep ignorance of American history, never mind world history. Both were serious looking white men with grey hair in grey suits. I sat, stunned, as they proposed dismantling significant American foreign policy initiatives, citing expense. I wanted to yell at them, absolutely scream at their vicious disregard for any lives that weren't as privileged as their own.

Why do I sometimes feel like the only honest fool in DC?