After a little bird-watching and a lot of people-watching this past week, I have a scientific finding to report: Many people are oblivious to the world around them.
A sizable number of Americans, including myself on most days, are so preoccupied with our personal spheres and our digital distractions that we hardly notice anything past our own noses â unless, that is, we are directly inconvenienced in some fashion. Knock out WiFi, slow down the the fast-food line, cut off cable TV or delay that Amazon package and our world is rocked. Show us video of an attempted sacking of the U.S. Capitol building by a mob led by a shirtless guy in Viking headgear, and many of us simply yawn and change the television back to Netflix or go online and look for funny memes about the incident.