We are all scandalized at how ignorant of almost everything most secondary school graduates and many holders of undergraduate degrees are. As increasing mountains of public money have been poured into education, the quality of it has deteriorated. And I had another reminder of how television has evolved but some attitudes have sluggishly persisted this week, when, for the first time, I appeared on Russian television. Then she played her ace: Egypt appeared to be stable until suddenly its long-serving leader was sent packing. But it is also dissatisfying to reflect that when my friends and I were in high school, Western media was more responsible than it is now, and Russian media and Russian media perspectives more slanted and fictionalized, and that the Russians are at least as open to dissenting opinion than most of the West.

Source: National Post February 10, 2017 15:22 UTC