People memorize dialogues from "Seinfeld," absorb every flutter in the life of heiress Paris Hilton and spend hours devising fantasy league sports teams.
But the name Oscar Romero doesn't ring a bell.
Ponder why it is so common to hear so much about being a Christian nation, but people reject discussions about how the United States has stood behind foreign leaders who murder clergy in Latin countries.
And how can people be obsessed with watching endless television shows about police and hospitals; but the gore and murderous atrocities of real life gain scant notice by comparison?
The snide answer is that people can be pretty self-absorbed, closed-minded and just plain ignorant about world history. That's too simple.
There is comfort in not knowing about the events that led more than 15,000 people to protest Nov. 18-20 outside the gates of an Army fort in Georgia. Knowing might include a responsibility to act or at the very least form an opinion.
The 16th annual protest outside a school dubbed "School of the Assassins," received relatively little news coverage. Run by the U.S. Army, the school has trained thousands of Latin American soldiers since being founded in 1946.
The problem is many of those soldiers have then gone on to commit horrible human rights abuses; rapes, murders and torture.
Photo opportunities at the protest would have been abundant. There was a giant tent where Jesuit priests held a Mass for thousands. And a funeral procession with people carrying coffins, their faces painted white and bodies cloaked in black robes.
Thousands of names are read during the procession. Each is a person murdered through military action in a Latin country. The reading takes hours, with even unnamed babies who died in the wombs of their massacred mother's noted.
And, the culminating event when about 40 people illegally trespassed onto Army land and were systematically handcuffed and led away in leg irons. Priests and nuns, many feeble with age, are always among the arrested.
Not glitzy enough?
Maybe it is because explaining the nature of the protests might take insight.
Formerly called the School of the Americas, the facility was renamed in 2001 the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. Officials also added some coursework on human rights.
Romero might applaud that; as he spoke out for the El Salvadoran poor, who were often kidnapped and tortured by their own military during that country's civil war.
Romero was an archbishop. His vocal activism cost him his life. Romero was gunned down by military security as he said Mass in 1980.
Movies have been made about his life; but they never received the clout and big-screen backing to gain widespread household recognition. A quick poll taken on most U.S. streets would find many people unaware of Romero's inspiring story.
People understandably become so caught up in their own lives; raising children, earning degrees, caring for their own homes and neighbors; that a culture of detachment from the world becomes the norm. The answer is not to dismantle the pop culture-obsessions of the United States.
People who can only have strident political conversations are a bore, to be polite about it, and often lack the ability to balance their activism with healthy family relationships and the stability of a home and a secure career.
And national followings of Britney Spears, "Desperate Housewives" and national sports teams are what makes the United States quirky/lovable in so many ways.
But here's to tweaking the game a bit. Here's to committing a little time to less prime-time programming and a little more to allowing information like the story of Romero to nudge into the national conscience.
Mary Sanchez is an opinion-page columnist for The Kansas City Star. E-mail: msanchez@kcstar.com