While I try to stay up on current events, the news in the US, especially cable news and various online new sites is so politicized that it's actually hard just to get the news and not some partisan op ed about how "x" is all screwed up because of what "y" party is doing. There are no solutions being put in place, just pointing fingers and blame. I can understand how the OP would have a desire to check out for a while. It's not necessarily a standpoint of ignorance is bliss but more of a concept of distance from despair; you can only listen to so much negativity without it eventually affecting your view of society. I don't know how it is in Europe but it would seem that commonsense is becoming not so common among so many people here in the US.