I keep up with the news, but I can see the point OP made.
The average Johnny McOfficeWorker in the West is unaffected by and has no control over the conflicts, political struggles, or general bad stuff happening halfway around the world. Personal circumstances aside (i.e., a family member in a conflict area), the only reasons a typical person even cares are 1) feeling fulfilled by being an informed voter, and 2) entertainment.
And unfortunately, I suspect more people care about the entertainment value than they do the civic value.
Being uninformed works well as long as the political system is sort of ok. But for the (democratic) political system to work sorta well, most voters needs to be somewhat informed about national and even international issues (since they are connected).
> The average Johnny McOfficeWorker in the West is unaffected by and has no control over the conflicts, political struggles, or general bad stuff happening halfway around the world.
They are greatly affected, especially if the US ends up fighting wars or the international economy is undermined when others fight wars. Their taxes go now to prevent those conflicts (which would be much more expensive later). Other global phenomena, like mpox, climate change, etc. do not respect borders. Foriegn powers do not respect borders, including by supporting their political allies right in McOfficeWorker's own country.
As far as McOfficeWorker's influence, probably nothing is more influential in international affairs than the average American's opinion (see my nearby comment for more about that).
I wonder what the best argument is for a median American needing to watch the news in order to do their civic duty. E.g. how will the average Joe be able to impact a century-long conflict in Palestine?
At what point is it just people living a delusion, overestimating their ability to impact the rest of the world, refusing to accept that they're just an NPC with zero agency when it comes to major issues outside of their immediate neighborhood?
> E.g. how will the average Joe be able to impact a century-long conflict in Palestine?
The 'average' American has so much influence, in fact, that the cornerstone of Israeli foreign policy and national security is the support of average Americans.
How that mechanism works is an interesting question, but not too hard to imagine: Israel is much too small to defend itself, and therefore depends on support from the most powerful country in the world. That support happens largely because average Americans want it. Imagine, for example, if one of the current candidates said, 'if elected, I will cut off all support to Israel' - probably they would lose the election.
The beliefs of average Americans have great influence over many things, which is why powerful people spend so much time, money, and effort trying to persuade them. Look at Fox News and MSNBC; look at Russian and Chinese (and probably other) social media influence operations; look at the near infinite political propaganda; look at Musk, who spent $40B on such influence, and at how much time he spends posting in order to influence people.
Another way to influence average Americans is to convince them to surrender their power and not even try. That leaves the field more open for others to control events.
The average Johnny McOfficeWorker in the West is unaffected by and has no control over the conflicts, political struggles, or general bad stuff happening halfway around the world. Personal circumstances aside (i.e., a family member in a conflict area), the only reasons a typical person even cares are 1) feeling fulfilled by being an informed voter, and 2) entertainment.
And unfortunately, I suspect more people care about the entertainment value than they do the civic value.