In the immortal words of Gob Bluth- "Come On!" There are only 196 countries in the world (although you can quibble with the definition and add a couple or kick a few off the list). That's like saying "I can't possibly watch 400 channels on cable TV, so I won't bother with it." There are much better reasons not to bother with cable television than bullshit arguments like that. There are 122 professional sports teams in the USA and Canada, counting only baseball, basketball, football and hockey (sorry soccer and WNBA fans- I'm trying not to pad the numbers). If you follow only ONE of them, you have to understand something about all the teams apart from your particular favorite, more about the ones in the same division, something about the history of the game, both in long term and short term, who are the current and past stars, what are the rules, what strategyies do you use to win, etc. If you put half as much effort paying attention to the world around you that most people do with following a basketball team or keeping up with Bradjolina and the other faces that grace People magazine and the like, we'd be living in a country that had public conversations about things that mattered a whole lot more than Janet Jackson's nipples.
So pay attention to Syria because you CAN. Then it will become abundantly clear why you SHOULD.
Here are two NPR stories to get you started:
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