mollyL:It doesn't say much for the collective IQ, I guess. People really care about Britney and Paris, but couldn't tell you the first thing about current events or politics. Kind of scary.
I've had some marvelous conversations about the economy, politics, and especially current events with a number of very intelligent and professional people over the last few months.
The trend from what I'm seeing is that it's the fluff topics people are not discussing any longer. Like a "who's Paris, let's talk about a real subject" mentality. And it's about time! :-)