The roots of our politically shallow culture

While I was writing How To Take Over The World it struck me just how politically disinterested popular culture is.

I've realized there are a lot of reasons for this, but none of them are any good:

1. Consumers don't like being exposed to political ideas or positions they don't agree with. 
2. Advertisers are sensitive to the messages they associate themselves with.  
3. Including political insight in popular entertainment is both difficult and risky.  

See, it's about profit, not informing and educating.  The profit motive isn't necessarily a bad thing, it doesn't need to work against a vibrant and exciting popular culture, but as of right now it clearly does.

It's just good business sense to avoid offending any of the many over-sensitive and permanently outraged members of your viewership.

Really, pop culture is whatever the mass media produces, and the mass media produces what the majority of the market prefers, not what some want or need.  That's why even news programming is so remarkably reluctant to cover governance, the simple horse race is easier to report on.  Even the parts of popular culture that are supposed to care about the political process (cable news, talk radio, ect) mostly reduce the sprawling actuality of the American process to a PR battle.