Lack of Interst in the world around them

I understand that as a Political Junkie 99.9% of people don't have and will never express even one thousandth of the interest in government or civics that a geek like me does nor do I expect it. However I am baffled by what seems to be the vast majority ( of americans anyway) who are content to walk thru their daily lives oblivious to whats going on in the world or to how there government runs and functions.
A good example of this is try asking the normal man on the street who the vice President of the U.S. is and a surprisingly large number will tell you either "I don't know?!" Or they get it wrong. Now this boggles my mind, how can intellegent people be content to walk through life uninformed and with no desire to understand the institutions or people who govern there lives and make policy reguarding there future.