That was my opinion at first, but more and more I'm starting to be use Google Reader less and less to stay updated. Once you find some good people to follow on both Twitter and FriendFeed and hook them up in a desktop application with filters, I think that they are becoming more and more useful.
One of the devs responded on Techcrunch and said that they just don't have the money right now to translate it. People are suggesting giving users an incentive for translating it for them.
This site is a really good idea, but I think it needs some work. The design is not all that appealing and the 3d avatars are soo 2004. Also, when viewing the website in any other language except english, it uses Google Translate. That seems kind of strange for a language learning site.
I don't know if you are using the word correctly either (or if there is a better word to describe it), but I find my self on the reactive side as well.
I know in my java lectures I'm kind of zoned out and don't really pick up much on the material being presented. But wait until lecture is over and the lab session is starting, and I tend to be all over it.
I think also, to answer your question about what you can do to be more active when learning new abstract concepts, I try to relate it to something familiar. I have a lot of trouble in the calculus class I'm currently in. But I feel like if I take a theorem or proof and relate it to a problem that needs to be solved in ruby or java, I'm able to think about it in a familiar way and can generally understand it better than before.