Refine Search

Watching the World

WHERE VIOLENCE REIGNS

The United States has been called the murder capital of the industrialized world, and statistics bear the claim out. According to researchers at the National Center for Health Statistics, out of every 100,000 American males between the ages of 15 and 24, an average of 21.9 are killed every year. Of 21 other countries studied, the next highest homicide rate was in Scotland, with 5 males of that same age group killed per 100,000. Austria’s rate was the lowest, with 0.3 per 100,000. Guns account for much of the U.S. carnage. Not only are today’s guns more deadly but criminals are more callous toward bystanders. According to one crime expert, some gunmen even call bystanders “mushrooms”​—fit to be trampled on if they get underfoot.

◆ Much violence in the United States is directed at women. Newsweek magazine cites these statistics, compiled by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee: “Every hour 16 women confront rapists; a woman is raped every six minutes. 3 to 4 million women are battered each year; every 18 seconds a woman is beaten. 3 out of 4 women will be victims of at least one violent crime during their lifetime. . . . The United States has a rape rate 13 times higher than Britain’s, nearly 4 times higher than Germany’s and more than 20 times higher than Japan’s.”

ADVERTISING DEATH

The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, prepared by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A., noted that although ‘cigarette smoking is the most important preventable cause of death in the United States, cigarettes are one of the most heavily advertised products.’ This results in increased cigarette consumption because it encourages children to experiment with cigarettes. It also deters current smokers from quitting and prompts former smokers to begin smoking again. The report states that the pervasive presence of cigarette advertising “may contribute to the perception that smoking is less hazardous, more prevalent, and more socially acceptable than it is.”

THE DOOMSDAY THREAT LIVES ON

Euphoric talk of peace notwithstanding, the superpowers are still locked in what one arms negotiator describes as an “unstable, apocalyptic embrace.” According to a 1989 report, the Soviet Union has about 11,000 nuclear warheads. The United States currently has some 12,000 nuclear warheads aimed at the Soviet Union. Time magazine notes, though, that even some experts who believe that such weapons are a deterrent to war also believe that 3,000 or even 1,000 of them might be enough. For example, if only a third of the U.S. warheads should ever reach their targets, every Soviet city with more than 25,000 people would be wiped out. A single warhead detonated over the Kremlin in Moscow would devastate every structure within a four-mile [6 km] radius; the United States has 120 such warheads aimed at Moscow alone.

HOMOSEXUAL RABBIS

Reform Judaism has become the first major religious group in the United States to accept homosexual clergymen and sanction homosexual behavior. A recent convention of Reform rabbis approved a statement asserting that “all Jews are religiously equal regardless of their sexual orientation.” The statement likewise welcomed “all rabbis regardless of sexual orientation.” Biblical condemnation of homosexual acts is weighed against “the knowledge of our own time and experience,” according to the Reform rabbis’ president, Samuel Karff. So the new policy asks only that homosexual rabbis be discreet, not celibate.

AVOIDING ALCOHOL

In Japan, where employees are often evaluated by how well they socialize, many men feel pressured to drink against their wishes. A survey of nondrinkers, reported on in the Mainichi Daily News, showed that many dodge invitations to go out for drinks with colleagues with such excuses as: “I have a previous engagement,” “Doctor’s orders,” or, “I’ve got work to do.” Now, however, some nondrinkers in Japan have formed an association. When offered a drink, they boldly produce a membership card that says, “Non Drinkers Associate.”

FARMING THREATENS DRINKING WATER

The quality of the drinking water in France is in danger. According to the French newspaper Le Monde, the principal source of the pollution is not industry but agriculture. Since the second world war, chemical fertilizers have gradually replaced natural fertilizers as more and more farmers adopt modern agricultural methods. However, chemical fertilizers are easily leached out of the soil by rainfall. They thus find their way into water supplies, contaminating drinking water with nitrates. A recent nationwide survey of French water supplies showed that at least two million people receive drinking water that exceeds the safety limit that the European Community has set for nitrates. Nitrates are especially harmful to infants and may be linked to certain kinds of cancer in adults.

A HEALTHY SIESTA

Recent scientific research suggests that the midafternoon urge to take a nap, or siesta, is a normal part of the human natural sleep cycle. According to Canada’s Equinox magazine, Roger Broughton, a neurologist and sleep researcher, has concluded that “people are biologically wired for both a major sleep period and one nap a day, typically in midafternoon.” Research shows that “after napping, people not only feel better but also do significantly better on tests of mental performance requiring concentration and complex decision making,” says Equinox. However, the magazine adds that “it may be some time before people are able to convince their supervisors that a little siesta is just the thing they need to get their work done.”

CURES AND DONATIONS

Can a sick person guarantee that he will get well by making a generous donation to his church? The Brazilian magazine Veja quotes evangelical pastor Edir Macedo as asserting: “The donations of the faithful are fundamental to our being able to spread the Word of God. Thus, the divine cure is effective in proportion to the individual effort in making a donation.” Veja later commented on the different approach taken by Jehovah’s Witnesses: “They do not agree with tithing. Each of the faithful gives to the church the amount he is able to. Contributions are confidential. Giving in public is condemned because it may lead to competition over generosity among the faithful.” In fact, the Bible advocates voluntary contributions, not for personal healing, but as an aid to others, especially spiritually.

UNHEALTHY TEENAGERS

Teenagers in the United States were recently given a far-from-clean bill of health by a national commission of 37 leaders in the fields of medicine, education, and business. The commission’s report noted that the health problems of today’s teenagers stem mainly from their own behavior. It cited these disturbing statistics: Every year about one million teenage girls (nearly 1 out of every 10 in the country) get pregnant, while 2,500,000 teenagers contract sexually transmitted diseases; 10 percent of teenage boys and 20 percent of teenage girls have attempted suicide; over half of the high school seniors get drunk every month, with alcohol-related accidents the leading cause of teenage death.

CRIMINAL YOUTH

Ever since a schoolboy and a former student held the entire school and staff at gunpoint in Ladysmith, South Africa, much attention has been focused on the growing tendency of the young to commit crimes. South Africa’s magazine Personality reports that in one recent year, the courts convicted 1,235 children under 17 years of age of sex crimes. Another 2,278 were convicted of drug offenses, while 15,814 were convicted of general theft. According to one high-school teacher: “Many parents are too absorbed in their own lives to be concerned with their children. They seem to care only about academic achievement. We get the impression that moral guidance is left up to the child.”