Watching the World

Few Words

◆ A recent report shows that it does not take many words to do a lot of talking. The UIR/​Research Newsletter (cited in Machine Design) says that 54 adults were tested to find out how many different words they actually use in speaking. A total of only 359 words accounted for 81 percent of all the words they employed. There are about 600,000 words in the English language.

World War I and Literature

◆ World War I brought countless social changes to mankind. Sometimes overlooked was its effect on literature. Says MD magazine: “In Europe the war wiped out an entire generation of young men, including many gifted writers and artists. The survivors of the ‘war to end all war’ returned to a world in which there was little of the peace in which so many hopes had been placed . . . Much of literature thus found itself abruptly plunged . . . into a world of devastation and disillusion. Among intellectuals the new age induced disbelief in all standards and a cold cynicism often merging into despair . . . The panem et circenses [bread and circuses] that placated the ancient Roman populace had their counterparts in huge sports arenas, bathing beauty contests, the gaudy life of Hollywood’s film world, sex and sadism featured in the new type of newspapers called tabloids and in cheap magazines . . . The same decade saw a revolution in manners and morals . . . Youth rebelled against parental control. Courtesy and chivalry became outmoded. . . . [L]iterature . . . vented the disilusion . . . or it simply accepted the new era.”

Billion or Million?

◆ In America and some other parts of the English-speaking world “billion” has long meant a thousand million. But the British have said that it is a million million. Apparently the British are now adopting the American view. Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey, in his recent budget speech to the Parliament, employed the word in that manner. A Treasury spokesman interviewed after the speech said: “There has been no ruling on the matter. We are just adopting common usage.” The Financial Times, a leading business publication, has already accepted American usage.

Discounters Disappearing

◆ Inflation has wrought some curious paradoxes. Among them: Discount variety stores, which pride themselves on cheap prices, are going out of business! In the last year and a half nearly a dozen major U.S. chains have disappeared. Why? Discounters use borrowed money. When inflation forced interest rates up, “discount” prices also rose and sales dropped. Too, discounters rely on people with low and middle incomes. But it is this part of the population that is paying out a larger percentage of its income for necessities like food, an item not ordinarily stocked by the discount houses.

Hunger “Unreal”

◆ Hunger remains “unreal” in the West, claims Krishan Bhatia in The Hindustan Times of New Delhi, India: “Food is a little more expensive but as plentiful as ever.” He says that the U.S., with one third as many people as India, uses thirteen times as much fertilizer. On the other hand, Bhatia admits that hunger seems unreal to the West for another reason: “When a speaker argued recently that by foregoing meat for one day a week, Americans could spare enough foodgrains to meet India’s needs, one of his listeners asked him tartly what [Indian government leaders] had given up. The rhetorical question, significantly, was greeted with applause from the audience.”

Crime and Crowded Cities

◆ Crowded living conditions are said to be behind many of the crime problems facing big cities. No doubt there is some truth in this view. But is it necessarily the primary cause of crime? No, as shown in a recent Science News article: “Hong Kong is the most densely populated area in the world (3,912 persons per square kilometer) yet its crime rate is only half that of the United States (22 persons per square kilometer). So crowding need not always be a great contributing factor to criminal activity. Cultural attitudes are involved.”

Religion Losing Grip

◆ A recent poll shows that a large section of the British population is dissatisfied with religion. Why? Is it simply that beliefs, like everything else, must change? Well, Yes and No, as shown in the answer given by The Times of India: “Change is of course inevitable. But some of the reasons for the change may be considered. As a major force religion has lost its old grip, mainly because politics, economics and science have come to the fore. Religious leadership throughout the world has shown itself as being incapable of changing with the times or satisfactorily answering new questions and solving new problems.”

Facts of Life

◆ How should children be taught about sex? Who should teach them? Those are questions that parents world wide face. A survey in Japan found that 68 percent of the parents interviewed had never even mentioned sex to their children. Many parents are said to prefer to leave a booklet for the children to read rather than openly discuss the subject. Meanwhile, in Israel, Holland and Sweden sex education is taught in schools. Swedish textbooks for 12-year-olds include pictures of contraceptives. Teachers there are permitted to expound on their own personal moral views. Christians know that this responsibility rests primarily with the parents.

Back Surgery​—Necessary?

◆ An American surgeon, Dr. W. R. Hudgins, told the American College of Surgeons convention that most people with backaches need bed rest more than they need surgery. Why? Because most back problems are due to degenerated disks, not slipped, ruptured (herniated) disks. Degenerated disks, the doctor says, are part of the normal aging process and are to be expected. The “failure rate” in herniated disk operations is about 5 percent. However, surgery does not improve about 40 percent of those patients who have degenerated disk problems.

European Crime Wave

◆ “Crime, and especially violent crime, is one of Europe’s growth industries,” says Vision magazine. In 1973 in Italy, robbery, kidnapping and blackmailing rose 58 percent over the previous year. Switzerland’s robbery sentences increased from a total of 71 in 1971 to 214 the following year. Holdups in Spain in 1972 were twice the number of five years previously. Some experts boast about new crime-fighting equipment. But, notes the article: “Unfortunately, criminal technology is not standing still, either. British burglars recently introduced a ‘thermic lance’ containing masses of iron rods powered by oxygen and capable of ‘punching’ through a vault door in seconds.”

Weapons Waste

◆ Military experts agree that, even by their own standards, much money spent on weapons research and construction is wasted. This is exemplified in the lack of standard equipment used by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members. Among them there are 12 different types of antitank missiles, 36 kinds of radar systems, 40 sorts of heavy navy guns, 23 types of aircraft and 3 totally different styles of tanks. All together, almost one billion dollars a year is estimated to be spent researching and developing weapons that already exist somewhere among NATO member nations.

Supertankers

◆ Supertankers, oil-carrying vessels whose deadweight is measured in hundreds of tons, have become popular since the 1967 closing of the Suez Canal. Oil can be shipped by way of these huge vessels around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope more economically than in smaller ones. But Noël Mostert, originally of South Africa, argues in his new book Supership that too many have been built beyond proven technological standards. Inexperienced officers have been put at the helm and navigational standards relaxed in recent months. For these reasons, he says, in the first three months of 1974, there were 112 tanker breakdowns at sea. Large quantities of oil discharged by supertankers are a major contributor to ocean pollution.

To Be Entertained

◆ A night out is costing London stage theatergoers more than ever. West End theaters say that stalls now priced at $7 may soon be $9.60 to $12. Why? Production costs are up. Wood for scenery, for instance, doubled in price in one year. Meanwhile, in New York people are paying $4 each and lining up around the block to see the latest “chic” movies. What do they get for their money? An X-rated film that The Wall Street Journal describes as “illness barely masquerading as art.” Two lovers beat each other and force each other to walk on broken glass. The Journal adds: “We can only wait in dread for its successor as the chic show.”

The Churches in China

◆ Why is it that missionaries are now not able to get into mainland China? Because of Christendom’s unchristian practices while still allowed in China, says a recent article in America. Catholic author Julia Ching admits that church missionaries were too closely allied “with the imperialist powers and their gunboat diplomacy, and unequal treaty rights.” She adds: “The growing consensus among many responsible and thoughtful church people . . . is that the failure of the China mission has been in large part the responsibility of the missionaries and/​or Western Christians themselves.”

Reno’s Churches

◆ Casino gambling is legal in the U.S. state of Nevada, including its second-largest city, Reno. What is the view of that city’s churches toward gambling? Says an article in Christian Century regarding its “enlightened” churches: “Few of them are willing to rock the economic boat. After all, they profit from tithes paid by casino employees, and their budgets and building programs are enhanced by the depression-proof stability of the gaming industry. One might say that many Reno churches suffer from a type of moral schizophrenia, a separation between belief and action.”

Methodists and the Prostitutes

◆ Last summer San Francisco’s Glide United Methodist Church hosted a convention of prostitutes. United Methodist Church leaders have been strangely silent on the matter. One bishop did circulate a pastoral letter admitting he personally did not approve of Glide’s actions, but adding that each church may do as it sees fit. This mousy approach backfired; responded one pastor: “The Bishop has given us a license to do whatever we want. Anything goes now.” A college professor who joined the church to learn about the Bible quit, saying: “When whores are entertained in the church, not seeking their conversion but to celebrate their whoring, then it is no longer the Church of Jesus Christ.”

Comeback of Crafts

◆ Two out of every five Americans are now involved in some form of craft, such as woodworking, weaving or ceramics, according to a recent survey. Books and magazines dealing with such subjects are increasing. Some people turn to crafts for sheer satisfaction; they enjoy knowing that they can do something with their own hands. Some observers see this trend as part of the general nostalgia sweeping the country, a yearning for simpler, better times. At the same time, handicrafts are selling for a higher price​—one more reason people are getting involved. Some pieces of Indian ceramics sell for over $4,000. A Navajo rug was $35 in 1940; now it is $1,000. A small Eskimo carving of a dogsled made from walrus-tusk ivory will bring $1,300.