50 FACTS

 

Williams,J (2007) Fifty facts that should change the world 2.0,(New York: Disinformation

Company)

 

Jessica Williams is a research and social activist in the United Kingdom. Her book is the resource for many of the major problems of the world. However, a lot of them are headlined in a truthful way, but also in a strategy to gain your attention. Compare this: "A Third of the World is at War."

to "There are 27 million Slaves in the World Today." Now each grab you and they are evil.

Why are you not aware of this?. First, slavery of all forms is spread all over the world with a planet of 6 to 7 billion people. So the number is a small percent. War appears to everywhere, but

many people in the war nations are not involved directly with the war. So in each, the

headline awakens one’s spirit.

In her book, she does a nice job with the description and the direction of the problem. She also includes the dimensions and anecdotes that carry the story. Each chapter is devoted to one of the 50 facts. However, she does not rarely describe how an individual problems may be reduced. On the other hand, that may be the genius of the book. It gives the reader a chance to see what they may imagine is the strategy. Or. it is very probable that it won’t go away unless a paradise

emerges. In some instances, it may be possible to contain the spread. In others, money and power may change the situation or that the problem no longer feeds the potential villains and it disappears.

Here are some of the headlines:

# 4 countries do 94% of executions. They are USA, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and China.

(Now for some that is not a problem. Capital punishment is a perfect punishment for

certain offenses.)

# Half of Americans believe that Aliens have flown over or have landed on Earth.

(Now for some that is not a problem as long as no one is hurt. For others, it is a joke and if it does exist than Yanks would be very upset and any activity should be covered up by the respective government.)

# A Black male has a one in three chance of going to jail. (African-Americans

and Hispanics are over represented in the total prison population and 9 out of ten

are males.( If that is a problem, then it should be measured in terms of

the probability that the individual did cause suffering or death of another and if only

certain groups are picked to be convicted. Generally, the rich do not go to jail in adjusted numbers as do the poor.)

# Poor kids are 3 times more likely to suffer mental illness than rich kids

(That is a problem if mental illness is entirely environmental. Poverty can also be caused

by a middle class person falling in among the poor because of mentally illness and procreate. The child of such a parent is likely be environmentally encouraged toward maladaptive

behavior and genetically depressed. Meds and therapy can help. Will they get it?)

Thus, this is the big book of big problems to some, but not to others. However, one would guess that most readers will agree with the author that many described in the book are real problems.

This book is recommended.

Prof. Joel Snell

Kirkwood College