Awake!, March 8, 1974

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Awake! — March 8, 1974

Source: jw.org

Contents

“Never Pay Back Evil for Evil”—Why Not?

Famine Scorches Africa

Dust Dimming the Sun

How Advertising Can Manipulate Your Mind

Faced with the Threat of Rape

When the Electric Power Fails

Thousands Baptized Each Week

A Challenging Puzzle

Banishing B.O.

Honesty in Business—Can You Afford It?

Watching the World

True Peace And Security—From What Source?

All Races Can Live in Peace and Unity

“Never Pay Back Evil for Evil”—Why Not?

WHAT a different world this would be if individuals, organizations and nations heeded the inspired counsel: “Never pay back evil for evil”! But the sad fact is that today, more than ever before in human history, individuals, organizations and nations go counter to that wise advice.—Rom. 12:17, New English Bible.

What is all the destruction of property and the taking of lives almost daily in Northern Ireland by both Catholics and Protestants but a paying back evil for evil? What is all the bloodspilling strife between Israel and her neighbors but more of the same. When, in February of 1973, a passenger plane in the Middle East was forced down, killing 106 passengers, the offended nation vowed retaliation and sent war planes over the Mediterranean looking for a passenger plane from the offending nation to shoot down. And paying back evil for evil is also at the root of racial riots, industrial sabotage as well as strife within the family circle, which at times results not only in breaking up the family but in husbands shooting wives and wives shooting husbands.

Paying back evil for evil clearly is a manifestation of the ‘wisdom of this world.’ Thus the motto of the Royal Arms of Scotland reads (literally translated): “I render evil for evil to every man.” The world also has such sayings as “Revenge is sweet,” and “Sweet is revenge—especially to women.” A nursery rhyme puts it this way: “Tit for tat. You kill my dog, I kill your cat.” In times past many feuds, vendettas and duels were carried on in a determination to pay back evil for evil, especially in Corsica and Sicily, and in Kentucky and Tennessee.

Paying back evil for evil marks the tendency of a little child, and, unless corrected by discipline, it continues through life, getting worse with the years. Yes, because of inherited imperfection and selfishness the human tendency is to pay back evil for evil. Is a person treated with contempt? The tendency is to respond with contempt. If one is addressed in a harsh manner, the tendency of many is to respond with a harsh tone of voice. Is one pushed and shoved? The tendency is to push and shove in return. Stingy persons tend to make another stingy, and so on and on.

Yet it is all so very, very wrong. Why? Because it hurts both the one receiving the evil as well as the one paying back the evil. It merely makes matters worse, as can be seen from vendettas and feuds that have lasted for years and years. That is why divine wisdom counsels: “An answer, when mild, turns away rage, but a word causing pain makes anger to come up.” Because another has made a mistake is no reason for us to make one, is it? To respond in kind is really the product of shallow thinking or not thinking at all, for we also read: “The insight of a man certainly slows down his anger, and it is beauty on his part to pass over transgression.”—Prov. 15:1; 19:11.

The Bible time and again counsels against this tendency to pay back evil for evil, no doubt because it is so strongly ingrained in human nature. Thus the Christians in Thessalonica were admonished: “See that no one renders injury for injury to anyone else, but always pursue what is good toward one another and to all others.” Certainly the apostle Paul must have felt strongly about it for him to write like that. And in his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus counseled: “Do not set yourself against the man who wrongs you. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn and offer him your left.” Incidentally, these words of Jesus have been much misunderstood. Jesus was not here preaching pacifism. A slap was an insult, not an act of violence. Where a follower of Jesus Christ encounters actual violence, he neither retaliates nor asks for more but flees if that is possible; if not, he does what he can to protect himself.—1 Thess. 5:15; Matt. 5:39, New English Bible.

Not only is paying back evil for evil unwise, since it merely aggravates a bad situation, but it is also unloving. It could well be that the evil we received was committed unintentionally and due to a misunderstanding, an oversight or a slip of the tongue. Since any one of such things may well have been the cause, why not give the other party the benefit of the doubt, exercising self-control, resisting the impulse to retaliate, and proceeding as if nothing had happened? Does not God’s Word admonish us to love our neighbors as ourselves and to do to others as we would have them do to us? Yes, it does, and it also tells us that ‘love keeps no account of the injury.’—Mark 12:31; Luke 6:31; 1 Cor. 13:4, 5.

Not only that, but more likely than not, the one committing the offense against us bore no ill will; it could just have been his thoughtless way of doing things, not singling us out in particular. But if we pay back the evil with evil, there is clearly ill will on our part. Because of this, the one paying back evil for evil may actually be morally more culpable and blameworthy than the first one.

And there is a yet more serious and powerful reason why we should not render evil for evil. In the context of that command, the apostle Paul goes on to say: “Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but yield place to the wrath; for it is written: ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says Jehovah.’” (Rom. 12:19; Heb. 10:30) Viewed from this standpoint, to be paying back evil for evil is presumptuous; it is arrogating to oneself the position occupied by the Supreme Judge, Jehovah God. Christians are to leave both the judging and the punishing in God’s hands. Thus Jesus said: “Stop judging that you may not be judged.”—Matt. 7:1.

Truly God’s Word gives us fine counsel when it commands: “Never pay back evil for evil.” This is certainly the course that is the wisest, as well as the loving and right course.

Famine Scorches Africa

FAMINE—that dreaded affliction—now devastates a huge sector of Africa. Just how much of the continent is affected is hard for non-Africans to visualize.

Take a map of Africa. Place your finger at the westernmost spot on the bulge, on the countries of Senegal and Mauritania. Then, move eastward below the Sahara Desert through Mali, Upper Volta, Niger and Chad. You have just covered well over two thousand miles—what is called the Sahelian region and home for over twenty-five million persons. For five years much of this area has been burning under the heat of one of the severest famines in living memory.

Now, jump over Sudan to Ethiopia. There also two heavily populated provinces are in the midst of severe drought and malnutrition. Yes, from west to east, northern Africa is seared with famine. Though there has apparently been exaggeration in some reports coming out of Africa, the fact remains that conditions are serious.

Conditions in the Sahelian Zone

In the Sahelian region the daytime temperature is customarily 115 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade. Such blazing heat without the benefit of rain at the proper time has made once semifertile land impotent. The few crops that manage to cling to life in the dispiriting heat are stunted, half-grown and wilted. Trees stand like stark, brittle skeletons. Where once there were pastures, now there is desert.

Rivers have turned to sand. Watering streams are no more than infected mud-holes. Up to 80 percent of the livestock—thousands of head of cattle, goats, sheep and camels—have given out and dropped to die on the parched, cracked earth.

The most crushing damage, however, has been to the people. Last summer officials estimated that if rain did not come, or if large amounts of food did not continue to be donated by outside nations, some six million persons would die. A catastrophe of such proportions seems to have been averted, at least for now. The exact number of persons who have actually died is not known, though most estimates speak of ‘untold thousands’ perishing.

Numerous factors make it difficult to determine the precise number of deaths. Many of the victims are nomads who live and die in the desert, far from the population centers. Then, too, deaths are often attributed to diseases made deadly by hunger rather than to starvation itself.

So severe have conditions become in the desert region that some tribes in Chad have begged not to be vaccinated against an outbreak of diphtheria. Why? Tribesmen reason that to die from the disease would be faster than by starvation. Severity of conditions is also indicated by reports of shepherds who deprived themselves of water and milk so that calves might have a chance to live. At one point even valuable camels are reported to have been punctured for their water supplies. Other nomads are said to have squeezed dung for moisture.

The grave effects of starvation are particularly manifest in young persons and older ones. Relief workers tell of children deformed by hunger and often too enfeebled to wait for ‘soup line’ handouts.

Ethiopia’s Famine

Reports of food shortage have emerged more slowly from Ethiopia, but the picture is no less ghastly than that from the western part of Africa. Between April and August 1972, one U.N. report claims, maybe 100,000 persons died in Ethiopia. Some officials assert that the figure was, in actuality, much higher.

In any event, since then countless others have died. In just thirteen relief centers located in one of the provinces, between 700 and 1,000 persons were recently reported dying each week. And, says a worker at one camp: “If these people are dying off at such a rapid rate, then we can be absolutely certain that they are dying by the hundreds if not thousands in the countryside.”

One firsthand account of conditions at the relief centers is provided by Jonathan Dimbleby and published in The Guardian. He depicts the “hopeless images” there:

“A child sucking desperately at the dried-up breast of his starving mother; a woman, stricken with dysentery, trying but failing to stagger out of her shelter before losing control; a boy of perhaps 12, arms and legs like matchsticks, struggling to carry a pitcher of water no heavier than two pints of milk; another cradling the head of his dying father—wherever we turned, the same despairing eyes.”

So desperate has the condition become that a medical assistant at Kembolishia camp claims: “If there is another crop failure I think we are going to have a mass catastrophe on our hands.”

What Caused the Famine?

But why do these situations exist in West Africa and Ethiopia? The one immediate major cause, of course, has been the lack of proper rainfall.

The Sahelian region is now in its sixth year without substantial moisture. Drought has perpetuated itself there, creating a seemingly endless cycle. As the soil gets hotter it dries out, becomes dusty. The relative humidity is lowered and this, in turn, impedes the formation of rain clouds. As a consequence, there is more heat; so the cycle continues. Major rivers, natural barriers to the encroaching desert, then shrink. As a result, the Sahara Desert now appears to be advancing southward annually.

There have been some slight breaks in the cycle of drought. Yet these have not been sufficient really to help. After a brief rain farmers might plant their millet, sorghum or peanuts, only to have the sun wilt the plants. Last season some farmers planted seed three or four times after a spurt of rain. Yet, because of a lack of continuing moisture, few of these crops came to full growth.

The drought cycle has been kept in motion in other ways—by man. During the drought some farmers, in hunger and desperation, ate the seed they had stored away for the next year. One diplomat from the region commented on the unusual nature of this action: “In my country, a farmer keeps his seed religiously. Year after year, he selects the very best grain from his crop and keeps that for seed. But this year, they are eating the seed. I never saw that in my life.” When the seed is eaten, there is nothing to plant the following year, even if there are fine growing conditions.

Men aggravated the Sahelian drought in yet another manner—by overgrazing. During the early 1960’s when there seemed to be plenty of food for the domestic animals, herdsmen were encouraged to breed far more animals than the pasture grounds could amply feed. These were also often very hardy animals, specially vaccinated to resist disease. Then, when rain did not appear for several years, people moved farther south with these large herds to where water and pasturage still existed. Vast areas of marginally fertile land were then slowly, but thoroughly, stripped of all vegetation.

Problems with Relief

The very nature of the way this famine developed also has contributed to its severity. Extreme famine conditions came on slowly. Unlike some food shortages of modern times, this one has therefore lacked a certain “sensational” aspect. The rest of the world was thus unaware of what was happening in the afflicted region. So, relief was also slow to appear.

Apparently officials in the very countries involved did not fully realize the magnitude of the starvation until nomads began leaving the deserts and coming into the cities in search of food. The capital of one West African country thus grew in a few months from a population of 40,000 persons to 120,000.

On the other hand, it also appears that the full extent of the famine may have been purposely covered over by certain officials in some of those same nations. In this way they sought to keep their “image” as a developing country untarnished before the rest of the world. Their big cities did not always welcome the hungry nomads from the deserts. Clashes of violence are reported to have taken place between refugees and the settled population who considered the nomads “parasites.”

Other African nations were accused by Africans of lacking concern and being slow to respond to the need for help. Said the government-owned Tanzanian Daily News: “What is happening to Africa’s brotherly spirit? . . . We talk so much about African unity and solidarity, but when it comes to action we keep our hands in our pockets.”

Then, too, in some cases, apparently relief organizations from outside Africa were greatly hampered from bringing speedy assistance to the endangered areas. Their own and others’ massive bureaucratic red tape and mistakes triggered more than a few delays in food delivery. Nevertheless, in time a number of relief and humanitarian organizations arranged for vital supplies to be found, shipped and distributed by railroad, truck and even camel. Airplanes were used to parachute food to nomads in the desert.

But what about the future?

Can Such Famines Be Ended?

Short-range plans call for continued relief shipments. It has been estimated that about 662,000 tons of food must be donated to the Sahelian region this year. However, even if the rains do return within a few months, it will take many years for the damage to be repaired. Cows that have been ravaged by starvation can no longer calve. People have been driven off their land and are facing a whole new way of life in cities.

Then what about the long-range plans? Can Africa’s famines be ended for good? Most officials, when they are truly honest, will admit that the prospects are rather bleak.

True, some talk about damming rivers to provide water for crops in years of drought. But that very procedure provides breeding water for blackflies, resulting in the dreaded “river blindness” in this region. Thousands of persons so afflicted already are not able to do farm work; this only adds to the economic problems.

Other experts talk about “education” as solving Africa’s food problems. But to many Africans “education” often means no more than an attempt to force Western ways on them. Joseph Ki-Zerbo of Upper Volta argues that it results in Africans’ actually being made dependent on outsiders. He writes in Ceres, a publication of the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization:

“In Africa, where vast territories lie fallow year after year for lack of equipment and training, waiting to be valorized [made valuable], populations that maintained a balance of self-sufficiency, albeit mediocre, until the end of the 19th century are depending ever more on American millet, Soviet rice, European flour and semolina to keep alive. The underdeveloped countries are crouching more and more under the rich folks’ dining table.”

No, men of this world have no real solutions to offer for the problems of famine in Africa. But God, the Creator of the earth and the one who incorporated in it the capacity to produce food, does have the answer. The food problems of the suffering people of Africa, as well as those of persons in the rest of the world, will be solved lastingly only by the kingdom of God.

Jesus Christ prophesied that during “the conclusion of the system of things” there would be, among other severe problems, food shortages. (Matt. 24:3, 7, 8) The fact that these conditions abundantly persist, in spite of large worldwide food organizations, well-intentioned men and the latest in technology, emphasizes that we are seeing the fulfillment of that prophecy.

The Bible also foretells that God’s kingdom will end man’s selfish domination of the earth and cause earth to be a paradise, with plenty for all its inhabitants to eat. This too will soon be fulfilled.—Matt. 6:9, 10; Ps. 67:6, 7; 72:16.

[Map on page 5]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

MAURITANIA

SENEGAL

MALI

UPPER VOLTA

NIGER

CHAD

ETHIOPIA

Dust Dimming the Sun

◆ Due to the drought in large parts of Africa, vast dust clouds have been whirled into the skies and blown across the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean lands. Scientists in the Caribbean have monitored dust from Africa for years, noting relatively little change in concentrations. But now the dust has increased. Said Science News of January 19, 1974: “In a single year, from 1972 to 1973, the summer African dust count measured at Barbados jumped 60 percent, reaching three times its 1968 pre-drought level . . . the dust has now reached such concentrations that it is dimming the very sun, with possible implications not only for air quality, but for the weather itself.” The dust from Africa “has blocked out as much as 15 percent of the solar energy reaching the surface of the tropical Atlantic.”

How Advertising Can Manipulate Your Mind

DID you know that by the time an average American reaches the age of seventeen years he has seen about 350,000 television commercials? That is an average of more than fifty for each day of his life! And advertising bombards him from other sources too. A regular issue of a well-known news magazine recently contained twenty-one pages of news and ninety-seven pages of advertising, more than four of ads for every one of news!

Many people deplore much of modern advertising. They also link it to the current $170 billion U.S. consumer debt, an average of more than $800 for every man, woman and child in the country! Yet others say that advertising performs a valuable service by making us aware of useful products and services.

There is some truth in both views. Advertising can be helpful. However, there are pitfalls, chief of which are attempts to manipulate your mind. But many ask: “Why is this so? Why not just present the facts about products and let people decide for themselves?” There are several reasons.

Why the Manipulation?

One reason is that facts do not sell well. Advertising man Paul Stevens says: “You take a sincere, honest effort, and you put it up against a rock-’em sock-’em commercial that tries to gloss over the real truth, and generally the rock-’em sock-’em will get the attention.” A recent study using fictitious products illustrates the point:

“When Lite Bite Peaches were outweighed on a scale by a rival brand, the consumer panel got the deliberately misleading—but overwhelmingly persuasive—impression that Lite Bite contained fewer calories. . . . In four out of the six tests, the cheating commercial placed well ahead of the honest promotion in coaxing the audience into a buying mood.”—Time, May 14, 1973.

The proved success of advertising geared to this mentality proves that admen have the general public sized up correctly.

Another reason for manipulation is that profit-hungry businesses often give advertising the job of selling things that people do not need. So it has to create a desire for them strong enough to overcome our practical side. Erich Fromm, the psychologist, observed that advertising tends to ‘create the man who wants more and more, instead of trying to improve his person more and more.’ This is particularly true of unnecessary luxury items such as tobacco, alcoholic beverages, soft drinks, cosmetics, candy and expensive automobiles.

A further problem for advertising is the competition among nearly identical products. Time magazine noted that when “a blindfolded customer can scarcely distinguish between competing brands, it is the adman’s task to find and exploit any slight difference, real or imagined, in his client’s product.”

Illustrating this point, New York City’s Consumer Affairs Commissioner told the Association of National Advertisers that advertising has convinced millions that [a name brand of bleach] is somehow better than the same stuff in any other bottle.’ The brand is priced well above that of competitors, yet sells far better. Did you know, as she points out, that bleach “is one of those products that must be identical among brands”? “It is chemically defined.”

But why is this kind of advertising manipulation so successful?

Why Manipulation Succeeds

As you may be aware, most advertising principles are based on a scientific analysis of what makes people act the way they do. It is called “motivational research.” Even children are analyzed with the goal of moving them to influence parents, while their own purchasing habits are molded for later years. Thus advertising appeals to basic motivations—love, family, success, pleasure, security, and so forth. Artfully framing these appeals is usually the key to successful advertising.

This is where purchasers need to be alert. The best advice is given in the wise proverb:

“Anyone inexperienced puts faith in every word, but the shrewd one considers his steps.”a

Not only “every word” but also the settings of most advertising are “weighted” heavily in favor of the product. Some ads can leave people with an idea that is only half true, or possibly not true at all. Yet likely nothing said is actually false, as that would be illegal. How is this done? A review of some methods employed by advertisers will help you to avoid such manipulation.

“Weighting” the Words

Each word in an advertisement is carefully selected for maximum thrust, yet minimum fact if proof is lacking. Advertising men themselves call these “weasel words.” Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary defines a “weasel word” as one that is “used in order to evade or retreat from a direct or forthright statement or position.” See if you can pick them out in this television soap commercial:

A winsome young woman tells you that the soap she uses ‘helps my skin keep healthy looking.’ Are you not left with the idea that this particular soap “keeps skin healthy”? But did you notice the weighted words? (1) “Helps” is a word often used to avoid saying that a product actually does something. (2) “Looking” changes the word “healthy” from a fact to an opinion—that of the soapmaker. Almost any soap can make the same claim, but the sponsor is counting on you to think of his brand when shopping.

Now see if you can find any deception in this one: An expensive headache remedy is said to contain ‘twice as much of the pain reliever doctors recommend most.’ You are led to believe that this pill has a double portion of a unique doctor-prescribed pain reliever. But before you buy, ask a few questions: What is the nonprescription pain reliever that doctors recommend most? Is it not the only one legally sold over the counter—just plain aspirin—any brand? ‘Twice as much’ . . . as what? Much is implied, but little is really supplied. The wording of the claim as a whole is designed to mislead.

Words such as introducing, different, special, exclusive sound forceful, do they not? But the reality is that they usually play up very minor variations among products that are basically the same. Or they highlight differences that have nothing to do with function, such as an added lemon scent. Listen for facts about why the product is superior. Such facts are often missing.

“Only our television has Splendocolor,” an ad may say. Certainly. No one else can legally use a trademarked name. But most color sets have the same devices using another name. This air of mystery and exclusiveness sells, but mystery additives and exotic names are less informative than telling a small child that it rains because the sky contains H2O. You can disregard them if no meaningful definition is provided.

Natural, lemon-fresh, clear, pure and similar words are riding the crest of a recent trend back to “nature.” They get massive exposure to advertise almost anything. Ironically, a magazine cigarette ad claims: ‘ . . . refreshes naturally! Rich natural tobacco taste.’ Can you think of anything remotely natural about swallowing smoke? Firemen wear masks to avoid it, and unaddicted people often wish they had such protection around smokers.

A prominent advertising executive, David Ogilvy, acknowledged the deception employed in such ads when he commented on television:

‘I see the handsome athletic young man drawing in a mouthful of cigaret smoke and then inhaling it down into his lungs, and I’m appalled to think that I belong to the profession which can perpetrate that kind of villainy. I see other cigaret commercials, which are written by what we call in our business “weasel merchants.” They are intellectually dishonest and the men who wrote them and who paid for them know it.’

Factual Advertising

The foregoing examples illustrate just a few methods at the disposal of advertising to mislead with words. They show how necessary it is to look beneath the surface to separate facts from opinions or emotional appeals. On the other hand, not all advertising misleads. Factual advertising provides a contrast. Notice the difference:

A heavy-equipment manufacturer’s ad points out both the merits and drawbacks of diesel engines to allay public misconceptions. It says that they: “pollute far less than gasoline engines even without special emissions attachments,” and they use less and cheaper fuels than gasoline equipment. On the other hand, they “cost a little more to make. When improperly maintained they smoke under load. And some people complain of odor and noise.”

Gas-mileage figures in some recent auto ads are certainly helpful in these days of fuel shortage.

Can you see how facts characterize straightforward advertising? Emotion and adjective “puffery” are at a minimum. It is mainly information about the product. The ad may not be as exciting but is that what you want? Advertising man Stevens says: “That’s the key to judging advertising. There is a direct, inverse proportion between the number of adjectives and the number of facts. To put it succinctly, the more adjectives we use, the less we have to say.”

He suggests that to avoid advertising manipulation “you must strip away the innuendos and try to ascertain the facts, if any. . . . ask questions such as: How? Why? How many? How much?” Other appropriate questions would be: Do I need it at all? Is it actually better than the products of less expensive, less advertised competitors?

But there is still another weapon in the advertising arsenal that must be dealt with.

The “Weighted” Setting

Imagine yourself driving onto a highway during rush-hour traffic. Your car falters as you start to accelerate—this setting houses a recent television gasoline commercial. Do you see how it is weighted to influence you? There are two factors—YOU and a SCARE. How real is the problem? If you forget the setting and use what we learned about weighted words, the commercial itself tells you. They call the problem “hesitation.” It ‘can happen [not “will happen”] when gasoline doesn’t get to all the cylinders properly.’ Their gasoline ‘can help cure THAT KIND of hesitation.’

But ask: Does my car hesitate? If so, is THAT KIND of hesitation MY KIND? Or is it a more common cause of such problems—faulty fuel pump, dirty carburetor or need of a tune-up? Instead, the ad says a mystery additive ‘can help cure’ only ‘THAT KIND of hesitation.’ It is added to ‘help gasoline flow more evenly.’ The weighted setting gives many viewers more confidence in the product than the advertiser evidently has!

Another television commercial shows a cute little feline cub walking around, over and through a new car model while the announcer says it is ‘in a class by itself’ and ‘like nobody else’s car.’ Do you see the weighted setting in this one? In addition to (1) the obvious appeal to your pride, (2) what does a cat have to do with a car, or, for that matter, the well-known ‘tiger in your tank’ with gasoline? Only what the products can “borrow” from the natural appeal of these creatures.

Sex is the most abused of such “borrowed” appeals. Newsweek magazine of April 16, 1973, notes that “in advertisement after advertisement these days, the sexy sell is bold and brassy.” Alluring figures provide the setting for advertising everything from candy to concrete. Substituting a prominent athlete or film star serves a similar purpose—to tie in the product with one’s enjoyment of the setting.

Avoid this form of manipulation by merely ignoring the setting unless it is directly related to the product. Remember, the cats and koala bears, the beautiful girls and handsome men, the mothers and babies are all there to get your attention and stir your emotions. Appeals to pride, patriotism and family loyalty are all “borrowed” for the same purpose.

Avoiding Manipulation Saves Money

Advertising manipulation has led many to believe that unadvertised products of competitors are inferior. As we have seen, this is not always true.

Advertised “name brand” products may represent something good and be a protection to the consumer. But the premium price of such products often reflects the high cost of advertising. Some unadvertised store or “house” brands cost much less for this reason, and are of equivalent quality. A Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, housewife who discovered this writes:

“To our surprise we were shocked. We were so used to buying advertised brands . . . We saved tremendously and the unadvertised brands work wonderfully.”

Another thought that may help your pocketbook: Getting things for the children that they like is only natural. But it cannot replace all other considerations. Do not let children manipulate your mind for the admen! Highly advertised sugary candy, cereals and soft drinks, for example, may replace necessary nutritional foods, as well as being expensive.

Thus it is helpful to understand how advertising tries to manipulate your mind. It helps you to distinguish between straightforward information and the kind that exaggerates product differences or creates desire for unnecessary items at your expense.

Yes, advertising can rule you—or serve you. It is up to you.

[Footnotes]

The Bible, at Proverbs 14:15.

Faced with the Threat of Rape

“RAPE: Most Rapidly Increasing Crime.” That was the title of an article that appeared in one of America’s leading women’s magazines in the summer of 1973.

There can be no question about the accuracy of that statement. New York city saw an almost 40-percent increase in 1972 over 1971. Seattle, Washington, has witnessed a 400-percent increase since 1963. And such are the figures in spite of the fact that, according to conservative estimates, 75 to 80 percent of rapes are not reported to the police.

Rape is illicit sexual intercourse without the consent of the woman and is effected by force. Many times it results in venereal disease, unwanted pregnancy or in physical life-long injury. Moreover, it has been said that “psychologically, rape is the most traumatic of crimes against women, and for many victims, the police investigation that follows is even more shattering”—no doubt one reason why more rapes are not reported to the police. “It stands first on the list of crimes a woman fears and last on the list of crimes a victim wants to talk about,” says one report, and it is “never forgotten by the women involved.” As one New York City police official expressed it: “You have to be a woman to understand the shock a rape victim has experienced.”—Time, April 23, 1973.

What can a woman do when faced with a rapist? Deputy Superintendent J. M. Jordan of the Boston Police Department stated that “a long, loud scream” can be the woman’s best weapon. An article telling women how to ward off such attacks concluded with similar advice: “The technique is simply to surprise your attacker so that you can run away; try to ward off, not incite, a fight to the finish. And scream, scream, scream as loud as you can.”—McCall’s magazine, July 1973.

Scream! Scream! Scream! Is that good advice? It certainly is. Just how good this advice is can be seen from what happened on November 12, 1973, in one of Brooklyn’s largest hotels.

Threatened with Rape

The rapist was a well-dressed man. He had the physique of a football player, being well over six feet tall and weighing about 250 pounds. He took the elevator to the tenth floor of the hotel and there began to molest a middle-aged woman tenant, who managed to escape his clutches by screaming. She at once called the police, who came but were unable to locate him in the building, he having fled to lower floors.

On the second floor he saw two fine young women housekeepers who asked him if they could help him. “Yes, you can,” he said, and, pulling out a gun, ordered them into one of the rooms, upon which he double-locked the door. He assured them that they would not get hurt so long as they did not make any noise. He said that he needed a place to hide until things cooled off downstairs and that he would keep them there for an hour.

These two young women happened to be Christian ministers and they began to make conversation so as to release the tension. One of them asked him if they could read while they were waiting. He said Yes, and so she took a Bible study aid that was in reach, handed another to the other woman and started a Bible discussion on the subject of how long Noah had preached before the flood came, it being a subject that had come up the day before in her Christian field ministry. She noted that it must have been about forty years, but the man thought it had been about 200 years. From that discussion they went on to such subjects as the name of God, Jehovah, and the kingdom for which Jesus taught his followers to pray. They also told him that they were Christian witnesses of Jehovah and about the high standards of conduct the Witnesses have. The two women were not particularly frightened, for it seemed much like a typical Bible discussion that these girls often had, especially as the man kept expressing his own opinions on these subjects.

But after about forty-five minutes things suddenly took a disquieting turn. He looked at his watch and said that he would have to tie them up so as to give him time to get away. Although they assured him that it was not necessary, he ordered one of them to sit on the floor in a closet, upon which he tied her feet with a necktie, and her hands behind her back. He then turned off the light in the closet and closed the door. He ordered the other into the bathroom but then changed his mind and, warning her not to scream or yell, he reached for the zipper on her blouse. She exclaimed: “No! No! Not that!” and told him that if he touched her she would scream as he had never heard anyone scream before and that if he was going to shoot he might as well go ahead and shoot because if she did not scream she would be as good as dead anyhow.

She told him that marriage was honorable before God and that she was married, but that what he wanted to do was not honorable. Also, that if she did not scream she would ruin her relationship with Jehovah God and the Christian congregation; that then she would be disfellowshiped or excommunicated from it and that this would be worse than being killed as far as she was concerned. He looked puzzled. He did not understand and so asked her to repeat what she had said, which she did, scared and shaking though she was. As she later explained: “The situation sickened me and the mere thought of it all was so disgusting that I knew what I had to do.” After all of this he again tried to put his arms around her, upon which she moved away, saying, “Don’t you touch me or come near me.”

This calls to mind a statement made by the Dallas, Texas, police department, namely, that “a woman’s best defenses” are, among other things, “her wits” and “a scream.”

Yes, this young woman in the Brooklyn hotel used her wits by courageously using her knowledge of the Bible, thereby diverting the would-be rapist from his evil intent. As a result, he pursued the matter no further with these two women but left after first ordering them not to leave the room for fifteen minutes.

Frustrated a second time, this rapist was not giving up. Coming out into the hallway, he saw another fine young woman and began engaging her in conversation, asking where the elevators were, the nature of the rooms on the floor, and so forth. Suddenly he moved close to her and tried to push her into one of the rooms the door of which was open.

What could she do? He was every bit a foot taller than she was and weighed at least twice as much. She did what the Bible indicates a young woman should do: she screamed, louder than she had ever screamed before. (Deut. 22:23-27) This was wholly unexpected by the rapist. Startled, he ran down the steps at the end of the hallway.

As the three young women told their story at the police station, their hearers, increasing from three to eight men and two policewomen, marveled at what they heard. They could not get over it that two of these young women had talked about the Bible to a would-be rapist. One of the women officers asked for more information about the beliefs of Jehovah’s witnesses and stated that if more women took such a determined and firm stand there would be fewer such crimes.

Why the Increase?

The foregoing experience in a Brooklyn hotel last November is but one instance of this social crime that is increasing on every hand. And that increase is very real. As the editor of America’s Campus Law Enforcement Journal said about this increase: “It’s not just a question of more women reporting it. It has happened.”

No doubt one of the main reasons for rapes has ever been the extreme selfishness of men who refuse to control their mating instinct. As Dr. Ralph Garofalo, of Massachusetts’ Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Sexually Dangerous Persons, put it: ‘Normal men find a socially acceptable outlet for their desires, while the rapist loses sight of all moral or legal considerations.’ But why the great increase of rape in modern times and in recent years?

Discussing the reasons, a Seattle, Washington, police official in charge of the city’s sex-crime investigation department stated: “Our whole moral climate, our attitudes toward sex and the dress of the women have to be causes.” He also stated that the ‘increased exposure to pornography has contributed to the rise in reported rapes.’

Womankind must share the blame. To begin with, until the age of five or six years, the most vital period, little boys have their personalities molded largely by women, their mothers. And as they grow up, it is usually the mother that has the most opportunities to inculcate in her son respect for womankind, both by word and by example. But far too many mothers have come short in this regard. Especially and specifically blameworthy are those female relatives, such as an aunt or even a mother, who have used boys as sexual playthings, thereby starting them on a road that leads to their having aggressive feelings toward women.

A new American motion picture star who aims to occupy the place once held by America’s previous sex symbol brags about her charms and about her ability to arouse men by displaying herself in motion pictures. Such actresses must also share in the blame for the increase in rapes, for after men have seen them on the screen they frequently go out and attack a woman who may be a paragon of virtue.

Yet, there is more to the cause than these factors. The increase in rapes, as well as in other crimes, underscores the fact that we are living in what the Bible calls “the last days,” when men would be “lovers of themselves, . . . having no natural affection, . . . without self-control, fierce, without love of goodness.” (2 Tim. 3:1-5) One reason for this, as Bible prophecy shows, is that Satan the Devil, together with his demons, is influencing the minds of mankind. Angry because his time is short, he is determined to corrupt all flesh, even as he tried to do before the flood of Noah’s day.—Gen. 6:2-12; Matt. 24:37-39; Rev. 12:7-12; 20:1-3.

The Course of Prudence

In view of all these facts, what can women do? First of all, it behooves women to be very careful about going out alone at night, especially in large cities. Early in 1973 a young Christian woman decided to go home alone late one evening, around ten o’clock, although warned not to do so. She almost made it, but going around to the back entrance of her apartment building, she was grabbed by a man who threatened her with a knife. She failed to scream and was raped.

The New York Times, November 26, 1973, told of two fifteen-year-old girls being forced, shortly after midnight, into a store by an employee of the store who kept them for four hours and repeatedly raped one of them until the police came and rescued the girls and arrested the kidnapper and rapist. But what business did two teen-age girls have on the streets around midnight?

And never should a single woman, or even two, for that matter, take a chance on hitchhiking with a strange man. Many have done so, to be not only raped, but even murdered.

Further, in view of the way that many men think, each virtuous woman should be careful to dress modestly. According to the Seattle, Washington, police lieutenant in charge of the department dealing with such crimes, women who “reveal everything” in the way they dress make themselves more vulnerable to rape. “You can’t advertise a commodity and expect no buyers . . . A little modesty,” he holds, would prevent some rapes.

Without doubt, prudence can greatly help to lessen the likelihood of a woman’s being attacked.

Certain feminists advocate that women learn karate, but is that good advice? Regarding this, Dallas, Texas, Police Sergeant Maxwell states: “Judo and karate techniques are very involved and usually there simply isn’t enough time to use them.” And too, he stated that such techniques would need to be practiced continually so as to be useful in time of danger. Moreover, the Medical Tribune, November 21, 1973, under the heading “Two Atlanta MDs Emphasize Dangers of Karate ‘Chops,’” told of women suffering injuries to the liver and pancreas from learning karate. One patient had his retina severed and one eighteen-year-old boy died from a kick in the chest while taking part in a city-sponsored karate training class.

Instead of depending upon physical strength, each virtuous woman should exercise great caution to avoid any situation that might expose her to the threat of rape. And she ought to fortify her mind with the firm resolve as to what to do when faced with such an ordeal. The Bible and literature explaining it, as distributed by Jehovah’s witnesses, is a great help in this regard. As one of the three women earlier mentioned stated: “We were so thankful to Jehovah God for his help and strength. We are also appreciative of what his visible organization did in instructing us on how to handle ourselves in such a situation.”

When the Electric Power Fails

“ELECTRIC Power Failure Grips Country!” Such a headline becomes ever more a likelihood as the energy crisis deepens. What a prolonged power failure could mean to such large cities as New York, London, Paris, Rome and Tokyo is terrifying even to imagine. Yet the prospect of electric power failures is daily becoming more and more a real probability.

Just what it means for communities to be without electrical energy for even a few days the New York Times of December 19, 1973, told under the heading “Many in Tristate Area Lack Heat, Light and Phones.” This was caused by a snowstorm and freezing rain in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

The freezing rain played havoc with thousands of trees and power lines. As a result, 450,000 homes were cut off from electricity, whether for a short time or for days. The Times report said that after two days there were still 70,000 homes without electricity and 3,000 homes without telephones. In one Connecticut “disaster area” no lights at all were visible anywhere. Families with fireplaces opened their homes to neighbors without heat, used candles for light, and boiled water and cooked food with the wood plucked from the debris of the storm. Communities transformed town halls, firehouses and churches into refuge centers.

Previous Power Failures

On November 9, 1965, people living in the northeastern part of the United States and adjoining Canada had another small taste of what total electric power failure can mean. On that occasion their power went off in various cities from one and a half to thirteen and a half hours. That notable blackout covered some 80,000 square miles and reached from Buffalo on the west to Cape Cod on the east, and from as far south as New York city to as far north as some 350 miles above Toronto, Canada. About thirty million persons were affected.

Of course, where it was felt the most was where the buildings were the highest and the population the most concentrated. People were stranded for hours in trapped elevators and in subway cars, in railroad stations and airports. Those seldom using stairs suddenly found themselves walking down some forty flights with the aid of light from matches or candles. In many places there was neither water to drink nor water to flush the toilets. Streets as well as homes, office buildings and other places of business were dark.

Also, in the summer of 1972 the United States experienced a serious electric power shortage, due to the heat and an unprecedented demand for electricity to run air-conditioners. A number of sections in the eastern part of the country experienced power failures, some of which became quite costly because of food spoilage in butcher shops, grocery stores and private homes.

A Home Blackout

Of course, the most common type of blackout is when a fuse is blown or an electric circuit breaker is tripped in a private home. Each householder usually knows where these are. But people living in apartments or boardinghouses may find that these are located somewhere outside their own apartment or room.

Where circuit breakers are used, it is merely a matter of resetting the breaker that has been tripped. As for a blown fuse, it, too, can easily be spotted, because its window is darker or clouded, or one might see broken or melted elements through its window.

Extra fuses should always be on hand and care should be exercised to have fuses with the right rating; for homes this generally is fifteen or twenty amperes. As a precaution, it is important to turn off the appliance that caused the fuse to blow or, in other ways, to cut down the load before replacing the fuse in order to avoid trouble. For safety’s sake, use only one hand in replacing fuses, and if the floor is damp, make it a point to stand on a dry board.

If your fuses blow out repeatedly, you may be able to solve the problem by using more outlets and thus distribute your appliances over more circuits. If that does not solve the problem, the wiring in your home may need to be improved. Of course, the problem could be faulty wiring in an appliance or lamp socket. To check that possibility, turn off all the appliances and lamps. Then proceed to turn on one at a time until the culprit is spotted.

Dealing with Brownouts and Blackouts

A power failure may be a brownout or a blackout. A brownout is the condition where the power is reduced by the power company so that your lights do not glow as brightly as usual; this is one way the power companies have of stretching the power. If they reduce it by just 3 to 5 percent you will not notice it, but when it is reduced 8 percent or more you most likely will. Such a reduction does no harm to lamps or to heating appliances, such as toasters, electric frying pans and ovens. But where motors are involved, as in refrigerators and air-conditioners, a marked decrease in power can result in overheating, ruining the motor. So in a brownout, watch your motors, and if they start to overheat, turn them off, at least temporarily.

As the facts show, a total power failure can occur almost any time, if not due to fuel shortage, then due to storms or accidents that knock down power lines. If this occurs, what should you do? First, and most important: Do not panic. Remain calm. Many New Yorkers did well in this regard in the 1965 blackout, showing a sense of humor and taking things in stride. That, together with fortunate circumstances, prevented what otherwise would have been a major disaster.

Preparation ahead of time is helpful in coping with such a problem. For example, you may want to have in your home safety matches and heavy-duty candles, as well as flashlights together with fresh batteries. Some persons also have a battery-operated radio so that they can learn from news broadcasts the cause of the blackout and how long it is likely to last.

Preparation for such an eventuality as an electric power failure includes mental awareness as to what it may involve. Not only will you be unable to use your electric appliances, but your phone may be dead, your thermostats will not work nor your furnace, if it is an oil burner. If you live in a highrise apartment building, soon you will have no water, nor will you be able to flush the toilet. So as soon as the power fails, make it a point to get a supply of water in pots and pans for drinking. If the water turns out to be polluted, then either boil the water, if you can, or chlorinate it with some such compound as halazone.

Food also is something to think about, especially if the blackout lasts more than a few hours. For such a short-term emergency a modest supply of some foods that do not require cooking or heating, such as dry cereals, nuts, dried fruits, canned or powdered milk, can prove helpful. There is such a thing as canned heat, and some persons keep a few cans of it on hand in case of an emergency.

As a rule, perishable foods will keep in a refrigerator from thirty-six to forty-eight hours, but that all depends upon how fresh the food was when the power went off. As for frozen meats, these, we are assured, can be refrozen if they were not unfrozen too long. But when eventually using them, it would be well to examine them carefully to make sure they are still edible. As regards all such foods, the rule would apply: When in doubt, throw it out!

Of course, elevators or “lifts” will not run without electricity. If you get caught in an elevator when the power goes off, do not panic. Elevators have safety devices to prevent them from falling in case of a power failure. They also have vents that can be opened for ventilation. True, the temperature may rise, making it uncomfortable, but you need not fear; you will not suffocate.

You will need to be careful about using your auto. If you have it parked in some elevated garage, forget about it until the power comes on again. If you are able to use it, remember that the traffic lights will not be working. Also, most likely, neither will gasoline station pumps, so be sure your supply will get you to your destination.

Depending upon the season of the year, it might be best simply to go to bed in order to keep warm and conserve your own energy by getting all the rest you can, especially if food is in short supply. Of course, if a major disaster has struck your area and your apartment or city is being evacuated, then do not delay in fleeing with the rest.

A word of caution. In these critical times there has been a high rise in crime. So take no chances. Keep off dark streets if a blackout occurs. As the Bible says, people who do bad things love the darkness.—John 3:19-21.

In brief, if the power fails, do not panic, keep your senses, remain calm, be cautious, be resourceful, making the best of the circumstances.

Thousands Baptized Each Week

JEHOVAH’S Christian witnesses recognize that they must preach to others. They have taken to heart the words of Jesus Christ: “Make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you.”—Matt. 28:19, 20.

During the service year for 1973 (running from September 1, 1972, to August 31, 1973) they did just that in 208 lands. Each week Jehovah’s witnesses conducted more than one million two hundred thousand Bible studies with interested persons, and they continue to do so. As a result of their spending more than twenty-five million hours each month, tens of thousands have been helped to become baptized disciples of Jesus Christ, able to teach still others. The 1973 service year saw an average of more than 530 of such new disciples baptized every day—about 3,700 each week. The total number baptized during the entire service year was 193,990.

Courageous Efforts Blessed

This work of disciple-making often calls for courage. Consider, for example, what happened in a village in southeastern Nigeria, Africa:

Opposition arose to the work of Jehovah’s witnesses. Fanatics murdered a “special pioneer” minister who was devoting about 150 hours each month in helping people to understand the Bible better. The family of three Witnesses with whom this “special pioneer” minister lived was also killed. Eventually the criminals were brought to justice, and twelve persons were executed.

With such tragic developments in connection with their work, one might conclude that Jehovah’s witnesses would forget all about this village. But not so. A young Witness couple moved in and began to serve there, with genuine concern for the people in that locality. Soon they were conducting home Bible studies and spending additional time in teaching illiterate ones to read and write. The attitude of many people of the village began to change. It became necessary to look for a place to accommodate those wanting to attend Bible study meetings.

Later, at one assembly during the 1973 service year, twenty persons from this area presented themselves for baptism. Now there are over seventy who attend meetings of Jehovah’s witnesses and share Bible truth with others. They are all looking forward to the time when the four Witnesses who were murdered will be brought back in the resurrection.

Changes Made in Their Way of Life

These newly baptized Witnesses and others like them had to make changes in their lives in order to conform to the Bible’s lofty requirements. Often these changes involved their whole way of life.

Take the case of a former police commissioner in Dahomey, Africa. He was a Methodist but respected other religions, for his father had taught him to listen to anyone who came in God’s name. So when Jehovah’s witnesses called on him, he listened to what they had to say and accepted Bible literature. Later, a home Bible study was started.

After attending several meetings at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, this man decided that he, too, would like to share in telling others about what he had learned. But when the Christian requirement of having only one marriage mate was called to his attention, he was grieved. At one time he had had seven wives, and five were still in his family home.

Wanting to be pleasing to God, he started to take legal steps to have only one wife. As he was united in marriage legally to three wives, he needed to get a divorce from two of them. Divorce in Dahomey is not readily granted except for adultery, attempted poisoning or incompatibility. So it looked as though it would be very difficult for him to get a legal divorce in court from the two secondary wives. The judge who heard his case said that divorce based on the Scriptural reasons presented would not be possible. But the jury was favorably impressed with this man’s sincerity and the facts he related from the Bible. He was therefore granted his divorces. Thereafter, though having put away his former secondary wives, he continued providing for them and their children.

After his baptism as one of Jehovah’s witnesses he continued to face much opposition from relatives because of his refusal to follow the tribal and family custom relating to ancestor worship and fetish religion. He was the hereditary head of his collective family and, as such, was supposed to preside over all religious and family ceremonies. Without him, the religious rites could not be conducted. But, despite the fact that many relatives avoided association with him and considered him repugnant, he held firm.

He used his time wisely to teach his thirty-two children about the Bible. Seven of these are now baptized Witnesses and twenty-three of them are associated with the congregation. His one legal wife attends the meetings of Jehovah’s witnesses and, along with him, declares the Bible’s message to others.

People have been willing to give up, not only polygamy and fetish worship, but also all other practices that are disapproved in God’s Word.

Note the experience of a man in El Salvador. He relates:

“All my life I had thought only of myself. From my early youth on, I dedicated myself to enjoying life and playing music. In 1920 I was a singer for a marimba band in El Salvador called ‘Marimba Atlacatl.’ When World War II broke out we were touring Europe. Since Latin America was supporting the Allies, we were later put in a concentration camp on the Austrian border for almost two years.

“Shortly before the end of the war we, with the aid of others, were able to get to New York city. I eventually made my way back to El Salvador to continue my musical career and heavy drinking.

“In the 1960’s I discovered that, due to drinking, I had not only lost my health but also my wife. Things began to look very dark to me. But around this time the real light was about to shine. My brother began to study the Bible with Jehovah’s witnesses and would speak to me about the things he was learning.

“I was too stubborn to pay attention to him. However, one day I found my two youngest daughters studying with a young lady who said that she was one of Jehovah’s witnesses. I didn’t like it, but thought that it was better for them to study the Bible than to run around. I even accompanied my daughters to the Kingdom Hall a few times, but I had no interest. What really bothered me was that I thought I had been too bad ever to receive God’s forgiveness. After all, I had spent my whole life engaged in all kinds of bad practices, freely fathering children in many parts of the world and then abandoning both children and mothers. What love, help or concern had I given even to my legal family in El Salvador? How could God ever forgive me?

…

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Awake!, March 8, 1974