"zealots" at home to ban the use of pesti- cides and biotechnology, which lift farm produc- tivity without posing significant dangers to the environment, Duesterberg says. "A far-greater . . . environmental catastrophe," he writes, "would ensue if the world's farmers cut down forests equal in size to the entire land mass of South America-which is what they would have to do to meet world food demand using only organic farming." Duesterberg's formula for the 21st century...
"zealots" at home to ban the use of pesti- cides and biotechnology, which lift farm produc- tivity without posing significant dangers to the environment, Duesterberg says. "A far-greater . . . environmental catastrophe," he writes, "would ensue if the world's farmers cut down forests equal in size to the entire land mass of South America-which is what they would have to do to meet world food demand using only organic farming." Duesterberg's formula for the 21st century...
Kinsey and the pop authorities who followed him were based on a carefully de- signed, random survey of a cross section of Americans. These "experts" interviewed only selected-and in some cases, self-selected-groups of people willing to talk about their intimate lives. "These 're- ports' are to responsible social science what alchemy is to chemistry. . . and magic to medicine," Greeley says.
The findings turned up in 1991 the National Opinion Research Center (NORC), at the University...
. In women's studies departments, for example, all differences between men and women are as- sumed to be "culturally determined," and thus subject to change. Heterosexuality is likewise regarded as a mere prejudice, a "cultural de- mand."
But, illogically, culture can also be "a rhe- torical device" to ward off criticism and change, Clausen points out, a kind of intellec- tual stop sign. Political correctness rules out virtually any negative comment about any as- pect...
. In women's studies departments, for example, all differences between men and women are as- sumed to be "culturally determined," and thus subject to change. Heterosexuality is likewise regarded as a mere prejudice, a "cultural de- mand."
But, illogically, culture can also be "a rhe- torical device" to ward off criticism and change, Clausen points out, a kind of intellec- tual stop sign. Political correctness rules out virtually any negative comment about any as- pect...
nine tracts.
Still, Jargowsky takes encouragement from declining concentrations in such areas as New York City, Newark, N.J., and Tampa-St. Pe- tersburg. The drops are the product of im- proved local economies, Jargowsky believes, and show that the vision of the black poor as totally alienated and indifferent to opportunity is wrong. If the economy is strong, many poor people will work their way out of the ghettos.
A University's Decline and Fall
'Downward Mobility: The Failure of Open Admissions a...
Tom Rosenstiel, in The New Republic (Aug. 22 & 29,1994), 1220 19th St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.
When the first U.S. bombs and missiles slammed into Iraq in January 1991 to begin the Persian Gulf War, three Cable News Network (CNN) correspondents, holed up in their Baghdad hotel room, provided an exclusive- and riveting-description of the attack. As the hours went by, some 11.5 million homes tuned in to the channel once ridiculed as the 'Chicken Noodle Network." Saddam Hussein's government...
25 percent. May, only 370,000 TV sets were tuned to the channel at any given time. More people watch ABC or CBS at 3 A.M. than watch the Atlanta-based cable news net- work during daylight hours.
Rosenstiel, a national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, sheds no tears for CNN. The network could have revolutionized TV jour- nalism; instead it has only diminished it, he says. Although it broadcasts around the clock, its news shows are not much longer than the 22-minute network broadcasts. Much...
the industrialized world are having a similar impact in Muslim countries. Finally, just as cultural intercourse wit11 the Arab empire long ago renewed Europe's connection with its intellectual roots in classical Greece, so today the flow of Western culture and technology into the Islamic world may foster great intellectual change. And it may not take as long to happen. New ideas now travel
Are Islamic rebels on the march to pozuer in Algeria?
faster, Beedham observes, "and the people of today's...
getting rid of the free riders, the strict churches become stronger-and more attractive. "Strictness works," Iannaccone declares.
It can be carried too far, however. "Even though hundreds were willing to join the Bhagwan Rajneesh in Antelope, Oregon, few would have followed him to the Arctic Circle," Iannacone says. Many small sects wither and die because they impose excessive demands. A 1985 study of more than 400 sects found that 32 per- cent never increased their membership...