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Garner
Ted
armstrong
SPIAKS OUT!
Empty Optimism
N
ot long
ego
1
~·
out on behall
ol
1M
offlee ol the Preeldent ol
the
Unlted States In dec!ylng !he
strange p reoccupatlon ol !he
American pre.s wlth a PresldenUal "sllp"
(P1aln
Trulh, June21,
1975).
1
very much respect !he office ol the
Presiden! ol the Unlted States and r..
epect the manwho occuples that olfice.
1
8lso
respectfully
dlsagree wlth
many
olthe thlngaMr. Ford has
sald.
Recently,
Presid~Jnt
Ford felt lllce rebuk·
lng !he U.S. "prophets o! doom" In
a
atrong partiMn -h to
f~
lhousand
Republicenwomen In Dalias.
1
He said,
"1
have heerd too ¡nuch from
people who say everythlng la lalllng
apet1.
how
!he
quality of lite in America
1s
oUdlng downhHI, how the dollar
ls
worth–
leas, how murderers and muggera have
drlvan averyona behlnd locked doora,
and how
even
!ha Presiden! ol !he Unlted
Slates should stop Yisltlng publlc placea
and seelng lhe American people."
The Prealdent sald he "had had it with
~mista
aaytng such thinga Who
seern
lo be wrlting a 'self-fulfilllng prophecy' ol
doom for America."
"1
reject t uch petslmistle acenarlos,"
l&ld
the Presiden!.
Mr. Pnesldent.
1
reopectfully dllagree.
Surety Mr. Ford doea not mean to lmply
that, slmply because ha has "heard
tpo
much," the thlngs
thel8
alegad prophetl
ol
doorn
are nying are therelore
wrong?
11
happena to be a simple fac¡t,
Mr. Presiden!, thal lhe quallty ol lile ·;n
Arnerlca
os
alldlng downhiiL The dollar
os
becoming more and more worthlesa.
Murderera and muggera
oo
drlve Ín·
nocent cltlzens behlnd locl<ed doora, and
!he Presldent hlmsell
HAS
been
aubjected
l o two aaaessinatk>n attemptl wlthin a
very
short perlod of time.
Ovar the years
1
have contlnually
~en
out against !he
garne
of "hid&–
~k"
playad
by
too many Amefl..
cana.
By hldlng our eyea from the myrlaCI
problerns eround
us
and seeking lnstead
our own personal pleasures, - seem
benl upon oubmerglng ourselvet In petty
day-to-day trlvla, all the whlle lgnorlng lha
truly monatrous problema confronllf1g the
enUrety
of
!he human
race,
lhe United
Slates in particular, and each ol us ind;..
vldually.
· Evll
will
never
dlsappear
by
lgnorfng h.
We cannot
wlah it
away,
and
almple optt–
mlam in lha lace of
bad
naws
will naver
whlsk
away lhe problema or quietly
aweep them undet
!ha
carpet and out of
vlew.
lo4
What lo happenlng
in
lhe United Stales
today'l Crime
io
up, soaring above
all
un–
ders1andable relatlonships to populatlon
growih. The FBI aeys the chanca ol belng
Yictimiad
by
a
violen!
crlme
has In·
creased 24% &inca
1968,
and more than
50'!(,
In the past lewyearsl
As
1
reportee! In t hls column recently,
lhe average urt>an American
baby
boy
born
lince
1974
laces
a
greater llkel;..
hood of dylng a Yicllm of murder than dld
the average American soldier wearlng
kh'aklln World Wer
111
Attaci<S upon !he family
and
lhe home
contlnue to soar beyond any known ex·
ample In lhe hislory ol !he human race. A
recenl
aurvey
by
e
group
ot
univerally
soclologlats lound that ot
2,300
wlves,
funy
ltalf
felt they W<>uld eventually go
outslde of t heir marrfages for sexual ex-
periencesl And one out of avery three
between the ages of 26 ·and 30 l reely
admltted
sha
alreedy hadl
Another
ltudy,
conducted
by
the
·na–
tlonal loundatlon, March of Dimes, showa
that mothers under
18
glvlng blrth lo chll·
dren rose
by
80% in lhe
thirte«t
yeara
beiWeen 1960 a(\(11973.
And then there's our enlertalnment
11
was more !han three decades ago when
Rhett BuUer
saJd
lo
Scartett
O'Hara,
"Frenkty, my deer,
1
don't give a damn,"
In the eplc lllm
Gon& Wfflt
lite
W/nd.
Even
lhough l ully knowlng what to e)(J)ect, au·
dlences all over lhe Uniled States fre–
quenUy llned up two abreast around lhe
block to
see
that motlon picture and lo
collecUvely gup In shock at the utter·
anee of !he "forbldden" word.
Compare that. if you
wlll,
to
the
un–
bellevably llagrant vlolatlon of anything
representing the lasl vestiges of sensitlv·
ltyor decencywhleh la common tabletare
tor lhe average American home Yia the
medlum ol television or motion plctures
today.
Our teen.agers cen attend motlon plc–
tures where the most
violen!.
unreatrleted
and raw abuses In the lorm of prolanity
and filthy speech, coupled .w!th violence
and sex. are presented on the acreen. lt
do8l llttte good for perents to
very
care–
fully attempt to traln their chlldren al
home In the correct use ol the English
language and In hlgh prlnclplea Of moral·
ity. Trainlng them lo reapect !he property
and persona ol fellow human belngs.is of
llttle benellt when the publlc media In one
dramatlc moment In
a
derkenad theater
can aweep
asid
e muen ol lhe pslnstaklng
and
caratul educatk>n
given
at home.
The Uniled States
os
In a moral land·
tlklel
Jusi last season, tor example, Amer;..
can televlslon showed the rape of house–
wivet,
delve<l' lnto the story of lhe prfvate
lile of
a
prostitute,
and
hlghlighted !he
day-to~ay
exlstence ol a homosexual
couple. These are all loplce Which would
no! have
aven
been mentlon8d on lhe alr
only
a
tew years ago. One mejor produc·
tlon lor "adult" audlenoea, Seacon
Hl/1,
hu taken vlewera through various and
sundry eplsodeo
of
polltlcal corruption.
showed varfouo aexual relatlonshlpl be–
tween employeea and thelrmlstresset, in·
vited the vlewer lo watch a strlptease, and
highlighted flagrant vlolaUons
of
prohlbi·
Uon
laws.
lt appears that
11
io
not enough that lhe
news lo tillad wlth shoot-outs, assasslna–
tlono, kldnappings. bornbinga.
premerltat
sex,
extr~arital
relattonahlps, abor·
tlons, women's lfb, the gay .libetatlon
movement, bfeckmall, murdera, drugs,
wiretapplng, embeZzlement,
and
klter·
naUonal bribery
by
big bualneas.
Our " entertainmenl" aiSo seems tota.lly
obsessed and preoccupled with the same
fere. Open, .-. unbelieveble
~nce,
sexual permissiVeness, thievefy, lylng,
cheatlng, and every assorted torm ol
brutallty ls !he curren! trend in televlalon
as
well
as
In
motk>n pk;turea. We
are
liv–
ing through
a
"lV era" Whlch is dramatl–
cally aflectfng social patterns In !he
United States.
And
do you ever
listen
to
the lyrlca
In
popular and country-western muslc these
days? Even the words ol most songe re–
flect and ernphaalze these same themes.
Anoll'>er
aspect
ol !he lnaanity in Amen–
can teleYision lathe
modero
daytlme quiz
show. Soma of these ahows feature
averythlng from roulette and dice gamas
to plnball machines,
blackjaclc.
horae–
races, and Yirtually every klnd of gama
whlch would normally be lound In Las
Vegas or Reno. Partlcipants appear to be
mind- children, laa¡>ing and jumping
upand down, pounding lhelr heads, alap–
ping their hands together, rolling their ·
eyes, blting end gnawlng on the lr
tonguea and lips, gatUng
ao
axc~ed
one
honestly wondero Whelher
a
heart
attack
io
not lmminent when they are lold lhey
have won one of our modern "aduh loys"
such
es
a
stereo,
a
color tetevlslon
181.
or
an automoblle.
All in all, !ha Unlted States ol Americe
is very much
SICK.
Ralher than apeaklng out
ABAINST
these
evlls.
whlch, would, In
my
oplnlon,
GREATLY
enhance the stature and lnteg–
rity of Mr. Ford, the Presiden! chose to
attack the "doomsdayers" and portray
himself
as
a man who believesln a brfght
tuture.
He aald,
" 1
did nol take !he sacred oath
ol oflice to preside over !he decline and
falt of
the
United States of America."
No one can tauh
!hose
words, nor the
sentfment belllnd them. However, as we
vi- America today
In
the
mlclst of
a
land·
slide lnlo the uhimale debauchery
of
a
modero Sodom and Gomorrah,
we
mus!
all realiza that emply optlmlsm cennot
stand up agalnst !ha raplcl decline
In
the
quality of life
In
Arnerle4.
lhe
deep
eco–
nomlc slcknessWhlch threatens the velue
of our money, and lhe Insana rlse In vlo–
lantcrlmes.
1t
may be lnatructlve to ponder
whethef.
llke i1 or no
t.
tnt•nded or not,
lhe Presiden! of !he Unltad Statea ot
Americe may lndeed be preslding ovar
the
decHne
and
lhe fall of
the
Unhed
Statea Ol America. O
WEEK ENDlNG NOVEMBER 1, 1975
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