CULTURE WARS A FABRICATION?

The high degree of religious and multicultural tolerance in the United
States is unprecedented in world history. So said sociologist Alan Wolfe in
his book *One Nation, After All,* based on two years of interviews with
200 subjects.

"Wolfe argues that middle-class Americans don’t deserve their reputation
as angry, sanctimonious, and narrow-minded," reported Alicia Potter in
the *Boston Phoenix.* "On the contrary, they’re optimistic, thoughtful,
and slow to judge."

Wolfe’s subjects expressed remarkable acceptance of immigrants, non-
whites, and people of other socio-economic classes.

Wolfe was frustrated by his findings. Because he makes part of his living
writing for opinionated magazines, he yearned for more controversial
data.

"The reasonableness, the sensitivity, the thoughtfulness just drove me
batty," he told Potter. "I just wanted to scream at people, ’Isn’t there
something that really just makes you angry and upset?’" (Source: Alicia
Potter, Boston Phoenix, March 30, 1998)

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SINGING DUELS DIFFUSE ANGER

"In Greenland, disputes are solved through singing duels. The quibbling
parties face off and proceed to croon tunes heaped high with insults.
While spectators pass the final judgment on the event, the singing
generally diffuses the anger, and the dueling parties leave as friends."  -
*Mental Floss,* July–August 2004

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FREE OF MENTAL ILLNESS

You don’t suffer from anthonephophobia, a fear of flowers falling from
clouds.

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REBORN STEEL

The North American steel industry annually recycles millions of tons of
steel scrap from recycled cans, automobiles, appliances, construction
materials, and other steel products. The scrap is remelted to produce new
steel. Every ton of steel recycled saves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400
pounds of coal, and 120 pounds of limestone. The industry’s overall
recycling rate is 68 percent.

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ANIMAL ECSTASY

In his book *Animals and Psychedelics: The Natural World and the Instinct
to Alter Consciousness,* ethnobotanist Giorgio Samorini proves that many
animals deliberately alter their consciousness. His evidence includes robins
that get drunk on holly berries and act "like winged clowns," as well as
goats hooked on caffeine and reindeer that seek out hallucinogenic
mushrooms.

Samorini concludes that the desire to get high is a natural drive.
Intoxication has served as an evolutionary force for some species,
breaking down outworn habits in such a way as to improve long-term
survival.

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CRANE OPPORTUNISM
Between North and South Korea is a long, narrow strip of land called the
DMZ. Designed to be a buffer zone where all human activity is prohibited,
it has accidentally become a nature preserve beloved by white-naped
cranes. The area is a paradise for the birds because it has an abundance
of undisturbed marshland and is free of predators. Luckily, the cranes are
so lightweight that they’re in no danger of detonating the many land
mines buried throughout the 370-square-mile area.

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POETRY FACTS

"Poetry is a rich, full-bodied whistle, cracked ice crunching in pails, the
night that numbs the leaf, the duel of two nightingales, the sweet pea
that has run wild, Creation’s tears in shoulder blades."  - Boris Pasternak

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FREE WORK DONE OUT OF LOVE

The U.S. Labor Department periodically analyzes the volunteer work done
by Americans. In one report, it estimated that between September 2001
and September 2002, 59 million people offered their services free of
charge as they mentored, tutored, built affordable housing, cleaned up
the environment, and helped respond to community emergencies. The
average contribution per person for the year was 52 hours. (Source:
Associated Press)

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TOP SECRET MASS GATHERING

History’s largest meeting of world religious leaders was virtually
unreported by the media. During the apparently top-secret event, 200
representatives from every major faith gathered in Assisi, Italy. At the
end of the conference, they issued the Assisi Decalogue for Peace, a
document denouncing all violence committed in the name of God or
religion. It declared, "We commit ourselves to stand at the side of those
who suffer poverty and abandonment, speaking out for those who have
no voice, and to working effectively to change these situations."
(Source: David Waters, religion columnist)

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SIMPLE GIFTS

Habitat for Humanity is a grass roots organization devoted to eliminating
substandard housing and homelessness. Since its inception in 1976, it has
built or renovated 225,000 houses in the United States, and 11,545
elsewhere, mostly in South America, Africa, the Middle East, and the Asia-
Pacific region.

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INTEGRITY INVENTORY

Finland, Iceland, and Denmark are the least corrupt nations, according to
Transparency International’s annual survey. (Source:
http://www.transparency.org/)

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SACRED ADVERTISEMENT

PNN is brought to you by this passage from Eknath Easwaran’s book
*Gandhi, the Man:* "One of the most radical discoveries Gandhi was to
make in a lifetime of experimentation: In order to transform others, you
have to transform yourself."

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THIS WEEK IN PRONOIAC HISTORY

Pablo Picasso had a difficult birth. When he finally popped out after a long
labor, he wasn’t breathing. The midwife decided his face was so blue he’d
be impossible to revive. She declared him dead and left. But Picasso’s
uncle, who was in attendance, got up close to the infant and puffed cigar
smoke up his nose. The shock brought him back to life.

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There are hundreds more stories like this in *PRONOIA Is the Antidote for
Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with
Blessings*