50 Facts That Should Change the World

Jessica Williams

Average Rating 9/10 (1 Review)

Every cow in the European Union is subsidised by $2.50 a day. That’s more than what 75 per cent of Africans have to live on.

More than 150 countries use torture.

America spends $10 billion on pornography every year – the same amount it spends on foreign aid.

This book paints a picture of shocking contrasts. Hunger, poverty and all kinds of material and emotional deprivation, human rights abuses, unimaginable wealth, the decline of religion and the unstoppable rise of consumerism, mental illness, the drugs trade, corruption, gun culture, the abuse of our environment and much more.

Review by Paul Lappen (310505) Rating (9/10)

Review by Paul Lappen
Rating 9/10
Here is another example of the bad job done by the mainstream media in informing Americans about the state of the world. This book presents a number of facts, with accompanying essays, that will not be covered on the evening news.

In 2002, more than 80 percent of the world’s executions took place in just three countries, China, Iran and America. Black men born in the US stand a one in three chance of going to jail, while white men have a one in seventeen chance of going to jail. Because of the Asian preference for male over female babies, and because of China’s one-child policy, China has 44 million missing women. Over one-fifth of the world’s population lives on less than one dollar a day. One-third of the world’s obese people, and over 80 percent of the smokers, live in developing countries.

Did you know that nearly half of Americans believe that aliens have landed on Earth? According to one estimate, there are over 67,000 lobbyists in Washington, which equals 125 for each member of Congress. Ten languages disappear every year. Every year, America spends $10 billion on pornography, the same amount it spends on foreign aid. More than 70 percent of the world has never heard a dial tone.

This book also includes sources for each of the essays, and organizations to contact for those who are inspired to get involved in any of these areas. It is excellent, and I enjoyed reading it. Compare the subjects in this book to what is shown on the "all-news" channels. To get a very different view of the world, this is a fine place to start.
Paul Lappen (31st May 2005)