FIERCE

For men shall be … fierce …

—II Tim. 3:2–3

1681 Auto Names Getting Fiercer

Guy Wright, columnist for the San Francisco News-Call Bulletin wonders whether automobile names, which used to appeal to our love of posh places (Saratoga, Newport) and status (Ambassador, President), aren’t now appealing to our lust for blood and ferocity. “While driving down the road I saw a Wildcat stalking a Mustang,” he writes. “The Mustang was trying to trample a Cobra, which was about to strike a Sting Ray, which was sneaking up on a Barracuda, which was waiting to feed on the loser in a duel between a Cutlass and LeSabre, while a woman driver in a positive Fury hurled Darts at a Marauder defying a Tempest.”

—The Insider’s Newsletter

1682 Blueprint For Murder

The U. S. Congress, both House and Senate, was shocked recently by a booklet furnished by a subcommittee. It was the Black Panther Coloring Book, a 23-page booklet which had been given out to children in San Francisco. Drawings pictured police as boar-toothed pigs, and showed youths attacking them. One drawing had the caption: “The Only Good Pig Is a Dead Pig.” One Senator called the booklet a “blueprint for the murder of policemen in the hands of children.” Many were shocked and appalled.

—Christian Victory

1683 Fearful Movies

In the movie “The Omen,” a man is decapitated by a sheet of glass. In “Marathon Man,” a character is tortured with a dentist’s drill. In “Carrie,” dozens of people are burned to death. Other violence-filled top-viewing films are “Airport,” “Earthquake,” “Jaws,” “Towering Inferno.” And people love it!

1684 Baby Hater Of Germany

A young bearded man went into the Evangelical Hospital, Hamm, Germany, and entered the Nursery. Before anyone saw him, he had used his fist to beat up the babies and broke their arms. The babies, all younger than two weeks, suffered a variety of injuries ranging from broken arms to fractured skulls. The man escaped. An armed guard was henceforth stationed about the Nursery.

1685 Jump! Jump! In South Africa

From Johannesburg, South Africa, this news: A crowd of over 2,000 people gathered downtown as a young African perched on the 6th floor balcony ready to jump. “Jump, jump,” the crowd yelled. After 2 hours, he jumped to his death. The spectacle provided a real afternoon’s entertainment for the feverish crowd. Officials tried talking him out of jumping, but the crowd kept on screaming for him to get on with it. In the end, he felt he had to jump to appease the crowd.

1686 Reasonable Cannibalism

The seven primitive tribesmen from Western Papua were hauled into a Port Moresby court where they were charged with improperly and indecently interfering with a corpse. A fellow villager had been killed in a family feud, and they had volunteered to dispose of the remains. Their method: to cut up the body, cook it in a well-thickened stew, and eat it.

After due deliberation, Judge William Prentice ruled that cannibalism is a normal and reasonable behavior for some remote New Guinea villagers. Said the judge: “I do not consider that the legislature had in contemplation the banning of a method of disposal of the body, namely by eating, as an alternative to burial or cremation.” That left the defendants free to go home.

See also: Anger ; Cruelty ; Violent Times ; Dan. 8:23.