OF LOONIES AND MOONIES

There was this Austrian countess inspecting a mental institution, and when the escorting doctor was called away for a moment, an inmate approached her and whispered "I am kept here by my family who stole my money. I know everybody claims to be sane, and I do not ask you to believe me, but I implore you to send this letter to my lawyer." The man was obviously perfectly sane, and the countess was deeply shocked. But when she was about to leave, somebody kicked her brutally in the butt. It was that inmate who smiled at her: "And don't forget the postage!"

The reason for this story is "Nuclear Nonsense" by Bruce Clayton in the first two issues of the otherwise very interesting magazine Survive. His arguments that nuclear war is survivable seem quite sound, until you come to the end where he states his agreement with Helen Caldicott's comments on nuclear power, finds her Nuclear Insanity well researched, and suggests helping her prevent nuclear war; he is, in fact, himself a member of her so-called "Physicians for Social Responsibility."

Clayton has also written a book Life after Doomsday ($19.95, Paladin Press, Box 1307, Boulder, CO 80306) where many superstitions about nuclear power are mindlessly repeated; the information comes from such authorities as spiritualist astrologer John Fuller ("We almost lost Detroit"), yet much of the chapter on nuclear war is reasonable, mainly where taken from The Effects of Nuclear Weapons (3^rd ed. 1977, was $7, Govt. Prints. Off., Wash., DC 20510). Clayton has, however somehow managed not to stumble onto the other standard word on this subject, The Effects of Nuclear War (OTA Report, May 1979, was $4.75, GPO as above); instead, he refers to various novels, Guiness Book of World Records, and the Sunday Supplement Parade.

Having thus slaughtered his credibility, the author has made his book worthless even in the places where it might be correct.

This is no less than tragic (especially coming from a trend-bucking publisher like Paladin), for it does not matter whether you or I believe that a nuclear war can be fought, won, and survived; what matters is that the Soviets are totally convinced of it. It is therefore of paramount importance to publish a book explaining to Americans, now on a daily defeatist doomsday diet, that on this one point the Soviets are absolutely right. But such a work must not be authored by an amateur who has not done his homework.(*)

Now for two other books which are blemished, but this time not fatally; in fact, both are very good. The Second Book of the Strange ($16.95, Prometheus Books, 700 E. Amherst, Buffalo, NY 14215) unmasks parapsychology and other pseudoscience; and Toma Tells It Straight ($12.95, Books in Focus, Box 3481, New York, NY 10163) alerts both high school students and their parents to the drug epidemic.

The blemish they share is putting the Rev. Moon and the Rev. Jones (of Brit. Guyana) in the same "cult" bag. (Toma does this in an unimportant side remark, but Strange devotes more than a page to utterly puerile "evidence.") The reason why we find this offensive is not that Moon preaches Christianity, while Jones preached Marxism-Leninism; but that the "Moonies" are now being singled out for religious persecution, presumably for their anti-Soviet and anti-Communist stand, while the National Council of Churches support of terrorism is being widely ignored just as Jones' violence was.

* Note added in proof: Dr Jerry Pournelle (the famous science and science fiction author) informs us that Clayton has recently discovered his errors and promises a better 2^nd edition.