Creature From Jekyll Island by G. Edward полностью

Crowds gather to chant "Jump! Jump!" at the suicidal figure on the hotel roof. Cars slow to a near stop on the highway to gawk at broken bodies next to a collision. A schoolyard fight instantly draws a circle of spectators. Boxing matches and football games and hockey games and automobile races are telecast daily, attracting millions of cheering fans who give rapt attention to each moment of danger, each angry blow to the face, each broken bone, each knockout, each carrying away of the unconscious or possibly dying contestant. In this fashion, their anger at "society" is defused and focused, instead, on the opposing team. The emperors of Rome devised the Circuses and gladiator contests and public executions by wild beasts for precisely that purpose.

Before jumping to the conclusion that such concepts are absurd in modern times, recall that during the 1985 European soccer championship in Belgium, the spectators became so emotionally involved in the contest that a bloody riot broke out in the bleachers leaving behind 38 dead and more that 400 injured. U.S. Nezvs & World Report gives this account:

The root of the trouble: A tribal loyalty to home teams thatsurpasses an obsession and, say some experts, has become a substitutereligion for many. The worst offenders include members of gangs suchas Chelsea's Anti-Personnel Firm, made up of ill-educated youngmales who find in soccer rivalry an escape from boredom.

Still, the British do not have a patent on soccer violence. On May26, eight people were killed and more than 50 injured in Mexico City,—

a 1964 stadium riot in Lima, Peru, killed more than 300—and a hotlydisputed 1969 match between El Salvador and Honduras led to aweek-long shooting war between the two countries, causing hundredsof casualties.

The U.S. is criticized for the gridiron violence of its favorite sporf,football, but outbursts in the bleachers are rare because loyalties are DOOMSDAY MECHANISMS

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spread among many sports and national pride is not at stake. SaidThomas Tutko, professor of psychology at California's San Jose StateUniversity: "In these other countries, it used to be their armies. Nowit's their competitive teams that stir passions."1

Having considered all the ramifications of blood games, the Report from Iron Mountain concluded that they were not an adequate substitute for war. It is true that violent sports are useful distracters and do, in fact, allow an outlet for boredom and fierce group loyalty, but their effect on the nation's psyche could not match the intensity of war hysteria. Until a better alternative could be found, world government would have to be postponed so that nations could continue to wage war.

HNDING A CREDIBLE GLOBAL THREAT

In time of war, most citizens uncomplainingly accept their low quality of life and remain fiercely loyal to their leaders. If a suitable substitute for war is to be found, then it must also elicit that same reaction. Therefore, a new enemy must be found that threatens the entire world, and the prospects of being overcome by that enemy must be just as terrifying as war itself. The report is emphatic on that point: