Travolta Fever

To the Editors:

I can't think of a more delightful way to usher in spring than with your story on John Travolta [April 3]. He is an electrifying, sumptuous boyman, who exudes a magical aura on-screen that could cause volcanic eruptions. In our part of the world, he has caused disco-dance-contest crazes, polyester-chrome-hair crazes, neon Saturday Night Fever T shirts, etc.

Patricia Cahill

Montreal

At first I thought I had spring fever, but now I know it is Travolta fever. I have seen Saturday Night Fever three times, and each time it gets better and better.

Mary Lee

St. Louis

So Travolta flys without wings. Does he shuffle and strut on water too?

Elizabeth Vuchnich

Toledo

I am not impressed with Travolta. His Saturday Night Fever is a racist, sexist and offensive film. It has a Neanderthal mentality with 1970s vulgarity. Recycled mass mediocrity has taken over.

Jefre Harde

Huntington Woods, Mich.

When cloning is perfected, would you send me a copy of John Travolta, please?

Kristine Klewin

Wauwatosa, Wis.

You give us Cheryl Tiegs in a fishnet bathing suit, but not John Travolta in his black bikinis. Give women something to ogle too.

Nancy Martini

Sacramento

You certainly have gall to say Saturday Night Fever "made superstars of a likable rock group called the Bee Gees." Come on! The only reason Saturday Night Fever is a success at all is because of the Bee Gees.

Tina Utz

North Springfield, Va.

I cannot believe Robin Gibb has the audacity to compare the Bee Gees to the Beatles. The Bee Gees' music consists only of pre-teen whining, while the Beatles are thought of as modern-day Mozarts. That is quite a difference.

Dennis Fischer

Pittsburgh

U.S. Defense

Your article "Can the U.S. Defend Itself?" [April 3] may pull a few ostrich heads out of the sand.

Too long have our people and Congress ignored the obvious. You don't need to be paranoid, believing there is a Communist under every bed, to see the glaring examples of Soviet deceit. It amazes me to see concessions still being given to the Soviets in SALT II.

Bob G. Dickie

La-Selva Beach, Calif.

It is refreshing to see attention focused on the danger of our weak and deteriorating military posture, both nuclear and conventional.

Repeated and soothing reassurances by our political leaders that "we're No. 1" cannot forever obscure the fact that their neglect of our defenses, although politically expedient, is an inexcusable flirtation with disaster.

It is a fashionable cliche that we can't afford defense. Perhaps we can't afford survival either.

David C. Howard

Wellesley Hills, Mass.

Judging by your round table of cold warriors, the military threat the American people should most fear is in the Pentagon, not the Kremlin. What we most need to face is the inflation fueled by $150 billion of stupid racing to more madness.

Tom Lowe

Santa Cruz, Calif.

Inflation

I agree with your statement that "the Administration needs to begin immediately crafting a coherent strategy to stop inflation" [April 3].

Unfortunately, this doesn't appear likely. Any effective policy would require leadership--a vital ingredient that is totally lacking in this Administration.

Clarence O. Gradin

Piano, Texas

Is it not time that we accepted the reality that inflation is not just an economic phenomenon? It is a direct result of the understandable desire of most of us to receive as we want rather than as a direct return for what we do or produce. Perhaps the economists interested in braking inflation should be turning to the psychologists for methods to induce us to act a bit more humanly and less naturally.

Edward A. Grassby

Morelos, Mexico

I definitely agree that inflation is our No. 1 economic problem. What is the use of being employed if you are being priced right out of existence?

Howard S. Pearlman

Haddonfield, N.J.

Lying in the Garden

What a strange spirit breathes through your article "Ground Rules for Telling Lies" [April 3]. Could it be possible that only now Americans have begun to tell lies daily? Do you mean it took 400 years before the paradisiacal garden of the New World was besmudged by deceit and political corruption? Is it a display of great moral intelligence to arrive at the conclusion that we should lie less often?

By idealizing Americans and American history you and Author Sissela Bok might just be adding one more deceit to all the others.

Roddey Reid III

New Haven, Conn.

Social Psychologist Jerald Jellison states that the average American lies 200 times per day. That works out to be about once every five minutes throughout each waking day. I don't know about the rest of my fellow citizens, but I don't even speak that often!

Debbie Fagen

Evanston, Ill.

I was disturbed by the suggestion, attributed to Sissela Bok, that only those lies "approved in advance by the general public" be permitted (e.g., unmarked police cars). Has not that complex weblike underpinning, as well as the resultant American cynicism, already clearly been approved in advance by that same amorphous mass, the general public?

I certainly do not intend to trust any general public to establish truth (or validate lies) for me.

Jean Anderson

Fairbanks, Alaska

When Bok claims that lying is an acceptable part of social psychology, her views are at best misleading. Although some temporary deception of participants in research experiments is common, the participants are usually informed before the experiment that they may be deceived, are allowed to withdraw from the experiment at any time, and are given a complete, honest description of everything in the experiment immediately afterward. The purpose of such deception is usually not a sadistic attempt to see how the participant "reacts under pressure," but rather it is to allow researchers to answer questions more important than whether people can follow instructions.

Lynn R. Kahle

University of Nebraska

Lincoln, Neb.

American Mirth

In reference to the Essay "How to Raise the U.S. Mirth Rate" [April 3] by Frank Trippett: Ha?

Mark E. Negie

Middlebourne, W. Va.

Concerning your Essay: Ha! Ha! Ha!

Mike Hannon

Aurora, Ohio

The witty commentary in the Essay in itself proved, to my relief, that good humor in this country is not extinct. And I laughed. In fact, I haven't laughed so heartily since once in 1958, somewhere, I got a bad review.

Victor Borge

Greenwich, Conn.

Names to Live With

Baby girls have traditionally been the more common targets of ideologically slapstick names such as Hope, Silence, Charity, Faith, Prudence, Chastity, Five-Year Plan and She-who-digs-tubers-without-complaint. And now Phoenix, of all places, has an Equal Rights Amendment McCartney [April 3].

McCartney mere may come to reconsider that choice for any number of reasons, and if so, may I suggest that without any sacrifice of commitment, she could spare herself, her daughter and others some trouble by condensing Equal Rights Amendment to Era.

Ryan Anthony

Providence

Safe Alternative?

The tragic radioactive contamination of Bikini Island [April 3] gives more insight into the many and serious faults of the U.S. Government's nuclear policy. The Atomic Energy Commission unwisely judged the island safe for its inhabitants' return. Now the Micronesians will again be moved, since testing indicates the presence of radioactive poisoning.

Proponents of atomic reactors declare that nuclear power is a safe alternative to our energy needs. If in the future today's safety standards are found to be inadequate, will the remedy be to move Americans as they have Micronesians?

There is no hiding from the dangers of radioactive pollution.

Bruce Walker

Eugene, Ore.

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