James Patterson - The Day America told the Truth

This book made available by the Internet Archive.

For

Hae-Kyoung,

Bradford,

Justin, and my parents.

For Mary Katherine.

We would like to acknowledge the invaluable contributions made to this book by the following people: Richard and Arthur Pine, David Hapgood, Barbara Groszewski, Laurellen Ridgeway, and the "eagles." And especially the fearless threesome at Prentice Hall Press: Linda Cunningham, Elizabeth Perle, and Marilyn Abraham.

CONTENTS

III

PRIVATE LIVES: ETHICS, VALUES, AND DILEMMAS

3 The Private Lives of Most Americans 37

4 American Liars 45

Test I Are You True to Yourself? 50

5 The New American Dreams 52

6 The American Hall of Shame 56

Test II Are You Really a Good Person? 59

7 Some Really Good People in America 61

8 What Are You Willing to Do for $10 Million?

For $2 Million? 65

IV

THE SEX LIVES OF AMERICANS

9 After Kinsey, Masters and Johnson, and the

Hite Reports 71

. V .

MEN AND WOMEN IN THE 1990s

11 The War Between the Sexes Continues 87

1 2 Infidelity: It's Rampant in All Nine Regions 94

1 3 The End of Childhood in America 100

14 What Men Really Think About Women; What Women Really Think About Men; and the Real Truth About Both 106

VI

AMERICAN VIOLENCE

15 The Most Violent Country in the World 119

16 Child Abuse: An American Epidemic 125

17 Date Rape 128

18 Guns: No Roses ISl

19 The Violence oi AIDS 136

XU CONTENTS

VII

WORK

20 The Best and Worst Occupations in America:

What America Really Thinks About Your Job 141

21 Modem American Business: Greed at the Top 146

Test III Are You an Ethical Boss? 151

22 American Workers Get to Tell the Truth 154

Test IV Are You an Honest Worker? 161

VIII

COMMUNITY LIVES

23 Beverly Hills vs. the South Bronx: The Day

They Told the Truth on Rodeo Drive 1 65

24 The End of the Hometov^n in America: The

End of Community ] 69

25 America's Real Crime Statistics 173

26 Poverty: The Forgotten Crusade 179

27 The New Racism: White and Black 182

Test V Are You a Racist? 188

CONTENTS XIU

IX

GOD AND OTHER HEROES

29 Religion: Who Really Believes in God Today? 199

30 Who Are Our Real American Heroes? 207

AMERICA AND THE WORLD:

WHERE WE ARE NOW AND WHERE WE'RE GOING

31 What Do Americans Really Think About

America Right Now? 213

32 Japan vs. America 221

33 Observations and Some Recommendations 226

34 The Future: 100 Million Volunteers Waiting for

the CaU 230

FIFTY-FOUR REVELATIONS 235

APPENDIX 241

NOTES 255

THE

DAY

AMERICA

TOLD

THE

TRUTH

INTRODUCTION

What America Really

Believes About Everything That

Really Matters:

Twenty-Three Major

Revelations and How We

Found Out

As we entered the 1990s, it became suddenly and urgently clear that a tumultuous change was occurring in America and the rest of the world around us. On every frontlove, marriage, and the family; religion, politics, and the community; work, leisure, and our global positionthe ground beneath our feet began shifting. Yesterday's verities had vanished. Unpredictability and chaos became the norm.

Here's what the average American was all about wav hack m 1950, compared to today:

^ THE DAY AMERICA TOLD THE TRUTH

How do we know what we know about ourselves today? There is, of course, the U.S. Census, which is done every ten years. But how could we find out more about who we are and what we believe? We constructed a survey of our own, a very large national survey.

For one day in their lives, more than 2,000 Americans were given the opportunity to express what they believed about the things that really matter. Each of them answered over 1,800 questions.

The interviewing process was conducted during one week, simultaneously all across America. Fifty locations were chosen where the privacy and anonymity of the respondents could be guaranteed.

In addition, people answered a shorter version of this questionnaire. Thousands more cooperated in telephone interviews. This is the most massive in-depth survey of what Americans really believe that has ever been conducted.

How did we actually find out what Americans believe in their hearts? Wfiy should they or we be believed?

It all started with this simple observation, a fact of research life: Most people want to tell someone what they really believe and what they really stand for. But that desire is tempered by the realistic fear that telling the truth will get them into trouble with their spouses, their bosses, their parents, their friends, or their neighbors. So, people rarely find anyone they trust enough to let all of their precious defenses down.

The most crucial technique we used in our testing is known as the cathartic process. We allowed people to unburden themselves with total anonymity. Once granted that, people were willing to truthfully answer questions of even the most intimate nature.

We guaranteed to the people we interviewed that no one who read their repHes would know their identitiesno one would know their names or addresses. In these circumstances, people felt that they could teU their secrets and share their true feelings. People told us again and again that this process was exhilarating. Men and women shared secrets and ideas that they had never before told anyone.

They could say whatever they wishedwhatever they really believed. They had no reason to be hypocritical or to lie. They could unburden themselves and tell the truth.

Surprisingly, no national study had ever been done on what Americans really think and believe but, in order to compile our questionnaire, we analyzed thousands of studies on public morality conducted over the past thirty years for possible use in this study. Over 200,000 possible questions were considered. (See the Appendix for more on our interview methods.)

At the end of all of this research, we were surprised to discover that virtually nothing had ever been done to probe beneath the public position of Americans. No research had been completed on what Americans

INTRODUCTION 3

privately think and believeon what we really believe, as opposed to what we think we're supposed to believe.

As a consequence, we herewith offer you an irresistible invitation to hear the truth from the following people:

Your wife, your husband, or your lover. Your children. Your mother and father. Your neighbors. Your best friends.

The people you work with every day.