Listener Feedback

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, July 29th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Time now for Listener Feedback.

Right up top, a correction. Back on July 13th, we had a story about a long marriage between Hubert and June Malicote. They’re both 100 years old this month and they’ve been married 79 years.

Here’s the correction, or, maybe I should say, clarification.

I said the following: “Their marriage has endured the Great Depression, Hubert’s service in World War II, and now, a pandemic.”

But listener Jeb Rice wrote us. He did the math and figured, correctly, the Malicotes married in 1943. And he noted, again, correctly, that the years of the Great Depression ran from 1929 to 1939. So, their marriage couldn’t have endured the Great Depression.

Now, to clarify: What Mr. Malicote was saying was that he and his wife, when younger, did endure the depression and that it taught them to be content with what they had and to be frugal.

That helped their marriage and that helped in raising their family.

But I was wrong to conflate that to say their marriage had endured the depression years. And your note, Jeb, will help me—and all of us here at WORLD—to be more careful in the fact-checking department.

BROWN: Our first call today comes from Glenn, and he has a bone to pick with you…

EICHER: Hey! This is my day!

GLENN: Just wanted to say that I really appreciate what you all do day in and day out the objective journalism and the great stories. I do, however, I do have a slight bone to pick. That is, I did not hear any announcement of the Colorado Avalanche winning the Stanley Cup recently in your news segment. Now. I’m not naming names. Well, I’ll just go ahead and do it: Nick Eicher, could this be because you are a St. Louis Blues fan? Could it be, maybe? I’m just guessing and that the Colorado Avalanche beat your St. Louis Blues four games to two on their way to winning the Stanley Cup. It could just be. Anyways, keep up the great work that you all do—and go Avalanche!

Well, Glenn, my friend, I do bleed blue. Always will and in the spirit of good-natured ribbing, let me just say, I’d have loved to have seen how things had gone if we didn’t lose our goalie in Game 3. Anyhoo. You are correct, sir. We did not have next-day news of the Colorado Avalanche Cup-clincher, and we should’ve. I agree with you. We do it for other major sports and hockey is the best sport. So, I’m cc-ing this to our news department.

In my defense, Glenn’s voicemail came in on the Fourth of July and on our program on the Fifth, we did have this:

AUDIO: The Avalanche are 2022 Stanley Cup champions! / NICK EICHER, HOST: Yeah, had to delay this one. I’m over it now. Congratulations, Colorado. / Listen, you think the Stanley Cup is a difficult trophy to win...

That sounds pretty fair and balanced, doesn’t it? Seriously, great comment, Glenn. And we’ll see you on a fresh sheet of ice on November 14th! Your guys better be ready.

BROWN: Hockey talk, sigh.

Let’s hear from listener Adam Geiger…

ADAM GEIGER: I had to chuckle this morning as I listened to Cal Thomas's diatribe against electric vehicles as I drove my Tesla to work. He mentioned long waits to charge and getting stuck in hurricane evacuation traffic. Just this past weekend I drove my Model 3 on a 1400 mile road trip to be with family over the 4th of July. Charging stops were 20 minutes after 3 and half hours of driving. This is a nice cadence for breaks and far from excessive. My Tesla will keep me warm for days in below freezing temps, and much longer in a hurricane. But beyond that, I have a charger with me that will plug in anywhere that there is an electrical outlet. Mind you gas stations can't pump gas without electricity either. There are legitimate critiques of EVs and the political forces behind them, but these aren't it.

Adam, thank you. To be fair, let me point out Cal’s commentary did mention those legitimate critiques—including how the Biden administration’s emphasis on electric cars ought to be seen with a certain level of skepticism. Particularly as EV’s tend to be cost prohibitive for people most affected by environmental mandates. But we do take your point.

EICHER: MacKenzie Phillips wrote in after a recent Culture Friday with John Stonestreet. She took issue with our conversation about the propagandizing of schoolchildren around issues of gender and sexuality and whether that is tantamount to “grooming.”

MacKenzie tells us she is a forensic interviewer who works for a Child Advocacy Center and … [she’s] well versed in grooming and the dynamics of child abuse.

“I must disagree with this piece by going off the definition of grooming as patterned behavior designed to increase opportunity, minimize victim resistance, and reduce disclosure with the intent to sexually abuse a child … .

She says, quoting now: “Unless a person has the intent to sexually abuse a child, it cannot be categorized as grooming.”

MacKenzie, thanks for the note, and—sincerely—thank you for the work you do. It’s so important.

But with respect, I think we may have to agree to disagree here, because I think the definition cuts more in favor of John’s argument than you’re allowing. Because John believes that many of the current transgender advocacy efforts do increase opportunity, do minimize victim resistance, and do reduce disclosure with the intent to sexually abuse a child.

Let me also say, I’m afraid this is going to be a topic for some time to come. So we’ll return to it, and when John’s back, we’ll discuss it again with your comments in mind. Because I do appreciate what you’re saying and we need to be precise about what we’re talking about.

BROWN: On the July 14th program we profiled 20-year old Anastasiia Kutulska—a Ukrainian college student studying in Canada. After the podcast we got this inquiry from a listener named Sue:

SUE: Hi, I just listened to a podcast about the Ukrainian girl in Halifax, Canada, making flowers to support her country. And I was wondering if there's any contact information to support her cause…

Thanks for asking! We will get you connected, Sue, and that goes for anyone. If you’d like to be in touch with Anastasiia, just email us, editor@wng.org, and we’ll make sure to get you connected as well.

EICHER: And finally today, some praise for the July 18th edition of History Book:

Listener Matthew Jackson commends: “the excerpt marking the 50th Anniversary of Bloody Friday in Northern Ireland. [Matthew said he] appreciated the context brought to the words “Protestant” and “Catholic” in relation to the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Let me quote from his email directly: “It’s refreshing to hear the Troubles spoken with great clarity. I hope it helps those beyond the borders of Northern Ireland appreciate the hard work put into the Peace Process. My age group are known as the ‘Peace babies,’ because praise be to God the Northern Ireland of the Troubles seems a far cry from the one we inhabit today.”

BROWN: Well that’s it for this month’s Listener Feedback. Thanks to all our listeners who wrote and called. If you have comments to share with us you can send them to editor@wng.org. And if you’re writing, would you mind taking a moment and recording your comments on your phone and send us the digital file? It’s better to hear your voice than for us to read your emails, we think. To make it easier, we’ve posted instructions on how to use your phone to make a recording. Just visit: wng.org/podcasts.

EICHER: And don’t forget to check out WORLD’s newest podcast project, Doubletake. That is in cooperation with Les Sillars and the journalism students of Patrick Henry College. We’ll post the first episode tomorrow on this program feed or you can listen today by searching for Doubletake anywhere you get your podcasts.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.