Listener Feedback: Comments and corrections

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, January 27th. 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. It’s time now for Listener Feedback.

We begin with a few corrections. Our first one comes from last week’s Culture Friday on the 50th anniversary of Roe v Wade…listener Donny Spaulding from Illinois wrote in to remind us that the phrase: “Endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…” comes from the Declaration of Independence, NOT the Constitution as our guest said. Good catch Donny.

Really sorry for that error, given that just a few moments ago we kind of let the vice president have it today for selectively quoting that very document!

BROWN: Susan Jones caught another slip-up during our January 2nd History Book.

SUSAN JONES: I’m a lifelong Braille reader and I wanted to comment on Paul Butler’s report…because he said that Louis Braille’s birthday was July 4th, 1809 and I’m pretty sure he meant January 4th…I enjoy listening to WORLD every day in my kitchen as I’m having breakfast and I appreciate all the good work that you do. Thank you.

EICHER: We checked the script—and it did say “January,” but it came out “July” —a slip of the tongue, and Paul is aware. But it’s a lesson to all of us to be extra careful.

BROWN: One more correction today, this one comes from Robert Mineo from Brooklyn New York about a recent Cal Thomas commentary.

ROBERT MINEO: Always want to start by saying your podcast of The World and Everything in It is just incredible. I just listened…to Cal Thomas talking about being in New York City. I live in Brooklyn, New York... I do not disagree with what he’s saying. However, the name of the district attorney is actually Alvin Bragg, not Michael Bragg. The gentleman is so horrendous in his job so at least get the name right? So people can call him out on it. Anyway, thanks a lot and have a great day. Bye.

EICHER: Robert, thanks for setting us straight. Now we turn to Casey Unverzagt from western Pennsylvania. He sends a suggestion on how to talk about medical patients:

CASEY UNVERZAGT: I just wanna say first and foremost, thank you for all that you do. Your program is an encouragement to myself and my family…as a physical therapist and also a graduate educator, I start to twitch a little bit when I hear reporters speak about the cancer patient or the covid patient or the AIDS patient, because no individual wants to be defined by their diagnosis.

Additionally, I think it's fascinating from a research standpoint how we see patient outcomes are actually made worse whenever we label someone by their disease. And so just consider, as we're all seen, you know, the image of God that we're not defined by our diagnoses.

Casey, thanks for that encouragement. At WORLD we follow AP style on issues like these and the stylebook has zero guidance on this.

As an aside, as you might imagine, we have many, many disagreements with the AP stylebook and we’ve listed for our staff numerous exceptions—especially on issues around biblical morality.

In any event, the point you raise is one we will consider and we will indeed bring it up in our next editorial council meeting.

BROWN: Karson Hall lives in Providence Village, TX—near Denton—and he sent us this feedback about one of the things he looks forward to each week:

KARSON HALL: And I always looked forward to Fridays, especially because I enjoy hearing the list of people that the Lord used to produce this week's episodes. But I just wanted to say this week I am lifting up each and every family of the people who are involved with The World and Everything in It. You do an amazing job each week and I hope you have a blessed day.

Thanks, Karson! And finally this morning, an email from Heidi VanTil regarding our newest WORLD podcast: Concurrently, the News Coach podcast with Kelsey Reed and Jonathan Boes. She writes:

Thank you so much for providing this excellent, timely resource! As a mom, teacher, and friend to children in my church, I appreciate your help equipping me to guide the kids in my life as they grapple with current events and our culture…Thanks for the new podcast! I look forward to future episodes.

EICHER: If you’d like to listen to this weekly program for families, subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts. We’re also re-airing the first few episodes over the next few weeks on this podcast feed. Look for Concurrently the News Coach Podcast.

BROWN: Well that’s it for this month’s Listener Feedback. Thanks to everyone who wrote and called in. If you have comments to share with us you can send them to editor@wng.org. And if you’re writing, why not take a moment and record your comments on your phone and send that along as well. We’ve included instructions on how to do that on our website: wng.org/podcasts. Or you can phone in your feedback. Our listener line is ‪(202) 709-9595.

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.