The World and Everything in It - April 15, 2022

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

Tony Dungy and the governor of Florida team up to promote dads and of course run afoul of social media.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And speaking of social media, that’s getting some blame for a growing sense of teenage sadness and despair, we’ll talk about it today on Culture Friday.

Also today, two documentaries about local journalism in India and Iowa.

And Good Friday! On this month’s Word Play, George Grant will explain how we came to call today “good.”

BROWN: It’s Friday, April 15th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

BROWN: Up next, Kent Covington has today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet sinks »  The battle-damaged flagship of the Russian navy’s Black Sea fleet has sunk.

Russian state media says it sank after fire damage—quote—“from the detonation of ammunition.”

Ukraine says a missile strike is what caused that damage.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby commented …

KIRBY: It’s basically designed for air defense. That’s what this ship is designed to do, not unlike our own cruisers. So it’s going to have an impact on their capabilities, certainly in the near term.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the ship sank in a storm while being towed to a port.

The loss of the warship named for the Russian capital is also a devastating symbolic defeat for Moscow.

But there’s plenty of bad news for Ukraine as well. Officials warn that Russia is close to conquering Mariupol after weeks of shelling it nearly into oblivion.

And while the West is rushing more weapons into Ukraine, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says they simply can’t arrive fast enough.

KULEBA: If Ukraine doesn’t receive all necessary weapons within days, not weeks, that will mean that more people, more civilians will be killed, more atrocities will be committed, and more Ukrainian villages and towns will be destroyed.

Russia’s military is gearing up for a major offensive in eastern Ukraine after retreating from much of the north, including the capital.

Florida passes pro-life law » Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis just signed a new pro-life bill into law. The Republican governor declared on Thursday …

DESANTIS: I will be signing House Bill 5, which protects the rights of  unborn children beginning at 15 weeks. This is a time where these babies have beating hearts.

The law is slated to take effect on July 1st though it will surely have to survive legal challenges from abortion activists.

The bill provides exceptions only to protect the life of the mother or if the unborn baby has a fatal abnormality.

Current state law allows abortions up to 24 weeks. Many women from other states travel to Florida to end their pregnancies. The state reported nearly 75,000 abortions last year.

The latest bill comes days after a state circuit judge ruled that Florida can require a 24-hour waiting period for abortions.

KY legislature overrides governor on abortion, women’s sports » Meantime, in Kentucky, the Republican-led legislature overrode Gov. Andy Beshear’s vetoes of a pair of bills related to abortion and women’s sports. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: One of those bills that the Democratic governor tried to veto bans abortions after 15 weeks, except in cases of a severe health risk to the mother. It also regulates the dispensing of abortion pills and requires women to be examined by a doctor before receiving abortifacient drugs.

The other bill blocks transgender athletes who are biologically male from participating in girls and women’s sports from sixth grade though college.

Gov. Beshear argued that the bill did not cite—quote—“a single instance in Kentucky of a child gaining a competitive advantage as a result of sex reassignment.”

University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines supported the bill. She was forced to compete against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in the NCAA.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Protests erupt over fatal police shooting »  PROTEST: What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now! 

Protests erupted in the streets of Grand Rapids, Michigan on Thursday, demanding action. That after authorities released video footage of a white police officer fatally shooting a black man after a traffic stop.

The footage showed a foot chase followed by a struggle for control of the unnamed officer’s taser. The officer repeatedly told 26-year-old Patrick Lyoya to “let go” of his Taser. The officer then shot him in the back of his head while kneeling on his back.

Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom told reporters …

WINSTROM: This is a difficult day. My heart goes out to the family of Patrick Lyoya.

The officer has been placed on paid leave for the time being.

He pulled over Lyoya, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, last week for a license plate that didn’t belong to the vehicle. A passenger started filming as Lyoya got out of the car.

The officer’s body camera was turned off during the struggle, which takes holding the button for three seconds. Winstrom said that could have happened during the struggle.

Musk bids to buy Twitter » Tesla CEO Elon Musk, after backing out of a plan to join Twitter’s board of directors wants to buy the company outright and take it private.

Musk hinted that he would like to rein in Twitter’s controversial censorship practices.

MUSK: Twitter has become kind of the de facto town square, so it’s really important that people have the, both the reality and the perception that they are able to speak freely within the bounds of the law.

He said Twitter should be “very reluctant to delete” user content or to permanently ban users. He said temporary “time outs” are better.

Musk said he believes the platform “needs to be transformed” as a private company to protect free speech.

MUSK: Having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization.

Musk is currently the company’s biggest individual shareholder after buying a 9 percent stake in the social media giant. He wants to buy the rest of the company at just over $54 per share at a total price tag of $43 billion.

Twitter said it has received Musk's offer and will consider whether it is in the best interests of shareholders to accept.

I’m Kent Covington. Straight ahead: acknowledging the importance of fathers.

Plus, the reason we call today “Good” Friday.

This is The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s Friday, April 15th, 2022.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Nick Eicher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Let’s bring in John Stonestreet. He’s the president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast and he joins us now. Good morning, John.

JOHN STONESTREET, GUEST: Good morning. 

BROWN: John, the social-media mob is at it again, this time accusing Hall of Fame head football coach Tony Dungy of attacking children and the LGBT community over his association with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis signed a bill into law this week promoting fatherhood in the state. According to the U.S. Census Bureau—19.5 million children—more than 1 in 4 live without a father in the home.

Dungy thanked DeSantis for helping craft what he calls a playbook to tackle the issue. Let’s have a listen.

DUNGY: Thank you, Governor, and thank you, Speaker Sprowls. Thank you for this bill. First of all, this is going to be tremendous and be such a big help to fathers in Florida, agencies that support fathers in Florida. But I want to thank you for your example, bringing his girls out here today, it just reminds me because this is kind of my field. And I used to bring my kids out here to work.

And as I said, social-media came after him and Dungy pushed back. I’ll quote:

“14 years ago President Barack Obama said the same things about children growing up without a father… almost verbatim. I’m assuming people were outraged at him, too.” Then he added, “I am serving the Lord so I’ll keep supporting dads and families.”

What does that say about us that this is a controversy at all?

STONESTREET: Well, you know, this is really downstream from a whole lot of ideas that have taken root in our culture, most fundamentally that things like sexual distinction, and marriage and family are speed limits, not gravity. And we talked about that before. But that's the way we're approaching marriage. Except it's not based on any realities. It's based on essentially, the internal desires of adults, adults want same sex relationships, adults want to pretend that there's no distinction between men and women, and therefore, between fathers and mothers and husbands and wives. But this is a flat out denial of everything we know from reality itself, there are a few things that have been more well researched than the family. And what the research tells us unequivocally, is that the single greatest predictor of a child's long term success, the situation that is best for children and nothing else comes close, is when they're raised in a home with a married mom and dad. President Obama did say this, although he said kids need mom and dad, the research actually shows kids need married mom and dad, and that moms and dads parent differently. Now anybody that has parented with a mom or a dad with him, realizes this as a matter of observable fact, kind of like gravity. And that's really the point, right? Is that, that these things, sexual distinction and the consequences of sexual distinction, which is children. This stuff is baked into reality. This isn't stuff that's up for grabs. This isn't stuff that we can legislate away. This isn't stuff that we can pretend doesn't exist. It is the equivalent of stepping off the roof, and then wondering why we hit the ground. This is a non-negotiable, so good for Tony Dungy and good again for Ron DeSantis. You know, this shouldn't be controversial, but, you know, when you deny created norms, you start to call up, down and down, up and that's what's happening in the area of family marriage. And certainly it happens on social media, you know, these days.

EICHER: John, here’s some alarming news. According to government research, a significant number of American teenagers report “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness”—those are the words of the report—and the number reporting these feelings represents the highest number since the Centers for Disease Control started measuring back in 2009.

Admittedly, not a huge data set, but the trendline is what should have our attention. The first time that government researchers looked into it, a little over a quarter of American teenagers admitted “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness.”

A decade later, 20-19, the figure jumped 40 percent. But CDC wanted to look into it since Covid-19 and found the number in just that period ticked up again 20 percent.

So we went from just over a quarter to more than a third and now we’re closing in on half.

I learned this from an article in The Atlantic by Derek Thompson. He dug into these numbers and proposed four reasons for this rising tide of sadness among teenagers. They’re interesting and I’d like your thoughts—and I’m going to list these out back to front: Thompson says American parents in general are too protective, they baby their kids too much. That’s one.

Two is, our times are particularly stressful. That’s his view.

Three, and this is where we start getting into pandemic-related stress, teenagers are socially isolated.

And I think the final one is related to social isolation, ironically: Social-media use.

I’ll leave you with a quote from Thompson’s article in The Atlantic. This is the money quote and I’ll let you respond:

“Social media places in every teen’s pocket a quantified battle royal for scarce popularity that can displace hours of sleep and makes many teens, especially girls, feel worse about their body and life.”

STONESTREET: It's true! Social media has proven to be really, really bad for kids, particularly for teenage girls.

There's a book called The Content Trap. And the author there tells the story in the very beginning of the biggest fire in Yellowstone Park history and the traditional wisdom, the explanation for what happened that sparked this wildfire that destroyed hundreds of 1000s of acres is that a cigarette was dropped. The author of the content trap as though, weren't hundreds of 1000s of cigarettes dropped that day, all over America. So what was it about this particular cigarette and this particular environment that created this devastation? We need to ask that same question. Because social media doesn't affect every kid the same way. Again, I think it in and of itself has proven to be a bad thing. But social isolation is not just a consequence of social media, social isolation is at least the consequence of something that we've already talked about. Whereas kids used to get a lot of their social connection from a strong social institution like their family, they don't. Whereas kids used to have a level of social connection, and religious institutions, they don't. In other words, we have had the abject catastrophic failure of social institutions around the board. And now we dropped the match, which you could call Instagram or Tiktok, or whatever. And that's the explosion. And of course, students are going to be a primary victim of this. And that's what the CDC numbers and other things say. But let me just say, we have seen a rise in deaths of despair across the board, especially in young men, not just teenagers, but actual 30, 40, middle aged men, the suicide rates are up across the board. In other words, the crisis of meaning as the larger context, social media, and the other causes that Thompson referred to in the article which is a stunning article and I think it's a noble article. And these, all four of the things that he points to need to be deeply considered. But we also need to think hard about the context, the dry, you know, lack of humidity that makes any match dropped explosive.

EICHER: Let’s go out today reflecting on what today is, Good Friday, and bearing in mind what Sunday is, Easter Sunday. I thought Kevin DeYoung—writing for WORLD Opinions—had a great piece yesterday thinking about Holy Week. He made the point that we are not theoretical sinners but real sinners in need of a real savior.

“The fundamental story of the world is not the story of good guys and bad guys, or of oppressors and the oppressed,” DeYoung writes, “but of sinners and a Savior.”

John, anything you want to add?

STONESTREET: Just an amen. This means a lot to us this year at the Colson Center, because Chuck loved Easter, Chuck Colson loved Easter, he spent every Easter in prison, carrying out this mission that he got from the Lord while He was in prison. And a week from yesterday, is the 10th anniversary of Chuck’s homegoing, the ultimate resurrection for him. So he's on our hearts and minds a lot. And what he loved to talk about is that Christianity was personal. But it wasn't private. It was public, it was public truth. That's what I love about what Kevin DeYoung wrote. It's the fundamental story of the world. So when we all say to each other, as Christians have done throughout history, Christ has risen, Christ is risen, indeed, let's all be clear on what that means. It's not a statement of personal preference. It's not a statement of even personal faith. It is a public proclamation about the life in the world. It's the most true thing that's ever happened in the world. It's the defining moment of human existence. And when we say Christ is risen, that means that the world is a place of hope. And I think that's a particularly important thing to remember. In light of the the other things we talked about already on today's program.

BROWN: John Stonestreet is president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast. Thanks, John, and Happy Resurrection Day.

STONESTREET: You too.

NICK EICHER, HOST: A missing pet cockatiel has been found three years after he went missing!

Roseann Goldberg-Taylor said a bird showed up on the doorstep of her church.

They corralled him in a box as they called an animal rescue group. She told TV station WGAL …

TAYLOR: He was very feisty. He did not want to be in a box. Did not want to be — wanted to get out. His claws were already coming out of the little handle hole there.

A rescue group started circulating pictures of the bird on social media, and it didn’t take long for the bird's owners to recognize him.

But to be absolutely sure it was “Lucky,” one more verification.

The family had taught Lucky to dance to this famous television theme song. Do you know it?

MUSIC: [Andy Griffith theme]

But can you dance to it the way Lucky can? And the way Lucky did, removing all doubt as to his identity!

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, April 15th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: local journalism.

Two recent documentaries highlight the work of small, grassroots newsrooms. One is in rural Iowa.

The other? Literally the other side of the world, in India. Reviewer Emily Whitten says both films show the need for good reporting in a nation governed with democratic principles.

But only one of these documentaries inspires with a powerful story of courage, innovation, and hope.

TRAILER: In a small, Northwest Iowa town, The Storm Lake Times weaves the fabric of community in large ways and small. 

EMILY WHITTEN, REPORTER: That’s the voice of Art Cullen, editor of the Pulitzer Prize winning Iowa newspaper, The Storm Lake Times. Cullen and his newsroom are the focus of the 2021 documentary, Storm Lake.

Cullen is something of a dying breed. He soon joined the paper after his brother founded it back in 1990, when newspapers more easily earned money and respect. But over the last 15 years, Cullen watched as one in four newspapers across America closed their doors for good.

TRAILER: But how long does a community support journalism? Because now people want to get their news for free. And people are saying, ‘Oh, well, that’s not worth a dollar.’ And that’s not how you sustain a democracy.

So, how do you sustain a democracy? For one thing, Cullen says newspapers like his help hold those in power accountable. Reporters follow the money trail, and ask tough questions at local political and school board meetings. Because Iowa holds the first American presidential primary or caucus, Cullen has interviewed some big names. Here he is with presidential candidate, Elizabeth Warren, prior to the 2020 election.

CLIP: What can we do to provide immediate farm income relief in what is quickly becoming an emergency? A generation ago, .37 cents...

Newspapers also build connections within the community. Here’s Cullen’s wife stopping by to interview a local Hispanic singer.

CLIP: Hello! My name’s Delores, and I’m here to see Emmanuel… Yeah, he’s coming. Ok, he’s coming….

Sadly, Cullen’s bias in favor of Democratic candidates and liberal values make it hard to trust his reporting. That bias becomes critical when COVID hits toward the end of the film.

CLIP: Now Storm Lake is the hottest spot in Iowa and one of the top 10 in the country. They decided to shut down the pork complex late last week for a few days at least for some cleaning… 

Cullen and his son, Tom, do ask good questions about worker safety. But those questions are hard to hear because of a bias in favor of illegal immigration and baseless charges of racism at factories. Sadly, Cullen can’t see how this might drive readers away from his paper.

Apart from some profanity, Storm Lake offers a clean but gut-wrenching primer on why American journalism remains on life support.

In stark contrast, the 2021 documentary Writing with Fire presents a team of vibrant, forward-looking reporters. Here’s a clip from the trailer featuring Meera, chief reporter for the Indian newspaper Khabar Lahariya.

CLIP: [MEERA SPEAKING HINDI]

Meera explains that Khabar Lahariya is run by a team of Dalit women. They come from India’s untouchable caste, excluded from much of Indian life. But Meera and her crew continue to defy expectations with compelling, on-the-ground reporting.

CLIP: [MEERA SPEAKING HINDI]

On a long bus ride, Meera tells the camera, “I believe journalism is the essence of democracy…. When citizens demand their rights, it is us journalists who can take their demands to government. This is how one fights for justice in a democracy.”

For Meera, fighting for justice often means reporting on illegal and deadly mining practices, even in the face of threats from the mafia. It means criticizing political leaders and religious gurus who scam people. And too often, it means pressuring police to enforce laws that should protect women. In this scene, a Khabar Lahariya journalist interviews a young girl who’d been raped.

CLIP: [WOMAN SPEAKING HINDI]

Initially, police did nothing. But within a week of the journalist’s report, police arrested the girl’s attacker.

These women aren’t perfect. They sometimes lie about their caste when others discriminate against them. But their virtues appear in bold and all caps: qualities like courage and perseverance. And a commitment to innovation.

Here’s one of the directors, Rintu Thomas.

INTERVIEW: When we met them, they were at this interesting cusp of transitioning to digital. And one of the first things we shot was that meeting where Meera’s leading, where she’s telling the entire team why we need to move to digital.

CLIP: [MEERA SPEAKING HINDI]

The newspaper’s leaders even have to show some of the reporters how to turn on a cell phone. A few groan and complain, but Meera and others remain committed. The team will master this new technology in order to compete in the online marketplace of ideas. Several months and millions of Youtube views later, we see their success.

CLIP: [Khabar Lahariya’s YouTube channel]

You can watch the Academy Award-nominated Writing with Fire for free on PBS.com until April 27th. Some viewers won’t want to wade through subtitles and topics like sexual assault. But in this YouTube interview, filmmaker Sushmit Ghosh sums up why it’s worth it.

INTERVIEW: This is a pro-justice film. This is a pro-democracy film, and if you truly believe in those values, then you will align yourself with the message of this story. These women are showing you what true journalism and true courage really means.

I’m Emily Whitten.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Good Friday, April 15th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher. 

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Just a quick reminder before we go on: Next week is Listener Feedback. So if you have something you’d like to get off your chest, now’s the time! The best way to do that is to send us an audio file recorded on your phone. That will give us the very best quality audio. You can find instructions on how to do that at WNG.org/preroll.

Voicemail’s an option too. Our feedback line is 202-709-9595. For me, I’d record something with your smartphone. Sounds so much better. Just sayin’

EICHER: Well, as you’ve heard us say already, today is Good Friday, the day we remember Christ’s crucifixion. Have you ever wondered how that day of all days came to be called ‘good?’ Our resident wordsmith George Grant has an explanation, on this month’s Word Play.

GEORGE GRANT, COMMENTATOR: Our word “good” comes from the 8th century Anglo-Saxon gōd, a cognate with Old Norse, High German, and Dutch terms meaning that which is “virtuous or desirable” and that which is “valid or considerable, having the right or suitable quality.” It is an expression of deep satisfaction with whatever is “pleasing, beautiful, or fit.”

Good: what a peculiar word to describe the day of Christ’s crucifixion. What could possibly be “good” about Good Friday?

The answer, of course, is provided by another peculiar and etymologically related word: “grace.” It passed into English from a 12th century French-Latinate term meaning “pardon, mercy, favor, thanks, elegance, or virtue.” It is the direct predecessor of the Italian grazi and the Spanish gracias. The Hebrew and Greek words translated as “grace” in the Bible literally mean the outpouring of God’s “unearned favor and unmerited mercy.” They portray the idea of a “bending, stooping kindness from a superior to an inferior.”

Good Friday is “good” because it was the day when “grace” was consummately displayed.

He who knew no sin, was made to be sin for us. He who had never been guilty bore all our guilt. He who had known only perfect fellowship with the Father clothed Himself in the perversity of our concupiscence and lasciviousness—and thus became anathema, separated from God that we might not be, forsaken that we might never be. “The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all,” just as Isaiah had long before prophesied. As Paul would later write, “He became a curse for us.”

He was cruelly, unjustly punished. He who had obeyed perfectly, He who had only loved, only healed, only reconciled was wounded on our behalf. Though He was very God of very God, begotten not made, of one essence with the Father, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped: He made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant. And, being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. He was crucified for us and for our salvation, taking our shame, receiving our chastisement, bearing our guilt. This is precisely why He came. He lived to die!

What could possibly be “good” about Good Friday? The answer is simply that Good Friday is good because it was the day of amazing grace.

As the hymn writer Julia Johnson exclaimed: “Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace, freely bestowed on all who believe; you that are longing to see His face, will you this moment His grace receive? Grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within; grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that is greater than all our sin.”

That is indeed very, very good. Blessed Good Friday—may His grace abound to you.

I’m George Grant.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Time now to thank our team. This time, just for fun, in reverse alphabetical order:

Emily Whitten, Cal Thomas, John Stonestreet, Josh Schumacher, Mary Reichard, Onize Ohikere, Jill Nelson, Amy Lewis, Kim Henderson, George Grant, Collin Garbarino, Kristen Flavin, Kent Covington, Janie B. Cheaney, Anna Johansen Brown, and David Bahnsen.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Carl Peetz and Johnny Franklin are the audio engineers who stay up late to get the program to you early! Leigh Jones is managing editor, and Paul Butler is our executive producer.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio.

WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Bible tells us that “the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’” (Mark 15:38-39 ESV)

Remember to worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ this weekend, and Lord willing, we’ll meet you back here on Monday.

Go now in grace and peace.

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.