The World and Everything in It - July 8, 2022

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

Today on Culture Friday: the sickness of a society that produces mass shooters, American patriotism on the decline, and teachers who set out to confuse.

NICK EICHER, HOST: We’ll talk it over with John Stonestreet of the Colson Center.

Plus a review of the movie Thor: Love and Thunder in theaters today.

And a few of your questions, answered! On Ask the Editor.

BROWN: It’s Friday, July 8th. 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, Anna Johansen Brown has the news.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, NEWS ANCHOR: Boris Johnson resigns » British Prime Minister Boris Johnson still resides at 10 Downing Street for now, but he will soon pack to leave.

Johnson said Thursday he would remain in office while the Conservative Party chooses his successor, even though critics said he should leave sooner.

JOHNSON: And the timetable will be announced next week. And I have today appointed a cabinet to serve as I will until a new leader is in place.

Johnson agreed to step down due to scandal. A recent report showed that he knew about one of his colleague’s alleged sexual misconduct and promoted him anyway.

During his three-year tenure, Johnson oversaw the end stage of Brexit and the U.K. response to both the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

Griner pleads guilty » In a Russian courtroom Thursday, WNBA star Brittney Griner pleaded guilty to drug possession and smuggling, but said she didn’t intend to commit a crime.

Russian police detained her outside of an airport in February for allegedly having cannabis oil in her bag, which she said she packed by mistake.

The U.S. says it is trying to get Griner released. Here’s John Kirby with the national security council:

KIRBY: We continue to work this very very aggressively. It’s very much top of mind for the president and frankly the whole national security team.

Over 99 percent of people charged with a crime in Russia are found guilty and an expert said it is almost always best to plead guilty to try to get a lesser sentence.

Russia’s “operational pause” » Russian president Vladimir Putin said Thursday his army is taking time to rest and recuperate.

Analysts have confirmed the statement, saying Wednesday was the first time in 133 days that Russia did not take more Ukrainian territory.

ZELENSKY: [Speaking in Ukrainian]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address, “We will not give up our land—the entire sovereign territory of Ukraine will be Ukrainian.”

Russia is still shelling villages and Putin said his country has barely started its action against Ukraine.

Jobless claims rise » The stacks of jobless claims at employment departments across the country grew by 235,000 last week. That, according to a Department of Labor report Thursday. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher reports.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: This report marks 5 weeks in a row that new unemployment benefits applications have topped 230,000. The continuing number of unemployed individuals is at around 1.3 million.

Job openings for the month of May dropped slightly to 11.3 million.

Some companies—such as Tesla, Netflix, and Carvana—have announced thousands of looming job cuts as well.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

Biden awards Medal of Freedom to 17 » At the White House on Thursday, President Biden awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 17 people.

Among the honorees, Olympic gymnast Simone Biles.

BIDEN: Today, she adds to her medal count of 32 — how are you going to find room?! Thirty-two Olympic and world championship medals …

The 25-year-old is an advocate for foster children, sexual assault victims, and athletes’ mental health.

Biden also honored the late Senator John McCain.

BIDEN: John and I traveled the world together, literally traveled the world together. We became friends. We agreed on a lot more than we disagreed on.

Other recipients included Steve Jobs and Denzel Washington, along with educators, activists, and union leaders.

Chauvin sentencing » A judge sentenced the police officer who killed George Floyd to 21 years in federal prison on Thursday for violating Floyd’s civil rights. WORLD’s Paul Butler reports:

PAUL BUTLER, REPOTER: Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was already serving a 22-and-a-half-year sentence in state prison for murder.

The two sentences will be served at once, but the latest conviction pushes back when Chavin can apply for parole—effectively making his sentence longer.

Despite that, he pleaded guilty to the new federal charges in exchange for moving to a federal prison.

In a Minnesota state prison, Chauvin has been in isolation for 23 hours a day for his safety. He hopes to avoid that in federal lockup.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Paul Butler.

Actor James Caan dies at 82 » James Caan has died.

The actor, known for Hollywood tough guy portrayals, rose to prominence with roles like Sonny Corleone in The Godfather.

In a 1999 interview, Caan explained that, given his Godfather fame, many were surprised to learn that he was actually the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany.

CAAN: I’m not Italian, although I’ve won the Italian of the Year twice over here in New York. I keep saying, you don’t get it, I can’t accept this award.

Younger audiences may remember him best as the workaholic father in the Christmas comedy Elf.

The family did not announce a cause of death. Caan was 82 years old.

I’m Anna Johansen Brown. Straight ahead: Culture Friday.

Plus, answers to your questions on Ask the Editor.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Friday, July 8th, 2022.

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

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. It’s Culture Friday.

Let’s bring in John Stonestreet. He’s the president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast.

Good morning!

JOHN STONESTREET, GUEST: Good morning. 

EICHER: I have a few questions for you, that arise from the Fourth of July mass shooting near Chicago. John, we could go any number of directions with this: we could talk about alienation, we could talk about gun culture, we could talk about the danger of copycat crimes, we could talk about how a kid with this many problems and specific contact with authorities somehow slipped through the cracks. But I guess, how does a young man get this way—short of mental illness—and is there anything to be done about it?

STONESTREET: Well, I think it's important to call it mental illness. And I think it's important to call it evil. And those two things aren't incompatible. Those two things aren't opposites. It's not one or the other. It's a fallen world. And we're fallen people and when fallen people are influenced by other fallen people, and hurt by other fallen people, and, and develop, you know, all kinds of issues with their own identity and their own moral compass and all of that sort of stuff, then look, what has to govern, if there's not an internal compass is some sort of external force. And we clearly do not have a system that is able to identify these folks, and then do something helpful about it. On one side, we want to defund. And of course, that's one of the cities in which, you know, some of these compromises were made to law enforcement funding. And at the same time, we can't say that law enforcement in all places are able to actually protect people like they should. This is a story that's coming out of the Uvalde shooting, this is a story that continues to come, when you have these sorts of situations where a young man should have been on people's radars, they should have been someone that stepped in - authorities - they should have known enough to do something, and apparently they didn't. But at the same time, it's not the state's job to do the job of the parents of the local community. I mean, this is the longtime analysis of American culture, is that there was more at play than just individual citizens and State forces, there were, you know, institutions of local community that were mediating structures in most people's lives that kept them accountable that kept them known, that kept them connected. And those things are radically dissolved in our culture, we just don't have them, many people grow up. When we say without a conscience, a lot of times what we mean is this kind of sense of individuality and the individual moral compass, which is certainly the case. But I mean, something different. I mean, we're growing up without a social connection, without a social life, and therefore, we're not thinking outside of ourselves. And when all of life turns in an interior direction, as opposed to an exterior direction, then the entire conversation we have in our own heads moves from one of responsibility. what good am I responsible for? Who am I responsible to be a part of? To conversation about rights that are just demanded, I want this, I want that. And that tends to devolve into a rights of feeling. And if you don't have that sort of interior exterior balance, or at least the right forces speaking to both areas of what it means to be human, then people get lost. And that's kind of the headline of the last 60 years. This is the Robert Putnam Bowling Alone headline, it just keeps going on and on. Where people are not responsible for each other. And you give everyone unlimited radical freedom and take away any sort of moral boundaries. There's only one way that math problem comes out.

EICHER: Another part of this: I was really struck this past Independence Day with the amount of disdain of country we saw in the culture. It’s even showing up in public opinion polling. Gallup said this: just “38 percent of U.S. adults … say they are ‘extremely proud’ to be American” and that figure “is the lowest in Gallup’s [20-plus year] trend.”

For reference, back in 2003, the number was 70 percent. Now it’s 38.

Beyond that, we had lots of stories and commentary on Supreme Court rulings deemed controversial, celebrities saying they hate the country, we had National Public Radio announcing it was “updating an NPR Independence Day tradition, the reading of the Declaration of Independence,” and the update was not to read the Declaration on the air.

This is a cultural shift. I’m sure I’ll be accused of Christian nationalism asking the question, but isn’t this alarming?

STONESTREET: Yeah, I think the headline here is much more about Christian or anti Christian, anti nationalist than Christian nationalists. You know, I think that's a much bigger trend. But you kind of have to ask, I mean, can you blame them? You know, where would they have learned a respect for American history? Where would they have learned a proper or any sort of analysis that takes seriously the ideas that underpin the founders, and when you have those words, like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and the concept of what that means, and how that actually is dependent upon that other phrase there, you know, endowed by their Creator. You know, if you don't have a history class that teaches that and you don't have a critical thinking class that connects the dots, and you don't have, you know, at least even a kind of a sense of personal loyalty to friends, neighbors, and increasingly, even family, I, you know, there's not going to be any sort of reason to expect that number to go up, as opposed to continue to go down. And I think that's really where we're at. I mean, you know, what was really interesting is, you know, my son's five and we spent a lot more time just kind of, again, going back and reviewing that and there's a there's a really cool series that was done several years ago called Liberty Kids and it's a it's the cast is like, a who's who cast out of DC and mostly people on the left and you know, political left at the time. And you see the series and you think this is positive about American history, it takes seriously this the slavery question and the inconsistencies of freedom. But you just I just kept thinking, as I was watching this, first of all, America is a really cool place and what was being argued here, and, and that sort of thing, but, you know, at the Continental Congress and what people were trying to do, but at the same time, I was thinking, no one on the political left would dare make this today, they would not dare make a series like this, that spoke of American history positively. And this is a kid series, you know, so I think, you know, you can't have a national identity without a civic education, those two things are inextricably linked together. And I think that's one of the things we're gonna have to think about.

BROWN: Last week a masculine-looking woman, saying she’s an elementary school teacher, posted to social media the joys of confusing young students.

This is by way of a social media account devoted to publicizing things like this, “Libs of TikTok.”

Let’s listen.

AUDIO: A kid today looks at me and goes, “Are you a boy or girl?”

And I was like, “What do you think?”

To which she said, “Oh, a girl.”

And I was like, “Oh, why do you think that?”

“Uhh, because you have a girl’s voice.”

“Okay. And what if I dropped it an octave?”

And she just went, “So you’re a boy?”

Jamie, confusing children since who knows [bleep] when?

Some say this is difficult to separate from the practice of grooming, maybe you don’t go that far.

But it certainly seems as though the little girl she describes deserves some clarity from an adult who won’t make sport of confusing children.

STONESTREET: Well, I'm completely comfortable calling this grooming, I don't know why people aren't comfortable calling it grooming, what else on earth is it? Listen, the only way we're gonna get to pedophilia - and I used to be a skeptic on this and say, you know, the kind of slippery slope argument that if you start here, then it goes there and it goes there and eventually comes down to pedophilia. But look, we're encouraging kids, without giving them all the information to be completely autonomous over their sexual identity. Is it really that far of a stretch to give them complete autonomy over their sexual behavior? And what does that do to things like the age of consent? And what does that how do we do this, and we've already kind of dumbed down sexual morality to nothing, you know, connected to physical reality, but only kind of this internal mental category of consent, which has proven to be super squishy, particularly when you start hearing those who transitioned and were encouraged to transition as soon as they turn 18, now having regret and going well, wait a minute, I was only given one side of this. And this wasn't real consent or women who, you know, find themselves in sexually compromised situations and then turn around and figure out well, I didn't really mean to consent that way. But it would take it that way. And what do we mean and so this is the only category we have is a squishy idea of consent. We're applying it now to students and then forcing them to think thoughts and, you know, put them in kind of full autonomy over their sexual identity when they don't have the life experience, they don't have the mental maturity, they don't have the neurological connections, they don't have the moral instruction. They don't have the family support, they don't have any of this in place. And then it's like a free for all, after we force fed them Drag Queen story hours at the local library. I mean, you you do the math here, and there's only one way this goes. And the question is why? Why would you want to do this? It doesn't make them happier, we have all the data that we need to say that young kids are less happy than they used to be, they feel more stressed out than they ever have. And part of that is they're not just trying to figure out what they want to do with their life in 10 years, they're told they have to figure out who they are in these intimate categories that don't even know how to think this way. And we're force feeding them this, if this isn't grooming what is? It's only leading them one direction, and to a life of kind of a free for all experimentation, or complete fear of sex in general. And we're only leading them you know, with one set of information. So what's there to gain from any of this? And the only answer that makes sense. And please, if someone knows another one, you feel free to write, you know, tell me what the motivation can be, if not a group of adults hoping to justify their own rights, their own feelings and using this whole thing as a way to justify it.

BROWN: Well, John Stonestreet is president of the Colson Center and host of the Breakpoint podcast. Thank you, John.

STONESTREET: Thank you.

NICK EICHER, HOST: An American Airlines flight attendant just set a world record that isn’t likely to be topped anytime soon.

Bette Nash began her career working for Eastern Airlines in 1957.

Back then, she told ABC News that plane tickets were a little cheaper than they are today.

For example, a one-way ticket from New York to D.C.:

NASH: When it started, I think it was $12—one way...

At 86 years old, she’s still working and going strong. And as you may have guessed...

AUDIO: She is the most senior flight attendant in the world [applause]

But she’s not just the most senior flight attendant in the world. She is also the longest-serving.

64 years and 61 days to be exact.

So I called my mom—she was a flight attendant for American back in the day, before I was a gleam in my father’s eye.

PAULA: Hey!

NICK: Hey there!

So, I tell her I’ve come across a story she might like.

PAULA: Is it about the flight attendant?

NICK: Yeah, did you see that?

PAULA: Yeah, haha.

NICK: OK, so what is your word to Bette Nash on her record-breaking tenure as a flight attendant? What do you say to her?

PAULA: I say, bless your heart and you look wonderful!

Couldn’t have said it better. It’s The World and Everything in It.

PAULA: OK!

NICK: Alright! Have a good day!

PAULA: Alright, bye-bye.

NICK: Love you, bye.

PAULA: Love you.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, July 8th. 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.

Thor: Love and Thunder debuts in theaters this weekend. It’s the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Collin Garbarino says this film might just spark some life back into the struggling Avengers franchise.

COLLIN GARBARINO: Director Taika Waititi gave the ponderously self-important Thor a jolt of fun with 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok. Now Waititi reunites with actor Chris Hemsworth to give us the equally entertaining Thor: Love and Thunder. This 80s-rock-inspired joyride might help get Marvel back on track after the disappointing Eternals and Doctor Strange sequel.

Thor: These hands were once used for battle. Now they’re but humble tools for peace. I need to figure out exactly who I am.

In the aftermath of Avengers: Endgame, Thor finds himself adrift. He’s still a hero, but he’s become a wandering space Viking. He questions whether he has a larger purpose.

King Yakan: God of Thunder!

Thor: King Yakan!

Yakan: You have finally joined our fight.

Thor: Well, as they say, better late than not at all.

Alien king: Yes, that’s very nice. As you know we used to live in a peaceful oasis, but then our gods were murdered.

Thor: Murdered?

This new evil shocks Thor out of his naval gazing. Gorr the God Butcher has begun killing the so-called gods of the Marvel universe, so Thor the Space Viking heads back to Earth to check in on his fellow Asgardians. But he’s brought up short when he runs into his ex-girlfriend Jane Foster.

Jane: What’s it been, like three, four years?

Thor: Eight years, seven months, and six days, give or take.

Natalie Portman is back as the scientist Jane Foster, but this time there’s a twist. Jane has become a superhero in her own right, wielding Thor’s old hammer Mjolnir and calling herself the Mighty Thor. The original Thor has a lot to process.

Korg: So that’s the ex-girlfriend, is it?

Thor: The old ex-girlfriend.

Korg: Jodie Foster.

Thor: Jane Foster.

Korg: The one that got away.

Thor: The one that got away.

Korg: That means escaped.

Thor: Yeah.

Korg: It must be hard for you to see your ex-girlfriend and your ex-hammer hanging out and getting on so well.

Despite being a movie about magic hammers and space gods, Thor: Love and Thunder is a very funny film in which we see the protagonist wrestle with very human problems. Thor needs purpose and acceptance, and most of all, he’s looking for love. It’s terribly amusing to watch him navigate a love triangle with his ex-girlfriend and his magic hammer.

But despite the jokes and romance, this is a superhero movie in which villains must be vanquished.

Thor: They’re in the shadow realm.

Valkyrie: How do you know?

Thor: The atmosphere there has a darkness, like no other. It’s as if color fears to tread. It’s unmistakable.

Jane: Well then, if it’s color we need, let’s bring the rainbow.

Thor: Bring the rainbow? Is that a catchphrase or something?

Valkyrie: She’s only been a Thor for a minute. Saving lives, she’s quite good at, but the rest of it she needs work.

Thor: How many catchphrases have there been?

Valkyrie: A lot.

Christian Bale plays Gorr the God Butcher, and Gorr turns out to be one of Marvel’s more compelling villains. Gorr is scary, yet he manages to be sympathetic as well. Superhero movies are always more interesting when the bad guy thinks he’s a good guy.

Gorr has suffered greatly. And he ponders the classic problem of evil: If the gods are good and the gods are powerful, then why do bad things happen? Gorr concludes the gods must not be good.

Gorr: The only ones who gods care about is themselves. So this is my vow, all gods will die.

For the most part, the film confirms Gorr’s antipathy. When Thor and Jane try to enlist the help of other gods, they discover most are petty, self-indulgent, or downright wicked. It’s a depiction of the old gods that’s surprisingly consistent with 5th-century theologian Augustine of Hippo’s criticisms of pagan religion. Those old gods aren’t gods at all. The movie gets interestingly complicated when we see Thor risk his life, in part, to save a group of people who really don’t deserve it.

Thor: Tell them what happened here today. Tell of the time that Thor and his ragtag motley crew, misfit desperados turned the tide in the battle and etched their names in history. The odds may be against us, but I'll tell you this for free.

Star Lord: Here it comes.

Thor: This ends here and now!

[explosions]

Thor: Love and Thunder is rated PG-13 for sci-fi action, language, and a scene in which Thor’s bare backside is played for laughs. There’s also a conversation in which a character talks about a same-sex romance that occurred in the past.

Sometimes the movie swings too wildly from its jokey side to its serious side, and there are points in which the dialogue borders on cliché. But Thor: Love and Thunder is a compelling sci-fi adventure that asks viewers to question whether the petty little gods we put our trust in are worthy of that trust—and it’s a humorous romantic comedy about finding love in surprising places.

MUSIC: [Guns-n-Roses’ “Sweet Child O’Mine”]

I’m Collin Garbarino.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Friday, July 8th. 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. WORLD Radio’s Executive Producer Paul Butler is here now to respond to a few of your emails in this month’s Ask the Editor.

PAUL BUTLER, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Today I thought I’d quickly respond to a handful of questions and comments from listeners sent in over the last month. The first one comes from the Moyers of Centennial, Colorado.

After our June 30th interview with pharmacist Zach Jenkins about monkeypox, they wrote in with this question:

In your interview about monkey pox why was it not asked or explained that it is transmitted sexually by homosexuals?

Thanks for pointing that out. We’ve published a few stories on the virus over the last few months at WORLD Digital. In that coverage we did mention the high occurance rate in gay men…but you’re right, we should have mentioned that in our podcast coverage last week. It was an oversight.

It is not a coincidence that cases increased during June—so-called “Pride month.” However, it would be a mistake to consider Monkey Pox only an STD as it is considered a stable virus—meaning that it can remain on surfaces for an extended period of time. So that could prove a threat to the broader community as well.

After our June 27th Legal Docket segment analyzing the Dobbs decision—and the unraveling of Roe v. Wade—astute listener Mark Denard wrote in challenging us on a well-worn argument that he felt we should have debunked.

[You] stated “…the Dobbs vs Jackson case reversed the 1973 Roe decision that established the constitutional right to an abortion.”

I have heard this many times, but was very surprised to hear it on the podcast. Afterward I read the US Constitution again to see if I am incorrect about abortion being in there.

I would very much like an explanation on how abortion was a “constitutional right” prior to Dobbs... If I recall correctly many pro-abortion advocates recognized the problems with Roe and how it would always be a controversy unless Congress were to pass federal legislation or if enough states joined together to pass constitutional amendment as allowed under Article Five.

Mark, you’re spot on and that’s actually the point Mary was making. The Dobbs decision does in fact overturn the 1973 Roe decision—and with it the long-held claim to its constitutionality. The legal analysis involves first asking “does the constitution mention abortion?” And you rightly identified it does not. Then asking: “is abortion as a right implied in the constitution?” The majority answered no to both and in the process dismantled the reasoning of both Roe and the follow-up case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

Our next email isn’t a question, but a comment after our June 30th story on the Liberty Bell. Sarah Heitzman-Nolte had this gentle correction for us.

In the piece, Milton Wiest recounts a story about a young blind man that came into the center. In recounting the story he refers to his mobility aid as a “stick” and later [your reporter] mentions his “stick.” As the mother of a grown blind man, I want to let listeners know that the correct term for the traditional white “stick” used by the blind is cane…not [a] stick.

Thank you for your wonderful program, I am a faithful listener. In fact my awesome blind son suggested I listen to the podcast and I am hooked.

Sarah, thank you for that reminder, and we’ll be more careful in the future.

Thankfully not every email to the editor is quite so serious. We enjoy hearing from listeners with a sense of humor as they point out our errors. So I’ll end with one of those today. Eric wrote in to point out that at the end of last Friday’s program we mentioned Cal Thomas’s name twice in our closing credits. Knowing our desire to be Biblically objective, Eric asked:

Was that perhaps an application of the principle that some elder speakers "are to be considered worthy of double honor" (1 Timothy 5:17)?

Well Eric…I’d love to say yes…but alas—it’s more likely proof of Proverbs 19:2—“...he who hurries his footsteps errs.”

Thanks for the kind-hearted ribbing.

If you have a question, comment, or constructive feedback for the program our email address is editor@wng.org. You can write to us there, but why not record yourself on your phone and send it along? We look forward to hearing from you. Again our email address is editor@wng.org.

I’m Paul Butler and now with this week’s credits—here’s Nick. 

NICK EICHER, HOST: That one is one me, bro! I’m supposedly the last line of defense.

All right, well, listener support is what made this week’s programs possible as well as our faithful team here who helped put it all together:

Kent Covington, Mary Reichard, Jenny Rough, Lauren Dunn, Emily Whitten, Kelsey Reed, Onize Ohikere, Janie B. Cheaney, Josh Schumacher, Bonnie Pritechett, Cal Thomas, Zoe Schimke, Collin Garborino. David Bahnsen, Kristen Flavin, Anna Johansen Brown, John Stonestreet, and Leah Savas.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Johnny Franklin and Carl Peetz are the audio engineers who stay up late to get the program to you early! Production assistance from Emily Whitten. Paul Butler—yes, Paul Butler—is worthy of double honor as 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.

Jesus said: And whenever you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. (Mark 11:25 ESV)

Remember to worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ this weekend, and God willing, we’ll meet you right 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.