← The World and Everything In It
The World and Everything In It
1.10.25 Culture Friday on Meta’s policy shake up, a review of a Clint Eastwood classic, and the challenge of marking time
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- [00:05]
Myrna Brown
Good morning. Today on Culture Friday, Facebook does an about face on freedom of speech. Also, when free thought is not that.
- [00:14]
Nick Eicher
Free, John Stonestreet is standing by. Quick heads up for you. I'm going to ask him about a sensitive story that parents might want to hear about outside the earshot of their kids later on. Reviewer Max Bells is back with a suggestion for a classic movie night.
- [00:30]
Max Bells
I gotta tell you before you hire me, I don't work cheap.
- [00:34]
Nick Eicher
A very young Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars and wordplay with George Grant.
- [00:47]
Myrna Brown
It's Friday, January 10th. This is the world and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Myrna Brown.
- [00:54]
Nick Eicher
And I'm Nick Eicher. Good morning.
- [00:57]
Myrna Brown
Up next, Ken Covington with today's news.
- [01:08]
Kent Covington
Political leaders from both sides of the aisle gathered at the Washington National Cathedral Thursday to pay their final respects to the late former President Jimmy Carter. All five living presidents were there for Carter's national funeral. President Biden delivered the eulogy.
- [01:23]
George Grant
Jimmy Carter's friendship taught me and through.
- [01:29]
Max Bells
His life taught me the strength of.
- [01:31]
Nick Eicher
Character is more than title or the power we hold.
- [01:38]
Max Bells
It's the strength to understand that everyone should be treated with dignity, respect.
- [01:45]
Kent Covington
The late president's grandson, Jason Carter, spoke of his grandfather's lifetime of service to the community.
- [01:51]
John Stonestreet
My grandfather spent the entire time I've.
- [01:53]
George Grant
Known him helping those in need.
- [01:56]
John Stonestreet
He built houses for people that needed homes. He eliminated diseases in forgotten places.
- [02:03]
Max Bells
He waged peace anywhere in the world, wherever he saw a chance. He loved people.
- [02:12]
Kent Covington
After the ceremony, Carter's body was taken to his hometown of Plains, Georgia, where World's Lindsay Mast reports.
- [02:20]
Myrna Brown
The flag draped casket of America's 39th president arrived here in Plains hours after the service in Washington. Carter was born near this town of about 500 people in 1924 and lived most of his life here. He was away for his time in the U.S. naval Academy and military service and of course, for the four years he lived in the White House. He came back home after leaving office in 1981. Carter's family and friends held a private service Thursday at Maranatha Baptist Church, where Carter taught Sunday school. A short time later, he was buried at home next to his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn. For World from Plains, Georgia, I'm Lindsay Mast.
- [03:00]
Kent Covington
President elect Donald Trump will be sentenced today in a Manhattan courtroom in his New York business fraud case just 10 days before he's sworn in as president. The U.S. supreme Court turned away a request by Trump's lawyers to step in and halt today's sentencing. After State courts also refused that request. The judge in the case, however, has signaled that he is leaning toward unconditional discharge at sentencing. That would not reverse the conviction, but it would mean that Trump would not face incarceration, fines or probation. In Southern California, firefighters are still battling a series of raging fires in the Los Angeles area. Louisiana Fire Chief Kristen it is safe.
- [03:41]
Nick Eicher
To say that the Palisades fire is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles.
- [03:50]
Kent Covington
Thousands of firefighters are battling several different blazes, which have killed five people and scorched some 30,000 acres. U.S. joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General C. Q Brown says the Defense Department is pitching in.
- [04:04]
Nick Eicher
There's 10 U.S. navy helicopters as well as 10 Guard helicopters. They can also help with the ground search and rescue incident response awareness and then medical support. Those Marines will be in place in the next 24 to 48 hours.
- [04:20]
Kent Covington
There is some good news to report, though, as the weather has been cooperating a little bit more. Winds have died down enough to allow for aerial drops over the flames, president Biden declared Thursday.
- [04:31]
Nick Eicher
Today, I'm announcing that the federal government will cover 100% of the cost for 180 days. This is going to pay for things.
- [04:39]
Max Bells
Like debris and hazard material when we.
- [04:41]
George Grant
Roll temporary shelters, first responders salaries.
- [04:46]
Kent Covington
Authorities say the cause of the fires is still under investigation. Federal prosecutors have made an emergency appeal to try and stop a plea deal for the Mastermind of the 911 attacks from being finalized today. World's Kristin Flavin has that story.
- [05:02]
John Stonestreet
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two co defendants had agreed to plead guilty to their roles in the September 11, 2001 terror attacks if the death penalty was removed as a sentencing option. The plea agreement quickly sparked widespread public outrage, prompting Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to withdraw the deal. But a military court ruling revived the plea agreements last month. The court found that Austin did not have ultimate veto power over his department and that the deals were still valid. Prosecutors have asked an appellate court to.
- [05:36]
Myrna Brown
Halt today's plea proceedings, arguing that limiting.
- [05:39]
John Stonestreet
The sentencing options for the terrorists deprives Americans of justice. Justice for World I'm Kristen Flavin.
- [05:47]
Kent Covington
A federal judge has struck down the Biden administration's Title IX rule changes. Title 9 is a provision within civil rights law designed to safeguard the rights of women and girls in education and scholastic sports. The Biden administration wanted to redefine that provision to, among other things, allow males who identify as women to compete on women's or girls sports teams and to use their locker rooms and bathrooms. But after waves of legal challenges, U.S. district Judge Danny C. Reeves in Kentucky ruled Thursday that the administration had overstepped its authority. I'm Kent Covington. And straight ahead, Culture Friday with John Stonestreet. Plus, the history behind our calendar and the making of time. This is the World and Everything In It.
- [06:36]
John Stonestreet
Foreign.
- [06:55]
Myrna Brown
It's Friday, the 10th of January. Glad to have you along for today's edition of the World and Everything in It. Good morning. I'm Myrna Brown.
- [07:03]
Nick Eicher
And I'm Nick Icker. 10th of January, you say. Myrna, that means we are 10 days into the new year. And that ought to give you a picture of how long it took for us to do the accounting on the December giving drive. It was two big factors. One of them I mentioned last week, one of them I did not. What I said last week was that because we are in temporary quarters right now counting up what came in the mail, the last few days of 2024 just took extraordinarily long, a lot longer than it normally would. What I did not say because I didn't know was this. There was just so much to count, so many checks all tallied up. World movers exceeded the giving from last year and I don't know why we're surprised. Our director of development, Deborah Meissner, is on the line. Deb, I know I sound like a broken record saying I'm surprised, but, but our world movers, they don't sound like broken records. They just break them. And, you know, this year they broke another December giving drive record. Again, I don't know why we're surprised, Nick.
- [08:11]
Myrna Brown
We shouldn't be. But I just want to give a shout out to these extraordinary people. This is a group of, you know, they're our listeners, our readers, our viewers. They make up our donor base. And even though, as you know, they went over and above in their giving to world after September storms, that did not stop them from giving generously in our December giving drive. I wish I could read to you every card, every letter, every encouraging email that came in with these gifts. These folks are fiercely supportive of the excellent work that you guys produce every day, and they are eager to sustain it. You know, we share these notes internally. You've seen a bunch of them. And our entire staff is just humbled and encouraged, encouraged and so grateful that the Lord continues to provide through the people who believe in our mission. And that's an encouragement to all of us. So if you are one who has partnered with us this past year, from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you. We do. We do indeed. And you know we can't do this without our world movers. And so I'll say it again, with our world movers, it feels like there's nothing we can't do.
- [09:21]
Nick Eicher
And, you know, Deb, I want to thank you for the work you do and your team in keeping our world movers in the loop, keeping our journalistic vision in front of them. And you are so right. We're humbled by this outpouring of support, and we will work to be worthy of it.
- [09:38]
Myrna Brown
Nick, thank you for that. And honestly, if history has shown me anything, it's that you and the editorial team will definitely make the most of these funds.
- [09:46]
Nick Eicher
Deborah Meissner, our director of development.
- [09:50]
Myrna Brown
Well, it's Culture Friday, and joining us now is John Stonestreet, president of the Colson center and host of the Breakpoint podcast. Good morning, John.
- [09:59]
John Stonestreet
Good morning.
- [10:00]
Myrna Brown
Well, big changes for Meta announced this week. From the top, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
- [10:07]
John Stonestreet
So we're going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies, and restoring free expression on our platforms.
- [10:16]
Nick Eicher
More specifically, here's what we're going to do. First, we're going to get rid of.
- [10:20]
John Stonestreet
Fact checkers and replace them with community notes similar to X starting in the.
- [10:25]
Myrna Brown
US So Zuckerberg calls it getting back to their roots. But I've heard some other theories. Is it an AI manipulation, an early April Fool's joke? Is free speech really coming back? And if so, why the change of policy now?
- [10:43]
John Stonestreet
There's so many jokes that come to mind about Elon Musk being an alien and Zuckerberg being a robot. Those just write themselves. I'm going to leave those to the comedians. I think the, you know, the best take, as is often the case, was from the Babylon Bee, whose best headlines are when they just describe what actually happened. And their headline on this story was, tech exec who swears he's not suppressing free Speech, Promises to no longer suppress free speech. But, you know, in the larger scheme of things, this is significant. You can't really, in my mind, see this outside of the reversal of companies that we talked about, you know, right before the end of 2024, you know, kind of backing off DEI policies and DEI hires and things like that. You can't, I think, you know, see this separate from the election results and what I think was a clear pushback by the American people, particularly in institutions, when it proves to be harmful. I think what came to light in those congressional hearings with Zuckerberg was just damning, you know, for Facebook and for the decisions that they made, I do think that it's important to really hesitate before we make any pronouncements of conversions. And I think that, you know, a lot of these folks, they follow the bottom line. And there is a difference between the pragmatist who's trying to maximize profits for a company or maximize distribution for a product like Facebook or Meta or something like that, and people who are true believers. And I don't think Zuckerberg was ever a true believer in those policies. He just thought it was the most promising way forward. And now he doesn't think they're the most promising way forward. And so the human motivation there maybe emerges past whatever rumors there are of that, you know, that he's some sort of cyborg.
- [12:47]
Myrna Brown
Well, interesting story. A colleague brought to my attention three prominent members of the so called free thought organization, the Freedom from Religion foundation spiked publication of an article that went against the party line on transgenderism. Leaving the group were biologists Richard Dawkins and Jerry Coyne and psychologist Steven Pinker. They protested the removal of an article by Cohen in which he pointed out that sex is binary and expressed a view about men who identify as women being sexual predators. This was way over the line, way too much free thinking, apparently. The group's leader emphasized its commitment to LGBTQ rights, prioritizing its broader opposition to Christian nationalism, which is seen as the bigger threat. So, John, as you know, a house divided against itself cannot stand. We heard that somewhere.
- [13:49]
John Stonestreet
Yeah. It is a remarkable thing to see the exposure not just of these kind of radical ideologies having to do with sex and gender, but also just kind of the exposure of this science is settled narrative that really is a, I think, a subplot of this whole thing. And by the way, which folks like Coyne and certainly Dawkins and the New Atheists were guilty of perpetrating. Right? Basically dismissing any, for example, inferences of design as being clearly non scientific. And we know this because the science has settled on Darwinism. And, you know, that was so 1990s. I mean, if there's one thing the science isn't settled on anymore, it's the Darwinian theory of how life came about, which seems to be wholly inadequate for the sorts of things we now know. And the science is settled is exactly the wrong thing to say about science, because true science isn't settled. True science is a process of observing and extrapolating and repeating. And when more data, more information comes into play, sometimes even unexpectedly, you have to take that into consideration. Otherwise it's not science. And so I think that's part of the story too. But, you know, look, we've been hoping that some of these quote unquote conversions, and that's too strong of a word for what we're talking about right now, but we've been hoping that some of that stuff would happen. So let's welcome it. I don't want to be too cynical. You know, it's tempting to be the I told you so religious Christian voice, but I think we need to be thankful for it. I think we need to point people beyond it to the source of the truth that now is being exposed. And, you know, thank God for these kind of, you know, small wins. It's, you know, it's not to me as exciting as when Richard Dawkins admitted he really likes Christmas carols and to go to church on Christmas. But hey, it's, it's in that ballpark.
- [15:45]
Nick Eicher
Well, John, seriously, now, word to the listener, what I have to bring up at this point is a story that is going to be inappropriate for the younger listeners. So if you have young ones nearby, please be advised. And John, you know what I'm talking about here with the Islamic gangs in the uk. These are just really, really terrible stories.
- [16:08]
John Stonestreet
Absolutely, yeah.
- [16:09]
Nick Eicher
So just an extra second or two of delay to press pause if you need to. There are reports of a horrifying pattern of abuse, exploitation and sexual assault of vulnerable young girls in Britain carried out allegedly by gangs mostly comprised of Pakistani Muslim men. Many victims, some of them as young as age 5, were silenced through intimidation while authorities failed to act, fearing accusations of racism and risking votes from Muslim communities. The former UK Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, she's of Asian descent. She did not shy away from identifying the horror of these gangs, saying, and I'm quoting here, the perpetrators hold cultural attitudes completely incompatible with British values. Now, we mentioned Elon Musk earlier. He's been all over this story. He has laid the blame for the COVID up at the feet of the Prime Minister. Now, for his part, to be fair, the Prime Minister, he denies any complicity in a cover up. But what can we say at this point about this story, John?
- [17:21]
John Stonestreet
You know, look, these reports are horrifying and I want them to not be true on every level because it just means a level of cultural breakdown that's way worse than even all the grumpy British writers that have been writing about British cultural breakdown for the last decade. Understood. And let me talk about what that cultural breakdown looks like on a couple levels. One is certainly the interference of political forces into the family, the state basically usurping the authority of parents. The second aspect of this is that a culture that was so clearly steeped historically in a particular framework of right and wrong would allow this level of wrong to take place. So you think about the world that Charles Dickens wrote about. You think about the world that William Wilberforce and the Clapham group engaged in, the moral revolution that took place. And then you hear about this and you say there has been a culture squandered. And then the final thing that has to be said is that, look, Islam is safer for the world when it secularizes. The closer that Islam is to its true religious identity, the more dangerous it is, particularly to the West. And you look at Islam on its own terms, and this is the sort of behavior that has defined Islamic literalism for centuries. This is not coming out of the blue. This is not coming from these folks because they're immigrants. That's going to need to be corrected. This is Islam. And we need to be really clear on that, that our national identities are not as important as our religious identities in terms of true believers. That's another aspect of what has now entered Western culture to a degree that we just haven't experienced before. Immigration is a factor in that, a big factor in that. But this has to do with the religious worldview of Islam and the historical behavior that has to do. When you follow a prophet like Muhammad, it has to be said this way, and the corrupting influence on Western culture. I mean, this is to a degree that is leaving everyone a little speechless. And I understand why a lot of people are incredulous. Like, can you really believe that this took place to this scale? I can't. I hope this is not true.
- [20:04]
Nick Eicher
Well, I hope it's not true too. I join you in that for sure, John. But you know, even if some of the reports, let's say, are half true, it's still, I mean, it's one of the worst things I can imagine.
- [20:15]
John Stonestreet
Look, it's going to have to be over exaggerated by a factor of a lot for it still not to have all of these, I think, implications. Implications that I just walked through.
- [20:26]
Myrna Brown
Well, John Stonestreet is president of the Colson center and host of the Breakpoint podcast. Thank you, John.
- [20:33]
John Stonestreet
All right, thank you both. Additional, additional support comes from Commuter Bible.
- [20:52]
Kent Covington
The workweek Audio Bible in four annual plans available via podcast app and commuterbible.org.
- [21:23]
Nick Eicher
Today is Friday, January 10th. Thank you for turning to World Radio to help start your day. Good morning, I'm Nick Icker.
- [21:31]
Myrna Brown
And I'm Myrna Brown. Coming next on the World and Everything in It, a classic movie from 1964 with worldwide appeal. Here's movie reviewer Max Bells.
- [21:52]
Max Bells
Like jazz or baseball, Westerns are an American creation. And they're a creation that resonates around the world. Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars came out just over 60 years ago. Clint Eastwood stars as the laconic and extremely cool man with no name. He rides into San Miguel, a windswept and forlorn town that looks like it's on the edge of the earth. A town in the grips of a violent feud between two outlaw families. It's a spaghetti Western that is a movie made by an Italian studio and based in the epic setting of the American west that was a common Trend in the 1960s. And all of the English dialogue is dubbed since most of the actors spoke Italian.
- [22:44]
Nick Eicher
Everybody here has become very rich, or else they are dead.
- [22:48]
Max Bells
After arriving, the man with no Name joins one clan as a hired gun, but feeds information to the other gang. I gotta tell you before you hire.
- [22:57]
John Stonestreet
Me, I don't work cheap.
- [23:00]
Max Bells
Soon he's embedded himself in each of the groups and plays them off against each other in a flurry of gunfighting. The movie has its share of bloody shootouts, and the violence earned it an R rating. Two sequels for a Few Dollars More and the Good, the Bad and the Ugly came later in the 60s. But a fistful of Dollars is a remake of a Japanese movie by famed director Akiro Kurosawa, set in feudal Japan, featuring a wandering samurai. That movie in turn is based on an American movie from the 40s. It's a story that echoes across cultures. First an American noir thrown back to feudal Japan, then reappearing in the American West. The settings of these stories are lawless. In A Fistful of Dollars, no one lives freely, and the town is a cloud of theft and murder. So why does this story find a place in different cultures and time periods?
- [24:03]
Nick Eicher
See, that's what I want to talk to you about. He's feeling real bad, huh? My mule. You see, he got all riled up.
- [24:11]
Max Bells
When you went fired those shots at his feet. The man with no Name is a renegade who can destroy all the bad guys by himself. He's strong enough to vanquish two gangs at once. In he rides to bring order and lay down the law. But he's not beholden to this particular place. He's a man with no name, no home, an outsider rambling in and setting it right. He's a law unto himself. In the expression of that law, A Fistful of Dollars draws strong parallels to the crucifixion and resurrection. After one of the gangs beats the man with no name and pierces his left hand, he sneaks out of the town in a coffin. He recovers in a cave and returns to the town a few days later, nearly invincible, even stronger than he was before. Though he's beaten beyond recognition, he rises again to defeat his foes. Clint Eastwood is exceptionally cool in this movie. He only speaks when he needs to, unfazed by danger. The score by Ennio Morricone is stirring, cueing different parts of the story like an opera. The movie has an exaggerated quality too, with hyper close ups and overdone emotions. But it's a style and you get used to it.
- [25:29]
Nick Eicher
Here you are. Now take this money. It's enough to live on for a while. Now get across the border. Much distance between yourselves and Sam and Gal as possible.
- [25:38]
John Stonestreet
How may we thank you for what you are doing?
- [25:41]
Nick Eicher
Don't try.
- [25:42]
Max Bells
Just get going before the Rojos get here. The character of an outsider setting things right pleases viewers across cultures, times and places because we wish for such a hero. It's like Odysseus returning home and scaring off the suitors to win back Penelope. So with the man with no Name we have a character who, like Jesus Christ himself, enters the fray but stays above it, and who battles the enemy so there can be peace, and who delivers judgment in the same stroke as he offers protection and freedom. I'm Max Bells.
- [26:48]
Myrna Brown
Today is Friday, January 10th. Good morning. This is the world and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Myrna Brown.
- [26:58]
Nick Eicher
And I'm Nick Eicher. Next up, the first wordplay for 2024. First one of the new calendar year. And today George Grant considers ideas of a different sort. The history of calendars.
- [27:16]
George Grant
Have you ever wondered why we celebrate the new year in January? Why should the year begin for the Northern hemisphere in the dead of winter? Why not in the spring time as the leaves begin to appear again in the trees and the flowers begin to bud? The answer is perhaps surprising and more than a little complicated. There are about 40 different calendar systems currently at use in the world. Some of these systems replicate astronomical cycles according to fixed rules. Others are based on abstract, perpetually repeating cycles of no astronomical significance. Some carefully enumerate every unit of passing time. Others contain structural ambiguities and discontinuities. The common theme of each system is the desire to organize the calendar to satisfy the needs and presuppositions of society. Besides serving the obvious practical purposes, this process of organization provides a sense of, however illusory, of understanding and managing time itself. Thus, calendars have provided the basis for planning agricultural, hunting and migration cycles, for divination and prognostication, and for maintaining cycles of religious and civil events. Whatever their scientific sophistication or lack thereof, calendars are essentially social covenants, not scientific measurements. In 46 BC Julius Caesar inaugurated a new calendaring system starting in January, a month named for the mythical God of beginnings, Janus. But the system made the year too long by several minutes, thus adding nearly a day each century. So in 1582, Pope Pope Gregory XIII resolved to correct the problem by introducing a new calendar and issuing a bull requiring all Catholic countries to follow Oct. 4 with Oct. 15 that year. By the end of the 20th century, most of the world had conformed their civil calendars to the Gregorian reforms. But other calendars still persist. In 2025, the Chinese New Year, or Chan Jie, will be celebrated on January 29. The Islamic New Year, or Hijri, is June 25. The Eastern Orthodox New Year, or Ras el Sini, is January 14. For Coptic Christians, the new year, or Neruz, is September 11. The Jewish New Year, or Rosh Hashanah, is September 22. Some Celtic traditions still celebrate the New Year on Samhain this year on October 31, while others celebrate it on Hengalan, January 13. What a mess, huh? Things can get rather chaotic when we try to pinpoint exact dates in history. There are inevitable contradictions and variations, not necessarily because people have remembered wrongly, but because they have remembered differently. Like languages, vocabularies and grammars, calendars are worldview projects. And as Francis Schaeffer reminded us, worldviews matter. Ideas have real world consequences. In any case, happy New Year whenever it is that you celebrate it. I'm George Grant.
- [31:32]
Nick Eicher
Time now to say thank you to the team members who helped to put the program together. This week we will list them out in alphabetical order. David Bonson, Max Bells, Leo Braceno, Myrna Brown, Paul Butler, Janie B. Cheney, Kristin Flavin, Emma Frere, George Grant, Travis Kercher, Lindsay Mast, Mary Munsey, Onise Adua, Jeff Palomino, Emma Perley, Mary Reichert, Leah Savvis, John Stonestreet and Cal Thomas. And a new voice this week, World Opinions contributor Ann Kennedy. Thanks also to our breaking news team, Kent Covington, Lindy Langdon, Lauren Canterbury, Josh Schumacher and Christina Grube. And thanks to the guys who stay up late to get the program to you early. Johnny Franklin, Carl Peetz and Ben Jeiker.
- [32:22]
Myrna Brown
Harrison Waters is our Washington producer. Editorial assistance once again this week from Lauren Dunn. And Les Sillers is World editor in chief. 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 records Jesus saying, for whoever does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. Verse 50 of Matthew, chapter 12. Be sure to worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ in church on the Lord's Day. And Lord willing, we'll meet you right back here on Monday. Go now in grace and peace.