Insensitivity

As a prisoner in Nazi death camps during World War II, Lily Engelman vowed that—if she survived—she would one day bear witness to the systematic slaughter of Jewish people. After the war, she emigrated from Hungary to Israel, where she found sewing work in a mattress factory. She married another Hungarian-speaking Jew, Shmuel Ebert, who had fled Europe before the war.

Despite her vow, however, she found herself rarely even mentioning the Holocaust after the war. People noticed the number tattooed on her left forearm but didn’t ask questions. They could never fathom the horrors she had endured, she thought. As for her own children, she preferred not to terrify them.

Only in the late 1980s, spurred partly by questions from one of her daughters, did she begin to open up. Resettled in London, she told her story in schools, in gatherings of other survivors and even in the British Parliament. Once she sat in a London train station and talked about the Holocaust with anyone who stopped to listen. In one video recounting her experiences, she says the Holocaust was the first time factories were built to kill people.

Lily Ebert, who died October 9, 2024 at the age of 100, once summed up her mission as trying “to explain the unexplainable.” But one of her obituaries noted that according to Ebert, words really matter. As she explained, “The Holocaust didn’t start with actions. It started with words.”

A popular pizza chain known for its snarky ad campaigns has been forced to apologize after a sustained public outcry over its latest special. In early October, D.C.-based &Pizza (pronounced “And Pizza”) announced the addition of “Marion Berry Knots” to its dessert menu, referencing the late former mayor of the District of Columbia Marion Barry. The ads for the new product made extensive references to Barry’s drug use and public drug arrests (“so good, it’s almost a felony”).

Marion Barry was arrested in a drug sting in 1990 and was eventually convicted of a misdemeanor drug charge. After six months in prison, Barry was elected to the city council in 1992, and re-elected mayor in 1994. Despite his death in 2014, the memory of Barry, the district’s first African American mayor, still looms large over residents of Washington, a city with a sizable African American population.

The local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), called the ad campaign “inflammatory, and culturally-insensitive,” calling for its removal. The organization also challenged &Pizza to donate to organizations doing substance abuse prevention as a way to rectify the wrong.

“Candidly, we made a mistake," said &pizza CEO Mike Burns in a statement. “And for that, we sincerely apologize.”

Legal representatives for Barry’s widow Cora Masters Barry and the Barry estate called the apology insufficient, issuing a cease-and-desist notice request that &Pizza refrain from profiting from Barry’s name, image, or likeness.

D.C. restaurant owner Peyton Sherwood said:

Barry’s life was about opportunity, dignity, and equality for everyone in Washington, D.C. To reduce that legacy to a crass ad about his darkest moments is not only offensive it’s cruel. It disregards the immense good Barry did for this city and the battles he fought on behalf of all its people.

Possible Preaching Angle:

A person is more than their failures. Every person is a mixture of good and bad, failures, and successes. We should always look to remove anything in our own eye before we try to remove the speck in other’s eyes (Matt. 7:1-5), even if done in jest.

A woman in Ohio who threw a burrito bowl at a Chipotle worker and was convicted of assault has been sentenced to an unusual punishment that includes working in fast food for two months.

During a dinner rush and while a restaurant was short-staffed, Emily Russell, then the store manager, said she made and then remade an order for Rosemary Hayne. Ms. Hayne was not satisfied with the final product. In a video shared widely online, she can be seen yelling at Ms. Russell before hurling the burrito bowl at her face.

“I didn’t expect it at all,” Ms. Russell, 26, said. “I just blinked and there was sour cream dripping from my hair.” Eventually, someone called the police, Ms. Russell said. The judge offered her a chance to reduce her sentence, with a catch—60 of her 90 jail days would be suspended if she worked 20 hours a week for eight and a half weeks (or 60 days) at a fast-food restaurant. Ms. Hayne, 39, agreed to take the judge up on his offer, he said. She must complete her time as a fast-food worker by the time she reports to jail.

The sentencing came as a surprise to Ms. Russell. “I thought she was going to get a slap on the wrist, but she didn’t. She is going to get to walk in my shoes,” Ms. Russell said.

Possible Preaching Angle:

That’s one way to learn how to walk in someone else’s shoes, but as followers of Jesus we should always be quicker to extend compassion and forgiveness to others.

When Letitia Bishop ordered three Subway sandwiches at her local gas station, she probably expected a four-figure receipt – as long as the last two were after the decimal point. But that’s not at all what happened. After her purchase, she later checked her debit account and found a charge for $1,021.50.

After getting over the sticker shock of her purchase, Bishop said she tried contacting Subway’s corporate offices, but couldn’t get through to an actual human being. And when she went back to the store, she found that the store had been closed down.

It took seven weeks for her to get her money back, during which time she could barely pay for groceries and was forced to live off credit cards. Bishop said, “I had to make sacrifices during these two months. It was very difficult. I have never had to feel like we're going to have to get spaghetti, and that's going to be that.”

Bishop contacted a local news affiliate and filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau in Connecticut (where Subway’s corporate offices are located). That’s when a Subway representative put her in contact with a regional manager that owns the gas station and the Subway franchise. That regional manager opted to give Bishop cash back and made her sign a receipt.

But that wasn’t the end of her headache. Apparently, the irregularity of the large cash deposit caused her local bank to flag the transaction, which meant she couldn’t immediately use the funds to pay her bills, causing further grief for Bishop. She said, "I just honestly don't have the emotional space to deal with this because literally it's stressing me out so much.

Possible Preaching Angle

Mistakes are a part of life, but those who do not own up to them cause a lot of harm to the innocent when justice is delayed.

You've never heard of Tanuja Ghale. She's a fellow believer, salon owner, and evangelist in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. One day she saw a young woman on the streets of that city and told her she was beautiful. Inexplicably, the woman began to weep. That morning, her husband had beaten her and told her she was, "… the worst woman in the world."

When Tanuja tells women they're beautiful, they're shocked, and want to know what beauty she sees in them that their loved ones have missed. Then those women may be ready to hear that God loves them unconditionally. Our words can have such a profound positive (or negative!) impact.

Puerto Rican rapper Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, also known as Bad Bunny, recently opened the telecast of 2023 Grammy Awards. It was the first time a musical act that does not primarily speak or sing in English was featured in such a prestigious timeslot. As a result, many Latin American people beamed in pride at seeing someone from their culture (or one adjacent to theirs) be represented on such a big stage.

But one particular detail caused a stir in the immediate wake of the telecast. Viewers responded in real time on social media platforms to the way that Bad Bunny’s performance was captured by the live closed-captioning text at the bottom of the screen. His words and music were not transcribed, but rather described simply as “non-English.”

This was a disappointment for viewers hoping to see a live transcription of Bad Bunny’s Spanish lyrics, considering that he’d been nominated for Album of the Year. That oversight was particularly galling, according Melissa Harris-Perry of WNYC, because it was so avoidable.

Harris-Perry said, “Bad Bunny does not generally or ever perform in English, right? I mean, this should not have been a surprise.”

Dr. Bonilla is director of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (at CUNY), and a guest of Harris-Perry’s podcast . Bonilla says that Bad Bunny is so important to Puerto Rican audiences in part because of his refusal to cater to English-speaking audiences, which is causing the industry to change.

Bonilla said, “Okay, you're making history here. For the first time, you have a Spanish language act nominated for Album of the Year. This is the largest streaming artist in the world. You know that he sings and speaks only in Spanish. Do better, Grammys.”

The good news is that this is less a function of malice than of lack of planning or intentionality. Hopefully, the Grammys will be ready the next time they feature a Spanish-speaking act so prominently in their telecast.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Language is one of the ways that we define and reinforce culture. The church can also be sensitive to this and welcome other language speakers into God's family. We can assist in that mission by accommodating the languages of vulnerable people with less power or influence.

When Disney CEO Bob Chapek was fired and replaced by his predecessor Bob Iger, many of Disney’s most vocal fans rejoiced. One of them is Len Testa, a computer scientist who once did a master’s thesis using math to optimize his ability to see as many Disney theme park rides as possible.

Testa wrote a column in the NY Times about why he felt Chapek was unfit for his previous leadership position. In the column, Testa claimed that Chapek violated the spirit of founder Walt Disney, his penchant for hospitality, and his appreciation of childlike wonder.

In his August 2022 earnings call, Mr. Chapek reported that Disney’s theme park, experiences, and products division had generated $7.4 billion in revenue in the third quarter, up 72 percent from the same time a year prior. He could have acknowledged Disney’s theme park guests for the stunning results.

Instead, a news release suggested that earnings would have been greater but for an “unfavorable attendance mix” at Disneyland. The company was essentially saying that too many annual passholders were visiting from nearby instead of out-of-towners, who stay at Disney hotels and eat at Disney restaurants more often. Some fans responded by creating T-shirts emblazoned with the phrase “Unfavorable attendance mix” and wearing them in the parks as in-jokes to other fans.

Testa says that fans interpret a recent uptick in extra theme park fees and surcharges as a lack of appreciation for generations of fans whose loyalty helped to build Disney into the corporate behemoth it is today. Furthermore, he says that influencers and freelance writers have made a cottage industry out of providing tips for people going through the process of booking a Disney trip because of how byzantine, confusing, and expensive it has become.

Testa ends his piece by suggesting that if Mr. Iger wants to experience the park from the perspective of one of the fans, he should try navigating Disney’s reservation system to book a theme park stay on a middle-class salary. Testa said, “When he’s overwhelmed by the cost and complexity, I know many fans who’d be happy to talk him through it. No charge.”

Tech companies often make public statements in favor of affordable housing in the context of public acts of philanthropy. But the sincerity of these pronouncements can be tested by examining responses from the same executives confronted with actual affordable housing developments in their neighborhoods. And right now, many of them are failing this simple test.

Top executives at Netflix, Apple, Google, Facebook parent-company Meta, and others, have publicly opposed a recent housing development plan in Atherton, California, a wealthy Silicon Valley enclave just north of Stanford University. It’s a trend that housing analysts call NIMBYism, which stands for “Not In My Back Yard.”

Jeremy Levine, of the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County said, “Atherton talks about multifamily housing as if it was a Martian invasion or something.” Atherton, like many wealthy towns its size, is zoned almost exclusively for single-family dwellings. But the meteoric rise in tech-related jobs has put the state of California on an unsustainable housing trajectory. Simply put, there are far too many people with too few affordable places to live.

To ameliorate this issue, the state of California requires cities to submit housing plans that account for the projected growth in their communities. In Atherton, that meant carving out a zoning exception for several multifamily townhouse sites. Almost immediately, many town residents saw this potential development as a threat to their way of life. One resident said that having more than one residence on a single acre of land would “MASSIVELY decrease our home values, the quality of life of ourselves and our neighbors, and IMMENSELY increase the noise pollution and traffic.”

Atherton mayor Rick DeGolia is sympathetic and said, “Everybody who buys into Atherton spent a huge amount of money to get in.” Urban Planner Ralph Robinson was blunter saying, “People are less sympathetic.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

In contrast to this attitude, the family of God is to be open to everyone, and not exclusively reserved for a wealthy few.

Football scout Chris Prescott was let go from his scouting position for the Chicago Bears after a quote from one of his media appearances went viral. "He’s a – what would we call it? – Ph.D.? Poor, hungry and desperate. Football is his life. This is this kid’s life. There’s a lot to like about that when you see a guy who’s so passionate about football.”

Prescott was referring to Bears draft pick Jaquan Brisker, a defensive back out of Penn State. Prescott meant it as a compliment, saying afterwards, "it’s how he communicates … you feel a tough, hard-nosed kid."

After his words were quoted on Twitter, an outcry of criticism welled up from people who felt that Prescott’s words were unnecessarily insensitive, bordering on dehumanizing. Mike Freeman of USA Today said, “If Prescott talks about players like this publicly, imagine what he says when out of view.” Freeman, who is African American, says that Prescott and other white NFL staffers and media members often communicate in ways that unintentionally devalue the humanity NFL football players, most of whom are Black.

Freeman said, “There's still a significant swath of the league that sees players as cattle, or worse, as things. What I'm about to say isn't specifically about Prescott. It's more of a general statement. Parts of the NFL see players as things that may have some elements of humanity, but not quite; somewhere between a robot and a shell of a man.”

Many current and former NFL players agree. Seattle Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin says there are times when he feels like “a zoo animal”:

I don’t know how to put this, but to some people, the NFL is basically modern-day slavery. Don’t get me wrong, we get paid a lot of money. There’s a sense of “shut up and play,” that this is entertainment for other people. Then, when we go out in public, we’re like zoo animals. We’re not human beings. I can’t go to the grocery store and just buy groceries like a normal person. It becomes an issue, a burden and so . . . I haven’t checked my mail in a while.

Possible Preaching Angle:

When we recognize the inherent dignity in everyone, we show them the respect that God intends for everyone.

A former Colorado police officer was sentenced to five years in prison in connection to his conduct during an arrest of a 73-year-old woman with dementia. Loveland Police officer Austin Hopp arrested Karen Garner after she reportedly stole about $14 worth of merchandise from a local store.

Footage from his body camera showed Hopp grabbing her arm, twisting it upward as he pushed her onto the hood of a car, then pushing her to the ground. Hopp was also captured on police surveillance video laughing and joking about his treatment of Garner as he reviewed the body camera footage with another officer. At one point he even called attention to the popping sound her shoulder made as he dislocated it.

Hopp entered into a settlement with the prosecution, pleading guilty to second-degree assault in exchanged for a reduced sentence. Garner received $3 million in compensation from the city of Loveland. Family members say that money will help pay for the medical costs incurred from the injurious arrest.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Servants in positional leadership must exercise humility when dealing with others, particularly those who have fallen into trouble.

The rich talk a good game but often don’t live up to their convictions. Many affluent Americans whose politics are on the liberal left are being exposed as hypocrites in regards to housing, taxation, and education. The New York Times, which in many cases is the flag-bearer for the left, is displaying integrity and courage in criticizing and exposing their own.

Just one example given is the San Francisco area adding 676,000 jobs in the last eight years but only having 176,000 housing units. The City Council attempted to re-zone a certain area to allow for the construction of a 60-unit affordable housing complex. The overwhelmingly liberal residents of Palo Alto voted to repeal the decision, eventually resulting in the construction of a few $5 million single-family homes.

The New York Times lead writer on business and economics, Binyamin Appelbaum, comments:

I think people aren’t living their values. You go to these meetings in these neighborhoods where they’re talking about a new housing project, and it’s always the same song. And it goes like this. “I am very in favor of affordable housing. We need more of it in this community. However, I have some concerns about this project. We have the hearts to do this. But we’re doing it wrong. And we’re dictating harm onto the neighborhoods.”

And then off we go with the concerns. And then nothing ever gets built. This is happening all over California. And the result is that these neighborhoods are so expensive that they keep anyone out who isn’t a part of this small group of superrich residents, many of whom bought their properties decades ago and who spend their time fighting vigorously to keep the value of their real estate assets superhigh.

You can watch the video here.

Lacking the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, modern society is looking for new, innovative ways to help make people more empathetic. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, whose company sells the Oculus VR headset, said of virtual reality (VR): “One of the most powerful features of VR is empathy. By cultivating empathy, VR can raise awareness and help us see what’s happening in different parts of the world.”

The hope and promise of VR is that one day everyone will call it an “empathy machine”:

By creating an immersive and interactive virtual environment, a VR headset can quite literally put you in someone else’s shoes. Text, image, or video offers only partial views of a person’s life. With VR, you can get inside their head. And this high-fidelity simulation, the argument goes, will make us better people by heightening our sensitivity to the suffering of others. It will make us “more compassionate,” “more connected,” and ultimately “more human,” in the words of the VR artist Chris Milk. ... By lending you the eyes and ears of someone suffering, tech helps you to develop a greater sense of responsibility for them. You feel compelled to act. This is connectivity not merely as a technical concept, but a moral one.

This expectation is partially explored in the movie Ready Player Two, released in November, 2020. More advanced VR--actually placed inside the brains of most of the world’s population--has rid the world of crime, disease, addiction, and all forms of prejudice. As one of the film’s characters says: “For the first time in human history, we have technology that gives us the ability to live in someone else’s skin for a little while.”

In a wide-ranging interview with GQ, artist and style icon Pharrell admitted some regrets surrounding his extensive catalog of hit songs. This is especially regarding the massively popular and extensively criticized “Blurred Lines,” featuring Robin Thicke and rapper T.I. The 2013 hit song was criticized as being misogynist and catering to rape culture, despite the fact that a woman directed its accompanying music video.

Williams says the controversy left a big impact on him:

Then I realized that there are men who use that same language when taking advantage of a woman. And it doesn’t matter that that’s not my behavior or the way I think about things. It just matters how it affects women.

My mind opened up to what was actually being said in the song and how it could make someone feel. Even though it wasn't the majority, it didn't matter. I cared what they were feeling too. I realized that we live in a chauvinist culture in our country. Hadn't realized that. Didn't realize that some of my songs catered to that. So that blew my mind.

Potential Preaching Angles: When we’re willing to admit when we’re wrong or when we’re ignorant about a topic, it allows us to consider the needs and perspectives of others. This helps us to become more like Jesus.

In the wake of the destruction from Hurricane Harvey (2017), Americans rallied to provide aid and relief. But not all of the "help" actually helped. Some of it led to more complications and burdens. In an Acton Institute Powerblog disaster relief expert Juanita Rilling said, "Generally after a disaster, people with loving intentions donate things that cannot be used in a disaster response, and in fact may actually be harmful." For instance, she continued, "People have donated prom gowns and wigs and tiger costumes and pumpkins, and frostbite cream to Rwanda, and used teabags, 'cause you can always get another cup of tea."

Following 1998's Hurricane Mitch, Rilling recalls finding loads of boxes on an air strip that were filled with winter coats (it was summertime in Honduras). Likewise, after the disastrous tsunami of 2004, beaches in Indonesia were so filled with donated clothes that the donations were eventually set on fire due to oncoming rot. After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, American mothers donated breast milk, not thinking of the challenges of keeping it fresh.

Possible Preaching Angles: Poverty; Poor People; Social Justice; Injustice; Missions—This story serves as a perfect example of "when helping hurts." The intentions may be good, but the strategy is not effective because the donors have not listened to what the recipients really need.

"In Mexico they wanted to be my friends because they wanted to do missions to me, but when I moved to the United States no one wanted to be my friend."

Testimony from a Mexican student who came to study in the U.S. after having received many short-term mission trips from American church groups.

There is an Anton Chekhov story called "The Lament." It is a simple story about an old man who drives a horse and buggy for hire through the city.

The story goes that the old man's son died recently and he wants so desperately to tell someone. A wealthy man hires the horse and buggy for a ride across town. As the wealthy man steps into the carriage, the old man says, "My son, my son. Let me tell you about my son." But the busy man doesn't have time to listen.

Well, after the wealthy man leaves, another man steps into the carriage. He wants to be driven to the other side of the city. Again, the old man says, "My son. My son. Let me tell you about my son." And again, this second man also doesn't bother to listen.

At the end of the day, the old man returns to the stables, unhitches his horse, and as he begins to brush the horse down for the night, the old man begins to tell the horse, "My son. My son." And he tells the horse the tragic story.

A study from University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business concludes that being ignored at work is worse than being harassed or bullied at work. Across three separate studies, a team of researchers measured the effects of ostracism and harassment in the work environment. The researchers defined ostracism as "an individual or a group neglecting to take actions that engage another [co-worker] when it would be customary or appropriate to do so." In other words, ostracism involves anything from having one's greetings go ignored, being excluded from invitations, or going silent when another co-worker tries to enter the conversation.

Surprisingly, the study concluded that ostracism, which seems better than overt harassment, was actually more painful. One of the lead authors of the study said, "We've been taught that ignoring someone is socially preferable—if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all. But ostracism actually leads people to feel more helpless, like they're not worthy of any attention at all." According to the study

Receiving attention from others signals that one exists, matters to others, and affects others in that environment … In contrast, being ignored, excluded, and shunned signals that one is so inconsequential as a social being that one is unworthy of others' attention or reaction.

Possible Preaching Angles: Of course this study also has implications for how we accept or reject one another in the body of Christ.

The same medication that you take for sore muscles or minor headaches might be affecting more than your physical health. The active ingredient in Tylenol may be dulling your emotions. "It seems to take the highs off your daily highs and the lows off your daily lows," says Baldwin Way, a psychologist at Ohio State University and the principal investigator on the study. "It kind of flattens out the vicissitudes of your life."

An article on NPR put it this way: "A common pain medication might make you go from 'so cute!' to 'so what?' when you look at a photo of a kitten. And it might make you less sensitive to horrifying things, too."

Possible Preaching Angle:

That's a powerful impact from a simple, every day, over-the-counter drug. It has to make you wonder: are there other small habits or "small sins" that are having a powerful impact on my spiritual life?

Take this simple test: After your next long conversation with someone, estimate what percentage of it you spent talking. Be honest. No, you're already underestimating. How do I know? Because it's more fun to talk than to listen. Talking is like drinking a great Cabernet. Listening is like doing squats … Listening is like reading a corporate report. Talking is like eating a cinnamon bun.

—Rob Lazebnik, a writer for the TV show The Simpsons

A Florida judge handed down an unusual sentence to a husband who had a domestic dispute with his wife.

During the courthouse hearing, Judge Hurley told Mr. Bray that he would he would need to figure out a plan for marriage counseling, but then Hurley added the novel part of the sentence:

[Mr. Bray] is going to stop by somewhere and he's going to get some flowers. He's going to get a card, he's going to get flowers, and then he's going to go home, pick up his wife, get dressed and take her to Red Lobster, and after that Red Lobster they're going to go bowling.

An attorney jokingly asked the judge, "Does he have to let her win?"

"No," Judge Hurley replied, but he also stressed that he wasn't joking. If Bray failed to follow through, he would be back in court.

The judge acknowledged that it was a very minor incident, but he didn't want to let Mr. Bray off the hook. So after checking with Mrs. Bray that she did not felt safe enough to invite her husband back home, Mrs. Bray said, "I love my husband and want to work things out." Then the judge turned to Mr. Bray and said, "Flowers, birthday card, Red Lobster, bowling. You got your work cut out for you, do you understand?"

'Yes sir,' Bray replied.