This isn’t about us

And NPR still has problems

I had been out of college about 5 years, and it was the early days of my fledgling radio program “The Peter Heck Show” (I have to admit, it just never had much of a ring to it). I was back on campus for some kind of alumni event and I ran into a good friend who had graduated a couple years before me. She was one of the funniest people I’d known, and was at the same time so thoughtful and serious about her Christian faith.

We and a group of others spent the better part of an hour catching up and they all were remarking how they weren’t surprised I had started a political radio program given my passions and interests at the time. The young woman in question looked at me sheepishly and said, “I suppose I should admit to you that even though you and I have similar political views, I’m a big fan of NPR.”

I laughed and admitted to her that I was sure there was some quality reporting that was done, and that my major exposure to the network was confined to the more outrageous pieces of biased work they would sporadically commit – that was the stuff that would come across my desk doing radio show prep, and consequently was the stuff that I would talk about.

I can’t say that since that time I’ve become a fan of NPR, but I will say that I’ve listened to a few of the podcasts they’ve produced and have really enjoyed them. Other than the weird music they play in the background that sound like some kind of mixture between elevator music and the haunting tones you hear in a horror movie right before the killer shows up – that is so distracting when you’re trying to listen to a think piece about European history.

I say all this as a preface to what I’m about to show you. I want to acknowledge that I do think NPR is able to produce some worthwhile content. I’m calling for them to be shut down or defunded. In fact, my biggest beef with NPR is its lack of diversity. Intellectual and philosophical diversity, that is. A taxpayer-funded entity should make it a top priority to represent the viewpoints and perspectives of the full range of taxpayers, and in my estimation, that remains an area where they need vast improvement.

For instance, surely there should have been someone in their organization, anyone, who could have stepped up to say that this entire thread was a really, really bad idea.

NPR @NPR

🧵 Thread: Russia’s attack on Ukraine means there’s a stressful news cycle ahead of us. The reality of conflict is always a shock to the system. Here are 5 ways to cope. npr.org/2022/02/25/108…

npr.org5 ways to cope with the stressful news cycleRussia invaded Ukraine yesterday, and the world seems to have shifted. While we wait for more information, don’t forget to care for yourself and loved ones in other ways.

NPR @NPR

🫁 Breathe If you’re feeling your body contracting or overheating, step away from whatever you’re doing and take a deep breath.

NPR @NPR

🏃Get moving Do something that feels good for your body and gets you out of your head. Go for a walk, jog or run. Take a moment to do a deep clean or comfort decorating to create a cozier space, or even learn a new skill.

NPR @NPR

🍲Nourish yourself The kitchen is a safe space for a lot of us. Maybe this is the time that you finally recreate a family recipe, or maybe you learn how to make a prettier pie, or maybe you just lose yourself to a kitsch reorganization.

NPR @NPR

🧑‍🤝‍🧑Stay connected: When the news is scary, it’s easy to get lost in our own heads. Reach out to loved ones instead. That could look like sitting down to write an actual letter to a relative, spending time with neighbors or playing games with family.

NPR @NPR

📵Log off Remember that it’s okay to not be plugged into the news 24/7. By turning off your alerts or just scanning the headlines once a day, you may be able to feel more grounded and prioritize yourself and loved ones.

What. In. The. World.

People are dying in Ukraine and Americans are so self-centered that we make it about us and how stressed we are about the situation?

Of course, stress is a big problem for human beings no matter where we live, but framing matters. Perspective matters. They both reveal the truth about how we view circumstances around us, as well as how our hearts and moral compass are calibrated. And the way this thread is all framed represents yet another example of our self-obsessing, self-interested, self-absorbed, narcissistic society.

We are in the midst of what experts call the “fog of war” coming out of Ukraine right now. Stories that we are hearing and seeing are later disputed or proven inaccurate. Images from the towns and cities of Ukraine are later shown to be previous pictures from other conflicts. Our era of instant and easy communication might seem to help us be more informed, but we are also in the era of instant and easy propaganda, so it’s really a wash. It’s hard to know what to believe.

But this much we know is true: there is death and there is suffering. There is fear and there is heartbreak. A reasoned people, a moral people, people with right minds, and centered souls would be looking outward and heavenward in response to such realities.

Over the course of the last few days I’ve seen the more progressive Christian voices that I follow pointing to the unfortunate alliance between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian government. The church has come out supportive of Russia’s invasion, and so progressive Christians have seized upon that to lecture, “See…this is the danger of Christian nationalism that we are trying to stop from happening here in America.”

Meanwhile, I’ve seen some of my more conservative Christian brothers and sisters pointing to the bold and courageous leadership of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and using it as an opportunity to lecture themselves. They say things like, “See…this is why we believe in the importance of manliness and find it imperative for the survival of our civilization that men rise up and be men.”

It’s not that I disagree with either of those two positions, and I certainly don’t have any “third way” to point to. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I’m feeling the same way about those remarks as I did about NPR’s take: why are we making this about us?

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should provoke us to pray for them, to pray for peace, to pray for the suffering families, and most of all for the advancement of the church of Jesus in that war-torn part of the world. That response doesn’t seem to be facilitated by “getting up in our feels” and cooking a batch of stress stew in our kitchen safe space, nor is it aided by “owning” our theological adversaries by using some aspect of the conflict to advance our pet cultural cause.

And to the degree that we do think of ourselves in the context of this unfolding war, let’s spend it counting our own blessings and, however possible, finding ways to help.

---

ICYMI…

Last week the country celebrated President’s Day. I decided to make this video to celebrate the unsung heroes of the office.

I also wrote this piece about how unserious the U.S. has become, and also one to offer a bit of advice to those worried about what their kids are being taught.

• The U.S. has become fundamentally unserious on the world stage

• Please don’t think CRT bans will solve the problem