The Creation Order and Jesus' Ethic of Radical Sharing: Matthew 19:13 - 30

An exegetical essay arguing that Jesus’ vision of generosity and sharing comes from the creation order of Genesis 1 - 2.

Relational Economic Justice

Article written for The Christian Century, Apr 12, 2016. A short article introducing how Western Enlightenment political philosophy is faulty for starting from an individualistic standpoint. 5 min read.

Christian Restorative Justice: Financial Reform

Video of a message given to New Hope Fellowship Baltimore, Maryland, May 2015. A sermon exploring the biblical commands against interest rate lending, and important financial reforms that we need today; and also slides.

Christian Restorative Justice: Beyond Charity - God's Restorative Justice for Children and Families (ppts)

Slides of a presentation given to Boston Chinese Evangelical Church, 2014. An introduction to Christian history elevating and protecting children; an examination of the four types of justice with regards to children's issues such as public education and health.

Future Writings:

Tension Among the Three Factors of Production:  Capital Abusing Land and Labor (TBD)

Addicted to Oil and More:  Why Do We Need More Economic Growth? (TBD)

Richard Beck, Addiction and Modernity, Part 1: The Addict as Prophet. Experimental Theology | Substack, Sep 5, 2023.

Richard Beck, Addiction and Modernity, Part 2: Making Something Matter in a World Where Nothing Matters. Experimental Theology | Substack, Sep 6, 2023.

Richard Beck, Addiction and Modernity, Part 3: An Underwhelming and Overwhelming Life. Experimental Theology | Substack, Sep 7, 2023.

Richard Beck, Addiction and Modernity, Part 4: Lonely People Make Good Addicts. Experimental Theology | Substack, Sep 6, 2023.

The Corporation, a documentary about the history of corporations and the problems we have with them

Why We Fight, a documentary about the corrupting ties between the U.S. military and corporations

The Inside Job, a documentary about the financial industry and the economic collapse of 2008

Robert Glennon, Unquenchable: America's Water Crisis and What To Do About It (2001)

Kevin Phillips, Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich (2003)

Kathleen D. Vohs, Nicole L. Mead, Miranda R. Goode, The Psychological Consequences of Money.  Science, Nov 17, 2006.

David Harvey, The Crises of Capitalism: "Capitalism Never Solves Its Crises; It Moves Them Around Geographically".  video, Apr 26, 2010.

The Unbroken Window, Markets "Force" the Poor to Sell Things.  blog, Nov 20, 2009. a good thought exercise about the limits of markets, and their effects

Alex Prud'homme, The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Freshwater in the Twenty-First Century. 2011.

Greg Palast, Mitt Romney's Bailout Bonanza: How He Made Millions from the Rescue of Detroit.  Democracy Now, Oct 18, 2012.

Think By Numbers, Government Spends More on Corporate Welfare Subsidies than Social Welfare Programs

Tanner Colby, Some of My Best Friends Are Black: The Strange Story of Integration in America.  2013.

Michael Moss, The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food.  New York Times, Feb 20, 2013.

Michael Mudd, How To Force Ethics on the Food Industry.  New York Times, Mar 17, 2013.

Larry Gross, Our Modern Day Addiction to Technology and Propaganda.  Truthdig, Apr 5, 2013.

Noam Chomsky, The Corporatization of the University.  youtube video, Jul 12, 2013.

Dr. Dwight Lundell, World Renowned Heart Surgeon Speaks Out on What Really Causes Heart Disease.  My Science Academy, Aug 19, 2013.

Oracle Talk, 10 Foods Sold in the U.S. That Are Banned Elsewhere.  Oracle Talk, Sep 5, 2013.

Daisy J Mechelmans, Michael Irvine, Paula Banca, Laura Porter, Simon Mitchell, Tom B. Mole, Tatyana R Lapa, Neil A. Harrison, Marc N. Potenza, Valerie Voon, Enhanced Attentional Bias towards Sexually Explicit Cues in Individuals with and without Compulsive Sexual Behaviours. PLOS One, Aug 25, 2014.

“Compulsive sexual behaviour (CSB) is relatively common and has been associated with significant distress and psychosocial impairments. CSB has been conceptualized as either an impulse control disorder or a non-substance ‘behavioural’ addiction. Substance use disorders are commonly associated with attentional biases to drug cues which are believed to reflect processes of incentive salience. Here we assess male CSB subjects compared to age-matched male healthy controls using a dot probe task to assess attentional bias to sexually explicit cues. We show that compared to healthy volunteers, CSB subjects have enhanced attentional bias to explicit cues but not neutral cues particularly for early stimuli latency. Our findings suggest enhanced attentional bias to explicit cues possibly related to an early orienting attentional response. This finding dovetails with our recent observation that sexually explicit videos were associated with greater activity in a neural network similar to that observed in drug-cue-reactivity studies. Greater desire or wanting rather than liking was further associated with activity in this neural network. These studies together provide support for an incentive motivation theory of addiction underlying the aberrant response towards sexual cues in CSB.”

John Oliver, Last Week Tonight: Sugar.  Last Week Tonight, Oct 26, 2014.

Marcus Bleasdale, Conflict Minerals: Minerals in Our Electronics Have Bankrolled Unspeakable Violence in the Congo.  National Geographic, Oct 2013.

Ross Douthat, Pot and Jackpots.  New York Times, Nov 2, 2013.

Eli Saslow, Too Much of Too Little: A Diet Fueled by Food Stamps is Making South Texans Obese but Leaving Them Hungry.  Washington Post, Nov 9, 2013.

Joe Stiglitz, The Insanity of Our Food Policy.  New York Times, Nov 16, 2013.

Mark Hyman, Fat Does Not Make You Fat; Sugar Does.  Huffington Post, Nov 26, 2013.

Kali Ma, Humanity in Flux: Would a Species that Recognizes its Own Worth Be Actively Destroying Itself?  The Hampton Institute, Dec 12, 2013.

Yanis Varoufakis, Bitcoin and the Dangerous Fantasy of 'Apolitical' Money.  Truthdig, Dec 26, 2013.

Brian Leiter, American Law Schools: The New Economic Realities.  Dec 29, 2013.

David Dayen, 2013 Best in Wall Street Accountability - Fantasy Edition.  Salon, Jan 1, 2014.

Patrick J. Deneen, Experiments in Living: John Stuart Mill's Liberalism Emancipates the Powerful from Custom's Restraints—and Ordinary Americans Suffer.  The American Conservative, Jan 16, 2014.

John Stoehr, How Pope Francis Challenges the Right. and Left.  The American Conservative, Jan 16, 2014.

Gregory Ciotti, Is Your Brain Truly Ready for Junk Food, Porn, or the Internet?  Sparring Mind blog.

Beth McMurtrie, Why Colleges Haven't Stopped Binge Drinking.  New York Times, Dec 14, 2014.

Barbara Sadick, Scientific Team Sounds the Alarm on Sugar as a Source of Disease.  Medical Press, Jan 2, 2015.

Ben Farmer, Jamie Oliver: Sugar Can Destroy Lives and Should Be Taxed Like Tobacco.  The Telegraph, Jan 3, 2015.

The Sugar Science.  website.

Melissa Locker, This Place Just Made it Illegal to Give Kids Too Much Screen Time.  Time, Jan 26, 2015.

Fresh Air, Why Teens Are Impulsive, Addiction-Prone And Should Protect Their Brains.  NPR, Jan 28, 2015.

Carolyn Gregoire, This is What Sugar Does To Your Brain.  Huffington Post, Apr 6, 2015.

Tia Ghose, In Addition to Regret, Tattoos Can Pose Serious Health Risks.  Huffington Post, May 27, 2015.

Angela Garcia Combs, Dear President Carter.  Huffington Post, Aug 24, 2015. about his moral leadership.

German Lopez, Imagine if the Media Covered Alcohol Like Other Drugs.  Vox, Jun 15, 2015.

Abraham Riesman and Jesse Singal, This Is Your Brain on Advertising: Why Kids Are So Vulnerable to Marketing.  New York Magazine, Nov 3, 2015.

Ollie McAteer, Cocaine Can Cause the Brain to Eat Itself.  Metro UK, Jan 18, 2016.

Thomas Frank, How the Democratic Party Created a Liberalism of the Rich.  In These Times, Mar 29, 2016.

Connor Kilpatrick, Burying the White Working Class.  Jacobin Magazine, May 13, 2016. Liberal condescension towards white workers is code for a broader anti-working class agenda.

Raj Patel and Jason W Moore, How the Chicken Nugget Became the True Symbol of our Era.  The Guardian, May 8, 2018. when you turn the natural world into a profit-making machine. 

Farhad Manjoo, America’s Cities Are Unlivable. Blame Wealthy Liberals.  New York Times, May 22, 2019. re: California politics, single occupancy zoning laws, and resistance to change

Sean Illing, Capitalism Is Turning Us Into Addicts.  Vox, Oct 19, 2019. “How Big Business shapes our habits and desires.”

Kurt Andersen, How Liberals Opened the Door to Libertarian Economics.  New York Times, Sep 11, 2020. “Milton Friedman’s free-market ideas found favor in a free-love era and helped redirect the country toward the right. The aftershocks of his radical arguments are still being felt today.”

Catherine Guthrie, First, Their Breast Implants Made Them Sick. Then They Were Hit with the Bill.. Cosmopolitan, Aug 18, 2020. “Inside the wildly expensive, endlessly frustrating experience of trying to get implants removed when your health is on the line.” Overconsumption and the alteration of the self. Helpful stats on cosmetic surgery and its impact.

Saagar Enjeti, Wall Street, Big Businesses Go ALL IN For Biden, Democratic Party. Rising | The Hill, Oct 1, 2020. the Chamber of Commerce’s endorsement of Democrats

Libby Hattersley et.al., Taxes on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages: International Evidence and Experiences.  World Bank, Oct 2020.  

Saagar Enjeti, The Coming Bill For The Massive Cost Of Lockdowns (Rising | The Hill, Mar 24, 2021. culturally, coming out of the COVID pandemic, we are about to experience an economic boom and consumption increase to make ourselves feel better. Saagar surveys alcohol and drug use, weight gain and likely health problems, etc. See also Elyse R. Grossman, Sara E. Benjamin-Neelon, and Susan Sonnenschein, Alcohol Consumption during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Survey of US Adults. International Journal of Environment Res Public Health, Dec 9, 2020.

Second Thought, The Truth About Food Insecurity. Second Thought, Apr 5, 2021. shows structural and psychological problems that lie behind how we distribute food resources

BBC, UK Doctor Switches to 80% Ultra-Processed Food Diet for 30 Days 🍔🍕🍟.  BBC, May 28, 2021.  “Dr Chris van Tulleken embarked on an ultra-processed 30 day diet to uncover what effect it has on our bodies, the results leave him and the scientists in shock!”

Krystal Ball, Groundbreaking Study Proves Culture Wars Kill Class Politics. Breaking Points, Jun 7, 2021. highlights a very important study by Thomas Picketty et al. about Portugal and Ireland taking an economically leftist, working-class oriented, progressive turn from the 2008-09 crisis, and thereby avoiding the rightward, antidemocratic fascist currents of other countries. This has major implications for the corporate Democrats abandoning the working class.

Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, VA Gov Race Shows How Suburban Libs Destroyed Dem Party. Breaking Points, Jun 10, 2021. compares Virginia and Nevada on politics. In VA, suburban people make up the Democratic Party, but in NV, unionized workers do.

Gary Dorrien, Bridging the Old Left and New Left.  Bias Magazine, Jun 29, 2021.  Dorrien explores the “old left” rooted in the work of Eugene Debs and continuing through Michael Harrington, whose activism was inspired by his Catholic upbringing, and Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement, and the labor unions such as the AFL-CIO.  The “new left” was the Civil Rights Movement, represented by organizations like SNCC and Tom Hayden.  Harrington’s old left instincts were an ill-fit with the new left.  

Kate Julian, America Has a Drinking Problem. The Atlantic, Jul-Aug, 2021. fascinating colonial and early US history of alcohol consumption, compared with other cultures and civilizations. Also, in the US, women are more likely than men to be depressed/anxious and use alcohol in relation. Use of alcohol increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jonathan Haidt, The Dangerous Experiment on Teen Girls .  The Atlantic, Nov 21, 2021. “The preponderance of the evidence suggests that social media is causing real damage to adolescents.” “Something terrible has happened to Gen Z, the generation born after 1996. Rates of teen depression and anxiety have gone up and down over time, but it is rare to find an “elbow” in these data sets––a substantial and sustained change occurring within just two or three years. Yet when we look at what happened to American teens in the early 2010s, we see many such turning points, usually sharper for girls.”

Stephen Marche, America’s Gambling Addiction is Metastasizing.  The Atlantic, Nov 26, 2021. “The most straightforward reason for the surge in gambling is a change to the law: In 2018, the Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, opening the door to online sports betting across 21 states. As a direct result, sports-betting revenues grew 69 percent from 2019 to 2020 and another 270 percent during the first quarter of 2021. Total gambling revenues in the U.S. are set to break the $44 billion mark this year, approaching the size of the market for movies, books, and music combined.”

Thom Hartmann, Greed Can Unleash Waves Of New COVID Variants?.  Thom Hartmann Program, Nov 29, 2021. considers how private patents by big pharma prevents mass vaccinations. He surveys spiritual, philosophical, and historic condemnations of greed. Hartmann condemns “Reaganism” or neoliberalism which said that greed is good.

Michael Tomasky, The Solution to the Democrats’ Leftism Problem.  The New Republic, Nov 29, 2021. “The party’s elites and activists are more progressive than its base. Here’s how to close that gap.” “It’s an undeniable fact that Democratic Party elites, progressive activists, foundation and think-tank officials, and most opinion journalists are well to the left of the party’s rank and file. In 2018, for example, Pew found that 46 percent of Democrats identified themselves as liberal, 37 percent as moderate, and 15 percent as conservative. Republicans, in contrast, were far more conservative overall than Democrats were liberal.. So let that sink in: More than half of the party’s rank and file isn’t even liberal, let alone progressive-left.”

Rachel Rueckert, The Hardest Part of Being Sober is Explaining It to You.  Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Ask.  Washington Post, Dec 27, 2021.

Sylvie Gilman and Thierry de Lestrade, Obesity and Corporate Greed.  Deutsche Welle, May 26, 2022.  “Doctors predict that by 2030, half of the world's population will be overweight or obese. An epidemic of obesity is causing a rapid rise in diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. It's becoming the biggest health challenge worldwide. Why has no country managed to stop this epidemic? The food industry and government authorities say it's due to a lack of individual self-discipline. Is this true? Or is it the result of collective failure -- a symptom of a liberal society that abhors obesity, yet produces people who are overweight. Is society itself to blame for this situation?”  Multinational food corporations making sugar products and refined flour products have taken over our industrial food system for four decades.  

DW Documentary, Junk Food, Sugar and Additives - The Dark Side of the Food Industry.  DW Documentary, Jun 30, 2023.  “40% of the global population is overweight or obese. Highly processed industrial foodstuffs are largely to blame. But food companies continue to focus on products that are addictive. Sugar is one of the strongest "drugs” and can get consumers really hooked. Food giants know this only too well. That’s why they use sugar, fats and flavor enhancers to encourage people to buy their products and boost their profits. The result: more and more people around the world are overweight or obese. Illnesses such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease are becoming more prevalent. What can be done to change or even put a stop to the food industry’s strategies?”

Jordan Harbinger, Narco-Diplomacy in The Middle East: Captagon (The Dr*g You Haven't Heard of Yet).  The Jordan Harbinger Show, Aug 7, 2023.  Captagon is a methamphetamine and performance enhancer, but who profits from it is troubling:  Syrian regime; Hezbollah; other mafia groups. 

Aaron Bastani, American Big Tech Has Enslaved Us: Aaron Bastani Meets Yanis Varoufakis.  Novara Media, Oct 8, 2023.  This has major implications for Christian ethics.  Varoufakis argues that technological and financial power has combined as  "feudal techno-capitalism" around cloud capital.  For example, Tesla is a cloud company, collecting data on its drivers, and is now joining that data with Twitter's data, which is disturbing.  Varoufakis also argues that the geopolitical tension between the US and China is in large part the result of competing visions of techno-finance.

Jonathan Stempel, Diane Bartz and Nate Raymond, Meta's Instagram Linked to Depression, Anxiety, Insomnia in Kids - US States' Lawsuit.  Reuters, Oct 25, 2023. 

Xiajiang Zhu and Cornelia (Connie) Pechman, Political Polarization Triggers Conservatives’ Misinformation Spread to Attain Ingroup Dominance. Journal of Marketing, Volume 89, Issue 1, Jun 16, 2024. The authors attribute political disinformation to the desire for group cohesion and dominance.

“Conservatives are often blamed for spreading misinformation, but it is unclear whether certain situations trigger them and, if so, why. The authors examine situations that are politically polarized, meaning the topic and/or its framing conveys conflict, discord, or disagreement between the two main political parties (conservatives and liberals). The authors study whether conservatives react to polarized situations by spreading ingroup-skewed political misinformation that is objectively inaccurate but not necessarily understood to be false and whether liberals are less reactive. Using a multimethod approach, the authors conduct six studies, including analyses of statements by public figures and speeches by U.S. presidents, as well as controlled experiments. The results indicate that in polarized situations, conservatives’ need for ingroup dominance is elevated, so they convey more misinformation than liberals. In less polarized situations, conservatives’ need for ingroup dominance is tempered, reducing their misinformation conveyance. These findings suggest that misinformation should not be blamed solely on the individual trait of conservativism, as polarized situations exaggerate conservative motives and behaviors. While news media, social media, political figures, and others may be incentivized to emphasize political polarization to gain audiences and bolster engagement, the resulting misinformation harms truth, trust, and democracy. Possible remedies include improved fact-checking and media literacy education.”

But these studies do not even account for Republican and conservative leaders increasing political polarization — “own the libs” today and “Democrats are baby killers” in previous decades — in order to polarize the population politically. See summary by Xiajing Zhu and Cornelia (Connie) Pechmann, Study: Republicans Respond to Political Polarization by Spreading Misinformation, Democrats Don't. American Marketing Association, Dec 9, 2024. See summary by Ian Randall, The Right Is More Willing to Spread Fake News, Study Says. Newsweek, Dec 10, 2024. See summary by Eric W. Dolan, Conservatives Share More False Claims in Polarized Settings, Research Reveals. Psychology Post, Jan 27, 2025. ‍ ‍

Steven Overly, Australia Banned Kids From Social Media. Now It Has Advice for the US. Politico, Dec 31, 2024. “Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, says tech companies aren’t doing enough to protect kids online.”

Wisecrack, What Happens if the Economy Grows Forever. Wisecrack, Jan 17, 2025. What if we are addicted to what we call economic growth? Green energy is not growing as fast as we are consuming all energy.

National Center on Sexual Exploitation, Twitter Lawsuit Reinforces Criticism of Section 230. National Center on Sexual Exploitation, Feb 7, 2025.

Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov, Elon Musk’s Federal Government Takeover. Raging Moderates, Feb 12, 2025. At the 1:05:00 mark, Galloway makes insightful criticisms of our public school system feeding the industrial food-diabetes complex that is making our children sick and our health care system unbearably expensive. Children are being addicted to processed food.

John Oliver, Content Moderation. Last Week Tonight, Feb 24, 2025. Social media content moderation at Facebook, etc. was always difficult, but Mark Zuckerberg’s capitulation to Trump by removing moderation fuels disinformation. Conservatives, especially MAGA, accused tech of censorship — an exaggerated claim.

Laura Miller, Still Amusing Ourselves. Slate, Mar 25, 2025. Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death is still a classic.

Amy Goodman, "Can't Look Away": New Documentary Examines How Social Media Addiction Can Harm — Even Kill — Kids. Democracy Now, Apr 4, 2025.
New York might become the next state to ban phones in schools. "Can't Look Away: The Case Against Social Media" is a new documentary that exposes the real-life consequences of the algorithms of big tech companies and their impact on children and teens. In 2022, social media companies made an estimated $11 billion advertising to minors in the U.S., where 95% of teenagers use social media. One in three teens uses social media almost constantly. "These products, they're not designed to hook us, adults," says Laura Marquez-Garrett, an attorney at the Social Media Victims Law Center in Seattle who is featured in "Can't Look Away."

Jolt Media, Can’t Look Away. Jolt Media, April 2025. Can't Look Away is a gripping documentary that exposes the dark side of social media and its devastating impact on young users. Directors Matthew O'Neill and Perri Peltz take viewers inside the high-stakes legal battle to hold tech companies accountable for the harm caused by their negligence and dangerous algorithms. Based on investigative reporting by Bloomberg News' Olivia Carville, the film follows the Social Media Victims Law Center fighting for justice for families whose children suffered tragic consequences linked to social media use. As families seek justice, Can't Look Away underscores the urgent need for industry reform and serves as both a wake-up call about the dangers of social media-- and a call to action to protect future generations.

Jon Evans, Prof G on AI Eating Itself, Social Media Rage & the End of the CMO. Uncensored CMO, Apr 2, 2025. At the 9 minute mark, Scott Galloway points out that social media has shown us that rage sells even better than sex.

Christopher Ketcham, Love Scam: My 82 Year-Old Father Had So Many Girlfriends He Couldn’t Believe His Luck. New York Magazine, May 21, 2025. This is a heartbreaking story of mental decline, social media addiction, deceptive scams especially for the elderly, family tension, the legal system, and the problem with defining morality as based on consent.

Kyla Scanlon, Economic Lessons from the Screwtape Letters. Kyla’s Newsletter | Substack, May 21, 2025. Rejection, Convenience, and the Budget Deficit.

Ellen Barry, Real Risk to Youth Mental Health Is ‘Addictive Use,’ Not Screen Time Alone, Study Finds. New York Times, Jun 18, 2025.

“Researchers found children with highly addictive use of phones, video games or social media were two to three times as likely to have thoughts of suicide or to harm themselves.” “But a study published on Wednesday in the medical journal JAMA, which followed more than 4,000 children across the country, arrived at a surprising conclusion: Longer screen time at age 10 was not associated with higher rates of suicidal behavior four years later. Instead, the authors found, the children at higher risk for suicidal behaviors were those who told researchers their use of technology had become “addictive” — that they had trouble putting it down, or felt the need to use it more and more. Some children exhibited addictive behavior even if their screen time was relatively low, they said.”

Matt Stoller, Addiction Markets: Abolish Corporate-Run Gambling. BIG | Substack, Oct 31, 2025. “Corporate gambling is economic coercion, a way to shift tax burdens away from the wealthy to the poor. It's been here since the 1970s, and now it's corrupting sports and young men. Abolish it.”

“Earlier this year, Maryland state Senator Joanne C. Benson did something remarkable. She introduced Senate bill 1033, written for the “purpose of repealing online sports wagering” in the state. Now, I wouldn’t normally say a random state legislator introducing a proposal is a big deal. Except in this case, it’s the start of a counter-attack on the proliferation of corporate-run gambling across America, a trend that has largely gone un-rebutted since the 1970s. And Benson is not alone; lawmakers in Vermont and New York are seeking to push back, and more state legislatures are likely to follow.”

End Sexual Exploitation, Study on What Pornography Users Pay Attention to Provides Evidence for Addiction. End Sexual Exploitation, Jan 7, 2026.

“It was once believed that only substances like alcohol, cocaine, and nicotine could develop into genuine addictions. But what about certain behaviors like gambling and viewing pornography?  

According to a growing number of addiction experts, both substances and behaviors can be addictive. Sure, toxic substances may have additional negative effects on the body that behaviors do not, but addiction is about out of controlbehavior, not damage to the body. 

It is well documented in the addiction field that if you show an addict something related to their addiction (what scientists call a “cue”) they would pay more attention to the cue than a non-addict. This makes sense, as addicts tend to think about and pursue their addiction so often that they eventually neglect responsibilities and lose interest in other things essential for health and wellbeing. Put simply, an addict’s brain “values” their addiction over everything else in life, so they give it more attention.”

Lily Moric, Jury Finds Meta Liable for Child Harm and Sexual Exploitation. National Center on Sexual Exploitation, Mar 24, 2026.

“Evidence in the case includes documents provided by Meta, which showed that over 100,000 children were exploited daily across its platforms.When AG Torrez launched an investigation into Meta, his team utilized a fake profile of a 12-year-old girl to test the harms children experience. During the course of the investigation, three adult men attempted to meet the “12-year-old girl” in person and were subsequently arrested, while several other men contacted the profile to solicit child sexual abuse material (CSAM, the more apt word for “child pornography”).  

Meta was repeatedly informed about the rampant sexual exploitation on its platforms but neglected to address it. NCOSE informed them countless times over the years and met with their staff. Haley’s deposition testimony explained how, despite these communications, Meta continued to allow dangerous design features that directly contributed to children’s sexual exploitation.  

Meta even dismissed these problems when their own executives raised them. A senior Meta executive called for stronger safety measures after his own 12-year-old daughter received unsolicited nude images, but his plea for action was reportedly ignored by other senior officials. 

Further, Meta misled parents and users about the safety of its products. For example, Haley’s deposition testimony explains how Meta’s guide neglected to disclose any information about the rampant sexual exploitation on the platform. Rather, it led parents to believe that the main risk was bullying.”

Matt Stoller, "We Wanted Them to Feel It": Ordinary Americans Take on Mark Zuckerberg and Big Tech in Jury Trials. BIG | Substack, Mar 26, 2026. “In its 'Big Tobacco' moment, big tech lost major jury trials in Los Angeles and New Mexico over their behavior towards kids. The legal establishment is freaking out.”

“Over the past week, jurors have made two different important decisions to hold big tech accountable. In one trial, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and Google liable for addicting and harming a child. They assessed the companies $6 million, opening the floodgates for thousands of similar lawsuits. In a related but different one, a New Mexico jury penalized Meta firm $375 million for violating state unfair trade practice and nuisance laws, based on a suit brought by the state’s attorney general, Raúl Torrez.”

Jermaine Fowler, Malice, Oppression, and Fraud. The Humanity Archive | Substack, Mar 26, 2026. Compares Meta to tobacco companies who lied under oath.

Helen Zoe Veit, Picky: How American Children Became the Fussiest Eaters in History. St. Martin’s Press | Amazon page, Feb 2026.

“Are children naturally picky? It sure seems that way. Yet, amazingly, pickiness used to be almost nonexistent. Well into the 20th century, Americans saw children as joyful omnivores who were naturally curious and eager to eat. Of course, this doesn't make sense today. Don't kids have special taste buds? Aren't they highly sensitive to food's texture and color? Aren’t children incapable of liking “adult foods,” and don’t parents risk harming kids psychologically by urging them to eat?

But Americans in the past didn’t think any of those things. They assumed that children could enjoy the same foods as adults, and children almost always did. They loved spicy relishes, vinegary pickles, and bitter greens. They spent their allowances on raw oysters and looked forward to their daily coffee. So how did modern kids become such incredibly narrow eaters? The story is fascinating – and about much more than rising abundance. Picky shows how fussy eating came to define "children’s food" and reshape American diets at large. Maybe most importantly, it explains how we can still use the tools that parents used in the past to raise happy, healthy, wildly un-picky kids today.”

Veronica Riccobene, Addiction Is The Secret Sauce To Sports Gambling Profits. The Lever, Apr 8, 2026. “A sportsbook technology corporation admitted the quiet part out loud: highly addictive “in-play” bets are central to business.”

Clarizza Potoy, $5 Trillion Crisis: New Study Warns Diabetes Will Devastate Global Economy by 2050. International Business Times, May 13, 2026. “New study reveals the staggering economic impact of diabetes on global growth.”

Rebecca Bratten Weiss, The Lord of the Rings, Frodo, and the Shame of Addiction. Rebecca Bratten Weiss | Substack, May 23, 2026.

“What’s terrible about this is that the thing Frodo longs for is the thing that almost destroyed him, the thing that everyone else is glad to be rid of. How terrible it must be for Frodo to find himself longing for the thing that everyone feared. How corrupted he must feel. How utterly alone.

Frodo endures the trauma of a soldier who has been through the unspeakable, but compounded with the trauma of an addict, who’s struggled and gotten clean but feels their former self lost forever—who will forever wonder who they might have been, how they might have lived, had things gone otherwise. He’s not a naive person who broke under pressure. He’s someone who made a choice he thought was innocent. Only years later, after the Ring had taken possession of him, did he realize how tangled up in it he was. Yet he sets out on the Quest anyway.

Many of us currently resisting the fascist MAGA movement were once involved in groups that helped advance it, not realizing how dangerous they were. We may have guilt. We may miss that lost sense of belonging. Our former, brighter, hopeful selves feel lost forever. So our resistance to a totalitarian regime is happening not only on the outside, but on the inside, because the tentacles of propaganda got their hold on us once, and though we got away from it, the marks remain: the Pavlovian response to certain names or faces, the spasm of confusion when we encounter rhetoric that used to mean one thing, and now means the opposite.

Something we once thought would solve the world’s problems ended up being the world’s problems. Something we once believed in is lost to us forever. It’s right that it be lost. But the fact that we were ever connected to it, that we let it shape us and guide us, feels shameful. Yet that mustn’t keep us from the Quest.”

These are the images used in artistic physical displays. They are survey questions and conversation starters that are topically and thematically organized. They demonstrate how Jesus is relevant to each topic or theme. You can also just view the images on your device. If you would like, see all our Conversation Stations; below are the ones that relate to the topic of Desire.

Find Your Heart's Desire? (and instructions and theological essay)

Is a Good Friend Hard to Find? (and instructions and conversation tree)

What Story Do You Live In? (and associated message)

Does the Good Outweigh the Bad? (and instructions)

Whose Justice? (and instructions and Christian Restorative Justice Study Guide)

Whose Justice? for Harvard Law School

What Can We Do About Evil? (and instructions and conversation tree) and smaller version and brochure version