{"id":7652,"date":"2025-04-11T15:11:28","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T22:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=7652"},"modified":"2025-04-11T15:11:28","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T22:11:28","slug":"things-glen-found-interesting-volume-499-ocd-morality-and-tariffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2025\/04\/11\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-499-ocd-morality-and-tariffs","title":{"rendered":"Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 499: OCD, Morality, and Tariffs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-4396\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=300%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=768%2C768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=1024%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=1200%2C1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?w=2048&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?w=1680&amp;ssl=1 1680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"><\/a><br><br>    On Fridays I share articles\/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions. If you read something fascinating please pass it my&nbsp;way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Next week is volume 500. I can\u2019t decide whether it will be just another issue or something a lil\u2019 different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Things Glen Found Interesting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list simple-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.indystar.com\/story\/sports\/nfl\/colts\/2025\/04\/08\/ocd-colts-tackle-braden-smith-religiously-scrupulosity\/82738055007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">In his own words: Colts RT Braden Smith\u2019s desperate, life-threatening fight vs OCD<\/a> (Joel A. Erickson, Indianapolis Star): \u201cSmith has always gone to church, but he\u2019d committed fully to his Christian faith, and an obsessive-compulsive disorder began to warp his faith into something sinister. From the outside, it looked like Smith was diving deep into his faith. He devoured the Bible, quoted Scripture, sought out believers for conversations. He prayed constantly and started listening to Christian music exclusively. Internally, a disorder Smith didn\u2019t realize he had was twisting the words. \u2018There\u2019s the actual, real, true, living God,\u2019 Smith said. \u2018And then there\u2019s my OCD god, and the OCD god is this condemning (deity). It\u2019s like every wrong move you make, it\u2019s like smacking the ruler against his hand. \u201cAnother bad move like that and you\u2019re out of&nbsp;here.\u201c&nbsp;\u2018\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A gripping story.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/newsletter.oalannoble.com\/p\/appealing-to-moral-sentiments-in\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Appealing to Moral Sentiments in an Amoral Age<\/a> (O. Alan Noble, Substack): \u201c\u2026the moral sentiments people have can be real indications of spiritual realities.<br>The anxiety a young woman feels about her identity may be a real indication that expressive individualism is hollow. The loneliness a young woman feels in vapid, greedy sexual relationships may be a real indication that sex was created for union (and procreation). Instead of treating emotions as random or irrelevant or conceding that negative emotions are exclusively the purview of the therapist and psychiatrist, we acknowledge that the felt experiences of young women are a sign pointing them to who they were created to be. And this isn\u2019t just true for young women. I think there are many young men who need to hear this approach as&nbsp;well.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>About the tariffs:&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.noahpinion.blog\/p\/trade-deficits-do-not-make-a-country\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Trade deficits do not make a country poorer<\/a> (Noah Smith, Substack): \u201cDoes using your credit card to buy a washing machine from Target mean that Target has ripped you off? No. Does it make you poorer when you use your credit card to buy a washing machine from Target? Nope. You now have less money, but you have <em>more stuff<\/em>. In just the same way, a trade deficit means that the U.S. has <em>less money and more stuff<\/em>. It does not mean America is poorer, or that it has been ripped off by foreigners.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This is a helpful explainer of some key concepts which are in the&nbsp;news.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/unherd.com\/2025\/02\/why-trumps-tariffs-are-a-masterplan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Donald Trump\u2019s economic masterplan<\/a> (Yanis Varoufakis, Unherd): \u201cThough we risk the abyss staring back when we attempt to gaze into Trump\u2019s mind, we do need a grasp of his thinking on three fundamental questions: why does he believe that America is exploited by the rest of the world? What is his vision for a new international order in which America can be \u2018great\u2019 again? How does he plan to bring it about? Only then can we produce a sensible critique of Trump\u2019s economic masterplan.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Recommended to me by an alumnus. The things I find most interesting about this one is (a) it\u2019s by a foreign expert [an economist who served as the Greek minister of finance] and (b) although written in February it anticipated the type of tariff that was implemented (trade imbalance tariffs) instead of what had been expected (reciprocal tariffs).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/07\/opinion\/tariffs-trump-dollar.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">There\u2019s a Method to Trump\u2019s Tariff Madness<\/a> (Jennifer Burns, New York Times): \u201cMr. Trump\u2019s tariffs aren\u2019t really about tariffs. They are the opening gambit in a more ambitious plan to smash the world\u2019s economic and geopolitical order and replace it with something intended to better serve American interests. This plan is often referred to as the Mar-a-Lago Accord.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The author is a history professor at Stanford.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/global\/2025\/03\/19\/what-age-do-people-around-the-world-think-is-best-to-reach-major-life-milestones\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">What Age Do People Around the World Think Is Best to Reach Major Life Milestones?<\/a> (Janell Fetterolf et al, Pew Research): \u201cWhen is the right time in life to get married or have a child? What is the best age to buy a home? Is there an ideal age for retirement? We asked adults in 18 mostly middle-income countries what they think is the best age to reach these life milestones. Overall, there is a lot of agreement around the world. On average across the countries surveyed, people say it is best to get married and have a first child around 26 years old.\u2026 Generally, people across the 18 countries surveyed<strong> think it\u2019s best to get married in one\u2019s mid-20s. <\/strong>Average ideal ages range from 21.2 in Bangladesh to 28.9 in Argentina.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Emphasis in original.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/09\/opinion\/palestinian-christian-us-evangelicals-gaza.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Why Palestinian Christians Feel Betrayed by American Christians<\/a> (Nicholas Kristof, New York Times): \u201cFewer than 2 percent of West Bank Palestinians today are Christian, but they are an influential minority who endure the same land grabs and hardships as the majority Muslim population.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It is a short column, but one thing I wish Kristof had parsed out were the differences between Palestinian evangelicals and Palestinian Catholics and Palestinian mainline Protestants. I think they each have different things to&nbsp;say.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Recommended by a student.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/07\/us\/student-visas-revoked-trump-administration.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nearly 300 Students Have Had Visas Revoked and Could Face Deportation<\/a> (Vimal Patel, Miriam Jordan &amp; Halina Bennet, New York Times): \u201cNearly 300 international students were abruptly stripped of their ability to stay in the United States in recent days, according to universities and media reports, sowing fear among students and confusion at schools scrambling to help students facing detention and possible deportation.\u2026 In some cases, immigration officers have arrested international students related to their involvement in pro-Palestinian causes. In other cases, students had committed legal infractions, such as driving over the speed limit or while intoxicated, often years ago, several immigration lawyers said in interviews. But lawyers said the Trump administration had often given no reason at all, leaving them to guess why students were targeted.\u2026 The United States issued more than 400,000 visas to students in&nbsp;2024.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>While I am sure almost all international students find the policies distressing, they should find the data in this article reassuring. To date fewer than one tenth of one percent of international students have had their visas revoked. 300\/400000 = .00075&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/2025\/04\/institutions-maintain-themselves-wheaton-repair-forgiveness\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Institutions Don\u2019t Maintain Themselves<\/a> (James Diddams, Christianity Today): \u201cJesus told Peter to forgive the brother or sister who sins against him \u2018not seven times, but seventy-seven times\u2019 (Matt. 18:21\u201322). I\u2019ve come to think Christians have some obligation of forgiveness to our institutions, too\u2014some duty of love and sacrifice to preserve and repair these rightfully time-honored ways of organizing and shaping our lives.\u2026 Where did we ever get the idea that these institutions would somehow maintain themselves? That they would always be there for us, meeting all our hopes, in perfect working order, without repair or forgiveness from&nbsp;us?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Less Serious Things Which Also Interested\/Amused Glen<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list simple-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gocomics.com\/pearlsbeforeswine\/2025\/04\/04\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">She Dyed<\/a> (Pearls Before Swine)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gocomics.com\/pearlsbeforeswine\/2025\/04\/03\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Compromise<\/a> (Pearls Before Swine)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/china-retaliates-against-tariffs-by-putting-worse-fortunes-into-cookies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">China Retaliates Against Tariffs By Putting Worse Fortunes Into Cookies<\/a> (Babylon Bee)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/man-imposes-tariffs-as-wife-racks-up-huge-trade-deficit-at-target\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Man Imposes Tariffs As Wife Racks Up Huge Trade Deficit At Target<\/a> (Babylon Bee)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gocomics.com\/nonsequitur\/2025\/04\/11\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The 11th Commandment<\/a> (Non Sequitur)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=la4lYUhVtrU\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=la4lYUhVtrU\">Magician Shimshi &amp; his daughter Shalom<\/a> (Penn &amp; Teller Fool Us, YouTube): nine minutes<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pyzA8aZReTk\">Can Michael Dardant Fool Penn &amp; Teller with only Imagination?<\/a> (Penn &amp; Teller Fool Us, YouTube): eleven minutes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Why Do You Send This&nbsp;Email?<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors \u201cwho understood the times and knew what Israel should do\u201d (1 Chron 12:32). In a similar way, we need to become wise people whose faith interacts with the world. I pray this email gives you greater insight, so that you may continue the tradition of Issachar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Disclaimer<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey\u2019s agenda and we are not about the elephant\u2019s agenda \u2014 we are about the Lamb\u2019s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass <a href=\"http:\/\/econlog.econlib.org\/archives\/2011\/06\/the_ideological.html\">the ideological Turing test<\/a> and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say \u201cI agree\u201d or \u201cI disagree\u201d until I can say \u201cI understand\u201d) and may at times share articles that have a strong partisan bias simply because I find the article stimulating. The upshot: you should not assume I agree with everything an author says in an article I mention, much less things the author has said in other articles (although if I strongly disagree with something in the article I\u2019ll usually mention it). And to the extent you can discern my opinions, please understand that they are my own and not necessarily those of Chi Alpha or any other organization I may be perceived to represent.\n\nAlso, remember that I\u2019m not reporting news \u2014 I\u2019m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There\u2019s a lot happening in the world that\u2019s not making an appearance here because I haven\u2019t found stimulating articles written about it.\n\nIf this was forwarded to you and you want to receive future emails, sign up <a href=\"https:\/\/theglendavis.substack.com\/\">here<\/a>. You can also <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/category\/links\">view the archives<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Fridays I share articles\/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions. If you read something fascinating please pass it my&nbsp;way. Next week is volume 500. I can\u2019t decide whether it will be just another issue or something a lil\u2019 \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2025\/04\/11\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-499-ocd-morality-and-tariffs\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201cThings Glen Found Interesting, Volume 499: OCD, Morality, and Tariffs\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[16],"tags":[124,128,120,161,332,148],"class_list":["post-7652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-apologetically-interesting","tag-economics","tag-famous-christians","tag-global-christianity","tag-international-students","tag-israel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-1Zq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7652"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7653,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7652\/revisions\/7653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}