Prophets say......(1)

Empires live by numbness. . . . Governments and societies of domination go to great lengths to keep the numbness intact. [The prophet] Jesus penetrates the numbness by his compassion and . . . mak[es] visible the odd abnormality that had become business as usual. Thus compassion . . . is in fact criticism of the system, forces, and ideologies that produce the hurt." -- Walter Brueggeman, The Prophetic Imagination, p. 88-9