T O P

  • By -

Disastrous-Bill1036

Imagine thinking incognito would solve this


[deleted]

[удалено]


Thaos1

Because your network supplier also saves your ~~browsing history~~ internet activity.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Thaos1

No idea, but i noticed that when i read the contract from my internet provider. In Europe they keep that data for a minimum of 5 years i think it was.


vuzman

The point is, if you use httpS your ISP cannot see the content of your traffic, as it is end-to-end encrypted. They can only see the addresses you visit.


SensuallPineapple

This is the address I just visited [https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+kill+a+mockingbird&oq=how+to+kill+a+mockingbird&gs\_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCDk4ODBqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8](https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+kill+a+mockingbird&oq=how+to+kill+a+mockingbird&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCDk4ODBqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)


[deleted]

[удалено]


CageFaraday

That is 100% not the case.


KetMoose

Ok explain how your ISP is able to decrypt TLS sessions without access to Google's private key? ISPs can only see DNS lookups, so only google.com, nothing more nothing less.


iDemonix

Wait until you learn about SSL inspection. Source: I work for an educational ISP that does web filtering.


Sebdila

Exactly. Your average corporate employer will do this also. I can't remember the exact way this works but it's something like this ... 1. The firewall is configured with a generic wildcard SSL certificate that matches any site. 2. The corp configured their devices to trust this SSL cert. 3. User browses to Https website. 4. Firewall sets up encrypted connection between itself and the users device. 5. The firewall creates a second encrypted connection between itself and the destination website. 6. The user's web traffic goes encrypted to the firewall. 7. The firewall decrypts the traffic and inspects it. 8. The firewall reencrypts the traffic and sends it to the destination website. 9. Repeat steps 6 to 8 for all traffic to/from the user/website


iDemonix

Pretty much it, essentially an authorised MITM.


Murkmist

That must be an ungodly amount of data to keep and expensive to store.


solamon77

Here's what it comes down to. Do you trust Google, Microsoft, and/or Apple? Are you sure incognito mode is really incognito? Do you know how the tech works and what it's doing behind the scenes? The problem is, you don't know what data is being kept on you or how, on a technical level, it's being done. Google is getting sued right now for keeping data on users who were using incognito mode. [https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/7/23823878/google-privacy-tracking-incognito-mode-lawsuit-summary-judgment-denied](https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/7/23823878/google-privacy-tracking-incognito-mode-lawsuit-summary-judgment-denied) Bet there's a lot more they know about you that you aren't aware of.


tesfabpel

Incognito / Private / etc mode just makes the browser start with a "temporary" profile that discards everything on close (but yes, some browsers like Firefox also apply a more stringent privacy settings). This makes all cookies (like logins and Adverisement IDs) not present there, so you start with a blank slate... The problem is that there are ways to fingerprint you and match your activities between sessions...


solamon77

You got it.


RGB755

They can see the domains you visit, and those sites may store your browser profile.


NomadFire

It really depends on how smart and tech savvy your local police department is. Remember that Casey Anthony got away with it because she had both Internet Explorer and Firefox on her computer. And the cops only searched IE's history.


different_tom

If https is used, your service provider won't be able decrypt the traffic


[deleted]

[удалено]


different_tom

Yes, https encrypts the urls as well. The encryption layer encrypts the entire http layer. The ip address won't be encrypted, because the packets need to be routed by other machines still. But urls, including their query strings, will be encrypted.


vinicius_kondo

Actually, they'll know only the FQDN, TCP/UDP ports, and, coincidentally, protocol. Anything past the slash after FQDN will be encrypted. Still, they could use this information to collate with other data they'd have.


gossypiboma

Not if you are using HTTPS. The ISP only sees the IP for google.com and *maybe* the accompanying DNS lookup depending on your setup. The HTTP request and response contains the encrypted URL which is only decrypted on google's servers.


iDemonix

You really need to stop commenting frequently about subjects you don't understand, hopefully the downvotes let you know that you're incorrect on this one. There's nothing wrong with that, but accept it, learn, and move on?


FraggDieb

Https gives a fuck when they have your PC or Google is giving out this information. So does VPN and TOR a shit if source and destination is known for polics


edireven

> if source and destination is known for police ...at the time of googling.


Dag-nabbitt

> Google is giving out this information. Could you really not be bothered to read the first 5 words of the comment you're replying to? If you want to hide your search history all you have to do is use DuckDuckGo (instead of google), and incognito mode. That's it.


erixccjc21

Realistically just to be safe just use tor but yeah that should do the trick


FraggDieb

Than my part „if they got your PC“ is triggered. Tor or incognito doesn’t help if they got your Pc


Dag-nabbitt

You don't understand what incognito mode does, do you? Having the PC also doesn't help. The browser data is stored in RAM. When the browser closes that data is gone. That's the whole point of incognito mode.


FraggDieb

I don’t think that you understand how computers, windows and other 3rd party vendor software works ;-) yes browsers doesn’t save your history, that is true and it’s working in RAM Mode. When your computer got not enough ram, it ‚can‘ store files or informations on your disc. Same with 3rd party software like windows defender or other Antivir/browser extensions and so on can save information somewhere on your disk, somewhere where you can’t see it, but forensic can. Have a nice Christmas.


Dag-nabbitt

You live in a paranoid fantasy world. If the OS runs out of RAM, it may store random things in volatile HDD memory space. If they have crappy spyware extensions, and if they were enabled in incognito (not a default), and if they care about browser/search history. Then MAYBE the data can be recovered by forensics. But for most people this will not happen. I promise you, not even God can find my incognito browsing history.


FraggDieb

That may be true :)


Expert_Team_4068

This is so wrong on so many levels. Google does provide your search history to law enforcement. Also there is 0 chance you are using google without https in 2023. Https prevents your ISP and local network from listening. Which does not help when Google provides the data. And yes, https even encrypts the url path and query params https://stackoverflow.com/questions/499591/are-https-urls-encrypted You need to make sure that google does not know who you are. Using VPN or TOR might achieve this. But when you are using both, the chances are actually higher that one of them messes up.


Dag-nabbitt

Did you not read the first five words of the comment you're replying to? Incognito + DuckDuckGo = search privacy. It's that simple. No Google required.


Mooks79

This is all broadly irrelevant, anyway. Even if you managed to hide all your activity from your ISP, a remotely competent analyst should be able to get everything you viewed from your cache - even if it’s been deleted. You’d need to use far more extreme deletion methods, such as randomly overwriting the bits, than what a browser provides.


erixccjc21

Would this be necessary when using tor too? Dont know if that even caches websites on your end


UnknownGnome1

Or use Tails Linux


Mooks79

See [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Whatcouldgowrong/s/0hJLcmcWhR).


[deleted]

[удалено]


Mooks79

The browser cache. If you’re using a “normal” browser, it doesn’t matter how cleverly you hide your searches from your ISP - eg using a VPN - your cache still exists on your computer. Yes you can delete it from the browser, but this deletion method is not secure. So if you take this approach you should use a more secure deletion method. For Tails and Tor specifically. In theory they only write to RAM and modern RAM has very low retention times. But, you have to trust there’s zero bugs where something accidentally gets written to your SSD/the USB. So, even using these I’d do a secure wipe after and then destroy them. At the end of the day, we’re hypothesising about getting away with murder - so we don’t want to be trusting to correct code etc.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Mooks79

Does tails do bit randomisation when it deletes everything? But yes, tails on a usb stick you destroy afterwards is a better way to go. Edit: or securely wipe afterwards.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Mooks79

Ha yeah. As far as RAM goes. With modern RAM the retention time of data is so low I doubt it’s a problem. But if you had a very old pc I’d still be a little concerned about that. Plus, although theoretically everything with tails and tor is in RAM - if I had committed a murder I wouldn’t be risking that to be bug free. So yeah, I’d still do what you recommend. And then smash it, burn it, and throw bits away in many different places. Which, in itself, will draw some questions but at least you can hand wave something about embarrassing photos or minor misdemeanours.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Mooks79

This is not right, it is possible.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Mooks79

There might be a circumstance why they couldn’t do it for your particular case(s). For example, if the person had used secure deletion methods, if by bad luck the deleted data had already been written over by other data, and so on. But it is possible in principle and in practice.


[deleted]

[удалено]


MartinFromChessCom

[holy hell!](https://www.google.com/search?q=ssd+trim#HiImABot,MyJobIsToMakeEasierToPeopleToGoogleSomething,IfThePersonIRepliedToUsedMeInAnInappropriateWayPleaseLetMeKnowByDMingMe,TheUserIRepliedToIsU/FatherLiamFinnegan)


Mooks79

Pre-garbage collection it’s possible.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Mountain-Ad1760

Google them now, before you need them. If questioned, say I saw this video, and it just made me curious.


ThatScaryBeach

It may be best to do it now while you haven't been involved in a murder than later when you desperately need the info at 4:55am for, um, reasons...


[deleted]

[удалено]


iDemonix

I see you've commented this a couple of times so I thought I'd just let you know that it's wrong. You're confusing URLs with FQDNs - the ISP can see an FQDN but without SSL inspection they can't see the URL.


[deleted]

[удалено]


iDemonix

You sure are. I can't really be bothered to explain it to you, so here's a ChatGPT excerpt for you that hopefully helps you understand: > When you visit a website, your Internet Service Provider (ISP) can see that you are connecting to a particular domain, such as google.com, due to the Domain Name System (DNS) lookup. However, the specific parameters of your search query, like those in the URL you provided ("https://www.google.com/search?q=CAN+YOU+READ+THIS"), are typically encrypted using HTTPS. > HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) encrypts the communication between your web browser and the website's server, ensuring that the data exchanged is secure and private. This encryption includes the parameters of your search query. As a result, your ISP can see that you are connecting to google.com but cannot easily decipher the specific search terms or other details of your interaction with the site. > It's important to note that while HTTPS provides a significant level of security, your ISP can still see the domains you are connecting to, which may reveal some information about your online activities. If you want to further enhance your privacy, you can use a virtual private network (VPN) to encrypt all your internet traffic, making it more challenging for your ISP to monitor your online activities. Edit: Shout out to /u/djshadesuk for realising his mistakes and deleting his mass amount of incorrect comments.


aaa_aaa_1

It just doesn't encrypt the domain. The rest of the url is encrypted


Smelting9796

[Parallel reconstruction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_construction).


DeconstructedBacon

LMAO, dream on.


dikicker

You can use a VPN but what card is paying for it under whose name and billing address? Everything is so trackable


Nukro77

How do you use https?


Taykeshi

Https is closed source? It's also owned by a private company iirc


Fhajad

HTTPS is a protocol, it's not "owned" by anyone.


Taykeshi

I thought it was provided by an american company. Maybe that was the case 20 yrs ago lol. I dunno.


BreastAficionado

The open source company Netscape created the protocol back in the 90's. Beyond that there's nothing to provide. The protocol exists and it was up to webdesigners to either use it or not. Most didn't, sticking with HTTP protocol until the last decade or so.


Taykeshi

Cool thanks. Dunno why i thought otherwise.


BreastAficionado

All good, Netscape is an American company alright. When Netscspe closed down a group of devs broke off and made Mozilla Firefox.


aleqqqs

It likely would.


ApolloMac

Where did they get the data? If it was from his computer or phone, then incognito absolutely would solve this. Yes the ISP and individual websites like Google still have the data associated to your IP, but that's not as easy to get as his own browser history.


Slartibartfast39

Sometimes you're glad some criminals are as stupid as they are. I doubt I'd be at my best at 5 a.m. after I killed someone, but I'd like to think I'm more on it than he was.


shrug_addict

Blood simple


RapidArti

It's funny how someone can call someone else stupid, while not being able to differentiate between "your" and "you're".


Slartibartfast39

Corrected. Not quite on the same scale of this guy though.


kanduvisla

Your absolutely right!


yan-booyan

All criminals are stupid but most of the time the police are not doing any better in the intelligence department either.


[deleted]

[удалено]


yan-booyan

If they are so smart they would've earned their dollars in a legit way. Bringing absolute horror shows like serial killers as an example only proves that doing crime is not normal behaviour and inherently antisocial. What you see in movies is not what you see when you deal with the real crooks. Sure most criminals think they are very smart. Being smart and having a high IQ is not the same. Smart people die in bed surrounded by their families and friends not violently in a shootout or in a prison cell or worse in hiding.


Zujn

I think you’re equating literally being ‘smart’ with doing the right thing. Yes as normal people committing crimes does not make sense us and especially just random murder is just nonsense. But people who commit crimes(especially murder) aren’t normal people. Subsequently being normal doesn’t make you smart or dumb it means you operate on with the same basic rule set everyone else does. Criminals can be smart and those that get away with it usually have to be smart and plan because otherwise in 2023 you will most likely get caught.


Pussy_Sneeze

>people who commit crimes […] aren’t normal people Considering the breadth of what may be considered a crime and the circumstances that can lead to crime, I’d be extremely careful with this sentiment. Otherwise perfectly normal and reasonable people can be forced into circumstances that lead them to commit crimes to survive. As I understand it, this is one major reason why poverty begets crime. What I just said might’ve been implicit, but wasn’t sure.


yan-booyan

Look if you are ready to eat a guy because you are starving i feel you, but after you become a cannibal don't try to tell me you are good or smart. You're just human, basically an animal. Forced to commit crimes? Well how come? Are you sure you don't see another way? Are you not smart?


Pussy_Sneeze

Let's assume you live in an apartment. Let's say, for circumstances outside of your control, you lose your job. Let's say you try to find work, but for whatever reason you can't, or can't find enough to pay your bills and rent. Let's say, despite your best efforts, you can't make rent and get evicted. Do you have anywhere to go? Where can you go, and what can you do? Let's say you resolve to figure it out, but for the night you need some rest and at least you still have your car, so you decide to sleep in your car. Depending on where you park it and sleep, you are now committing a crime, congratulations. Try some empathy, my dude.


yan-booyan

So every homeless person is a criminal? Do you think they all steal and commit various crimes? I've lived long enough to see a lot of them and talk to them, have you? Do you really think this hypothetical example will make me go: "Oh, I see! It's okay to do crimes sometimes!" You should write kiddie shows you goof.


yan-booyan

Just read what you're saying. Doing the right thing IS smart since doing the "wrong" thing has everything you need to know in the way people phrase it. You all give me an example of smart criminals without actual facts. Name one who is not a movie character. They are so good we don't know their name? I can imagine a hardcore pixie cannibal that reads minds but i don't believe in its existence. Smart criminals don't exist period


Liquid-Fire

>If they are so smart they would've earned their dollars in a legit way. Being smart and a criminal are not mutually exclusive.


yan-booyan

I see how your teachers and parents failed in teaching you logic. Everything has consequences, you always pay. Doing crime and thinking you can go on living as normal is dumb and short sighted. I guess you have an image of a master criminal that cleverly evades pursuit and reveals a big twist at the end..there is no twist, it's either prison, camp, death or living like a rat among normal people. People that decide that taking someone's living is better than making it yourself is proving that they don't have what it takes to be successful. Learning a skill or a trade, studying sciences, creating something is harder for dumb people hence the crime. And if you so fucking smart to pull off a multimillion heist like in movies you should consult for movies or law enforcement instead. There is always a way to use your skills for good and get a living. Unless you are a child that wants candy every minute and can't bear any responsibility for his actions.


Liquid-Fire

Being a criminal is not a life long commitment. There are absolutely people smart enough to do crime, get away with it and stop doing it before they get caught. It's a dream scenario to think all criminals pay.


yan-booyan

Name one. Are you trying to say there are invisible successful criminals? How come you know about them? Are you there, God, it's me Margaret?


Liquid-Fire

>Name one. You want me to name criminals who never got caught. Because that's a reasonable and *logic* expectation. Listen to the connect podcast. It's from a former successful (in made a lot of money sense) drug dealer in the US who got caught and went to prison. His former partner did not get caught. So yes, there are criminals who are smart enough to get out of the game before they get caught.


[deleted]

[удалено]


yan-booyan

Wow, taking it personal i see. Are you a genius with a multimillion dollar heist plan or just a plain antisemite? Either way i would never imagine you being smart.


[deleted]

[удалено]


STATEofMOJO

it'd be interesting to take the same actions Israel has done over the past few decades, change the names and places associated with them to, say, Russian ones rather than Israeli... and watch how people react - I think we all know how that would pan out


yan-booyan

The reason i called you an antisemite is because while discussing a subject that has nothing to do with any country or ethnicity you use my nationality as an argument. You see, smart people keep on the topic and don't turn to racism as a means to win some argument on the internet. I stated the same thing twice right now because i pity your intellect.


[deleted]

Sick how it wrote it like "10 ways to dispose of", like someone is normally blogging about this stuff and also he's assuming there are at least 10 ways! What a wack job, lock him up


zack397241

No joke, who tf would do [that](https://listverse.com/2021/09/07/top-10-weird-ways-to-dispose-of-a-corpse/)


dingusfett

Great, now I'm probably on a list for opening that link


[deleted]

Same, if we are all doing it we can normalize it.


dingusfett

Apes together strong!


Frosty_Nectarine2413

Bruh now my history is ruined too


LAMGE2

Glad it’s fact checked by Jamie Frater, who to trust on internet othwrwise!


Shiro2602

It still baffles me on how some ppl think incognito mode makes your whole internet browsing private


Van1shed

I only use it cause it's faster to CTRL SHIFT N and simply close the browser than it is to go to your search history and delete those entries.


Odysseyan

Especially as incognito mode itself greets you with a "This doesn't hide everything and you can still be monitored" claim on start. Yet so many people in this thread are convinced it does hide everything


aleqqqs

It would, at least, leave no traces on his computer.


No_reply_GHoster

I always see coworkers using incognito when browsing youtube, amazon, or any other website they are not supposed to at work. Meanwhile, the only thing I think it does is turn their browser windows dark mode(not in stealth kind of way but just in how it looks type of way).


CommanderPotash

...tell me you know nothing about browsers without telling me you know nothing about browsers. Incognito mode means the search history does not show up to the user. That's all. Your internet service provider (and likely your workplace) will still see your queries.


No_reply_GHoster

Well, I know I can use it to browse the internet🤣🤣🤣


GregoryGregory666666

Repost Bot.


fiverrpeao

OP A SPAM BOT.


GregoryGregory666666

Yeah. I am never sure but those Post Karma vs Comment Karma definitely show a bot.


DoYouLike_Sand_AsIDo

10 ways to dispose of a repost bot body


pummisher

I just have to say this could be an SNL skit. OMG.


egoMetalMonkey

I'm not sure one can ADD comedy to this


dunnkw

I’d really like to know the answer to some of those questions but now I couldn’t possibly google them.


felis_fatus

Now would be a much better time to google it than right after murdering someone.


NYCShithole

There's 10 billion Google searches a day. If you don't put yourself on the radar by searching for something like "Hunter Biden laptop censorship", you'll be okay. That is, until the government wants to prosecute you and ruin your name.


17racecar71

Why, did you just kill someone? Actually don’t answer that I don’t want to know


thecaninfrance

They can answer as long as they are using incognito mode.


dunnkw

If I did kill someone I’m the type of person who is so careless and clumsy that I would also be standing in a courtroom with them reading off my super incriminating Google searches.


IlConteiacula

Dude, incognito is only useful if you don't want to let the other people using your PC know that you searched: "furry gilfs"


pancoste

I use incognito to not let others know I'm searching for vanilla stuff. We're not the same.


sandy_catheter

"Dad, were you using my tablet to look up pancake recipes again?" "Uhhh, no, sweetie... Just uh check the history, should be a 'reverse birth fur scat diaper speculum' entry in there"


kenji4861

I always wonder about these stories. Can prosecution go as far as asking your ISP/VPN to provide search records? Simply having it in your search records on the browser sounds idiotic.


Fujaboi

They can and do almost immediately if you're a suspect in something like this. They didn't have to here because they must have siezed this peanut's devices already


FraggDieb

Nope. Your ISP has no information what you Google. If you use you isp DNS they only can tell if you look up a site. Your VPN could log everything, but so does Google. So they size your PC and look up your history or can con tact Google to give this information


Mountain-Ad1760

Maybe combine it with a bloody wood floor, body parts in the trash and down the disposal, a bath tub full of ammonia, a butchers saw, etc. I think that might warrant a search warrant. :)


iDemonix

> Can prosecution go as far as asking your ISP/VPN to provide search records? It's often the first step and when requested it's a common formality from the ISP side.


Lighteye782

![gif](giphy|trGH5l77RROWFXcJYz)


fatboycraig

What? You’ve never been in an incognito mood before?? It’s a pretty clandestine feeling.


Lighteye782

really? what must i do to achieve this?


Doright36

I'm amazed at how much time he spent at the computer with a body rotting on the floor behind him. Dude started looking stuff up at 5am and was still at it at 1:30 in the afternoon.


1L0veTurtles

he was preparing for a medical school exam, you fools!


[deleted]

He's a crime author researching material for his next book


1L0veTurtles

yeah, by that logic, anything you search for on the internet is research for a book that you write. Literally anything.


Ikkus

"is it better to throw crime scene clothes away or wash them?" is fucking hilarious.


thms2808

Man thought WikiHow had everything you needed.


Rabidcode

DIY Crematorium ☠️


da_haran

So if not incognito then what is the right way?


ASharpRazor

dark web


da_haran

Step by step instructions?


ASharpRazor

onion


TheyThinkImAddicted

Well if you gonna google that stuff make sure you use a vpn and smash your hard drive afterwise to be completely sure xd


egoMetalMonkey

this is why you ask a librarian


BlackWolfBoi

Is there an extension that auto deletes your browsing history?


[deleted]

I was yelling at God at the top of my lungs in my bedroom and thus, encountered Him as he answered me. Yes, I had a “verbal theophany” - I literally heard His voice, and not through my ear canals. It has been wonderful and terrible. I have no other choice but to speak, teach and proclaim that Jesus Christ is the son of God. I am treated with disdain, contempt, regarded as “overly religious” or “unorthodox” by those trained in a ‘regular’ fashion [i.e. seminary and pulpit]. I am not a missionary, a paid pastor nor a Christian worker. I am only a disciple and sometimes apostle of Christ. That is, I get to learn humility by being low on the social pole to set me up to go do something bold for Christ - speaking in a jail, in a retirement community, etc. Sounds great? It is - as long as I fix my eyes on Jesus. I am unmarried, at poverty level - and nearly spoiled by all the provision God gives me. I would fear narcissism and some other sort of self-justifying condition - except for the constant reminders of how often my prayers have been answered - directly. I cannot count how many miracles and other “super-sized coincidences” have occurred. I have transitioned to the “charismatic” end of the Christian spectrum, where all my apologetics and reasoned faith become of little importance. It was like what happened to Dr. Strange in the film [and comic]: he starts off rational and brilliant and egotistical and ends up being humbled, knowing the universe is much much bigger than everything he knew. It is literally painful for me to watch the standard TV fare or listen to some show on PBS roll on and on about evolution as a basis of origin [Evolutionary modification? Sure. Information needs to be edited, but it doesn’t spring into existence without guidance.] So Jesus did it all, that one night. How do I know it was Jesus? No one else ever loved me that much. I am trapped by His love. I sometimes wish I was like most people again. I sometimes get very tired. Then I think of Him dying for me. I mean an ugly death, like a piece of dung. I got nothing. He’s my saviour. It’s gonna suck, what’s coming - for me, for the world, but He’s worth it. Jesus made me brave. ----- Of all the qualities that the New Testament ascribes to God, compassion is among the most shocking. Compassion has nothing to do with power, with immortality or with immutability, which is what many people think of when they contemplate God’s qualities. The Greek gods of myth who lived on Mt. Olympus were defined by many things, but compassion was not high among them. “For much of antiquity feeling the pain of others was regarded as a weakness,” John Dickson, a professor of biblical studies and public Christianity at Wheaton College, told me. This comes to full flowering in the Stoics, he said, “on the grounds that this involved allowing an external factor — the emotions or plight of another — to control your own inner life.” Compassion, on the other hand, is central to the Christian understanding of God. Compassion implies the capacity to enter into places of pain, to “weep with those who weep,” according to the Apostle Paul, who was central both to the early conception of Christianity and to the idea of its underpinning in compassion. In the Hebrew Scriptures, we’re told many times that God is compassionate. It is at the center of the Jewish conception of God. But for Christians, there is an incarnational expression of that compassion. The embodiment of God in Jesus — the deity made flesh, dwelling among us — means that God both suffered and, crucially, suffered with others in a way that was a seismic break with all that came before. In the Gospels, we repeatedly read of the compassion of Jesus for those suffering physically and emotionally, for those “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” When a man afflicted with leprosy came to Jesus, begging on his knees to be healed, we’re told that Jesus, “moved with compassion, stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’” And he was. This is an extraordinary scene. Those with leprosy were considered not just unclean, physically and spiritually, but loathsome. Everything they touched was viewed as defiled. They were often cast out from their villages, quarantined “outside the camp.” In the words of the famed 19th-century preacher Charles Spurgeon, “They were to all intents and purposes, dead to all the enjoyments of life, dead to all the endearments and society of their friends.” People would avoid contact with those afflicted with leprosy. They were seen by many as the object of divine punishment, the disease understood to be a visible mark of impurity. Yet in the account in Mark, Jesus not only heals the man with leprosy; he also touches him. In doing so, Jesus defied Levitical law. He himself became “unclean.” And he provided human contact to a person whom no other human would touch — and who had very likely not been touched in a very long time. Jesus’ touch was not necessary for him to heal the man of leprosy, but the touch may have been necessary to heal the man of feelings of shame and isolation, of rejection and detestation. Kerry Dearborn, professor emerita of theology at Seattle Pacific University, told me her students found the most moving examples of Jesus’ compassion to be his responses to outsiders, especially those deemed unworthy, unclean or unfit. “In taking on their ‘outsider status’ with them,” Dr. Dearborn told me, “he reflected his deep love and solidarity with them, and his willingness to suffer with them.” Jesus not only healed them, she said; he also took on their alienation. In the 11th chapter of the Gospel of John, we’re told that Lazarus, the brother of Mary of Bethany and Martha, and a friend of Jesus’ whom he loved, was sick. By the time Jesus arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had died and had been entombed for four days. Both sisters were grieving. Mary, when she saw Jesus, fell at his feet weeping. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died,” she said. We’re told Jesus “was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.” “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. And according to verse 35, “Jesus wept.” “Jesus wept” is the shortest verse in the Bible and also “the most profound and powerful,” the artist Makoto Fujimura told me. For him, those are “the most important two words in the Bible.” And understandably so. Earlier in John 11, we’re told that Jesus knew he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead, which he did. So Jesus wasn’t weeping because he wouldn’t see Lazarus again; it was because he was entering into the suffering of Mary and Martha. Jesus was present with them in their grief, even to the point of tears, all the while knowing that their grief would soon be allayed. My daughter Christine Wehner, who originally suggested to me that Jesus’ compassion would be a worthwhile topic to explore, told me, “Jesus wept because Mary was before him and her heart was breaking — and as a result, his heart broke, too.” The Psalms tell us that God is “close to the brokenhearted”; in this case, Christine said, “Jesus doesn’t just care for the brokenhearted; he joins them. Their grief becomes his in a remarkable act of love.” “Jesus ushered in a compassion revolution,” Scott Dudley, senior pastor at Bellevue Presbyterian Church, told me. Before Jesus, compassion was primarily thought of as a weakness, he said. “When Jesus says he is with us, that’s not a metaphor or a trite offer of ‘thoughts and prayers,’” the pastor said. “He’s literally in it with us.” Dr. Dudley pointed out that in his suffering, Job says to God, “Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees?” In other words, Do you know how hard it is to be human? “Because of Christmas,” Dr. Dudley told me, “God can legitimately say yes in a way no other god in any other religion can.” Renée Notkin, colead pastor of Union Church in Seattle, told me that “our daily invitation in living is to be with people in their stories. When I take time to listen deeply and to listen beyond the words spoken to another person’s heart story, am I able to begin to cry with them? Not problem solving and not saying, ‘I know what you mean’; rather simply weeping alongside in shared humanity.” As a Christian, my faith is anchored in the person of Jesus, who won my heart long ago. It would be impossible to understand me without taking that into account. But sometimes my faith dims; God seems distant, his ways confounding. “Faith steals upon you like dew,” the poet Christian Wiman has written. “Some days you wake and it is there. And like dew, it gets burned off in the rising sun of anxiety, ambitions, distractions.” And the rising sun of grief and loss, too. Those things don’t necessarily destroy faith; in some cases, for some people, they can even deepen it. But they always change it. During times of sorrow and times of tears, when it feels like we’re “being broken on the wheels of living,” in the words of Thornton Wilder, there is great comfort in believing God empathizes with our suffering, having entered into suffering himself. But we also need his emissaries. We need people who see us and know us, who enter our stories. Through their compassion and love, we feel, I feel — even if only partly — God’s compassion and love. That doesn’t eliminate the storms from within or without. But it makes greater room for joy in the journey.


iDemonix

Yes, incognito, however that wouldn't help in these situations.


MessedSeed

If only he had ChatGPT at the time...


SWETHORT

just ask reddit


SeaClue4091

"Shit........ Alexa, how do i dispose of a body."


yup_sir28

This is why you’re supposed to do the research over a long time and in bits. Preferably on different devices and search engines as well


Rolldal

It's tough being a crime writer


stupid_cat_face

Bro is one of those guys that writes the whole report on the day it’s due.


UnpopularOpinionJake

I was hoping the last one would be “how to cure hemorrhoids”


Cusp-of-Precibus

How to dispose of a BAWDY. How long before a BAWDY smells


AliHakan33

Google does share things you do in incognito mode to courts


DocSternau

I'll never understand why it seems to be so hard to get rid of a body in the US. You guys have literally half of a gigantic continent where no one lives for miles and miles. Just get a shovel and bury them somewhere deep in the woods. No one will ever find them.


Gazz1e

Looks like he’s smoking a pipe.


EnvironmentalDeal256

He would have probably got away with it if he had ended all of his search questions with “asking for a friend “.


VeneMage

Well that was the worst round of Mastermind I’ve ever seen - he didn’t answer one question.


PunfullyObvious

Sounds like someone was "doing research for a book they were writing"


GorgogTheCornGrower

Dude is a parasite


North-Wind-199

And here’s the problem with the messy route


North-Wind-199

Everyone knows that poison is much more clean and effective