Fireside Chat Ep. 218 — Who Hates Christmas? | Fireside Chat

Hello everybody, I'm Dennis Prager and this is Fireside Chat number... 218. We didn't miss a week. COVID, no COVID. Trips, no trips. I'm pretty committed to the Fireside Chat. What this is, if you're new to this, is very simple. I offer you thoughts from my heart and my mind. It is completely unrehearsed. There is no... What do they call it? Prompter, yes. I'm not reading from a teleprompter. And it's a real way to be spontaneous and then take questions from you in different parts of the world who are watching. Well, this is the Christmas show because it's coming out right before Christmas. I wish you a Merry Christmas and I want to talk to you about that because there's so much confusion. So I'll give you a perfect example. A professor of law at a law school in Indiana, many years ago, wrote a column about how she opposed the Christmas tree in the lobby, in the main lobby of the law school. And her reasoning was it's not inclusive. How would a non-Christian feel? So I'm a non-Christian. I'm a religious practicing Jew and I love a Christmas tree in the lobby of my school. And I love Christmas music and I love Christmas. And I will explain why on all of these matters. And I'm crazy about Christmas music. It puts me in a good mood. I normally listen to classical, 50s rock and roll, and a smattering of jazz and a whole host of other things. I love music. But in this season, I listened to Christmas carols, Christmas music, and I love it. It puts me in a good mood. So why would that be? If I'm not a Christian, why would I love Christmas? So I'll put it to you in a different way and then answer it. Why wouldn't I love Christmas? What is the song go? It's the happiest season of them all, right? Isn't that one of the famous songs? It really is. And you know, when I learned this, this will, I hope, interest you. So when I was 20 years old, I studied in England. My third year in college, I was in England and I used, I won a wonderful award from my college to study abroad. They paid for the whole year and they gave me a stipend. I was very lucky. They gave it to one student and I was very lucky to receive it. So I went to England and with the money that they would give me every week, I would save up and then take trips. So during Christmas vacation, and at that time it was called Christmas vacation, which is exactly what it should be called because that's what it is. I'll get back to that too. I went to Morocco the cheapest way I could by train and by boat. First, the boat across the English channel, then a boat from the bottom of Spain over to Morocco. I mean, of course I could have flown, you know, in like 90 minutes, but I didn't have the money for a flight. So I went by train and boat to Morocco. Why did I go to Morocco? Because I wanted at a very early age to go to every country in the world. So far I've been to 130. I still have about 70 to go and it gets harder and harder, I must say, once you've reached 130. Anyway, went to Morocco, spent two weeks in Morocco alone. Traveling alone is awesome. You have the most intense experiences because you can't look to a friend for cultural reinforcement. You have to adapt to the culture of the country. It's a very different experience traveling alone. It's more fun with somebody, but it's more intense when you do it alone. Anyway, I was alone. And this was, as I said, Christmas vacation. And it hit me on, all of a sudden, really hit me hard. I'm missing home. I hadn't missed home for one day in England. Why am I missing home? And I analyzed myself a great deal and I needed to know what's bothering me. And I hit upon it. I'm missing Christmas. I'm missing the Christmas music and the Christmas trees, the Christmas decorations, the Merry Christmas that people said to each other. And I thought, wait a minute, I come from a religious Jewish home, which didn't even have a Christmas tree. Why am I missing Christmas? Then I realized, because it's awesome. That's fine. It's a fantastic time of the year. I was in a Muslim country and there was no Christmas. And that was an awakening to me, one of the many awakenings that I've had in my life. And that was one of them. I really missed Christmas. And I now miss Christmas in a different way, because of course I knew it. We bet on whether Otto would get up and leave. I don't know why. We have a theory that he thinks it's lunchtime. Or anyway, so it's sad. What can we do? Maybe Snoopy will come and sit there. Well, be that as it may, there really is a war on Christmas. To deny that is to really do something very common and awful. Lie to yourself. Look, here are some examples. Everybody had a Christmas vacation when I was a kid. Today, nobody does. It's winter vacation. It's an example. Every company had a Christmas party. That's what it was called, a Christmas party. Virtually no company now in America has a Christmas party. It's a holiday party. By the way, I always get a kick out of that when people say to me, happy holiday. So if I'm in a frisky mood, I go, what holiday did you have in mind? I get a kick out of that, just to get them to say Christmas. And of course, Merry Christmas has been supplanted by happy holiday. So it's almost like the C word. You're not supposed to utter it. Every other holiday is mentioned in America is mentioned by name. Have a happy Thanksgiving. Have a happy new year. Enjoy your July 4th. But Christmas is a holiday. So please, just let's be honest. There's been a desire to, in effect, obliterate it for the reasons, the theoretical reason, that that professor at this law school gave. It's not inclusive. If they say Merry Christmas on an airplane, God forbid, they won't be inclusive. What does that mean, not to be inclusive? I always give a Jewish example. In Israel, on the Jewish new year, on the radio and citizen to citizen in the street, they go, Shanah Tovah, Shanah Tovah, happy new year. But what if 20% of Israel is not Jewish? So what if you're not a Jew? Is it not inclusive to say, happy new year? Theoretically, it's not inclusive. So should Israeli stop saying Shanah Tovah on the radio? Every country has holidays. And by the way, I always remind people, Christmas is a national holiday, not just a Christian holiday. It is a national American holiday. And I am a member of the American nation and I owe it to my fellow citizen to have them and help them enjoy their national holiday, which is also my national holiday. Not inclusive. That's the most meaningless phrase. Well, it's not true. The competition for meaningless phrases is intense. And ladies and gentlemen returning. What is that about, Otto? Oh, he's eating something. All right, Otto, please. You can't push a bulldog. That's why they're called bulldogs. But Otto, the bed awaits you. The bed awaits you. This notion of not inclusive is absurd. Not inclusive. Why invite people to your birthday party? It's not their birthday. Right? It's not inclusive. It's meaningless, that phrase. The very fact that you wish me a Merry Christmas means you're including me, right? That's the irony. The very fact that you're inviting me to a Christmas party means you're including me. That means it's inclusive. All right, ladies and gentlemen, his brother, the Basset Hound. He only came in because I think he smelled the bone. There's no question this is of great interest. Hi, Snoop, how are you? Great to see you. That's the guy. Dogs are cracked up. Maybe I should do a commentary once on dogs. Do you know what I want to do one, seriously? I want to video one of the dogs and narrate it. I really do. Oh, what he's thinking. Like, get into the mind. Like, gee, I think I'm going to sniff that dog's rear end. I love sniffing rear ends. So it's really been a loss to the country that this magnificent season with, I think, the greatest holiday music of any holiday ever written. The American Christmas music written in the 40s, 50s, and 60s, it was like a burst of genius. These songs are so popular and for such good reason. So anyway, I love it. I just wanted to be on record as saying that. And I wish people all the time, whenever I'm told happy holiday, or even not, I just go Merry Christmas. They're almost afraid. When I get off a plane, I'm on a plane almost every week of the year. I'm on a few planes almost every week of the year. And so I will say to the flight attendant, Merry Christmas. Of course, it's usually a she, but not always. We'll say, well, happy holiday. And I'll go Merry Christmas. Some will then respond Merry Christmas. Even they, they're all sort of afraid. The company policy, I am sure, is you don't say Merry Christmas. Do you know who objects to that? The unhappy. There is no happy non-Christian who objects to Merry Christmas. I promise you that. These people are miserable and they hate joy. And there's a lot of joy in Christmas. It bugs them. If you're bothered by Merry Christmas, I say this with complete respect, there's something wrong with you. There is morally and emotionally and psychologically. What a busy day. Look at that. Maybe this is simply not his topic. I don't think he's bothered by Merry Christmas, but you can't read that. Maybe, who knows? All right. That was very important. Was there anything else about Christmas that, well, you, you, you had a question. Oh, that's your question. That's a right. This is the first time ever the video questioner is present. I just want to say that. By the way, we have a terrific Otto's Tales about Christmas. Just want you to know. How long should I show it, Megan? Dennis's arm. Here is Dennis's arm. Okey-doke. You can get that on Amazon. People love it. I mean, I'm serious. The Otto Tales, we can't believe how, how, how popular they are. And I'm delighted. It's Otto and Dennis. Oh, so I think I told you, right? That a little girl, like a seven-year-old came to me at a speech and she looks up at me and goes, you're older than Dennis. Which is, which is true. I have to say that was the observation was accurate. All right. Let's look at our questioner. Hi Dennis. My name is Kayla. I'm 23 years old and I'm from San Diego, California. It has become popular in Jewish Christian interfaith dialogues for Christians to experience Jewish religious traditions, such as Hanukkah and Shabbat. Dennis, do you think that Jews should do the same and experience Christmas with a Christian family? Thank you so much. I look forward to hearing your answer. It's a great question. Perfectly. How could the answer be anything but yes, of course, it's a terrific thing. I, it's hard for me to imagine a Jew, including an Orthodox Jew, who invited by a non-Jewish friend to their family for Christmas dinner would say no. I'm sure they exist, but, but I, I don't know one. It's a, it's a beautiful thing to do. And I, look, I speak in churches five times more than I speak in synagogues at this point. A lot of Jews are annoyed with me because I'm conservative. It's really sad. I've written the most widely used introduction to Judaism in the English language doesn't count. I've written one of the most consistently used books on antisemitism. Why the Jews doesn't count. I found that a synagogue doesn't count. I found that a Jewish day school doesn't count. What counts is I'm conservative politically, and that rules me out for most synagogues in America, which is sad because I have a lot of good things to say that have nothing to do with politics, but I accept whatever life delivers, I accept. And so be it. Anyway, I, I, I adore America's Christians and, and I might add the love affair goes both ways. I feel very loved by that community. Of course there's a, there should be a reciprocity. However, there is a difference and my commitment to intellectual honesty demands that I, that I note this Christianity is rooted in Judaism. Judaism is not rooted in Christianity. A, a, a, a big part of the, of the Christian desire to become acquainted with Judaism, like a Passover Seder, for example, is to get in touch with their roots. The last supper was a Seder or so they say. And Jesus did not know the new Testament. He only knew the Jewish Bible, the old Testament. Jesus was a religious observant Jew. Jesus kept kosher. I'll never forget in Greenwich village, like 40 years ago, there's a kid and I, and I saw a, a button, you know, these buttons with messages. One says, Jesus grew up in a kosher home and it's absolutely accurate and kept kosher his entire life, I might add. So a, a Christian who is partaking of Jewish ritual and practice is partaking of his or her origins. That's not the case for the Jew, obviously with regard to Christianity. So it's, it's not exactly symmetrical. It's symmetrical on a social level. Jews should, should celebrate with Christians and Christians should celebrate with Jews. I'm totally in favor of that. But the, but it's not symmetrical in terms of, of theological significance. Judaism is the root of Christianity. There's just no way around it. That's why Christians read my, my rational Bible, more Christians, in fact, than Jews. There were 4,000 just this week, it hit the 4,000th review of my two books of Genesis and Exodus, the rational Bible. And most of them were Christians and, and who I'm proud to say, love it. By the way, Deuteronomy, the third of my five volumes is coming out next year. And so is by the way, something else, because my, my third volume was delayed because they couldn't get paper, believe it or not. I insist on very high quality paper for my, for my book. I worked very hard on it. I want it to look beautiful. So I wrote a, another rational in the, another series in the rational, the rational Passover Haggadah. So if you are interested in ever doing a Seder, this explains everything and talks about the big issues of life. It's called the rational Passover Haggadah and it's available for pre-order at Amazon. And I assume eventually at PragerU we'll make it available and I'll sign copies and the rational Passover Haggadah. Okay. So I hope I've never been able to do this. Kayla, did I answer the question? Is that awesome? We should have everybody who's a video question. We take, we should fly them in. So this is a Roberto from Uruguay. Okay, Roberto, we're going to put you on a flight from Montevideo to LA. Bet you, we got a lot more questions that way. We don't lack for them, but we will get a surplus. We begin with Sagan, 31 years old, Blanding, Utah. There are so many cities I never heard of. It amazes me to this day. You ever hear of Blanding, Utah? Any of you? Oh, you know what? My favorite, this is going to crack you folks up. So on my radio show, somebody, I see the list in front of me at eight, eight, eight call, eight lines we have at the home station. So I will see eight names in eight cities. And let's say it is make believe Blanding, Pennsylvania. So I go, Hey, Joe, in Blanding, Pennsylvania, I'm just curious, Joe, where is Blanding? And he'll say, Oh, Blanding, it's 10 miles from Zeltville. This is like a running joke on the show. What? They tell me where it's near, but I never heard of where it's near. It's useless. It's truly useless information. It happens all the time. So here's a hint. If you're from a place nobody heard of, like Blanding, don't say the nearest city, say the nearest big city. So those of us not from your state will know where you're from. I really get such a kick out of that. And sometimes I will, I will pause and I go, I'm just curious, Joe, do you think that's helpful? Okay. Sagan in Blanding, Utah, just 10 miles from Niddleville. Hi, Dennis. Just wanted to write and tell you happy holidays. Just kidding. That's because they know what I think of happy holidays. That was good. Just kidding. As an avid listener to the Fireside Chat and knowing your affinity for dark humor. Correct. I thought that might get a laugh. It did. Anyway, you're always talking about the importance of friends. I have a six-year-old that really doesn't have many friends. Probably what you really mean is Eddie friends. When people say that, it usually means Eddie. But it's because he'd rather do math all day by himself than socialize. May I say, I cannot relate to that. I wouldn't like to do math for 14 minutes, let alone all day, and I'd rather socialize. Anyway, it worries me to think he'll be isolated all of his life. Should I be worried about this? Thanks for the wisdom. Merry Christmas. I don't know the answer to your question. And let me tell you why, and maybe my non-answer will help you, but it probably won't. It'll just give you a little more insight. The older I get, the more I realize that everyone is born with a nature. And it's very, very hard to change your nature. It just is. This is a perfect, your son is a perfect example of a nature. You can't get another kid to do math all day. That he wants to do math all day at the age of six is such proof that this is his built-in nature. However, having said that, fighting one's nature is the most important thing one can do with one's life. Our nature is filled with blessings and curses. Sometimes, by the way, the blessing and the curse is the same. His might be. He might be blessed with incredible math ability and cursed with incredible math ability. That is very common for blessings and curses to be the same thing. So he has to socialize. And you have to explain, he's six, it's more difficult, that there are other things in life. I love that you love math. I love that you have this ability. It's a God-given gift if you're religiously inclined. But if indeed you are a religious home, and because of the Merry Christmas, I sensed it, but I'm not sure. But if you are, you can quote the great, great line in Genesis. When God creates Adam, it is not good for man to be alone. You can't live your life with a math book. And you can't live your life with any one thing. We are supposed to bond with people. So I think that there has to be a time away from that. It's a more noble pursuit by far than video games. But if your son played video games all day and didn't socialize, you wouldn't allow it. So the fact that math is more noble than video games doesn't change the problem of hiding away from the world and doing something that gives him pleasure. So I would say it's time to do something else. People are, in the ultimate analysis, even more important than math. Maybe that did help. That was good. All right, so I'll say goodbye. Should always end on a high. No, I was kidding. I was totally kidding. I say some silly things with such a strange face. It's a problem. Kara, that's a new name for me. K-A-R-R-A-H. 33 years old. Salem, Oregon. I'm a conservative who happens to work for Portland State University. Really? Oh my God. Portland is so weird. Hopefully not for much longer. There you go. She took the wind out of my sails, or I took the wind out of hers, as my husband and I are saving to move up to Tennessee. To move to, not up. To move to Tennessee. Just learned that there is a whiteness at work, whiteness at work, training that I will be expected to participate in. My question is, when I tell my boss that I refuse to participate, what would be the best reasons to give other than I just don't believe the white privilege narrative. Thanks. I would like to know on what grounds you could be coerced into a Mao-like re-education session. This is what they did in the cultural revolution in Mao's China. People would be forced into daily communist propaganda stuff. This is no different. Truly no different. But the answer that you, that one answer you might give is, I think race is the most irrelevant part of the human being. And what you are doing is, you're having a racist session. I do not participate in racist sessions. The Ku Klux Klan believes that white is important, and your session believes white is important. Or black is important, or whatever it will be. I don't participate in race is important sessions because race is not important. And to say it is, is racist. That will only gain you opprobrium. They will be completely annoyed with you. But if you wanted an honest, firm answer, other than the, what did you say, other than I don't believe in white privilege narrative, that's the one. That way you put them on the defense. This is a racist session. You're going to tell me that there are characteristics all whites have? Would you have a session about characteristics all blacks have? Would you? Of course not. Because you'd say it's racist. WC, 77 years old. See, we don't only have young listeners or viewers. Is there a fireside chat or five minute video that specifically spells out the differences between a liberal and a leftist? I have several friends and relatives that have almost all the same values as I, but wouldn't vote Republican for all the tea in China. I know you're 77 on two grounds. One, all the tea in China is unknown to anybody under 40. And number two, the fact that all you had to do was go on a search engine and type in Prager liberals and leftists, and you would have gotten the Prager U talk and my column on that subject. I say this lovingly, obviously, I have a five minute Prager U video. All these relatives need is five minutes. Okay. The differences between liberalism and leftism. Leftism loathes liberalism, loathes it. Liberals have 98% in common with conservatives and 2% in common with leftists. You want an example? I'm sure you do. Okay. How's this? Liberals believe in racial integration and leftists believe in racial segregation. How's that? You believe in an all your, does your relatives believe in an all black dormitory on college campuses? Leftists do. Do your relatives believe in all black graduations exercises at Columbia university? The left does. Do you believe that capitalism is the best framework for raising people out of poverty? Liberals always did and still do. The left doesn't. The left hates capitalism. You support Israel. The left hates Israel. Liberals are the biggest supporters of Israel since Harry Truman. Okay. And I have six, I have three more examples in my video. That liberals vote for the left is a shame on every one of them. It is, it is a stain on the honor of liberals that they vote left. How's our time? We are, oh boy. Well, I do, I do from the bottom of my heart, wish you a Merry Christmas. I made the case for why it should be a beautiful time of year and has been in American life. You want to do a real service, maybe too late now, but maybe next year, if you're so inclined and you're celebrating Christmas, put up some lights and decorations in front of your house. I grew up in a neighborhood which was half Jewish and half Italian. So basically every other house had these beautiful decorations up and it meant a lot. It was a special time of year. Now I can go miles and not see one house so decorated. That's a service to the community. Be well, my friends. See you next time. Thank you for watching this video. To keep PragerU videos free, please consider making a tax-deductible donation.