Fireside Chat Ep. 61 - Don't Think Ill of Gift-Giving | Fireside Chat

Hi everybody, i'm dennis prager welcome to my home and as I reassure you every week, this is my home There is no script. There is no Pre-shooting Syllabus nothing I just get a chance to talk to you about what's on my mind and take Your questions things that are on your mind So welcome to my home and here we go I've been thinking about something. I think about this every year every year that I have been alive and I have been aware of Issues people raise I guess I didn't I wasn't aware of this when I was seven But pretty much all of my life. I have read and I have heard the usual about consumerism and christmas that people have Made a religious holiday into a capitalist holiday It's great for Businesses But it ruins the spirit of the holiday. It's just a bunch of quote-unquote Consumerism people are spending all this money on gifts And the critique has been the same my whole life And I I never for four minutes No, I never for one minute thought it was persuasive There is something wrong I have to say this. I don't mean to insult anybody, but I acknowledge it's an insult All right. I don't mean it to be an insult, but it is an insult There's something wrong with you. If you think there was something wrong in buying people gifts It drives me crazy. Do you understand what people are protesting? People are buying too many presents for other people. That is disgusting What kind of brain comes up with that and I have an answer The well-educated brain you have to go to college to think of something that stupid and I mean it literally You would never have thought that in high school. You have to be taught something like that People are going out and thinking gee, what would aunt jenny like? That's disgusting, isn't it? I mean think about how awful that is that you might be thinking that way that grandparents are thinking What would really make my grandchild happy? Can you think of anything more awful? My god, it's the epitome of capitalist Selfishness i'm being of course being sarcastic, but that's what they're saying When when when you understand what is involved, how could you possibly be opposed to it? People are spending their money To try to make people in their lives friends and relatives happy with a gift So I I have asked all these years that I have broadcast and almost every year I have broadcast one of my hours prior to christmas I have I have asked people. So what is your ideal that people not buy anything for anybody? Is what is your ideal? What is better? this is a classic example Of people who are not grateful for the for the present and they make up some image of some future glorious Vision, which is preposterous Why is that even glorious? Yes We are a much better society than they used to be. Oh in america They used to buy could you believe it? They used to buy people presents for christmas But now we don't We are a better people for it. That's what that's what people must imagine This is this is what we have come to Where it's like the miserable and the cheap Are dictating the narrative of our time? Because you have to be slightly unhappy and slightly cheap To think that it's a beautiful thing not to get people gifts Then there's the religious, uh the religious one it Uh, this is not what jesus had in mind. Now. I admit i'm a jew. I'm not a christian. I admit it I'm not admitted. I mean, it's just a fact but uh So you may say who were you to comment on another religion? The only answer I have to that is i'm very pro christian as christians know so this comes from a good place So while it is not possible to know If I really directed the question if one directed the question to jesus what the answer would be It's hard for me to believe That he would think it's ugly that people buy gifts on his birthday How would you feel if people bought gifts to honor your birthday? I think you'd feel pretty good about it Right. I mean, let's let's let's just imagine for a moment that religion has common sense I've i've often said about religious people and I am a religious person I've often said that the most heretical belief that I have is God has common sense Because so many religious people May they they make this picture of god that has no common sense Just substitute you for a moment for god or for jesus if you're a christian and say What would honor me on my birthday if people bought presents for others people that they love Or if people did not buy presents for people that they love which would be a greater honor for my birthday So the religious question is absurd and i'll give it from my own religion in a chanukah chanukah without gifts What would the kids do the kids would go out of their minds? You think they're going to get high just on lighting candles? This notion That oh, we have to just convey the the deep religious essence of the holiday Of course, you have to convey the deep religious essence of the holiday, but why does getting gifts knock it out? Maybe it makes it fun and making religion fun for children is a great way to keep them religious Woe unto the religious home that does not bring laughter and smiles to its children What do you think I looked forward to as a kid for chanukah lighting candles Not quite It was not a big thrill All right. It is today because I know what it's about and I love doing it, etc But i'm not a kid When I was a kid getting the gift, what will my parents get me for chanukah was the only question I asked Not what color candles will we be lighting it never crossed my mind All I cared about was what will the gift be as I got older? I understood the profound meaning of chanukah saved monotheism I mean, it's a pretty big deal, but that's not what moved me when I was 11 let alone six But it brought me great joy My grandparents got me gifts. My parents got me gifts. It was great What's wrong with that? So, uh, that's so much with the religious argument, let's see there's this so there's the capitalist and big business argument There's the religious argument. There was I think there was a third argument that people give against it, but I Maybe i'm wrong. I mean that's those are the two big ones. Can you think of any? That's pretty much it right? I mean, that's what people uh, people will raise Opting outside To be in nature, you mean and they're so they're not giving well, you can't you can give gifts outside Like on black friday. Oh, I see Okay, that's a little too uh over my head I I I think that those those pretty much cover Uh, what what people say? Oh, yes. I I know this is not an objection, but this is one of my favorite lines You know what? I don't like I I have a real, uh distaste For make-believe in in the sense that I I think adults should live in reality. We should address reality for what it is people live According let's like socialism is beautiful and capitalism is is ugly. It's based on non-reality In reality only capitalism has ever gotten people out of poverty only. All right Socialism spends the money that capitalism creates that's that's not an opinion. That's a fact. So here's another example It's it's it's uh, it's the thought that counts when people talk about presents And you know what? That's sometimes true And sometimes most of the time it's not true Let's be honest Uh, if somebody gave you a dollar for hanukkah or christmas And I doubt that you would say well, it's the thought that counts it might be if the dollar were given by an impoverished relative And i'm not being cute. I could understand that then but generally speaking It's not true. I remember this is see i've learned a lot When you talk to millions of people all the time You learn a lot So there was a woman who called me this was years ago she said she was a grandmother and she's dennis I give my grandchildren Every uh for their I use either birthday or christmas. I don't remember which I think birthday I give my grandchildren on their birthday Something from my heart I was thinking What might that be? And she said I write them a poem And that means much more than any gift that I could give them And I remember telling her wrong That's just not true A gift would be more appreciated than your poem That's just a fact That's not even my opinion. We're back to facts If you gave a poem along with a gift, that's that's a separate issue It means more to you your poem, but it doesn't mean more to them the purpose of a present Is to be meaningful to the recipient Not the giver This is sort of elementary logic right Uh, if it would be like me giving a a friend for uh for his birthday A beautiful box of cigars and but he doesn't smoke I'm choking myself up If you give me a beautiful box of cigars, it's very meaningful because I smoke cigars But if you give somebody who doesn't smoke cigars, even if it's the most wonderful brand In a beautiful box, it's irrelevant. It means it doesn't mean anything to them. That's what matters Distortion the thought it's the thought that counts Let me let me tell you first of all the thought and the amount of money are not unrelated If somebody if I mean let's that's to be honest if somebody gets you an expensive gift or a cheap gift Of course, you're more moved by the expensive gift unless I mean i'm not talking about a billionaire Who's gotten you an expensive gift to show that they're a billionaire? All right Let's let's talk in the in real life in real life if somebody went the extra Nine yards or extra yard as it were and bought you something that is relatively expensive versus something that's very cheap Of course, you will appreciate the expensive thing more That's natural. There's nothing wrong with that This is real life It doesn't make you bad. It doesn't make you A selfish it makes you real so that's that That's the reality of all of this When when people a guy called me I did this on my radio show And by the way in case you don't know a lot A fair number of you may not know especially younger people who don't tend to listen to radio I have a national radio show and I talk about what's happening in the world every day for three hours, so it's It's something you might want to look into. Um, it's it's all it's on the internet It's there's an app and of course local radio stations All over america, which can be accessed all over the world But a guy a guy called me said my wife and I make forty thousand dollars a year And we spend two thousand dollars on christmas gifts That's a lot of money for a person making forty thousand dollars. It is That's five percent of his whole income is going to buying gifts. That's his gross income So But he said it gives us great joy And it does When you give a gift and you see the person light up, it's a great feeling Why would anybody back to my original poem why would anybody think ill of gift giving So that's my uh, that's my case, uh on its behalf Okay time for your q and no your q my a your questions my Answers if in fact I have an answer for it Matt 22 vienna, georgia. Hi dennis. Hi matt I am a baptist, but I want to know what you think of pope francis changing the line in the lord's prayer From lead us not into temptation to abandon us Not when in when not wait abandon us not when in temptation Let me repeat that the lord's prayer lead us not into temptation or just about everybody knows that to abandon us not when in temptation Since neither you or I are catholics. Thanks for taking my question so Um, I have a few things to say about this first The truth is the change makes sense Again, let's be real Lead us not into temptation As opposed to because the pope's argument is god is not leaving you in temptation. It's a prayer to god so but of course, it's not an assumption that god is it's that Don't let us really into temptation. That's what the original meaning would be. I would I would assume But an abandon but but abandon us not when in temptation is a very is a very nice change however Having said that and I do obviously I mean that but having said that I I I'm, very wary of changing traditional prayers uh, because what happens is 10 years later somebody has better idea And then 10 years later someone has a better idea whereas being attached to And and keeping something alive That has been in existence for so long. There's something I think valuable in that In my religion judaism, uh, the the non-orthodox movements Reform and conservative they changed a lot of prayers. So for example, the the basic press at three times a day in judaism Uh includes the prayer. Uh, blessed are you god? Um Let's see. Um the god of abraham the god of isaac the god of jacob Right, that's the not right. I'm i'm like i'm asking you if it's right It's cute Uh, but anyway, that's the way it goes it said it said a lot and though they changed it uh, the god of abraham and sarah the god of isaac and rebecca the god of jacob and rachel and leah and So the you understand they included the matriarchs even though the traditional prayer had the patriarchs So that makes sense the matriarchs are incredibly important figures in in genesis I I I know genesis. I mean, I know my first five books pretty well working on a Five volume commentary on it called the rational bible And so I I understand that I understood that change like I understand this change. It makes sense But what happens is they keep changing? Because tastes keep changing so unless Nobody saying the traditional lord's prayer thought. Oh god, you're responsible for my temptations And and by the way to a certain extent, I guess god is I mean god made all the temptations of the world god made But I don't think that that's what was meant, but it doesn't matter. So the change makes sense But unless a change is critical in religion, it's probably not a good idea mac 27 kansas. Hi mac In your opinion, what's the best way to change someone's mind? Also, what is your favorite cigar? Now? Those are two related questions. I like it All right, we'll begin. What is the best way to change somebody's mind? Well, you have to be working with somebody who thinks rationally and for whom feelings are not primary in making In drawing a conclusion in in making a judgment. That's that's the issue And and you have to be and you have to use reason So if you use reason and they use reason Like i'll give you a great example happened today on my radio show. So I had mentioned in in some context That the oh, I remember the context actually I I mentioned that The west is abandoning uh, it's uh, it's Not only is it abandoning religion. It is also abandoning abandoning the enlightenment Which was secular? Because there is an anti-reason Uh movement Leftism, uh is telling people you go by feelings It's like the woman who wrote once that I I should have actually wrote this in a in a major, uh newspaper Dennis prager has no right to opine About abortion. He doesn't have a uterus I thought wow, that's awesome That she really believes that So you can only have an opinion about the worth of a of a human fetus if you have a uterus By the way, she probably wouldn't say that today. This was just five years ago, but Today having a uterus doesn't make you a woman right Nothing makes you a woman Not not breasts not menstruation not ovaries not a vagina. It's amazing. None of it You are what you feel that's a perfect example feeling is everything there is no objective reality is all feeling So I said we're not only rejecting the religious foundations of the west. We're Rejecting the enlightenment secular foundations because it was the age of reason It's feelings today so they're known as jerusalem And athens athens from athens we got the logic reason philosophy basis and from jerusalem, we got the morality basis So a guy calls me up and said dennis you forgot rome And I said to the guy you're 100 right. I did forget rome Because it's absolutely right uh with uh from from rome, uh The you know, we got western religion obviously through the catholic church and uh roman law Uh, so you're you're absolutely right and the guy goes. Oh that that's all I had to say I said that's all you had to say you were right He cracked up So if he's rational and i'm rational if so us that's the best way to change people's minds If you're rational and they're rational you can do it Uh, but if you're not rational or they're not rational It's a lot harder what I have found the most effective thing that I have found Is my my motto I prefer clarity to agreement to work with somebody that you Differ with and say look Let's instead of arguing Let's just let's just establish where we differ That's very That's very helpful Because then a person is am I really? Do I really differ or is that really what i'm saying? That's very effective my favorite cigar If it's from nicaragua and it's strong it tends to be my favorite cigar I am not a fan of cuban cigars not because cuba is a communist country. Nicaragua is essentially Communist country too under the sandanistas So it has nothing to do with politics. It's just I think nicaragua has surpassed it Honduras makes great cigars and so does dominican republic, but nicaragua is my favorite Sam 39 semi valley california if winston churchill was alive today. We're still alive. What would you say to him? I would say You were a great man, sir and this age Is not appreciating you properly And I I have proof of that the What was the name of the the astronaut scott kelly What what was his name the one with the space station? He's very popular Anyway, he uh, he sent out a tweet about a month ago He he wanted americans to come together. So he said In victory show show magnanimity something like that It's a very sweet tweet Uh, oh, excuse me. He said as the great As the great 20th century british leader winston churchill said in In victory show magnanimity And he was uh lambasted by the left Who hate churchill? Because they said churchill was a racist and the The the point I made on the radio. It was so depressing Was everything good the left tears down everything Churchill is just the latest example. I didn't even know that they were tearing down churchill But everybody the founders of the united states were torn down. Churchill is torn down Uh religion is torn down. The boy scouts are torn down. The arts are torn down Everything is torn down It's like a giant wrecking ball to civilization from the left not liberals, but from the left Churchill was a great man I'm reading a thousand page biography of him right now by andrew roberts And I and I and roberts is totally honest about his flaws. Everybody has flaws He defended the british empire. So this is why they call him racist and because they say that he he He wouldn't feed the the people in west bengal and india during their famine Because they weren't white But it was it was during the war and it was uh, it was very I think it's world war one Or is it world war two one of the two world wars? It's famine Anyway, it wasn't because of racism Nevertheless Uh, that's uh, that's another hero The man saved here's the irony. The man saved the west from a racist hitler And he's called a racist And then i'd have a cigar with him How are we doing on time? What's our story here? Okie doke, marlene 34 arlington, tennessee Hi, dennis. Hi How do you think humanity would change if all humans life expectancy was significantly increased? Let's say to around 500 years I that's a great question And off the top of my head I would say things would be pretty pretty dark It would give people a lot more time to cause trouble That's my first reaction They'd have so much time on their hands. They'd be bored People want excitement and and and evil is exciting Listen you know I'd like to live On and on and on I love life. I can't tell you. I love it so much I've always loved it. I'm having a ball I You know on but I I know That it wouldn't be good if I lived to 500 The a finite the finite number at which we're at Is is not bad uh, it it's long enough to to live a full life And it's short enough to give life meaning See if you have 500 years if I if I one of the reasons I've been pretty productive Not as productive as I could be because I have a lazy streak, but i've been pretty productive One of the reasons is I know time is limited You see if you know, you're going to live to 500 and a somebody uh, somebody says to you, you know, uh You should really read this book you go. Well, you know, I got another 307 years. I'll I'll check into it then But if you have to do something, you know meaningful, you you know, you have to do it now Because you don't have so much time so the Death that's why death gives life meaning. I I can't stand death, but It does give life meaning It's not here forever. You you better you better use it wisely So I don't I don't pray for 500 years for people Noah 17 irvine california. Hi there. Hi there. Noah What's your opinion of the growing abandonment of the church? And how do we fix it? I think it's a tragedy The dechristian is this is a jew saying the dechristianization of the west is a tragedy Okay, and i'm totally aware of the flaws of of of christianity in history. I'm totally aware of it I wrote a book on anti-semitism is a huge chapter on christian anti-semitism Nevertheless We're we're doomed without it in the west How to fix it people have to peep religious people have to understand how to make the case for the Indispensability of the bible and religion. That's what i'm trying to do with the rational bible And and if you read the reviews on on amazon, I I have done it with a lot of people They've they've entered as an agnostic or atheist And then leave with a at least an understanding of the importance of god And to judeo-christian religions that have developed from the bible but the problem is People don't know how to make the case for good stuff People are more eloquent in destructive ideologies than they are in constructive ideologies I guess it's easier to be Eloquent on behalf of bad than eloquent on behalf of good. I'm not exactly sure why Um, I have theories on it, maybe i'll take it up another time so anyway with all of those thoughts Reminding you it's nice to buy gifts for people you love And it's nice to receive gifts from people you love I can't imagine anybody arguing against that basic point of life. I'm dennis prager and Let me think oh, yeah, you know what I should I should say that I should add A nice gift is my book the rational bible. I don't push my stuff much at all But that's meaningful and it's beautifully bound and printed. It's a beautiful gift That and of course if you want to give a donation to prager university so we can keep all of this stuff free all of our videos That would be nice, too In any event, i'll see you next week. Thanks for being with me Thank you for watching. If you'd like to keep these fireside chats free, please do by donating to prager you