Fireside Chat Ep. 122 — Thank You, Samantha Bee | Fireside Chat

Hi everyone, i'm dennis prager welcome to my home my dog my fireside and the fireside chat I do this every week I you know when I started this I thought I don't I don't know. Will people really get into this me just Talking to you completely spontaneously And taking questions Well, the answer is yes people have Which is wonderful. I'm, very happy about that I really do share with you my most Serious and light thoughts but very personal things as well You know, it's interesting. I was thinking about it. I always say it's spontaneous not scripted, which is true that's a plus because that's It's so real But there's a downside to be honest because I often think afterwards. Wow had I prepared this I would have added this point or I would have added that point So it's like everything else in life There is nothing That doesn't come with a price By the way, it's one of the most important lessons of life Whenever we buy something we ask what's the price? You should do that about everything in life. What's the price? What is the price? Of getting married. What is the price of staying single? What is the price of having children? What is the price of not having children? That's how one should think about everything. Generally. We think about the price in only one direction And make a very uh often very wrong decision as a result. I ought to do this. Uh, what's what does it cost? It's a big subject. We should we should do that So I I had a whole uh series of thoughts about what i'd open up with by the way This is otto In case you didn't know can you see otto's face or is it hidden behind the chair today? You know otto is so funny, do you know just uh this week fox and friends the fox fox news program, uh came to my home and uh to interview me for their show and uh When otto saw people coming in with cameras and lights, he thought oh Time for me to pose and sure enough, he you know, take take my position And he took his position. It was very funny didn't move the entire broadcast Be that as it may I uh, I was going to talk about a number of things but It was suggested to me that I share with you some thoughts on The attack on me and prager you on a show called samantha b's frontal Uh full frontal, right? So I had not been familiar with it prior, but that doesn't mean anything. I haven't watched tv since high school uh It's very very rare that I watch tv And if I do it tends to be Uh when i'm on the road Just getting into my hotel room and unpacking And I usually will listen to a book But sometimes i'll turn on the tv and if I do it will be forensic files These uh incredibly riveting true stories of crime So in other words, i'm not a big tv person and as I said, I never was And i'm not sure why but it is what it is. Anyway now I obviously have heard of her show She is apparently a comedian and and this is not meant. Uh, I don't trade insult for insult I I did not find the eight minutes, which is a lot that she devoted to prager you funny Uh it by the way, sometimes I hear people. I I I don't agree with or even attacking me and I think they are funny I I can laugh at my expense just for the record. I'm pretty secure Uh, but I didn't I didn't find anything particularly funny or even non-particularly funny but i'll tell you what is interesting about the the attack and it was unfortunately so typical of What folks on the left do about prager you all the time? They make these generalized statements. Oh, it's uh It's a right-wing propaganda place uh, it's filled with lies but 99% of the time They never give one example if you're ever on a Some chat board if that's the word or you know, is that the word chat board? Where people are dialoguing with each other, you know the comment section or on twitter And or a thread and and that comes up oh, it's just propaganda or they'll Please say could you just give me one or two examples? Do you know I have been writing and lecturing all of my life? I everything I do is filled with examples That is my my modus operandi is make a generalized statement then give example generalized statement then an example Because why should you take my word for it? If I don't give you example if I say which I often do the left ruins everything it touches I give you example after example from journalism to uh, the innocence of children to late night television to american football universities high schools The boy scouts. I mean, I just give example after example without examples We don't know what you're talking about So she made the usual claims and of course they go. Oh, that's not it really university And and I i've dealt with this on many occasions. We announce on the opening page. We're not an accredited university You're simply free to learn Do they acknowledge it is possible to learn? At a place that the government has not accredited as a university. Is that possible? By the way is the definition and i've never established this is the definition of a university A place that is accredited Then then clearly we're not a university. I will acknowledge that but I never I never thought That was the definition all the universities that existed prior to modern accreditation. Were they not universities? uh, the idea that the government has to affirm you in order for you to be what you are is uh, Is alien to my form of thinking? And by the way for the record, which of course she never mentioned nor do any of our critics uh It's just worth noting and and if you ever do defend prager you Uh in some forum, please note this that we have professors from mit harvard yale princeton uh stanford university of california astrophysicist from ucsd We have four pulitzer prize winners We have three former prime ministers three or four prime ministers I mean now would any of these people make videos for a place? That was a propaganda mill These these people put their reputation on the line We have never trumpers like the great american pulitzer prize-winning columnist george will And and likewise brett stephens, they loathe donald trump they have made they make videos have made and continue to make so I am honored. I am truly honored by the distinguished people She showed daniel hannan as an example of of a silly thing daniel hannan Is a member of the european parliament from britain. He he is he is a major intellectual Uh in in his writings and in his speeches the the man just uh Emits intelligence the the thought that samantha bee would even be on the same stage as daniel hannan Only the other people that she mocked it she is She is relying on the fact that most of her audience Knows nothing That's i'm sorry to say and they don't Oh prager you oh, it's right wing they've been brainwashed into believing right wing means unworthy of listening But that's that's that's really, uh foolish and self-destructive because you'll never intellectually grow if you believe that I want to thank her though. She brought us fifty thousand dollars and counting We didn't even ask for it. Just people saying oh i'm giving money, uh, just just to show you just to show that this will backfire on her and The number of people she has brought to to listening. I I read the threads i'm fascinated by comments People saying, you know, I never heard of this place. I'm gonna i'm gonna watch it now Good You watch it. You watch five videos. You tell us if you think it's a propaganda Or if we've told one lie in 400 videos You have no idea how much fact-checking all of our videos involve Anyway, I personally I hate lies I so hate lies that I edit ad copy for my radio show because if an advertiser Uh claims something That isn't true. I drop it Or I reword it I'll give you just a time and they're all little examples, but I that's how much I care about truth There is uh, there's a thing Where the the radio show host will say Uh and exclusive to my listeners if you use the promo code dennis or prager you get 25 off as a common thing I never say though exclusive to my listeners. I drop those I drop those words Because all the talk show hosts have the same deal with using their name as a code word as a password So it's not true and I don't I don't so I don't say I say my listeners will get 25 off if they use the promo code dennis or prager, whatever it is. That's true But it's not exclusive So I dropped the word exclusive. I care very deeply about truth I'm, i'm actually uh Passionate about it She gave the one of the examples she opened up With the example to show you how ludicrous prager university is She gave the example that with me Wherein I'm saying well Uh, how do you know murder is wrong? It was it's a giveaway as to the shallowness of samantha bee and her audience She used that as if it was self evident evidently stupid But it's one of the most important questions the human being can wrestle with how do you know not how do you feel Not how do you opine? How do you know murder is wrong? She never heard the question. It's too deep for her and her audience And that's the truth That's why they laugh. Oh, is that a joke? How do you know murder's wrong? It's unbelievable to me I watched it and I thought Really? That's worthy of laughter and one final word uh, there is a uh one of my Thousand or so or nearly thousand columns up on the internet Is titled how the left keeps me religious? And it's it's a very important. Uh Column that I wrote a number of years ago, and it's true These people and the left generally They reinforce everything I believe they've had a they've had a disastrous effect on civilization, but And I don't mean liberals. I mean leftists But they've had a very positive impact on me personally because they have They have reinforced the truth and the validity of what I believe So this this show had that impact And then she made fun of how I look And it has no For for your knowledge, uh in case you're curious. It has no impact on me. I She compared me. She said I look like a serial killer. I remember thinking It's actually a pretty good picture of me. So how exactly is that important? And then I thought further How does a serial killer look? I don't have an image in my mind of a serial killer I have an image of a of a of an ms-13 gang member, you know tattooed Up up the neck and then onto the head and face But I have no a picture of a serial killer So that wasn't even funny Anyway, i've never presented myself as the next robert redford but uh, I uh, I wouldn't say i'm ugly I don't walk around with I don't walk around with either self-image It's just But i'll tell you what is amazing That I i've always believed the left is mean. I believe this my whole life since I saw them Ripped my campus apart when I was a graduate school in the 1970s There's a tremendous amount of meanness on the left much more than on the right and uh This notion of making fun of people's looks And by the way, president trump did it with uh with ted cruz's wife. I thought it was disgusting by the way I I I believe this across the board And it was is uncalled for it was wrong and and and Uh, I i'm consistent. I don't care who does it Uh, it doesn't uh negate all the good he has done as president, but I but I don't defend every Everything that he has said But that is the norm on the left ann coulter was present, uh one evening where Leftists were supposed to roast somebody else and they they the cruelty directed to her Was uh, just extraordinary there there is there's a tremendous amount of cruelty on the left what they did to brett kavanaugh That was cruel it was it it it it had no moral basis And and what they did to the man So just some thoughts on on what went on Thank you all and now a time for your questions. We always begin with a video question Hi, my name is jessica gobblish. I am 28 years old and i'm from monrovia, california in the san gabriel valley I really believe that healthy families are a strong building block to a healthy united states And while i'm single and i'm not a mom I have a parenting question There's a lot of focus on celebrating Achievements that pertain to academics to sports and to other extracurricular activities But how can parents find balance? In also teaching their kids to be good to be kind And to have good character Well jessica of monrovia, california You asked my favorite question I actually I think I wrote about this I think I wrote about it Uh recently one of my columns I raised my own two boys With the belief that character was infinitely more important than grades So I actually never bugged them for their grades and I I didn't actually I know it sounds like I was a bad parent Uh, but I really didn't care What their grades were? Uh character was everything Because first of all in the long run It you will do much better In life, and I don't only mean morally you will simply be more successful with a good character Uh and lousy grades than great grades and lousy character Now, can you have both? Of course, that's fine But uh, but in the long run of life life is a it's a cliche, but it's a good one A life is not Is not a sprint. It's a marathon and You know, there's a lot of life after success What do you do after let's say you attain success which always means material success Let's say you've attained it. What do you do then? What do you do afterwards? What do you do when you retire? I know when you're 25, you don't think about that But you're going to live a long time I don't believe the earth is coming to an end in 11 years just for the record. You're going to live a long time probably Most of you probably to 100 It's a long time Are you going to just uh, you're going to pursue success for 75 more years Uh, it's not likely So character is going to get you a lot further than uh than good grades So I I fully agree with you. Jessica of monrovia That's exactly right That's what parents should should uh, in fact emphasize I I have I I've I don't know if i've said it on a fireside chat, but I know i've said it on my radio show and in an article Tell your kid To answer an adult who asks him or her so What do you want to be when you grow up? Tell your kid to answer a good person now The beauty of that is a you're giving your kid moral instruction, which is most important thing you can do but b Is to monitor the adult's reaction That's what I really I would love I I would love to know what's the adult who asked him Uh what the person's reaction would be I think most adults would go gee, that's that's really nice. But but what do you want to be? As if being a good person gee, that's nothing that's But what do you really want to be? Oh a lawyer? Oh, oh now we're talking Okay So jessica, you got it, right? Anyway, let me just ask you a question folks Would the world be a better place if everybody raised their kids to be good? Or if everybody raised their kids to be a good student I'll leave it there Okay paul 28 oregon usa many people sarcastically summarize progressive social policies as quote giving out free stuff If a government has the luxury to give out free stuff What's wrong or is there anything inherently wrong with that? Well, there's no such thing as free stuff. First of all, what does that mean free stuff? Does the government grow money on trees? That would be the only way to get free stuff. Anyway, you'd have to pay to plant the tree What what does it mean free stuff? It means you're taking away money from somebody else to give it to them, right? Or you're printing so much money that you didn't take it from others in which case you will You will collapse your economy because whatever your currency is won't be worth anything The only way to give out free money is to print it Or that's the only free money. There is all other money costs. You've taken it from somebody else who has presumably Legitimately morally and legally earned their money So there's no such thing as free stuff in that way, but there's there is another inherent problem What does it do to the recipient? Getting things for free Is not good for you It just isn't You know what? My favorite verb is some of you might know this because I know I I mentioned this before my favorite verb Is four letters And it's not love My favorite verb is earn I think we should earn everything I think we should earn our money and not be given it for free I think we should earn love from our spouse and from our friends I think we should earn respect. I think we should earn self-esteem I think we should earn happiness There is no unearned happiness, it's all earned You try we try to give all this stuff away free like free self-esteem It's bogus It's phony I'll tell you a story that had a big impact on me I was 25 when my I wrote my first book and I was appointed at the age of 27 to head A an educational institution in california a jewish educational institution My first book was on judaism and it became a Very popular book. It's still in print It's called the nine questions people ask about judaism So, uh at my expense because authors get very few free books at my expense I brought a couple of boxes of books to a speech I gave at the institute They had a summer camp as well as adult weekends and retreats and college age summer retreat They had a summer camp for kids. So I I decided i'm going to give all the camp counselors a free copy of my book I was 27 years old and one good trait. I have is I learn I learn quickly By the fifth book I learned I made a big mistake None of them valued the book Because they got it for free It was obvious in their body language That book was not going to be opened. I should have bought it all back for them for a dollar each Had I charged a dollar They would have valued the book What you get for free you don't value It has a corrosive effect On society watch my speech. It's on the internet university of wyoming how socialism makes you selfish That that be an example too of what i'm saying Amelia 25 indonesia. Hi, mr. Prager. Hi amelia Love your fireside chats. So do I? I have watched every single one of them really Well, I I can match you i've given every one of them I so wish to meet you one day. I would love that I'm a chinese indonesian Who is currently studying in beijing? What do you think of the argument that china's outstanding progress? In multiple fields aside from human rights protection was only possible under a communist government What do you think china's future holds? Thank you so much Well, I never heard that argument to be honest that china's I mean we're talking really about it's one area of uh of progress I mean, we're not exactly getting medical discoveries From china to the best of my knowledge like we are uh from the west but uh, or or israel, well israel's part of the west but um The the success has been financial material and by the way, it's been enormous When I was a child, my mother would say, you know finish the food think of the the starving kids in china and that's uh, now we're thinking of china as as a as an economic superpower But it's not because of communism. It's because of capitalism It's such a bizarre notion that people will attribute to communism Where where in the history of communism has communism made a country wealthier Communism makes countries poorer Look at cuba. Look at venezuela. Look at eastern europe under the soviet union. Look at the soviet union They allowed capitalism while Staying a dictatorship That's that's what allowed china to grow So it's it's amazing that anybody would Would argue that all Wealth all raising of people from poverty Which has been done unprecedentedly in the last hundred years His thanks to capitalism billions of people What do you think china's future holds? I am very pessimistic to be honest because uh Tyrannies don't have bright futures Samuel 30 years old utah. I have a cousin in the new broadway show Jagged little pill. Have you heard of that? I got a peek at their playbill today in the bio section. Every actor leads their small paragraph with their preferred pronouns How do you like that? I got to see that I find it incredible. How far is the reach of the self-identifying radical? leftist gender theory in predominantly leftist communities such as broadway performers broadway performers They why have they so enthusiastically? Latched on to these radical ideas. What is the end game here? I'd love to hear your stake on this I'd love some prager wisdom. Thank you. Thank you Well, I gotta tell you the herd instinct is very powerful in the human species And it you see it everywhere and you you see it particularly in the acting profession These people want to be loved More than anything else in life, which is a very bad thing. Have I talked about who you should be loved by? Have I done a uh opening? Thing take a look. Okay Touched but not emphasized not an opener uh, they want to be loved and You're not going to be loved if you if you if you say, you know, give me a break preferred pronoun Uh, i'm not going in that direction By the way, let me tell you why the preferred pronoun I I know I could do I should do a whole thing on this I don't have a problem at all with a person who is transgender If you have changed from female to male You look male dress male have a male name What what am I? What do I care? I wouldn't even know that you're transgender, correct? so There would be no need for you to give me a preferred pronoun You look like tom You dress like a tom You have the name tom then Then you're he this is not a transgender issue. This is an issue of those Who wish to deliberately provoke? the public the society in which they live Into accepting the idea that there is no gender so i'll make one up for me he or she or they but for 95 99 percent of the transgender. This is not an issue These are people if I identify as a woman. I want to look like a woman I want to have a woman's name. I want you to think i'm a woman Uh caitlin jenner, right? I mean, there's no issue there. You look you don't think bruce when you see caitlin jenner You think caitlin jenner female you may know this person's past But if you met caitlin jenner on the street, you would say ma'am You would say her I don't have an issue with that I mean, I think it's a price paid by children to have their father become a a woman but that that's entirely a separate issue so, uh This This preferred pronoun stuff It is not is not intellectually or sexually serious it's just a uh another form of chaos That's the end game you ask the end game i've asked what the left's end game is my whole life And then it really I didn't realize it until Relatively recently there is none It's chaos That's that's the irony You you look at look at uh, look at left-wing architecture and artworks and music And and you realize yes, it's chaos Atonal music is chaos Music has tonality and harmony and melody if you don't have tonality harmony or melody You have sounds you just have chaotic sounds I don't know why human beings yearn for the k for chaos probably because they don't have a fixed Belief system and I don't even mean religious just a fixed belief system within them so when your compass Has no accurate direction You live in you're living in a state of chaos I wish I could end on a happier note I'll have to uh, I'll have to monitor the questions more avidly anyway Once again a thank you to uh that woman, uh on the tv show for popularizing prager you and uh I gave you some of the responses that we give and I I hope you I hope you know them because Uh, we're we're worthy of defending Because we're we're doing good work There there isn't a cruel moment In in the thousands of hours of prager you stuff right Okay, i'm dennis prager along with otto. I'll see you next week Thank you for watching if you'd like to keep these fireside chats free, please do by donating to prager you