Fireside Chat Ep. 105 — The Gender Identity Experiment | Fireside Chat

hi everybody dennis prager here great to be with you welcome to my home it really is my home otto was really out I'm sorry normally his head is toward here he got his head is his head in all right so on behalf of otto myself my wife my kids kids are no longer living here but the kids in any event you know i don't talk about them i I have on occasion because I'll tell you why now that I think of it because this is completely spontaneous these fireside chats a big part of its appeal that's also a big risk there's nothing scripted i god I gotta choose my words so carefully on this one it's such a sensitive issue for so many people I like to ask people about their lives I'm believe it or not though I write books on it lecture on it broadcast every day for three hours well some of the errors are not on it but so much of my broadcast life so much of my life is devoted to two big subjects macro subjects what I call but I'm really just as interested in micro so when I talk to somebody at a table for example and where I'll be seated for an event I prefer to talk to people about their lives their families their lives rather than politics and and society because I do that all the time that's my work as it works like a doctor wasn't really aching to talk about the pancreas at at a dinner event but that's my assumption anyway having said that I okay this this is where I'm debating this is maybe does it reflect well on me but nevertheless I don't find people showing me pictures of their grandchildren for it fascinating I have never shown a picture of my grandkids to others for that reason I why would you care about a picture of my grandchild I the in any given group they look the same anyway white grandchildren look the same black grandchildren want the same Hispanic grandchildren look the same eight Japanese gradually look the same so what's the point especially babies that's the one that really cracks me up babies really look the same but so I don't like sort of I don't want to burden you even though it might it certainly might appeal to you but anyway I have to I have two wonderful boys and I'll leave it at that for the time being so I don't even know how I got to that how did I get to that oh yes on behalf of the prey your family that's it my mind immediately fixates on what I just said and then we move on okay so listen to what's on my mind today Air Canada has just announced that it will no longer say what it is said since the beginning of Air Canada I don't know when it was founded maybe in the the 1940s maybe even before that so we're talking about 60 80 years ago so for all of its history of nearly a century I presume Air Canada like every other airline would say ladies and gentlemen please fasten your seat belts ladies and gentlemen we are arriving a ladies and gentlemen will be taking off in a moment ladies and gentlemen they'll be going around with the cart to give you the beverage of your choice not anymore they have just announced they will never say ladies and gentlemen because there may be people on board who do not identify as a lady or gentleman as a man or a woman and so for their sake they will not any longer say ladies and gentlemen this this is sick it's just sick remember it's not even a favor to the transgender transgendered people by definition identify with the gender they have transitioned to so they're perfectly okay with ladies and gentlemen they're just not okay if you don't identify them as what they want what percentage of humanity what percentage of Air Canada travellers to be precise has no gender identity it's it's so it's so below a tenth of a percent if that's a tenth of a percent if I'm not mistaken is one in a thousand right 1% is one in a hundred so a tenth of a percent is one of the thousand right right III doubt if one in a thousand Air Canada travelers does not identify as male or female the price paid though is a terrible price there is there is a there is a beauty - ladies and gentlemen there is a beauty - boys and girls I I have been aware of this now for years it's now about two years since I announced the teachers it began so I think in North Carolina we're told do not talk do not refer to your kindergarteners kindergarteners as boys and girls just as students why is this happening why is something so truly destructive and absurd happening because companies feel terrible pressure to look moral that's why they don't ask what is good for society they ask what sounds good to the powerful influences of various activist groups that's all it is they're not doing anybody a favor but they are hurting Society and I I shudder for you who were really young who watch this you're being experimented with this is this is the the most radical experiment that I know of really in history with regard to society the denial to children of the existence of male and female this this is a terrible price to pay for some a very strange notion of tolerance it has no you do with tolerance who is not tolerating people by the way D do you know anybody how many of you watching how many people even know I mean virtually every one of us knows gay people that's a given but and they're a small percentage that's three percent and yet we know every one of us know someone or in my case many couples and individuals but people who have no gender identity I had I had Camille Paglia she is a woman with sexual dysphoria and one of the greatest thinkers really of our time a courageous woman thinker and she she doesn't think it is a good idea for society to do that she thinks it's absurd she's a professor in Philadelphia and you should take a look at her writings Camille Paglia PA GLI a and she said to me you know I just had her on and she said we I spoke to her for an hour on my radio show she said I don't I just have gender dysphoria I'm not I I I'm not I'm not comfortable as a woman which is my biological sex and I'm not comfortable as a man I've gender dysphoria okay I I honor that fact I don't think less of her but with she would think it absurd that Air Canada won't say ladies and gentlemen you you are being toyed with young people you are and and and by the way the whole thing is hurting a lot of kids because of the the notion that they if they feel at fifteen that they are not the sex that they were born or the the word that they people of today gender but then they make most make peace with it later thank God for them it's a lot easier life not because people will make fun of you or or persecute you it's just it life is easier if you are at peace with the sex that you were born not a sign to sign his nonsense this is silly word you're born a certain sex Hillary and Chelsea Clinton were just asked on a TV show what was it if if someone has a beard and a penis can it be a woman can the person be a woman and Hillary Clinton said well I'm not really there yet I I'm dumb learning and Chelsea said of course of course you have a beard and a penis and of course you're a woman well of course you might feel you're a woman that's a separate issue I honor people's feelings but III I'm also allowed to have feelings and if I see a person with a beard and know that the person has a penis I'm allowed to assume that it is a male it doesn't make me a hater or a bigot it makes me real these these are very troubling times part of the reason is people need causes people a lot of people need a cause as deeply as they need food food is a biological need and a cause as a psychological need without a cause people feel life is meaningless and in the unprecedented ly affluent West where people do not have to worry about food and shelter in the vast majority of instances they need a cause and with the death of Christianity in the Western world or judeo-christian religions in general this is what now becomes a cause so there's always a new cause these are these are these are troubling times for that I I I pray that American and United and Delta and Southwest and Alaska and other US airlines do not follow the Air Canada example Eric Canada has really in some ways gone a more radical even than the United States maybe because Canada is so affluent and so secular that especially secular it's more secular than America they need they need a cause who benefits from Air Canada's decision virtually no one who was hurt virtually everyone it is a loss to society to not say ladies and gentlemen five years ago nobody would have believed this would be the case the rapidity of this radical ization is unprecedented I think in the human experience how fast something that is so normative has has now been declared bad all right just some thoughts on a very very serious matter alrighty so we again with a video question here we go come in the video there we go hello my name is Emily Martinson and I'm 18 years old I am enrolled at the captive University of America in Washington DC and my question is in what ways has a Democratic Party become more extreme in their views in every way it's the the Democratic Party you name the arena the Democratic Party would never have until very very recently had many of its candidates for president or people running to become the candidate for president advocate the government takeover of all healthcare for 330 million people whatever the population is of the United States that's radical it is a completely radical idea in other words Democratic Party you name the arena that I'm the Democratic Party probably many of its senators and congresspeople agree with the idea of having an all-black dormitory at a college the the Democratic Party of the past was Pro integration and not segregation in other words in a nutshell the Democratic Party was liberal it wasn't leftist now it's leftist see my video at Prager you on the differences between liberalism and leftism I give six examples the Democratic Party was known as the the truly pro-israel party John from John F Kennedy minted John F Kennedy to Lyndon Johnson it was just it was to Bill Clinton it was it was known because America tended to support the open and free and liberal democracy in any battle against non free non liberal democratic societies but not any longer now what now it's torn down the middle on that subject so you named the area and and it has gone left as opposed to liberal this is why it's so important to know history the ignorance of history in in the West today is a very bad thing because if you don't know history you cannot understand the present I'll give you a perfect example you cease to exist you me any of us we ceased to exist if we lose our memory we are not us any longer in fact I interviewed a man who because of a fall damage the part of his brain with memory and it was it was fascinating he wasn't he he had to be coached this is your wife these are your children he didn't know anything now and and to is to her great credit his wife stayed with him we taught him everything he looked at pictures to learn what his past was like but he without memory we we are not we societies without memories are no longer that Society it's the exact same things with the individual that's why history history is memory no memory no present ok let's go back here alright let's see Aaron 17 years old Cleveland Ohio hi Dennis what is your opinion on friendships in general and how they can change over time oh I have a lot of opinions on friendship I don't know how people get through life without friends and in fact they don't people who don't have a close friends are lonely they die much sooner having friends if you look this up I think this is accurate there are a few things that are so health inducing that they not having them is the equivalent of smoking cigarettes and having them sort of almost gives you the years that you would have lost theoretically if you smoke cigarettes one of them is friendships and we have a crisis in the west of lack of friendship and of therefore of loneliness and it is I knew in high school no elementary school my first close friend male friend was sixth grade in elementary school and every year of my life all the years of my life I have had extremely close male friends I mean extremely close not buddies friends and by the way I have a definition of a working definition of a friend a person to whom you can tell everything and by the way that's true for marriage whatever you hide from your friend and ideally your spouse is your best friend whatever you hide makes the gap between you that much greater it's very important to be able to to open up to somebody and ideally a few people that's that's real friendship I have raised this on my radio show and it is amazing to me how many people are afraid to open up to anyone and I I don't relate to that at all because I don't think the purpose of life is to avoid getting hurt let's say you'd get hurt okay you opened up and somebody hurts you so what are you gonna do that it's to to to avoid opening up to anyone because you might be hurt is like avoid driving because you might be in a crash the price paid for not driving is too great so I'll risk a crash being hurt by a friend is a crash it's like people won't get married they're afraid oh well my parents divorced or whatever I find that so bizarre if your parents were in a car crash would not drive that I should talk about this once the purpose of life is not to avoid pain the purpose of life is to live a full life a full life includes friends includes marriage how do they change over time there's no answer to that some sometimes look you're 17 the chances of your having the exact same friends at 35 that you do now at 17 are small I acknowledge that but over time you will have lifetime friends at some point people that maybe at 25 maybe now at 17 that's possible but you still need friends now whether they last forever or not is not the worry the worry is do you have such friends now that's what matters okay now this one's disturbing Kathy 69 Mount Vernon Washington my son and daughter-in-law are atheists that's not the disturbing part this is their children are boys ages 8 and for every summer the whole family stays as guests in our home for at least 10 weeks and have forbidden my husband and me good English by the way forbidden my husband and me not my husband and I that is correct to talk about God to our grandsons our lives our God centered and this is very difficult for us what is your advice look I'm thrilled that your kids spend ten weeks with you I don't want to I don't want to screw it up I want to make that clear at the at the outset there's something very bigoted though and an intolerant truly of an atheist who has told their parents or who are in this case Christian you can't talk about it whoa if my parents were atheists let me turn this completely around if my parents were atheists now in my case I am religious I'm religious Jew if if my parents are a theists and I brought the kids to visit my parents I would never tell them don't talk about atheism to my kids I want you my parents to talk about you Who am I to tell you what you can or can't say I mean if you were vulgar people I might say please you know don't curse in front of my kids that much or something I I obviously that's a separate issue but I would I wouldn't tell my atheist parents you can't say if my kid says to you you know grandpa you believe in God I expect you to say if you're an atheist no I don't if they are so afraid that 10 weeks of the 52 a year that they will hear something about God or religion or Christianity specifically will undo the other 42 weeks of atheism then okay they're not doing a great job of of conveying their atheism to their kids anyway what kind of atheist is it the atheist that I I have that I know atheists I mean I have a movie out with Adam Carolla you should all see it no safe spaces calm you'll see the trailer and it's it's it's coming out momentarily it's it's a very it's a terrific film actually Adam Carolla says he's an atheist fine do you think he cares if I talk to his kids about my belief in God he thinks it's wonderful if I do actually if this question were addressed to Adam Carolla he would think this is weird it's a this is this is a sort of intolerance it doesn't matter what the grandpa I mean if the grandparents believed in evil okay if the grandparents were white supremacists let's say okay I could see please I don't want you to convey your white supremacy to my children I get that but Christianity is not evil Christianity abolish slavery just for the record this is a Jew making that point I mean it it's a very upsetting question to me if if this is truly what what they want I wish I could talk to them I'll write you open-minded anyway the that you don't believe in something I respect that but why is it important to you that your children not to believe in God is it makes your atheism into a form of religion but a very intolerant religion Wow that's a toughy I don't I don't want this 10-week thing to stop but it's I'll just say to the kids if they're if you gonna have them watch this to your kids one day your kids the grandchildren are going to ask grandpa and grandma what do you believe or do you believe in God what do you want them to lie what are they supposed to do then or how about this what if they find out when they're 20 or 15 mom and dad did not allow Grandma and Grandpa to talk about what they care about most in life you think you'll look good you won't it's our time factor here Nicole this is there's another Tuffy you guys send tough questions I gotta say Nicole 28 Greeley Colorado mr. Prager I've heard you say that men need sex in a relationship to feel loved I agree 100% my question is so this is from a wife my question is what do women need to feel loved my husband has a hard time following my endless list of things I think I need and I haven't been able to simplify what I need in a way so that he understands I'm starting to think I have absolutely no idea what I want or need you are great because this is so you are so commendable for being so honest to yourself about yourself so mr. Prager please attempt the impossible and answer a question that has plagued mankind since the beginning of time what the women want that's this is first of all let me begin with the first part because this drives a lot of people who deny reality the issue the left-right issue is really reality versus non reality reality is painful and leftism not liberalism leftism is a form of reality denial because a lot of reality is painful it's a painful truth for some for many perhaps that yes most men nothing is true for everyone okay but for most men in in a marriage a very powerful way that a woman says to her husband I love you is for her to have sex with him that's that's reality you might wish it otherwise I don't live in in wish land I live in real land now since that is not the same with a woman of course a woman who was not desired sexual he's gonna feel unloved but it's still not the same very few women think oh he really loves me he wants to have sex with me most women don't think that way drink for a good because that's not the it's not a we're not the same thing men and women so it is true and and and I have helped innumerable marriages by making this clear because it's not intrinsically clear to a woman and most men are not going to admit it because they were embarrassed to so I speak on behalf of a lot of men because I'm not embarrassed about any of this stuff this is the way God created us I have no problem with it but the what's the other side that's what you're asking well so what how will I a woman know what should he do for me to know that he loves me so my first response when I read your question two minutes before coming on here was to feel secure secure both physically in the sense that taken care of and secure in that he won't be straying with other women so it's both emotionally secure and and physically secure but that's not enough if you go on the internet you will see so many examples of differences between men and women so here's one of my favorite there is a mailbox and a female box the mailbox well which which one should I begin with I'll get begin with the mailbox the mailbox has one switch an on and off switch very simple box the female box has about 20 different buttons knobs lights diodes switches that's that's what she is saying that is exactly what you're saying that is correct it is a it is a it is a more complex creature of the female in this way that is true so since you can't even fully answer the question I think the security factor is and another one is where I for most women if the husband talks to her and to communicates I love to talk to my wife my wife knows I love her because of so many reasons that's a big one I love to talk there I loved I love to be with her I think that's a big one just being with if if he wants to be with you that's that's a good sign what else could it mean other than he loves you well I guess it could mean he really likes you but you know what really like is sometimes more important than love you could love your spouse but not really like being with them so really like is a big deal and it leads to love so I think that that those are big factors doesn't hurt to say it periodically to that you know your love her words words matter so those are some of my guesses based on a lifetime we're talking to couples and being unafraid of reality which of which there is a great deal of fear today I guess that's pretty much it so a couple of reminders no safe spaces of the film it's a great film it's not great because I'm in it I'm in a great film not the same thing go to no safe spaces calm and see the trailer and see see what it's about and I will be with you next week and if you want to understand life I'd like to offer you my first two volumes of my five volumes that will eventually be written on the Bible the rational Bible even if you're an atheist I promise it will open up vistas of understanding thanks for being with me on behalf of Auto 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