Fireside Chat with Dennis Prager! (5/25/17)

hi everybody Dennis Prager here I missed the week and it kills me welcome to the fireside chat hey do we have the fire going yeah we do so this is an honest to good fireside chat just talk about life take your questions and enjoy life where's our music we're going to we this is frenzied I'll light up while you Listen whoa don't blame me I didn't pick it all right oh this is a great theme that's what we should have had this is from a guy named Poff let me just say my drug of choice since high school has been classical music I admit it all right guys thanks very much for the musical opening great to be with you did I say who I am so people have an idea did I even mention my name no Dennis Prager hi as I like to say on the radio p is a pneumonia r a g e r by the way that is fun to do when I'm booking a ticket and the woman usually a woman it is you know so would you spell your name sir uh Prager p is in pneumonia r a g r and what I do is I wait to see will there even be a chuckle and I I like it when there's a chuckle it means they're alive and they're responsive but half the time is no chuckle it's okay no problem maybe they're afraid m you know what they may be afraid if they chuckle will I be offended that they're laughing at my last name where you going this is Peanut everybody peanut has oh his toy fell oh poor thing I let him out of the room anyway welcome to the fireside chat I want to talk to you about something then I take your questions so here's the story I talked this about I talked about this on my radio show today in case you didn't know I have a national radio show I've been doing radio for 35 years as or 34 I think 34 years one of the two and uh you could look it up or get the app to hear the show but I talk about a lot of good stuff three hours a day in any event I talked about something very very uh I I won't even I was going to say dispiriting but it's more than dispiriting it is it's depressing in in both its totalitarianism and its stupidity cultural appropriation in in Oregon in Portland they are driving white people out of business if they have a restaurant that cooks or bakes or in any way prepares foods of other ethnicity did you know this no I'm asking you my listener not not you I know you know no folks I mean you you looking at me now did you know this it's called cultural appropriation I can't think I cannot think of something stupider I I I would have thought it was a satire but this is the latest absurdity that the leftist come up with so you must understand if you are white and you open up a a burrito shop they will trve to they will try to drive you out of business in Portland now I don't I don't even I don't get it it's not just that I don't agree I don't get it what does it mean if I if a non-italian makes opens up a pizza place is that cultural appropriation if a nju bakes Bagels do you bake Bagels yeah what else do you do yeah it's Bo boil who says boil Bagels give them a smack okay uh let me think about it okay I'm Jewish so if you open up a bagel shop have you appropriated my culture let's say you have what's wrong with it but do appropriate mean took for your own what that is one of the greatnesses of America I I remember a in a in a deli in La years about 25 years ago I thought this was a beautiful scene a black waitress was explaining to a Japanese customer what KP were KP as you could tell from the sound is like some Jewish dish which gives you instant heartburn it's like it's like that you have to bring Tums if you eat kppa but I saw this and I thought is that beautiful this is America and it is America and that's why the left hates it because whatever is beautiful about America the left seems to hate what could possibly be wrong about non-mexicans making burritos non-jews making Bagels non Italians making pizza what could be wrong with it by the way do you you it's it's it's it's aside from absurd it's it's racist so what your ethnicity comes with the food what what does that even mean you that you tie in uh the definition of your ethnicity and therefore I'm robbing your ethnicity by making your food isn't it a compliment it's a compliment it's not an insult it's a compliment I so like what you do I want to emulate it by the way why if I why if I'm eating it is it not cultural appropriation you can't make a burrito if you're white but you can eat a burrito if you're white maybe that's wrong by the way what if you're half Mexican and half American as millions of people are in the United States one parent Mexican and one parent is American can you have a burrito shop then oo we're getting into jesuitical inquiry tell mudic discourse think about it does the burrito have to be half burrito and half hot dog and by the way what if a what if a mix Mexican what of a Mexican in Mexico or in America Mexican ameran or just Mexican Mexican does sell hot dogs is that cultural appropriation well when I was in Japan I went to a bovin concert it's Japanese musicians role playing a an Austrian German composer is that cultural appropriation how dare they the reason I rais this is that I need you to understand how sick we're getting because the left is getting so so crazed it's so so race preoccupied cultural appropriation there were there were two uh Yale professors who basically got kicked out of Yale because I think somebody wore a a sombrero or something to a Halloween party and they said it's no big deal that was the end of their tenure at Yale and they were big liberals but leftism hates liberalism it's I I think I've talked about this at a fireside chat difference between liberal and left it's huge but the left is taken over and it's a very dangerous thing for any society there's another reason you know why would anybody think about it now here I'm want to go one step deeper why would anybody devote time to trying to drive white owned businesses out of business for serving burritos think about it okay why would somebody and here's the answer they're bored learned I learned in College reading a book on philosophy how important boredom is in explaining a lot of human events they're bored they need a cause so here is uh here's a Prager ISM for you causes are to the left what oxygen is to biological living beings with there is always a hysteria and there's always a cause and they they're it's almost like a cause a month this is this is the latest cause because the people who fight this who fight cultural appropriation there I believe that they're empty inside and they have to fill that emptiness with a cause so it doesn't matter what the cause is so long as it's a Cause again cultural appropriation is a good thing it's a good thing it's what America's based on Germans bring their Foods here and then everybody eats them the Irish bring their Foods then everybody eats them the Jews bring their Foods then everybody eats them the Latinos bring their Foods then everybody eats them that's the beauty of it that's beautiful not ugly it's in the inverted moral world of the left next time you hear especially if you're a young person you hear cultural appropriation say what's wrong with that what could possibly be wrong with that isn't that the highest compliment I so love your Cuisine or I so love your art or I so love your your your clothing that I that I want to emulate all right my thoughts for today it's truly morally upside down all right let's see your what you got to ask Ronald hi Ronald Dennis why do you always demean atheism after all agnosticism and Atheism don't have a book telling us to go out and kill infidels okay I do demean atheism I admit it I don't demean agnosticism so don't lump the two together I don't demean atheists so you were precise and I salute you I do not demean the people there are some very fine people who are atheists just as there are some very ugly people who are religious I fully understand that and I say it all the time but I do demean atheism as I asked Charles Crow Hammer who was an agnostic and major intellect and and I asked him in one of my dialogues with with him what do you think of atheism and and he really demeaned it he it was fascinating the guy is a psychiatrist you know he went to Harvard Medical School he has a tremendous background in the sciences and he is a major truly a major intellect I don't say that often and he got paralyzed in a diving accident at Harvard when he was about 21 years old and he's been in a wheelchair ever since uh and I didn't know he would say and he said it's the least rational approach to the issue of God or the one of the least rational doctrines he's ever encountered to believe to assert there is no God you could doubt and some be in the middle I understand all that but to assert there is nothing out there it everything came about on its own it's it's a it's I do I I I I don't find it a a an intellectually respectable position it's I think it's animated by emotion not intellect but I don't demean atheists some nice people can have uh what I consider to be foolish positions it happens all the time so uh the the other part wait I got to I got to get to the other part can you give me that back because there was a second part to that question here it is here it is yeah after all agnosticism and Atheism don't have a book telling us to go out and kill infidels well I'm a god- believing religious person and I don't have a book telling me to kill infidels either I I I my my Bible is the Old Testament there's there's no there's nothing in there that says kill infidels there's nothing in the New Testament telling Christians to kill infidels so don't saddle us with what others May believe their their book tells them okay so you're not being intellectually fair when you do that and remember atheist track record is Is Not Great okay the Communists were atheists and they killed more people than all the Christians who who ever lived alrighty what's the next one Bradley Bradley Dennis prageru claims that the best minimum wage is $0 but please explain why would stop corporations like McDonald's and Walmart from cutting employees wages to a very low level people wouldn't work that's what would that's what that's what would happen at a certain point unemployment insurance would give you a better a better wage than uh than 10 cents an hour that's that's what's the the market economy and people's people having an option to receive assistance otherwise what's to stop them now what what is to stop you say the minimum wage forgetting the minimum wage why does any company not give terrible wages they pay what it is what it is worth what your labor is worth nobody's going to work for 10 cents an hour so they can't hire anybody at 10 cents an hour and the the person who would come for $1 an hour is probably not the most reliable worker generally in life you get what you pay for just remember in the 1970s the New York Times editorial was the right minimum wage 0 0 that's when the New York Times editorial page was liberal not leftist now it's leftist now it believes in a minimum wage Lauren hi Lauren Dennis I've heard you say that love should never be unconditional in a marriage well I've said it should never be unconditional anywhere not just the marriage but anyway as a psychologist and marriage therapist I disagree with you but would like to further understand your position please elaborate okay I don't think we disagree so I'm sure that you have had women or men for that matter who have been abused by their spouse have you counseled them to continue to love their spouse of course not I hope you haven't and I doubt you did why not then if you believe in unconditional love in a marriage why wouldn't you tell a spouse who is being beaten or or emotionally abused verbally abused oh it's marriage you got to give your spouse unconditional love you would never say that you would probably say at a certain point get out of that marriage and stop loving that person it's not healthy for you and it's not morally right the day you get married wait I don't even understand it the day before we get married or in every in any other relationship is there unconditional love unconditional love means no matter how you behave I love you I don't understand it it's not moral it's not healthy it's not psychologically sound there's nothing good about the idea I have a wonderful marriage and I had a troubled marriage so I'm not I'm not holier than anybody here but I I will tell you I believe that I I have to renew getting my wife's love every day I I I believe that I need to earn my wife's love every day and makes me a better husband cuz I don't take her for granted if somebody gives you unconditional love you take them for granted because it means there's no condition under which they won't love me anymore I don't believe in that it's a terrible idea just a terrible idea Dennis why do you push your religious views on everybody that's hilarious this this I really want to deal with Travis hi Travis great to hear from you how do you excuse all the murder throughout history that has been done in the name of Christianity okay it's a particularly odd question since I'm not Christian I'll deal with it but you probably thought I was Christian what religious what does it push your religious views what first of all I do push religious views on everybody I agree with that but I don't push any one religion on everybody all I want people to I want people to believe that there is a God who demands they behave kindly and justly to other people and who will judge them after they die just like Benjamin Franklin I have the exact same views about God as Benjamin Franklin so and how now so I hope I answered that part in fact people are surprised at how often you know how often I get a call on my radio show all through my career Dennis I just want to tell you it's you know thanks to you I went back to my Catholic Church thanks to you I went back uh to my Methodist church and I'm a Jew and then they say you know but I tell so they PID really what prompted you said well believe it or not a Jewish guy named Dennis Prager he's the one who convinced me and I I get great joy out of that I'm not trying to make everybody Jewish I want Jews to be good Jews I want Christian to be good Christians that's that's what I want and I want those who are not Jewish and not Christians to be good ethical monotheists like Benjamin Franklin to believe that there is a God who judges us at minimum I want people to believe that God wants us to live by the Ten Commandments and will judge us accordingly how do I excuse all the murder throughout history that's been done in the name of Christianity if you have ever found in the million words I have written in the millions of words I have said and that are recorded once that I have excused Murder by anybody Christian or otherwise I will buy you a car not a model car a real drivable car a new one not even a used one okay how would I excuse it it's disgusting in fact there is no evil like evil in the name of God that is the worst evil possible watch my series on the Ten Commandments at Prager university.com where I teach the Commandment do not it's not do not take God's name in vain it's do not carry God's name in vain I know the Biblical Hebrew well and it's about doing evil in God's name the only sin God says he won't forgive so when a Christian or a Muslim or a Jew murders in the name of God that's that's the worst thing you can do one moment I want to take a pu is it out oh that is so sad now in I want to just say it is sad but I keep perspective here in the gradations of sadness of life it's low okay so if uh let's say premature death is a 10 this is a 0.001 okay I I have my I keep my balance here next elham is that the guy's name or a woman e l h m how you doing elham Dennis I heard you say on your show that having a midlife crisis can actually be a good sign can you explain that yeah I don't remember saying that but I'll explain it anyway if I said it this is what I meant how's that all right uh midlife crisis is G what have I done with my life I think it's a good question for people to ask it's good I think you should ask it not just in midlife think you should ask it at 22 okay it's it's a great I think you should ask it at 70 should ask it at any age what what am I doing with my life what have I done with my life so in that sense if I said it that's what I meant Dennis what are some Hobbies of yours do you have some advice for people trying to get into Hobbies that was from Eric Eric I love you do I have hobbies that's almost like saying do I have shoes I I have more Hobbies than shoes I might add I'm not a shoem man but uh what of my hobbies let's see no order of importance photography i h i got into photography at 12 with a little Kodak box camera and my and it was a blessing to my entire extended family that I got into it because it ended up that I was the only one taking pictures of the family most of the pictures that my family my parents my brother have had I took of my grandparents of cousins my parents uh uh cuz I always took pictures it was a blessing but I I loved it I don't know why I can't answer I just fell in love with it because I'll tell you why see I have no talent in drawing none I I if you said Dennis draw a house I would draw the exact same thing I drew for a house in kindergarten a big box with little Windows all boxes themselves and there a door which would be a rectangle box with a door knob and that would be it oh and I do a chimney too I'd always have a chimney I know how to do a chimney that was it that's I'm I'm no better today than in kindergarten but I love art and photography was my way of doing some art as well as recording what I saw so that's that's one I now by the way for those of you into photography and only those of you into photography will even know what I'm talking about I just got a medium format camera and that was the biggest expense I ever did on a camera but the pictures are Beyond description I uh uh music is always been my hobby and by the way for those of you interested I will be conducting at the Walt Disney uh Music Hall uh that very wonderful Central Music uh place on the west coast in on August 16th I will be conducting you should get tickets cuz even if you have no interest in In classical music I'll make the evening interesting but that's how that's how much I am into music and was since high school that I I I taught myself to conduct and I and I do know how I mean I'm not a professional but but I I know how uh let's see so music photography people say reading reading is not a hobby I don't think I don't look at reading as a hobby reading is like air can't imagine not reading I mean if you want to include it that's fine travel yeah that's a hobby been to 130 countries and 50 states I am a serious traveler I love travel what else oh fountain pens yeah I love fountain pens I haven't written with a ballpoint pen since I was about 11 years old my older brother write wrote with a fountain pen and I fell in love with it never gone back anything else speakers oh audio oh how did I forget that oh of course audio equipment a great stereo system since I love music I want to reproduce it as great as possible that's the only Splurge of money in my life has been on an audio system I don't really care what car I drive I don't need the the fancy fanciest car I like safe cars that I can fit in I'm 6'4 but other than that I don't really care but uh this has mattered to me spending money uh those of you who grew up with MP3 files you don't know what great music sounds like your favorite music I don't mean forget great music your favorite music on a great system would blow your mind go to an audio show when it comes to your city and then you'll see what I mean did I did I do it on the Hobbies I think so second part I'll tell you you know what somebody should ask what I don't like I ready I don't like a day at the beach my view is that beaches are for sand crabs humans that's why God made pools so we would swim in pools and the second part of question oh second part do you have some advice oh do I have some oh yeah advice yes I do here's an interest it's an interesting question try everything this is the best way to live life try everything when I was in high school I did no school work one of the greatest decisions of my life I did no school work uh instead I just open myself up to everything in life that's where I taught myself photography and all these things where I taught myself how to read symphonic scor I could conduct I did I was uninterested I was interested in in what we were learning in school but not in studying for exams or doing homework work so I did everything else I read about everything else been a blessing in my life uh but I um I I even subscribed I'm proud of this I subscribed I grew up in New York City I subscribed to the New York City Ballet for a year either in high school or college I don't remember I had zero interest in ballet I mean zero and I'm sorry to say I still have zero but I did did give it a try I in fact subscribed to the ballet that's what you got to do try all these things try photography try coin collecting uh try whatever you whatever is out there that's the way to get into it that's cute Tarlton asks hi Tarlton who is Dennis Prager the answer is exactly who you see right now there is no other Dennis Prager that's who it is if you hear me on the radio read my stuff watch me out these chats see my videos that's me you could ask anyone who's associated with me is there any difference at all between my public Persona and my private the only difference is I'm slightly goofier off camera only slightly but but slightly but that's it this is this is I I I don't even know how to not be me I if you said fake I couldn't fake it so that's who I am I care deeply about Good and Evil I hate evil and I love good that's my biggest single passion in life that's since I was a child I really want to beat up bad guys I do I did by the way got kicked out of school in high school Fair am cuz I was the biggest kid so I really I would beat up bullies and I still beat up bullies I just do it verbally and in writing I hate bullies but uh that's it that's who I am what is your favorite sport and why my favorite sport to play was racket ball loved it loved playing it I did it for many decades I don't anymore because I'd probably be hospitalized given uh the you know the inevitable toll of of sciatic if over the course of years although other than that I'm I'm perfect condition I work out three times a week but I but I couldn't I I could probably play ret Ball but it I don't want to risk it but anyway that was my favorite sport to play I loveed playing tennis too but I preferred racket ball I liked racket Sports obviously I hated playing basketball uh don't start me on that but my favorite to watch was was and remains hockey I'm a big hockey fan I don't even care if I care if my team wins or not but if my team isn't even in the playoffs I watch every game that I can I am just uh mesmerized I I admit it this is a little odd sounding but I don't understand I understand people who can't stand Sports totally understandable fine but I don't understand people who like sports and don't like hockey it's it's permanently interesting every minute of it it's moving but in any case that's my favorite to watch Final question no that was it that was it what is your favorite sport and why oh yeah so I told you why because it's just relentlessly interesting by the way here's an interesting thing for you this combines with the previous one who was Dennis Prager so I'll tell you something about me that I I don't think I've ever told publicly I wouldn't hide it it just never came up but now it's coming up when I was in high school I went I again I ra I was raised and I grew up in New York City I went every Sunday night that there was a game I went to a New York Rangers hockey game went to ma the old Madison Square Garden the seats were $150 I could just barely afford them whenever there was a fight and I don't like hockey fights but whenever there was a fight everybody would stand up and cheer you know for the fight they loved the fight they and they were cheering ostensibly I assume for the ranger to beat up the other guy I remember being the only person in Madison Square Garden that at least that I could see who didn't stand up I didn't want to be among those cheering the fight I went to see hockey not not boxing so that was that's a memory that I have of the time I just sat there waited till everybody sat down and the game resumed well anyway it's great to be with you don't forget to visit prageru.com also making a movie on what's Happening uh in uh in our at our universities and uh you could see what it's about at nosafespaces.com I'm making with Adam Corolla who's very special and very funny human being and I think that does about does it doesn't it see you next week thanks for being with me e e e e