Awkward in Person

Your dog and a stranger are drowning. You can only save one. Who do you choose? Dennis Prager says your answer reveals everything about how you define right and wrong. In his new book, If There Is No God, Prager exposes the danger of emotion-based morality and why without objective truth, society descends into chaos. This isn't a religious book. It's a rational case for moral clarity in a confused age. If There Is No God from Dennis Prager. Order now at PragerStore.com.

Well, everybody, it's Dennis and Julie, just like every week.

Dennis Prager, Julie Hartman, with one exception. I'm on the road. That is why You don't see us in the same studio, but it— while it's ideal to be physically present, by the way, it would be a tragedy if it weren't better. Nevertheless, nevertheless, clearly this works, but obviously in person. You know, it's interesting, by the way, here we go. Isn't that amazing? Topics enter my brain and your brain out of nowhere, but It's not fully explicable why in-person is so much more powerful an experience than even this.

I mean, this works certainly for what we're doing, having a dialogue.

For as far as the viewer or listener is concerned, it might be different, but it's minimal. But as far as we're concerned, in each other's presence or just talking like this, it is different.

And I'm not sure one can explain why. Do you think you can? Why is in-person so different, live, so to speak?

Well, first of all, I want to say that this is giving Julie in her Harvard dorm room vibes, and that's how we started this show. I want to remind our viewers of that.

Yeah, but this is a hell of a lot better than your laptop camera in, in, in a bare, boring background of a dorm room.

Hey, that's true. It was a little bare. You could see my door. By the way, you mentioned my laptop. I would stack it on books that I was reading.

Yes, of course, it might be high enough to be high enough.

And the books were so Apropos of the show, it was Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, Machiavelli's The Prince, the Federalist Papers. So that's what I— that was the perch on which my Dennis and Julie laptop stood.

Right.

But yes, you know, I've thought about this a great deal, Dennis. And again, it really is so funny how we just figure it out within seconds. We didn't even talk about this before the show. We never do. But I've been thinking about the role that in-person contact plays in our lives. And my generation has really been robbed of that. On Timeless, a few episodes ago, I did this whole show on how technology is deadening the human experience. And I went back and looked at videos from the 1960s and the 1970s, for instance. Where people were predicting the future. And you were alive during this time. So it's a, it's a great thing to be able to discuss with you and the changes that you've seen. But these individuals in the videos that I played, they were marveling at the fact that one day, in the words of one of them, you could conduct your business from London as well as you could conduct it from Chicago. The, the amount of, uh, freedom we have now, as we're seeing right now, the fact we can even do this show remotely and stick to our weekly schedule is a great thing. But in my generation, we Zoom so much. So many of my peers work from home, they're on Zooms with their bosses. I know I have long-distance friendships and we're just on Zoom. And I think sometimes we become so comfortable with the Zoom or with the having jobs, relationships on screen that we become awkward in person. So that didn't fully answer your question about the differences.

But no, no, I know what will go. I want to go back to that.

But this is big.

It is what you just said. And see, I don't feel it because all of my relationships are in person, but, uh, that you would note that it's almost awkward for many members of your generation—

yes—

to be with a person in person, a friend, not a person just a random person, a friend. I believe you. And that's, that's why I'm underscoring its significance.

Yes. You know, we are really in a time of revolution. I believe we're in a time of political revolution, but we can put that aside for the moment. But in addition to that, we're, we're in a technological revolution. Apps like Facebook and Instagram and Twitter were only founded about 20 years ago. And the face in the, in the case, excuse me, of Facebook, I believe it was founded in 2004. Twitter and Instagram were roughly 2010, 2012. And now nearly 90% of the world is on these apps. Think about things like streaming services. Netflix, Amazon Prime. You know, you used to, if you wanted to go see a movie, you would leave your home, go to a movie. Now you can just have it online. You, Dennis, on your show talk about this burgeoning, dear God, a trend of AI girlfriends. You can't possibly imagine the damage that this technological revolution has wreaked on my generation. We're right now experiencing the benefits of it, being able to do this. But in the spirit of full honesty, I'm becoming more and more and more aware of just how radically different my upbringing and my generation's experience of the world is than yours. And it's a very scary thing because we're basically thrown in the middle of this technological ocean. And we don't have any kind of life preserver. It hasn't been this way ever before. And we're just— no wonder we're sinking and flailing. Oh, forgive me, Dennis. Could people hear Sean or no?

I hear you heard.

I hear him.

And you have the clips from my episode, he says, if you want to play them. If you don't want to, no problem. But Ice.

Well, let's, let's see one. I'm sure—

why not?

If you think it's relevant.

It's cool. I, I found these on the internet.

Yeah, the communication satellite. These things will make possible a world in which we can be in instant contact with each other wherever we may be, where we can contact our friends anywhere on Earth even if we don't know their actual physical location. It will be possible in that age perhaps only 50 years from now, for a man to conduct his business from Tahiti or Bali just as well as he could from London.

That's amazing. The guy was a prophet. The guy was a prophet.

Well, I found— so you know me and my rabbit holes. You know it from Dennis and Julie, and anyone who listens to Timeless knows it. And I went— I probably spent 24 hours total, combing through internet videos of people from decades past predicting the moment we're in now. And you can see his awe. You can see how cool he thinks it is. I'm 24. I take that for granted. I grew up with being able to conduct my business from Haiti as well as London. It's not cool to me. It's just normal life. Is it cool for you? I mean, or have you gotten used to it?

Yeah, no, well, it's not cool. It's a marvel. Yes, I sort of, I'm torn because look, without the internet, there's no PragerU.

There's no this show. There's no Dennis and Julie.

Yeah, well, there's no Dennis and Julie. That is exactly right. And you know, At the, at the Miami airport this past week, a guy comes over to me. And as I told my wife, a good-looking guy. And she agreed because she saw a picture of him on the internet.

Did you ask for his number?

He's married with kids. I would have.

I couldn't resist.

No, no, no. I'm glad you couldn't resist.

I love it. No, no, no.

There's no—

That's a respect on me, by the way. The fact I'm literally doing this on the air That's your effect. It's hilarious.

That's right.

Well, I'm proud of it, and I'm thrilled for you and for everybody. So he comes over to me, and that happens at every airport except Boston Logan Airport. Boston is the only airport no one came over to me. It's a riot. And he comes over, he's 35 years old, and he goes, oh, and then he was really, he was sort of overwhelmed. Oh my God, I'm hyperventilating.

You know, very, oh, all sweet stuff.

And obviously a bright, intelligent guy.

And it— so I, of course, I want to know about him. Where are you from? So he said, I am Syrian and I live in Antigua, which is a little island country in the Caribbean.

And, you know, I never met a Syrian. I would live there for him. Yeah, I'm sure you would. Yes. Well, He's done, he does very well. He's the biggest, he owns the biggest hairdressing business, salons business in Antigua.

And I just want to make the point, this guy wouldn't know I exist were it not for the internet.

How's he going to know about me as a Syrian in Antigua or as anybody in Antigua without this? I get it.

The downsides, though, are stupendous.

Yes.

When I was your age, the only way to relate to a person other than by telephone, which was still relating because it wasn't texting, you know, wasn't emailing or whatever, it was actually talking. But the only way was in person. That is how you had friends. Your friends were in person. You went to work every day.

And I know people lament that and know how great it is to work from home. And there are massive advantages, especially if you have kids. I fully acknowledge all of that.

The prices are stupendous that you don't go in every day, that you had to dress up every day and then meet with people every single day of the week, of Monday to Friday at any rate. And then you got in your Sunday best.

You know how big I am on clothing.

Sunday best on Sunday.

That's what they—

it was called your Sunday best.

That was— it was a term for your clothing to go to church.

That we have lost all of that.

Well, your generation didn't even know it. I mean, that's— you're right, this is a big deal. So now, now, so what our original— the original issue was what again? See, we got— I wanted to emphasize your point about the price your generation is paying.

Awkwardness. We're awkward in person.

Yes, that's an amazing thing to be awkward in person. Why don't you develop that theme?

Have you— well, let me—

I'll ask you, and you know, it's a personal question, but I know you'll deal with it.

Do you feel that at any time in person with someone?

Awkward.

If you're still waiting to buy gold, sitting on the sidelines might cost you precious gains. This is Dennis Prager for AMFED Coin and Bullion. That's my choice for precious metals. The current economic climate could make buying gold a very desirable safe haven commodity. The government's overprinting of money, the fluctuation of interest rates, and high inflation can all impact the value of gold, and it's why you should seriously consider buying now. I've been working with AmFed Coin and Bullion's owner Nick Grovich for years. I'm glad that I jumped into the precious metals market when I did, but it's never too late. Nick's been in the industry for over 42 years, and he's proud of providing transparency and fair pricing to build long-term relationships. Nick and his team have my back, and they will have yours. They recommend what's in my best interest, not theirs, and I never worry about hidden commissions or huge markups. If you're interested in buying or selling, call AmFed Coin and Bullion for a free coin performance review. 800-221-7694. AmericanFederal.com. AmericanFederal.com.

It's a personal question, but I know you'll deal with it.

Do you feel that at any time in person with someone?

Awkward?

No.

So how do you know that it exists?

Because I relate with others for whom it exists. In other words, I see it in others. And none of this is a holier-than-thou, oh, I'm not awkward, but they're awkward. It's just—

No, no, no, no.

It's not that.

I don't take it as that, yeah.

But I'm just, I have to be honest. I'm guided by the truth. The truth is no, I don't feel awkwardness with anybody in person. I don't think I'd be able to do a, you know, make my career off of talking if I did. It's just not in my nature to feel awkward with people. But there are a lot of people in my generation for whom that is different. And I don't actually really blame them because we have grown up amidst a complete revolution. And something I've been thinking about lately is we have to understand our time and our place in history in order to be happy, functional people. I think that's a really important thing. You and I talk about the role of religion, and it's massive. You and I talk about the role of perspective, not succumbing to the missing tile syndrome, for instance. All of these things, I think, are huge components of being a full human being. I think another huge component that my generation lacks, and I think Americans writ large are, are missing right now, is what is the moment that we're in? Where do we come in the grand stretch of history? I was watching the other day a video from the 1960 presidential debate between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. And by the way, shameless plug for Timeless. This show is just pulling, you know, clips from the past. I do all this stuff on my show. So if you're interested in a deeper dive, watch Timeless. But President John F. Kennedy Dennis Prager, in his opening monologue, talked about this. He talked about we're in a time and place in history right now where we have to choose whether we're going to safeguard freedom or we're going to allow the Soviet Union and communist China to spread their ideology around the world. It was so interesting to me that he was talking to Americans in terms of this. We ought to understand the moment that we're in and act accordingly. I don't think my generation and Americans in general do that. To bring this back to the technology point, we, those in my generation, we don't place ourselves and go, whoa, we're coming of age in a moment in time. We're coming of age in a moment where all these apps have been invented and thrown at us and completely transformed the way we live. And we ought to be careful with how that's affecting us. We should run towards its good, you know, components, but we also need to look out for its bad components. And one of those bad components is that we have become awkward. That's why people— I mean, I'm, I'm sorry to— if this is tawdry, but this is why there's a porn epidemic. I think it's because it's easy to access porn, but I think also people are increasingly not able to have sex in person. Because it's awkward when you get so used to porn. I would imagine you can't have the— you literally become used to a different reality and then the in-person reality is awkward.

Wow.

Light topic.

Okay, clip of the kids. Go ahead.

This is a clip I pulled for Timeless that Sean says we should play now.

I think it'll be very dull.

They're predicting the future.

People would all be squashed together so much there won't be any fun or anything. I don't think it's going to be so nice. I think sort of all machines everywhere, everyone doing everything for you. You know, you'll get all bored and I don't think it'll be so nice. I think it's going to be very boring and everything will be the same. I mean, people will be the same and things will be the same.

Boy, that's prophetic out of the mouths of babes, really. Back to the, uh, the young people and what you mentioned about young people not having sex now. Of course, a lot of religious people will say, well, that's, that's a great I think that's a great thing because, you know, the hookup culture was not a good thing. And everybody acknowledges the hookup culture was not a good thing. And women paid the biggest price. And if you— those who think that men paid the same price don't understand that men and women are actually quite different, especially in the sexual arena. But— and I always mentioned that, about the price women were paying. I never thought that— and this obviously has to be put into context— I contend I have not changed my mind at all about the hookup culture, but I actually look upon that with some nostalgia compared to the no hookups, not because of religious reasons.

Oh, I'm saving sex to marriage.

I personally did believe saving intercourse for marriage was a good thing, but that's beside the point.

That's not what's happening. What's happening is, I don't, especially women, I don't want to relate to men that way. And so the men have their out, if you will, through pornography, and the women are just opting out. And the two sexes are not getting together. This, I don't know if anybody would've predicted because it never happened in history that young men and young women did not crave one another. That's built in. That is how the human species, indeed how any animal species reproduces, but especially the human.

I don't know about animals, whether, how often, you know, female gorillas are craving male gorillas. And I mean that not as a joke. I don't know the answer to that. But within the human species, I have a saying which people find jolting and even reprehensible, but I believe it. Girls went, you know, Girls slash young women went from boy crazy to crazy.

You know, my amendment to your— to that is that girls went from boy crazy to boys.

Oh yes, that's a good— it's a good amendment and a very obviously incredibly sad one. The dysfunction, both intentional from the left that is undoing norms to the unintentional, which is what we're dealing with today, right now. I mean, in our talk with one another of technology is terrible.

When churches allowed themselves to, shut down in person and start Zooming services.

Ridiculous.

They—

the price they paid was now people think, I don't need to go to church, I could just stay home in my pajamas or my sweatpants or my, you know, my workout clothes and watch the service.

But 50%, if not more, in my opinion, more of the worth, because I go to synagogue every Saturday, of the worth is being with other people.

That's, that's as big a part of it as God is. God wants us to be with other people.

It's not good.

The first statement God makes in the Bible about the human being is it is not good to be alone.

Not good for man to be alone.

Dennis, you'll be very proud of me, but you should be really proud of yourself, actually, that I was taking— you know, I keep a piece of paper and a pencil here to track my notes, and I wrote down, "Not good for man to be alone." I was going to—

I had— when I saw you start writing, I knew you were writing that.

Really? Did you— that you knew I was writing that?

The—

wow.

Yes. You know me and I know you.

It's true. But, but the saying is true. The saying is everything. And it's something that I have to remind myself of, you know. I mean, I went to church recently. I, I'm trying to go more. I read the Bible, as you know. I'm on a religious journey, as you know. And sometimes I'm not the best about showing up. And so I'm trying to hold myself accountable and show up. And I'm noticing things when I'm there that I think are indicative of my generation. First, and this may be the church that I've been going to, I'm not saying this is, you know, the American church is a monolith. I'm speaking about my experience. But nevertheless, I believe my experience has some universal trends and truths. First of all, I'm the youngest person there except for the little kids. Except for the little kids, right? It's, it's varied. It's a lot of older people, some young couples. Yes, some, some young couples, which is fantastic, and I love that, and they're wonderful, and I've become friends with them and their kids. But then there's this kind of, you know, vast emptiness of space of generation. And then there's, you know, Julie in the back. And so, so that's one observation. Another one is, and you know that I'm pretty damn good for my generation about phones, and I've made a concerted effort to get off of social media, to get off of my phone more. And I found myself during that church service, unable to hold my attention without struggle.

That's fascinating.

And I— and you know, I'm pretty good. I love reading, you know, and I've worked—

right?

Yeah, I was listening to the sermon and I was thinking, I want to click something. Anybody who listens who's within any kind of, uh, shot of my generation will understand what I'm saying. It's— I found myself like, I need to look at my phone. It wasn't rational. There was nothing I needed to look at.

Wow, you see, right?

And my wow is indicative of my—

your— and your lack of understanding.

Yes.

Thank God for you. Thank God.

From—

yes, my use of the phone is, is purely necessity. I never think—

I know it is. I've watched you.

Really?

Yeah, I've watched you, and it's fascinating for me to watch you, and it's fascinating for me to watch my parents.

So why do you use it? What do you see when your parents or I use it?

What do you see?

First of all, you guys have no idea how to use anything.

What? I have no idea what?

You don't know how to do it. You always go, damn it, damn it, damn it. What's going on here?

Yeah, okay, yeah.

It's funny, and I actually envy that. All the jokes aside, I think it's endearing and I envy it. I used to get really annoyed, and I know my parents are watching, so sorry. I used to get really annoyed when they would ask me for help with, oh, I forgot my Apple password, all that. And now I actually see it as, oh, they're so lucky. They're so lucky that for so much of their lives they didn't—

that they're not fluent.

That's right. And I know, of course, not a language.

Right.

I hear you.

But what was your question? Oh, what do you notice? So I notice that you guys are inept, but that's not even just a laughing observation. That actually— that observation has significance, which is that you aren't fluent. In the phones. That's, that's the first thing. And the second thing is, I think that you— your generation is much better able to use it in its proper place than mine. I mean, even I was watching my parents the other day, you know, when they're on their phones, my dad's reading the news or my mom is, you know, texting her friends. And you guys really use it for fun, to use your word, necessity. I mean, think about people in my generation. We're on our phones to find dates.

Are you ready to lose weight but not sure where to start? So I'd like to tell you why I chose PhD Weight Loss and Nutrition. First, Dr. Ashley Lucas has her PhD in chronic disease and sports nutrition. The program is science-based. The PhD program starts with nutrition and is much more. They know 90% of permanent change comes from the mind, and they work on eliminating reasons you gained weight in the first place. There are no shortcuts, no pills, no injections, just solid science, science-based nutrition and behavior change. If you're ready to lose weight for, I think, the last time, call 864-644-1900, 864-644-1900 to get started, or online at myphdweightloss.com.

Myphdweightloss.com.

Just make the appointment for your one-on-one consultation. Call today, 864-644-1900.

Like, my parents are married. They met in person and they're married. My generation, we're on Hinge, we're on Tinder, you know. We have to— we even have to use— where's my phone? We even have to use this damn thing to get married. Because the landscape has so changed. And it's depressing. I'm not going to lie. It's depressing. I'm depressed by it. But what I am going to do and what I'm going to use my show to do and what I'm going to use my life to do is try to change myself, get myself away from these habits, and hopefully in turn help other people to do so, because these are our lives. We are not going to let our lives get thrown away by this crap. Sorry, Sean's commenting. It's really funny. Can he come on air?

That's why we were quiet.

Okay. What Sean is saying is that older generations have ringers on their phones and younger generations don't. That's true. It's—

what does that mean?

You guys are funny. You, you, you need a ringer to— well, actually, this is a great observation. You need to hear the phone ringing to know to pick it up and to use it. We're just constantly on it that we turn off our ringers knowing that we're going to see the phone call appear because we're on the phone anyway.

I didn't think you could depress me further.

Well, honestly, I mean, it's so interesting that we're discussing this because this is— if there's anything I've been devoting my time and attention to lately, it's this. As you can see from the videos that I pulled— and by the way, if somebody takes those videos, please credit me. I did a lot of work to go and find those on the internet. I, I used a lot of my time on the computer to try to find these, so please do credit me. But, you know, it's something I've been thinking about lately. It's just because I'm pretty good for my generation and it's transformed my life and I don't want it to.

Well, it's— well, you know my old question, who has it worse? We who saw it.

Honestly, us.

Yeah.

Not to— but that's not an excuse to— to— to—

No, no, no, no, no.

I'm not— I'm not looking for victim status for either of of us.

Oh, I know you're not, but we— my generation succumbs to it in a lot of different ways.

Yeah, well, I'll tell you though, and it— but it transcends, of course, tech.

So I told the story of her, of the—

of a waitress, uh, you know, if, if I meet a woman clearly under 30, I ask her my famous question. You can get one of two guarantees: guaranteed a great career, guaranteed a great marriage.

Whichever you choose, it doesn't mean you cannot have the other.

It just means it's not guaranteed.

So which would you take?

I asked her, and she was a good-looking and sweet young woman. My wife was with me, and she could attest to this.

And there was no— she wasn't— sometimes a woman, a young woman will—

let me think about that. Sometimes even, you know, when I come back, I'll tell you an answer.

This was instantaneous. Great career. So, but Julie, here, here is what is really remarkable. You know what her field of study is at her state college?

Communications. I'm thinking, what career in communications is better than a great marriage?

I am in communications. That is my life, is communications.

That's right.

But, you know, so unless she has, you know, some enormous audience and is affecting them on major moral issues, but that's not even what she's in it. Communications majors aren't there to do podcasts. They're there often to be you know, local news reporters, let's say. And I'm thinking, let us say she became the CEO of a local LA station. Does she really think that will bring her greater happiness than a great marriage? That was the alternative. You know what I'd like to know?

If I could do one thing about this young woman, it would be to meet her parents.

I'd like to know how— and, and here's the—

people will not predict this.

I think people would think, oh—

and I would ask them, how did you raise her?

That would be my second question. You know what my first question would be?

How do you react to your daughter's answer?

What do you suspect most parents would say?

Oh, I agree with her. I think most women would say, that's right, exactly.

She understands what, what a woman really wants. And I think that, uh, the husband, when most cases, would be sheep-like and go along with the wife.

So honest, and it's so true.

Yeah, or sheep-like and go along with what society demands. Now, if my daughter—

I don't have a daughter, but if I had a daughter and she said that, I would think I had failed. Now, if she wants to be president of the United States, I'm fine with that.

But if she's offered one guarantee and she chooses it to be career, you know, a woman on my Male Female Hour called me another one.

Bright woman and 52, very successful. And, you know, she's so— she says, career doesn't keep you warm at night.

I mean, you know, it's authentic because I could not have made up that line.

That's a genuine line from a genuine person, in this case, a genuine woman.

God bless her for her honesty. That takes courage.

Well, it does. I, I will say I provoke honesty because I'm so honest, and this is not self-praise.

It's just— yes, I, I—

exactly.

When you're open, others are open.

And, but even putting that aside, she just— so here's a great, here's a great topic that that raises. One of the many, many ways I marched to the beat of a different drummer, even as a young person, which is, by the way, I, one minute, I don't want to forget. Yes. Okay. I made a mental note.

I can take a physical note.

I have it. I have it in my brain.

Are we We're not that different as an adult from when we were 8. Have we discussed that?

Say that. It's so weird you say that. We're so—

why?

Because I've been thinking about this a great deal. I know I say that about almost everything we discuss, but we're very much in sync. Go on. I have a lot of thoughts about this.

Well, I'm not going to go on right now on that, but put it down because I will either— we will today or we will another time.

It's such an interesting question.

Totally.

But when I look back, I was me at 8.

Me too.

And so I wonder, I don't know if we're exceptions. It may be the human rule. But anyway, we'll put that aside. So this is what I— so at a very, very young age, I don't know if it was 8, but certainly by 11, I have always thought, how will I want to look back at my life when I'm old?

Totally.

You, you have thought it, you too?

This is what—

this is, this is rare.

Most kids, they never think about when they'll be old. It's so far in the distance, so remote, it's not an issue.

It's everything I've been, I've been thinking about now. It's, you know, I was saying we're in a time and place in history. I think to be my age is also to understand that you're at a time and a place in your life. And with everything I do, everything, my career, my dating, my friendships, my travel, my getting off my phone and trying to go to church, with everything I do, it's with that North Star. How do I want to look back at my life? And it's tough. I mean, it's really tough to shirk your bad habits in pursuit of something better. It's tough to take risks. I mean, doing what I'm doing right now is a big risk and it's so joyful. I love it. There are times it's also really hard and scary. But as trite as it sounds, we're only on this earth once. We have one life. And I just tell myself every day, I have this image of a— and this is hilarious that I even have this image because I don't know anything about baseball. And I'll double that, I don't care about baseball. So it's funny I have this image. Tom Sowell, by the way, is a big baseball fanatic. And he— I think smart people like baseball because it's a— from what I understand, it's a game of— it's a mind game. I don't care about baseball. Anyway, I have this image of someone pitching a ball at me every day and I'm the batter and I just swing. Every single day I have this picture. And when I'm thinking about, you know, this show today, or I'm thinking about marriage, or when I'm, you know, when I'm weighing the individual decisions of do I leave the house, or do I do this, or do I go on that date, or do I go take this opportunity, et cetera, I'm thinking in terms of I gotta give my life one hell of a shot. I gotta go for it because I don't wanna be old and look back.

You'll swing even if you strike out.

I'll swing. And sometimes you do strike out, but at least I want to look back and go, okay, the times that I struck out, at least I swung. I don't want to look back and go, I didn't swing. But part of swinging, as you know, right? But you could strike out.

Of course.

But that's a very important subject, but not exactly.

What was it again?

That at a young age I asked myself, how will I want to look back at my life when I'm old? See, most— I don't think most people do that. It's not built into youth to do that.

When you're young, you think you'll be young forever. It's completely understandable. It's why my favorite— one of my favorite stories is the King Solomon ring, uh, that is, you know, his magicians gave him inscribed on it were the Hebrew words, "Gam zu yavor," "This too shall pass." And including life, your life will pass.

And your youth will pass, your middle age will pass, and you'll either be dead or old. And when you want to look back at your life, do you want to be able to say, "I was a CEO of X, Y, or Z company," which is, by the way, perfectly commendable. If you did that, kudos to you. But is that what you want to say most? That's the key word. Most.

You know, I think, though, Dennis, my— I think it's very easy. And I'm not saying you're doing this at all. I'm saying, I'm saying, you know, Americans in general, especially older Americans, I think it's very easy to hate my generation, quite frankly. I think it's very easy to admonish my generation. Inscribed on it were the Hebrew words gam zu yavor. This too shall pass, and including life. Your life will pass, but your youth will pass. Your middle age will pass, and you'll either be dead or old. And when you want to look back at your life, do you want to be able to say, I was a CEO of X, Y, or Z company, But now MyPillow has hundreds of products, some of which you may not even know about. To get the word out, we want to invite you, our listeners, to check out their $25 extravaganza. 2-pack multi-use MyPillows, just $25. MyPillow sandals, $25. Their 6-pack towel sets for $25. Brand new 4-pack dish towels for, you guessed it, just $25. And for the first time ever, the premium MyPillows with all new Giza fabric, just $25. Orders over $75 will receive free shipping. And this offer won't last long. So go to mypillow.com and use the promo code Hartmann or call 1-800-566-6745 today and use the promo code Hartmann. I know that about you. Yeah, I know that about you. You're honest because the baby boomers are. I mean, look, we all bear individual responsibility for our own lives.

But yeah, who taught your country that America is a cesspool? My generation taught the generation teaching you.

That's right. I'm truly exempting you from this because you understand that the baby boomers wreaked this havoc in large part on my generation. But I do encounter a lot of older Americans who will say to me, oh my God, your generation is so entitled. Your generation is so—

Well, they're right. They're right. But who produced you?

Exactly.

All you should— all your generation say, you're right. Who produced us?

That's right.

And that should end the discussion.

No, it's true. You're— you are right. The baby boomer generation produced that. And those individuals who admonish my generation are right that we are entitled, we are privileged, and we're also gay. Like, we're also— I mean, you know, we're, we're a big LGBTQ generation, and it's— a lot of it is brainwash. A lot of it is proselytizing. And I know that's unpopular to say, but screw it. The truth matters. But also, I want to complicate this a little bit because, yes, yes, it's true that people my age don't ask themselves how they want to look back, how they want to look back at their lives when they're old. That's true. And we bear responsibility for that. We need to do that. But also, we not only have had bad influences, i.e., the baby boomers who didn't teach us to think that way, but to bring it full circle with this conversation about technology, we've also had terrible, terrible, terrible influences coming at us online constantly. I mean, and that's, and that's something we really got to wise up to because people my age growing up, I mean, we, we would go on Instagram and see crazy videos, weird videos, sometimes great videos, but parent Yes, baby boomers are the parents. They need to be held responsible. But there's a new parent now, and it's not only big government, but it's technology. It's Instagram. It's the algorithm. It's the people pulling the strings, putting the videos in front of your child, putting the videos in front of you to change their mindset. So yes, I hold my generation responsible for a lot of our crap, but a lot of it is that we are coming up with some really revolutionary influences that are mostly not good.

Right.

So it's coming at you from all directions, all directions.

And it's a bombardment, by the way.

It's— and it's even less from parents now. Parents aren't even parents.

Yep.

Parents, parents don't raise children. Parents helicopter, but they don't raise. There's a big difference. And, and the, the left is making sure that they play as little a role as possible. You say to your daughter who's 11, she says she's a boy, you say, no darling, you're a girl, you can lose custody of your child in California and other woke states.

Sick.

That's one of them.

But how about this?

In California again, now breakfast and lunch are served to kids in schools.

So the parents don't provide two-thirds of the meals of their children. There is no question that consciously or not, part of it is the state will take over the care of your child. You provide room and board.

Well, not even board.

You provide room. We'll provide everything else.

This is communist. This is communist. I just have to come out and say it doesn't mean that every single person who's endorsing this or in charge of this are actively doing it in the pursuit of communism. I think many are, though I know that's not PC and not popular, but it's true. I'm not, I'm not saying everybody doing it is that, but if we look, let's just look at on the ground, the effects of what's happening here. You're right, the state is in control of your kid. And you know this better than anyone, Dennis, as someone who traveled to communist countries, you traveled to the Soviet Union, you studied communism at Columbia. In communist China in the '50s, '60s, and '70s, and in the Soviet Union, what did they do? They, they engineered it such that the state had control of your kid, literally. In the case of communist China, by living in communes with communal dining halls, with communal you know, preschool, daycare. It's a very bad trend that we're seeing now in America. And again, I'm not saying that every single person endorsing or in charge of it is communist, but I would ask our viewers to humbly consider this. If you look at the American Communist Party's objectives, there's a— Sean, maybe you can, you can pull it up there. It's from I think the '60s, and the American Communist Party wrote down a list of 50 of their objectives in the United States. And, and you read the list and it is what is happening right now— controlling one political party, having control of the media, having the state be more dominant than parents. And so I know we're kind of going down a rabbit hole. I guess the, the greater themes of this episode is We have all these influences coming at us. And we got to realize what we're in and behave accordingly.

People will dismiss what you said as, what, are you kidding? People are following some communist agenda.

They'll call it conspiratorial.

Yeah, right.

So we don't need that. I—

its validity is not in question.

It's that it's not necessary to explain. Some agenda is being followed.

Yes.

People who deny that sex is binary, people who, who can't tell the difference morally between the Palestinians and the Israelis, the most barbaric people of the last 100 years, as I document The slaughterers of human beings wherever possible. The people who announce we want to exterminate a state and its citizens. And Israel, the producer of more medicine than any country on earth except the United States, where people volunteer to drive Palestinians to hospitals to save their children with cancer surgery. I mean, America is systemically racist. Defund police, vast demonstrations about a lie that police inordinately kill innocent Blacks. I mean, it's the lie-based anti-West, anti-America, anti-Jew world that they have created. Whether or not they followed a communist playbook is interesting, but not as significant as what they have done. They have followed some playbook. They may not even be aware of it. And the playbook is get rid of the West. It is the French Revolution playbook. Destroy the past.

It's the American Revolution versus the French Revolution. And the French Revolution, with all its violence, is winning. It didn't win yet, and I'm not predicting it will win, but it's winning.

I'm kind of—

and communism came from the French Revolution.

Marx is a descendant of Robespierre.

Before we move on, I just want to give a pause for clarification because I know that people are going to clip you. And I know also what you believe. And I want you to clarify when you said the Palestinians and Israelis and you said the most barbaric people.

They are. I'll always stand by it.

The Palestinians have been the most barbaric people as a people.

They're not as barbaric as Stalin's regime because they don't have the power to be. They're not as barbaric as Mao's regime.

No, my article said it. I've put it in print. The Palestinians, the people who slaughtered the Israeli Olympic team in Munich, the people who vote for Hamas, the people who brag about what they did on October 7th.

There is—

the Nazis did not publicize what they did to Jews. The Palestinians publicize what they do to Jews. What do you infer from that fact? What does that tell you about the Germans? That Hitler did not want Germans to know what he did to Jews, and Hamas wants Palestinians to know what they did to Jews. What does that tell you about Palestinians versus Germans?

I completely agree with you with regard to the leadership, but a lot of the civilians are totally brainwashed, and that's not to excuse their behavior.

All right, fine.

So they're brainwashed.

Brainwashed.

That's irrelevant. It's true. So what? The, the sum total of the brainwash is that they're barbaric. It, it is. I'm sorry to say it. I have no joy in saying it. I was for a two-state solution for most of my life, and then I realized you give them a state, you get— they gave them Gaza. Gaza could have been Singapore, as Douglas Murray always points out. It could have, it could have been a place tourists around the world go to marvelous speeches, but they spend all their money to murder Jews. That's all they spend their money on. And they're the heroes of the Palestinian people. You kill a Jew, you are paid by the Palestinian Authority. That's not even Hamas. That's Fatah. You murder a Jew, a civilian, you stab a family, you get X thousands of dollars from the, from, what is it, some serious percentage of the Palestinian budget. Is to reward people who murder Jews. Okay.

I wanted you to clarify.

Oh, I'm happy to clarify it. And I'm happy to debate anyone on Earth on Piers Morgan again. I'll go anywhere and debate this issue. They slaughtered Jews for the last 100 years. Slaughtering Jews is a good act for most Palestinians. Some Palestinians are wonderful. Some Israelis are despicable. That's true for all people. But as a people, the Palestinian record is the worst on earth.

I wanted you to clarify because I know what you believe and you did clarify. So back to, to what we were talking about, which— bingo. Oh, gosh. What is it? What were we talking about? About looking, looking back on your life and look at the— sorry, the agenda. I remember now.

Yeah.

You were saying that there's— there— it doesn't even so much matter what specifically.

And they don't think in terms of communism. They just think in terms of destroying the West.

Yeah.

Colonialism, imperialism.

Yes.

Capitalism.

Yes.

That's the same. It's the same agenda as communism, whether you call it communism or not.

That's right.

The identical agenda.

Very well said. It's very true because it's so vast. As a movement, and it's not a monolith. You know, there are communist elements, there are Islamofascist elements, certainly, of course, you know, but I think what you've identified here is so important. There is a movement around the world to destroy the West. Some may call it overly simplistic, it's more complicated than that. It's actually not. The through line is that there is a movement to destroy the United States of America and the West. We see it here, we see it homegrown, and we see it abroad. And to go back to the elements of our discussion, a lot of our malaise, I think a lot of the reasons why people my age don't think in the terms that you are outlining, you know, of marriage and living a good life, I think a lot of that is part and parcel of this agenda. There are forces. I don't know exactly who they are. I don't know exactly what specific ideology they're following. But I am on Instagram. I see the social media algorithm. And there are people somewhere pulling some kind of strings to deaden us, to make us LGBTQ, to make us hate our country, to make us hate Israel, to make us hate the West, to make us enthralled with communism. Communism, to make us enthralled with Islamofascism, to make us polylogist, to make us morally relativist. And that is what is happening. And I know in this conversation we're sort of oscillating between like social media and the world, but they're all kind of tied together in this— it's like an effed-up web of seeping into the personal and ruining your personal lives in pursuit of this greater anti-Western civilization agenda.

Are you ready to lose weight but not sure where to start? So I'd like to tell you why I chose PhD Weight Loss and Nutrition. First, Dr. Ashley Lucas has her PhD in chronic disease and sports nutrition. The program is science-based. The PhD program starts with nutrition and is much more. They know 90% of permanent change comes from the mind and And they work on eliminating reasons you gained weight in the first place. There are no shortcuts, no pills, no injections, just solid science, science-based nutrition and behavior change. If you're ready to lose weight for, I think, the last time, call 864-644-1900, 864-644-1900 to get started. Or online at myphdweightloss.com. myphdweightloss.com. Just make the appointment for your one-on-one consultation. Call today, 864-644-1900.

Yeah, well, as I said, you don't have to call it communism for it to have the same ends as communism did. So that's why I don't use the term because it can turn off liberals who should be our allies.

Right.

Oh, you're calling— you're saying America— No, look, if people don't want to recognize moral truths, it doesn't matter what language you use. I fully get it.

By the way, we were talking about—

I was telling you about how I don't blame your generation. I mean, look, to the extent that humans have free will, I do blame your generation. Otherwise, you know, but I blame the baby boomers.

But hey, hello, the baby boomers were raised by a generation too, and the baby boomers were raised by the so-called best generation, and they were a great generation.

America, right?

The greatest generation. That is what my parents' generation were called. I'm a baby boomer, but that generation didn't know how to raise good children. They were clueless. All they wanted to do was have their children have everything they didn't have. I've mentioned this to you on a number of occasions. I've talked about this since I was your age and giving lectures.

Hey folks, looking at my parents' generation in the audience, not my parents, but my parents' generation. It's not because I want to get my parents off the hook. My parents didn't buy into any of this. They were traditional religious people. They didn't buy this.

But the average parent of the Depression, World War II generation, and who may well have been heroic, and most were, they didn't raise their children with American values.

They raised their children not to have pain. A very bad way to raise a child?

You know, I know a lot of people my age were very worried for our future because, not to make this an all-encompassing conversation, but it really is. We're worried about the future of our country. We're worried about the future of Western civilization. I know a lot of girls my age were worried about guys and their addiction to porn. And that's not to treat guys as a monolith. I'm sure guys are worried about girls and their political radicalism. And they're, you know, I mean, it's a, it's a messed up world for a lot of people. And I can tell you, girls, guys, liberals, conservatives, I can't say I know any leftists, but you know, my friends who are liberal, conservative, we're all just generally really worried for the the future. And with good reason, because so much is changing. Not only has, you know, to the whole point of this conversation, not only have our— the way we live has changed so rapidly because of technology, but our country, our, our world is changing so much. I mean, look over the past, what, 4 years, 3 years? Putin invaded Ukraine. October 7th happened in Israel. Hamas exacted the terrorist attack on October 7th, and now there's the Israel-Gaza war. China's on the march. You know, people are saying Tulsi Gabbard, I believe— I don't want to directly quote her if this wasn't her exact quote, but I believe it was former Representative Tulsi Gabbard who said this, that we're closer to World War III than we've ever been. It's like, Sean, you're going to have to bleep me, but What's going to happen? What are we going to do? I mean, what's your reaction? I know it's a hard thing to react to, but I know that— and I've talked with friends about this— on the one hand, our moment is very unique. On the other hand, there have been civilizational crises before. I mean, we just commemorated the 80th anniversary of D-Day where Americans stormed Normandy Beach. I mean, you don't think they were worried about the future of the world? We've been in this moment before, but we also haven't. And it's just as a young person particularly, and I know there are a lot of young people who listen, listen to the show, you kind of are paralyzed. You don't really know how to navigate it.

Well, it's worse. Hitler, since you mentioned World War II, Hitler and Stalin were threats to Western civilization, very serious threats. But internally, there was a love of the West.

Yes, good point.

That is what is different today.

Many of your generation venerates nothing Nothing.

Even worse than that, venerates evil.

Or yes, that's right. I take that back.

You're right.

Or worse, venerates evil. 500 students marched out on behalf of the Palestinians, which is, by the way, unless you prefer to lie to yourself, I don't mean you. One prefers to lie to oneself. Pro-Palestinian today means pro-Hamas. Just as pro-German during World War II meant pro-Nazi. There was no such thing as, oh, I'm for the Germans, but I'm not for the Nazis. If you're for the Palestinians, you're for Hamas.

Okay.

You can lie to yourself. People do it all the time. But that's what it means. And there's no difference. Again, the one difference, the Nazis and Hamas both want to wipe out the Jews. And Iran wants to wipe out Iran. I mean, by the way, if you think this is a subject for another time because time marches on in life and on our podcast. But if you think and you're right, your generation here in America has it hard. Imagine being an Israeli when you know you're right. The the vast array of those who wish to kill you.

We don't— we can't relate to it.

There is no analog in American terms.

But one of the most powerful countries in the world, the Iranian regime, says, and says since 1979 and its revolution, our primary aim is to eradicate Israel, is to slaughter its 8 million Jews. And you're, you're, you're a young Israeli and you know what happened on October 7th. And they announced we want to do October 7th over and over and over. And then Harvard students march on behalf of the people who say we want to do October 7th over and over. The scum of your generation and your college.

You're right. Yeah, there's no but.

You're right. I wish I weren't right.

Well, the, as I say often, One of the greatest parts of my Harvard experience was ironically a trip to Israel where the Harvard Hillel had 100 non-Jewish undergraduates go on a trip to Israel. It changed my life. I've talked about this. It made me religious. It made me believe in God. It was spectacularly fun. It was historically riveting.

You think they'd get 100 non-Jewish students today?

Well, they had it. Well, they obviously had to cancel the trip this past year because of the war. But no, I thought about that. No. I'll tell you, though, this is the most searing impression I got when I went to Israel. And anyone who's been knows it changes you. It just— it's just— it's like no other place on earth. And when I was there, all of us were so enthralled with the Israelis because, you know this, Dennis, and any Israeli listening is going to feel complimented right now, but it's true. They're so fun and they're so deep. And, you know, I mean, we'd go out clubbing in Tel Aviv and they'd be popping bottles and having a great time. And then the next morning we'd be at Yad Vashem and they would be leading the most, you know, interesting, in-depth, historically nuanced conversation, and then we'd be off at, you know, some kibbutz. And, you know, like, their versatility as people, their patriotism, and their ability to oscillate between the fun and the serious was just hugely impressionable to me as an American. And I've talked about this, that by comparison, a lot of Americans are deadened. We don't— and of course, I'm not speaking as Americans or Israelis as a monolith. I'm using generalizations here, but they're apt. A lot of Americans, by comparison, in my judgment, are quite deadened. And I really thought about this on the trip. I thought, why? Why is it that there is this difference? And then I realized it's that Israelis know life better than almost anyone. They, they, they grow up having daily threats to their existence. They grow up knowing that they cannot travel. I mean, we as Americans, I mean, think about if we plan our summer trips and we go, oh, like, do we want to go to this country? Do we want to go to that country? We, most of us don't even think about it. Israelis, Jews, before they, they leave their borders, They've got to do their due diligence. They've got to make sure that they're not going to go to South Africa and be arrested. That's a reality Americans don't know. And we're privileged. And shame on us. We've squandered our privilege instead of recognizing it. But the point is, the spirit of the Israelis was so magnificent to me, but it's because they know this horribleness of life. And to bring it back to this whole my generation is worried about our future, I often I often think about the Israelis. I often just think, okay, enjoy your life as many of them enjoy it and brace for impact the same way a lot of them brace for impact, because that's what I think we Americans are coming up to. We're coming up to some impact.

So as we conclude this episode of Dennis and Julie, I want to say to all those watching and listening, This was a dark episode. So I want to say this. You can't know light if you don't recognize dark. I've been broadcasting for 40 years. I never believed my task was just to present a cheerful portrayal of reality. I have a happiness hour. Why do I have a happiness hour? Because there's so much that works against happiness. I'm aware of both, of the incredible importance of happiness and of the incredible amount that works against it. That's why the title of my book on it is Happiness Is a Serious Problem, which HarperCollins objected to.

Really? Why?

Oh, yeah. Oh, you don't know the story. It's adorable. They said, Mr. Prager, we'd like you to choose another title if you would. This is a book on happiness and it's a real, it's a downer. Happiness is a serious problem. And I'll never forget my reaction. I said, I just have one question. Is it true or is it not true that happiness is a serious problem? Oh, of course it's true. I said, so we'll keep that.

Title.

Well, I'll end if you will allow me to just add to that, but in an ending way on this, you'll appreciate this and it will show your influence on me. What your title captures is that in life you oscillate between happiness and unhappiness and joy and sadness. I feel like almost on a day-to-day basis there's this oscillation, and it's something I'm trying to learn how to deal with. And you know what I think of as a kind of way of understanding this? I think of what I've learned from you and the other Jews who I spend Shabbat dinner with almost every Friday. And you have taught me, this goyim, this Gentile, Julie, that at Jewish weddings, there's a ritual of stamp— stomping on glass or breaking glass. Is that right?

And the reason the groom smashes a glass with his foot, it's still— it's the final act of the wedding ceremony.

And I used to see that, you know, those who tell people the reason.

Yeah. Oh yeah, you're going to it. Yeah.

I used to watch that, you know, on TV and in a show, and I thought it was some ancient idiosyncratic ritual from a dusty Tora book, but it actually has great meaning and relevance. It's that you're supposed to remind yourself in happy moments that there is sadness.

At the happiest moment, theoretically, the literal moment you're married, you— the world is still shattered.

Yes. But I think that captures— and one may think, well, why would you do that at your wedding? I think it captures this thing. And I know this episode was dark, but we also laughed during this episode. And I think as we move forward in our very turbulent world, I think it's a good thing to remind ourselves that we can oscillate a bit. We don't have to go too deep into either one. It's a balance.

Well said.

Thank you all for being with us.

Yeah, you got— I'm leaving the final word with you because you were so beautiful.

Well, I thought you were gonna say you're leaving the social media shoutouts to me. And I have no doubt you're doing that as well.

That's a given, yeah.

You can reach me at julie@julie-hartman.com. I love hearing from you. Keep the emails coming. I can't always respond, but I do appreciate them. And you can follow me on Instagram @juliahrhartman. Dennis @thedennisprager on Instagram, @dennisprager on Twitter, prageru.com, dennisprager.com. Just check us out here every Sunday at 1 o'clock Pacific, 4 o'clock Eastern. We love being with you. Be well.

Bye.

Your beloved dog and a stranger are both drowning. You can only save one. Who do you save? Every time Dennis Prager asks that question, his audience splits three ways. One-third chooses the dog, one-third chooses the stranger, and one-third aren't sure. Why? Because we live in an age where increasingly feelings define right and wrong. But if morality is based on emotion, then murder, rape, and theft are just opinions. And if people feel justified, why is rioting or destruction wrong at all? In his new book, If There Is No God, Dennis Prager explains why civilizations cannot survive without objective morality and why Judeo-Christian values shape the moral foundations of the free world.

If you claim that certain things are good, certain things are evil, dependent of how you feel about it, you are in effect affirming God.

If There Is No God by Dennis Prager, available now at pragerstore.com. That's pragerstore.com.