Dennis & Julie: Obtuse Americans

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Hello everyone, Dennis Prager with Julie Hartman, the Dennis and Julie podcast. I was wondering where the name podcast comes from. You don't know?

No.

And I don't know. You know? Yeah, what is the— we know what cast is broadcast. What is pod from? It is from iPod. Oh, Elsie said that. Well done. We should do a whole segment on Elsie.

I agree. I'd have a lot to say.

You sure? So do I.

The look of terror that just crossed her countenance, as Charlotte Brontë would say in Jane Eyre. I now say that unironically.

So right, you, you, this is a riot. Right before we went on, as you know, I was on OAN being interviewed, and the woman who did it was reviewing some stories and then went to me. One of the stories was on a woke church, I believe, in England. And I actually thought when she said this that it was a satire. The name of the reverend was Reverend Genders.

Oh gosh.

So I had to do everything I could to stop, to not laugh.

Oh, gosh. I have moments like that. I have to tell you, when it's like, don't laugh, don't laugh.

Yes. Well, everybody does, but not normally on national television.

Right.

Right.

I've had those moments on national radio.

Very impertinent of me to start cracking up while she's doing a newscast.

Yes.

I have to look up. Genders. It's like there's a whole host of that, by the way, on the internet. For example, the veterinarian, you know, all of these are true. Dr. Katz.

Yeah.

You know, yes, it's very cute when the name is appropriate to the job. Prager doesn't tell you much, I will admit.

But as we were saying a few moments ago off the air, it's a really good last name. You were, you were blessed.

I was blessed with both names. I was blessed. Do you know— God, we always— it's amazing how we get into a serious topic so quickly. So people who suffer will ask, why me? Which is a completely understandable question. And almost as intensely as people who have some terrible thing happen and they ask, why me? I would say, I can't say as intensely because I can't measure my emotion vis-à-vis another person's emotion, but I want you to know that almost as intensely, or maybe equally, I don't know, I ask why me in the opposite direction. Why did I luck out in so many ways?

Mm-hmm.

I know that about you. It is. It is true. You are extremely grateful.

And I don't even— none of it is meant as self-complimentary. I, I don't know. I'll go further. I don't know why people who have it good don't constantly say, why me?

Well, so recently, as you know, but I'm telling the viewers, I was on the third hour of Dennis Prager's radio program, as now we periodically do. And Dennis, you brought up this article from this Afghan woman who was talking about how the Taliban has recently outlawed beauty salons in Afghanistan. And as I was reading that, and I, like you, am a grateful person, I credit my nature, even growing up, I grew up here in Los Angeles and my parents lived close to the water, even growing up, 8 years old, I would look out the window and say, we're so lucky to be here. You know, a lot of people don't get to live by the ocean. I've always kind of had that. But also gratitude is something that you work on and you acquire through, through hard work, like any other virtue. But anyway, as I was reading that Taliban article and as we were discussing it, I kept thinking, I'm a grateful person, but we, we have to be reminded of how grateful we should be for some things that we don't even consider as freedoms. Here in the United States, some may be grateful for freedom of speech, freedom of religion, but I would bet few of us, myself included, think about how lucky we are to be able to, as women, walk down the street with our hair out in the open. How lucky we are to be able to go to a beauty salon, to work, to not have to gain permissions from our husbands or brothers to do certain things. So that's just to say you can be one of the most grateful people alive and there are still some things that we all overlook. But you actually, I believe you, you even think about those details.

I do. I do. In light of what you said, I, I have said, and I know you've heard this in America today, at almost any college you get a BA in ingratitude You got a master's in ingratitude and a PhD in ingratitude. Is it— do you agree? And for those tuning in for the first time, Julie has no problem disagreeing with me, just for the record.

Yes.

Or I with you. I just want people to know that. Okay. Can you imagine This is— and it's a serious question— a grateful leftist?

No, because baked into the ideology is disrespect, disdain, and criticism. How can gratitude be an offshoot of those three core pillars of leftism? When you hate something, when you think it's wrong and defective and ought to be changed, you're not grateful for it.

A woman your age or even younger at— I remember even where, University of Wyoming. I, I asked people who differ with me to come up first to microphones. I want to hear from the ones who differ first. So she looked at me, she was just completely, uh, respectful. I had no issue with her, but she looked, looked at me and said, are you saying that women are not oppressed in America?

Yep, that is what I'm saying.

Which is of course what I said. Of course, internally in me, that is, I was thinking, is she kidding? There was a voice in me that was wondering if she was sort of saying words that she really didn't believe. How do you believe that? You're a woman, so this is good. I'll ask you. Here's a girl around your age, and at that time she might well be exactly your age because this was a few years ago, and says, Mr. Prager, are you serious? You're saying women are not oppressed in America? Get me if you can. Maybe you can't, which is—

I can.

Okay, good. Get me into the mindset.

I'll tell you The two contributing factors. Number one is that we are constantly told that we are oppressed and people point to the pay gap. I actually once, or what's it called?

The, yeah, pay wage. Yeah, pay gap.

That's what it's called. PragerU actually changed my mind on that as it did on many issues. But I once believed that there was a huge disparity in the amount that men and women are paid. And in some cases there is the, the principal example being sports, but We know that you earn more than men. People watch it more. It's the way it works.

Yes. Women's beauty pageants earn more than men's beauty pageants.

Absolutely. Yes. That's a good counterexample. So the first thing is we're told this constantly, the pay gap being one example. Also, as you frequently remark on, these suppositions are thrown out there without any basis. So, you know, you're told throughout your whole life that you live in a heteronormative patriarchal society, and they provide very few examples, but you start to believe it because when a lie is repeated enough, you start to accept it as truth. That's reason number 1. Reason number 2, and I believe that this is 75% of the issue, is that we are profoundly ignorant as to how the rest of the world lives. I was profoundly ignorant. I did not know, and I'm really embarrassed to say this, and by the way, this is a good segue into one of the subjects I want to discuss. I'm reading this book on Hitler's Berlin in 1933 because I'm going to Berlin and I want to know all my stuff. And it is actually amazing how little I knew about Nazi Germany prior to reading this book. I learned so much and it is a failure of American education that they did not teach me this. We'll put that aside for a moment. But we don't even learn about the contemporary situations of people abroad. I didn't know until I decided to research Iran a few months ago in the wake of these protests that there was such an egregiously misogynistic government. I had no idea that you had to gain permission from your husband and father to get an education. I had no idea that the age of criminal responsibility for women is younger than for men. I didn't know that women in Iran need two male witnesses to corroborate their story if they go to court and allege that they were raped. I didn't know that.

How the hell do you have two male witnesses?

I know it's, it's, no, it, I mean, it's, it's It's truly devastating.

Well, they're in general— you can non-rape a woman, right?

Well, in the Quran it says a woman's testimony is worth half that of a man, so that's where that comes from. People have no idea.

So you know when I learned this? This is so— I never said this publicly, and it's not— there's no reason, I just never came up. It hit me that I didn't know what the rest of the world was like. In college, my junior year abroad was in England, and I visited some people's homes, middle-class Brits. So, uh, in— within British terms, the same exact level as my life. Middle class, middle of the middle class, I always put it. And I remember thinking when I was in their home. This is so much less than we have. It, it dazzled me. It would have been considered at best upper lower class, and, and they were well into the middle class in English terms. That's England, not Iran. And I thought, nobody lives like us. And it was true. Oh, great story on this. Do you know my World Youth Assembly story?

Maybe.

Okay. You may not. I'm curious if you know it at all. So to give you an idea of how early my public life started, when I was 21, I had just returned from the Soviet Union. For the only time in UN history, for good reason, they decided to gather the youth of the world instead of the usual delegates. So you had to be under 40. I was 21. And I was named a delegate to the World Youth Assembly. And you will love this story. So the delegation from the Soviet Union said, "We want to visit Harlem to see the oppressed blacks of America." So all the communist delegates and third-world delegates, they hired all these buses to take people into Harlem. To see the oppressed Blacks of America. You will love this story.

Oh my gosh.

It is precious beyond words. So they take them to Harlem. When they got back, they all said, we were fooled. They took us to see the rich Blacks. But they didn't take them to see the rich Blacks.

I know, but it's just so— Yes. It seems as though they're rich compared to the Soviet Union.

Houses, cars, Cars. The oppressed poor blacks had cars. In America means nothing to have a car. In the world, it means incredible amount that you have a car.

That's when people say, you know, healthcare is a human right. I want everyone to get healthcare, have access to healthcare as much as the next person. I agree it's super important, but people just throw out these things like, I deserve this at all times. And it's like, you have no, you have no idea the, the way that the, the rest of the world lives and how difficult some of these things are to accomplish.

I, that's why the girl could say, going back full circle, oh, you're saying we're not oppressed, we women in America?

They, they don't know. And the benefit of traveling to your point is that you go and, and you see the way other people live. When I went to Israel, I was so, blown away by the challenges to their security that they face because on paper, Israel is much like the United States. Its citizens enjoy the same liberties that we do, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, et cetera, et cetera. However, I think it was like the second to last day of the tour, our tour guide had to leave because one of his best friends was stabbed in the West Bank and was in the hospital. And then we were visiting an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, and this woman was showing us or telling us about the people that would come and rob her home. We spoke with IDF members of the IDF, which is the Israeli army, and they would talk about how they lost brothers, they lost friends. And it was just so immensely important for me to see as an American that having a country that has certain liberties, it's, it's not even enough. We, we in the United States have liberties and we have security. You know, we, we don't— again, it goes back to what I was saying, we don't even comprehend that certain freedoms and privileges that we enjoy are freedoms and privileges. But as good as traveling is, as helpful as it is, as necessary as it is, you can go online and learn learn so much about the world and very quickly understand that your situation is heavenly compared to the vast majority of the population. And it is— there's a reason why we don't learn certain things in high school and college. I think it's part of this ideological push to make people believe that America is worse than it is compared to the rest of the world.

It's an excellent point.

What other reason would there be to not tell us about these things? It's relevant. They can't say it's not relevant, right?

You're 100% right. But there is another reason. And it's as awful. There, there is no real yearning to have learned students.

Yes.

You want indoctrinated students, not learned students.

See, also, I think, and this is a generalization, it is not true of every teacher or every student, but I actually think there is some racism involved here where we kind of think, 'cause yes, it's true that we Americans are extremely ignorant as to how other people live, but we're not that ignorant. I would venture to say most Americans know that in China, you are killed on the spot for speaking out against the regime. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think a good contingent of Americans know. And I really actually do think there is this kind of racism where it's like, oh, well, those people, that's how they live.

You know, like, well, so you think whatever, if it happened in a white European country, they would be more upset? Otherwise, it's not race-based.

I do actually. I, I think that it would be more jarring, but I think there's actually this kind of like, well, that's, you know what, I actually, believe it or not, I never thought about that, and you may be right. I think I am.

Yeah, I know you think you are.

I will say the second that came out of my mouth, I was like, that was not a good contribution.

It's right. Wait, the question is, do I think, and does everybody listening But let me, let me offer—

if I could, if I could erase it, I would. It was just stupid.

No, no, it's quite all right. Um, I'll tell you, uh, perhaps an argument on, on your behalf. There is more, more line space, if you will, more— there are more articles condemning Hungary for alleged suppression of liberty than China.

Yep. Great.

And Hungary is 10 times freer than China.

Excellent piece of evidence.

But they're white.

Yep. Yes, I really do think it's so hard, Dennis, because you and I are so allergic to the charge of racism because it is thrown around so superfluously. But there are— I mean, Look at this. The left says that the right wing is racist towards Black people. I think the left is incredibly racist towards Black people.

There's no comparison.

No, of course, denying school choice, right? Telling Black people that they will not succeed because of the color of their skin.

That's right.

That they will always be the subject of this horrible life, that they need help. That is racism. And I do believe that this idea, like, well, that's just what happens to Chinese people. That's just what happens to Africans in the continent. That's just what happens to Muslim women. It's just— and a proof of this is, to add to your example, is that the people in America who are so concerned about homophobia never condemn the Middle East.

Or African countries, right?

Or even China, which is ironic because China is communist and supposedly super progressive, but they don't allow transgenderism, for instance.

I doubt if there's a Pride Day in—

Yeah, no, I don't think there is. I want to make sure I'm right about this, but I don't think they allow homosexuality.

You would see any pride flags on Chinese embassies.

But that shows my idea of this insidious racism that they may not perceive that they have, but they do. Well, it doesn't matter if gays are being persecuted in the Middle East, right? Because that's what, that's what happens there, right?

Or again, the Hungary-China example, powerful one, I think. So I learned before I went to England, I, I, I understood how fortunate I was, not economically— that happened in, in England But as a Jew especially, I remember the day I learned who Hitler was. My family would watch one TV program a week together. One.

That's sweet.

It was, now that I think of it. And it was certainly— it was through, I would say, 8th grade. I don't think in high school. And it was called The 20th Century with Walter Cronkite.

Oh, gosh. So weird you mentioned that. I went on Amazon the other day because someone recommended it to me and I ordered CDs of those episodes. Yes, I did. And I—

Did you watch any?

No, no, they're on. They're in transit. And I ordered PBS. There was the Civilizations series in the '60s. They remade it later and made it woke. But the one from 1969, I ordered that too.

The History of Civilization.

It's called Civilizations. Yeah.

Oh, Civilizations.

Yes.

Or civilization when they weren't woke.

Yes, it's spelled with an S. Anyway, I'm sorry.

No, no, it's nothing. So we're sitting as a family. I would say I was in 7th grade, so what would that make me? 12? Yeah, maybe 11. Oh, but that— 11 or 12. And Hitler comes on the, on the 20th Century series that, that Sunday night. So I say, who's Hitler? Said he was a very bad man. He killed 6 million Jews.

That must have— oh, that must have hit you in the face.

It— I remember I needed to process it. I needed time. They said it pretty much as matter-of-factly. I'm not that they weren't passionate. My father fought in World War II. But that's all they said. And that started me on a lifelong hatred of evil, that moment. And realizing, whoa, am I lucky. I guess this is, I think, an uncommon aspect of my brain. Or mind or soul. I never thought that I personally, or my society generally, were immune to evil. I never thought, oh, I'm not going to be hit by a drunk driver. It never occurred to me. My view is a drunk driver is going to kill somebody today. It could just as easily be me as the next guy. Most people don't think like that. Their sense is, for whatever reason, it's going to be the next guy.

That's what we talked about 2 episodes ago with our A Struggle with God episode, which, by the way, I think was one of our best ever. And I said, I think my faith would be shaken if my parent were hit by a drunk driver. And you said, when it happens to other people, is your faith shaken? No. So why? Why would you allow it to be shaken when it happens to you? And it was— it's It was a really—

No, that's everything.

It is everything.

Well, it's also everything, to be personal for a moment, because you're rational. The number of rational people is small. That's a very— this, this, uh, it's the word— disconcerting, uh, notion. Anyway, I knew how lucky I was and how much evil there has been. I think it's It's more common in a Jewish home than in a, say, Protestant home. 'Cause Protestants don't think— there's no Holocaust against Protestants. That does make a difference. It is one of the reasons I think that Protestants are more optimistic than, let's say, I am. 'Cause they don't have a history of their group being the target of evil. So evil is, I think— and I, you know, I'm a big fan of the American Protestant, in case anybody is wondering— but I, I do believe that they— the idea that evil will happen to you is less real to, let's say, a Protestant American than a Jew, which makes it all the more remarkable that Jews are on the left. Because the left is making the foundations of American, of the American society is so weakening, the left is weakening it. And I ask Jews all the time, who do you think the temple, the house is going to fall down on?

Us.

First, never only. But if we weaken civilization, we will suffer.

Time and time again, that has been proven.

Exactly.

So I'm, I'm hesitating whether to say this, but we know on Dennis and Julie that if you hesitate to say it, you're saying it right. I mean no disrespect to Jews by saying this, and I'm certainly not trying to paint all Jews with one broad brush, but it is a little perplexing to me how many Jews I know that seem to have no interest in A, Judaism, and B, understanding what happened in the Holocaust. Clearly that's not true of every Jew. I'm sitting across from one.

No, no, no.

Goes to Great Lakes.

First, you're right on part one. Part two, they think They know. Yeah. And you know what they know? The right wing caused the Holocaust and Christians are responsible. And that's all they know about it. And both are wrong. Mm-hmm.

I mean, and look, I would— I think it's awful that, you know, I was just saying a few minutes ago that Americans in general don't seek to learn more about situations beyond them. I'm— again, I'm not trying to just go after Jews here. But I think it is especially interesting that there are so many, especially my age, because the Holocaust was so recent. I mean, it was 80 years ago right now it was happening. It's amazing. It hasn't even been a century.

Right.

Isn't that like— can we just pause for a moment and let that sink in? Oh my God. And I just— again, I'm—

let me make it even more immediate.

Yeah.

You're talking to a person 5 years before— forget father— 5 years before this guy was born, Auschwitz was operating.

I just know, I know some, some Jews who are leftist and they are secular and they have had family that have died in the Holocaust. And with, with respect to them, you can see I'm very sensitive about making this charge because I know, I I know that I'm gonna get flack for it and please take it in the spirit that it's intended, but I can't imagine being the grandchild of someone who died in the Holocaust and not wanting to understand how and why that happened. I know they think they do, but yeah.

If you get rid of Christianity and you get rid of the right wing, you won't have another Holocaust. That is most Jews' mindset. It is, in the worst sense of the word, it is simplistic. It's not simple. Simple is good. It's simplistic.

And by the way, this is true of— I also know people who are grandchildren of people who lived in the Soviet Union or in the constituent Soviet Socialist Republics, and they know nothing about communism.

And by the way, look, the number of Gentile leftists dwarfs the number of Jewish leftists. They believe it was Christianity and the right.

All right. Yes.

If we just liberate ourselves from the right wing and from Christianity, we'll have a beautiful world. Well, we are liberating ourselves from conservative principles and from Christianity. You think it's beautiful? Really?

Yep.

Men give birth. That is just beautiful. Let's, let's raise kids with drag queen story hour and tell them that America is a systemically racist place.

Well, as you say in your Bible commentary, I think it is one of the best lines, and that's saying something because I have a lot others that would compete for the top spot. But you say that, you know, we're told so much about the— I want to get the right word that you said— the dangers of being too religious or to religious regimes. We don't ever talk about how dangerous and destructive secular regimes have been. Look at the 20th century. Nazis, communists, both secular. That blew my mind. It wasn't even something that I had thought of.

Well, this means a lot to me because if you never thought of it, I'm so ashamed that I never thought of it. Well, as soon as you hear it, you go, that's pretty important.

But it shows you, it shows you how the destitute, state of American education.

Right.

That— and the reason why my teachers didn't tell this to me is because they don't know.

They don't. They weren't taught. They— but, but ask them, so how many unarmed blacks are killed?

Oh, exactly. Exactly.

You'll get 1,000.

Yes. Oh, if not more.

It's under 20.

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you know what, I'm going to make a note of this. I need to write a column. You want to tear me off half a piece of paper? Well done.

Thank you.

Really well done.

Thank you.

No problem.

No problem.

I, uh, NP. No, no, I want to make a list of things you don't know.

This is okay. Well, good. You're gonna have to keep writing because we're gonna go over a lot of this right now. Well, you always say, Dennis, uh, how many college graduates know what the Gulag Archipelago is, right?

Exactly.

I would say how many college graduates could identify what the Gestapo is.

Wow.

I don't know if I could 3 years ago.

No.

Yeah.

See, that is amazing.

Oh, okay. So I'm reading this book called In the Garden of the Beast. It's by Erik Larson. Is that right?

Yeah.

He is— I love how I'm asking you. I'm reading the book right now. I should know the author's last name. It's a spectacular book. As I said, it's about Hitler's Germany the first year. Of his chancellorship. He became chancellor in 1933, and this was before he became absolute dictator because President von Hindenburg of Germany allowed Hitler to first become chancellor, and then it was all downhill from there. Anyway, even just that, even what I just told you, I am not convinced. I'm being really honest here, and it's hard for me to even say this because I'm so ashamed of myself and I'm so angry at my lack of education on this subject. I could have told you that Hindenburg was the president of Germany. I don't know if I could have said what I just said. I don't know that I would have—

You think you could have said he was president of Germany?

Yes. Well, that's because my own reading, my—

When could you have said— when in college?

In college? Yes. I think I knew Hindenburg was the president of Germany. I knew there was some kind of—

Well, you were a history major, right? Okay.

But still, the fact I was fuzzy on those facts, The vast majority of your fellow students could not identify him. Oh, absolutely not.

And, and there were things that I was reading about, like they might think he's a zeppelin. You don't know about the Hindenburg zeppelin?

No.

Oh, was that interesting.

Oh gosh, is this another history thing I, I didn't know?

Well, you, you will find it just when we're done. Okay, look it up. That story will blow your mind.

What is it?

Oh, about— it was one of the great aviation disasters of, of that period. Zeppelins were a, a rare but, but far more common than today. I don't even know if it exists— way of travel. Oh, okay. Anyway, well, it's not crazy.

Okay, but hold on. It's crashing terrible! Oh my, get out of the way please! It's burning, bursting into flames, and it's falling on the mooring mast! And all the folks between— this is terrible! This is one of the worst catastrophes in the world! Oh, it's like 20— oh, 400 or 500 feet into the sky! And it's a terrific crash, ladies and gentlemen! The smoke and the flames now, and the flame is crashing to the ground, not quite to the mooring mast! Oh, the humanity! And all the I don't do it. I can't even talk to people and friends around there. It's, it's, it's— I, I can't talk, ladies and gentlemen, honestly. Just like that massive smoking wreck in there.

What year was that? Oh yeah, take a look. Okay, so he just played the A live radio broadcast of the Zeppelin going down.

Okay.

Okay. Anyway, yeah.

Okay. So I have—

So what are you learning in the book?

Okay, well, so much, but I realized that I learned close to none of this in high school and college. I was a history major in college. It is— The first thing I wanna say is that I am convinced that every single college, in order for their students, its students to graduate as history majors, should require that they take 3 courses. One on the history of the United States, one on the history of World War II, focus on Nazism, and one, and the third on the history of communism.

You know what you should look up?

What?

I don't know if it's possible. Uh, this year's offering of courses, let's say just even, yeah, well, I think the whole, the whole college and 50 years ago.

Oh, that would be fascinating. Oh, that'd be a good timeless episode.

It would, it would be awesome.

That's a really good one.

I'm dying to—

Thanks for that. That's really good.

Do you know what I did in high school?

I'm doing that.

Brought me— I know you could appreciate this— it brought me immense adrenaline rush reading college catalogs. That's what they were called. It It was— there was no online, it was physical. So you'd send to the college, you know, please send me your catalog, their catalog of courses. And I remember vividly history of Russia, history of Italy, history of France, 19th century Germany, 20th century Germany. I thought, I want to take every one of them.

Yes. Oh gosh, I, I can relate. I love going through Yeah, but it's not now.

Now it's—

I know, but I go to Hillsdale and I look at their courses. I'm like, this is so great. Okay, so that was the first thing I wanted to tell you, my takeaway from the book. I realized, oh my gosh, why didn't I know much of this? And then I realized, well, there wasn't even a class that was offered that would explain such a thing. That's takeaway number one. Takeaway number two.

Wait, that's big. I hope that's sinking into everybody.

Yes, you're right.

That they didn't make that the average kid at Harvard can't identify the Gestapo.

Well, that brings me to this next point. I wrote down 5 questions and I am convinced that if you gave these 5 questions to Harvard history majors, Yale history majors, insert name of school, they would not be able to answer the majority correctly. The first question, who was president during World War II? Who was the United States president?

You're joking.

I do not. I honest to God do not think most could answer that. Okay.

Millard Fillmore. Everybody knows that.

Martin Van Buren.

Yeah, exactly.

Number 2.

Wait, wait, I'm trying. Wait, you don't understand. No, no, no. That's enough to, to, to, to shock me.

Oh, just get ready for it. I've really thought these questions through. And by the— and again, I—

wait, how about this? What if we asked, when was World War II? What do you think we'd get?

I think more people would get that because we— because we have to memorize a lot of dates, at least at my high school. A lot of history nowadays is memorizing dates, so people may be able to place it.

Okay. But I hope you're right.

I hope I'm right, too. Number 1, who was the U.S. president during World War II? Don't think a lot of people can answer that. Number 2, what was the name of the Nazi secret police? Wouldn't be able to answer that. Number 3, who was the president of Germany that allowed Hitler's ascent to power?

That would be close to zero, right?

Well, I could substitute that for what was appeasement, right? Please tell, tell us what appeasement is. Number 4, what does Nazism stand for? What does Nazi stand for? Zero. No one could get that. No one could get that.

And it would shock them if they found out.

That's exactly right. For those who are listening and don't know, National Socialism here, this year, the right-wing regime.

Now this, you may not know, this will fascinate you.

Okay.

Why National Socialism and not just German socialism or socialism? Remember, the Nazis were anti-communist, at least in theory, but the communists were for socialism. But the communists were for class-based socialism, communism. The Nazis were for national-based, Aryan, racist-based. The difference between the communists—

that's huge. That is it. That is so important. So I will admit I did not know that.

Right. So that's the reason we're distinguishing. Hitler is saying our socialism from the communists.

Mm-hmm.

Theirs is international socialism. Ours is National Socialism.

Yes. People, people know that Hitler went after the communists. They don't know that Hitler's party was socialist.

That's right.

But a different flavor of socialism.

Correct.

So that's question number 4. What does Nazi stand for? And question number 5, this one I would, I would understand people didn't get it, but I think it's important. Where was Hitler born?

You mean what country?

Yep. Was, was he born in Germany?

Yeah. Well, don't ask.

Was he born in Germany? People don't know.

So now here's, now here's fun for you.

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Okay, the number of leaders who were not born in their country is fascinating.

Totally. Oh gosh.

You know of another example?

Stalin, Georgia. Stalin was born in Georgia. Napoleon was in Corsica. Wait, there was another one.

Muhammad Ali was born in Albania.

No, the guy, oh my God, who was Saladin? He was the Arab guy. He wasn't Arab. He was born, I think, in Persia. I love stuff like that. Your ears must be ringing because I've been preparing a show on these. These dictators that weren't born in the country.

You're right. Who? Blow your mind. Moses.

Oh, you're right.

Grew up Egyptian.

Oh my gosh, you're right.

Wow.

Oh, I gotta add Moses to the list. Yeah, that's really, really cool.

It's in, uh, it's in my Bible commentary.

Um, you know, I, I'll give you another one. Name the Axis Powers. During World War II?

Oh, please. You're now asking advanced trigonometry. Of course they wouldn't know that.

I bet a lot of people wouldn't know that Japan—

No, they wouldn't know what axis means. What are you talking about?

Was Japan in World War II? I bet you, I bet you half would get that wrong.

How many would know Pearl Harbor?

Oh, people would know Pearl Harbor, I think. But they wouldn't be able to connect the dots. I don't know if they would know that it was Japanese, but there was some attack on the They wouldn't know. I don't think so, honestly.

Would they know who attacked America on 9/11? Who? Not that it was attacked. Who?

No, I don't think— I don't think so.

They wouldn't know it's Muslims?

No, they would know it's Muslims, but they would not be able to say—

No, no, that's enough. No, no, no, it's fine.

Okay. Yeah, I think they would. They would know that.

Yeah. Because it's very rarely mentioned. Yes.

And I also sat next to someone on the plane, which is crazy that I was having this conversation on a plane that said that it was a Western plant, 9/11, and that all the Jews were evacuated so that no Jews died.

It's amazing how the Jews avoid all these calamities.

I know.

And then end up dead.

I know. I know.

I'm laughing because it's just, Sick. It's just sick.

But let's just pause for a moment and as I said earlier, let, let it sink in. It's pretty staggering that it, that the average Harvard history graduate, and I would put a lot of money on this, would not be able to pass that test.

I think you should expand it. I think you should make 10 or 20 questions. I'm serious. You should.

I should. That's another good timeless episode idea.

Well, it's a good, good one for an article.

Yeah, it is.

But, and it doesn't have to be Harvard. Questions you should ask your child who's in college. And if they can't answer this, why are you spending the money?

You are such a good, such a good, um, I think article. And I'd be very good to write it because I was just in this.

Yes, right. There would be nothing more effective in having parents realize not only are they being indoctrinated, they're being kept ignorant. Mm-hmm. This would bring it home. It does. Because the parents know the answers to these questions.

Yes, you're absolutely right. I should do that. And it goes back to what I said earlier that, you know, a lot of teachers wouldn't be able to answer this question, these questions, excuse me. Probably professors would, but I don't think a lot of high school history teachers could be as—

I don't know the answer. It's a— I would go back to the point that you love that I make. The genocides of the 20th century, the most genocidal century in history, were all committed by secular regimes and nearly all by left-wing secular regimes except for the Nazis. No one knows that. It's like one of the most important things you could possibly know.

Yes, just one of the most elemental funding ideas.

It's one of the points I make when I speak to college kids. You're all for big government? Hmm. Do you know that without big government, there wouldn't have been any of the genocides of the 20th century? They were all made possible by big government. And by the way, big government makes Social Security possible, makes a lot of good things possible too. I'm not saying it only does bad, but all the bad that's been done has been done by big government.

Right. And that's not—

So why would you entrust all that power in people's hands knowing how much evil big government has done?

You know, I used to think that even some conservatives exaggerated how bad American education has gotten. This was before it got super woke. No one knows that. It's like one of the most important things you could possibly. Yes, just one of the most elemental. Funding.

It's one of the points I make when I speak to college kids.

You're all for big know that without big government, there wouldn't have been any of the genocides of the 20th century. They were all made possible by big government. And by the way, big government makes Social Security possible. Makes a lot of good things possible, too. And now that I'm entering that phase, I just wanna keep learning, keep reading. And I'm realizing how true it is that, I mean, so much is screwed up. We're just talking about the history department, the English department. Oh my gosh.

Or anthropology.

Oh my gosh. Sociology. And they kill, they actually kill the love of reading in students by dissecting, overanalyzing.

So I wrote about this when I was at Columbia. In graduate school in the '70s. I wrote a piece, I sent it to the New York Times. In those days, there was no computer, so I have no copy of what I sent them. It's really sad. But one of the things I wrote in my piece was, my fellow Columbia student has no interest in reading if it's not for a test.

So true.

I said— if I wrote, if it's not for a test, you know what they're reading? The biggest, the most popular store at Columbia was across the street. Columbia is along Broadway. And then across the street was a comic book store. That was the most frequented literary store around Columbia.

Oh, gosh. See, I blame— and look, everyone has personal responsibility. I believe this as a conservative more than, than just about anyone. However, I really do blame instructors and teachers for this because your slate is clean going into school. And I think teachers— and there are many wonderful teachers, I want to make that clear. I'm not trying to smear teachers with one broad brush, but they kill the love of reading in the way that they instruct and demand that you analyze certain symbols. You know, I just reread Jane Eyre. I hated Jane Eyre in high school. I thought it was—

Really?

Hated it. I thought it was boring. I thought it was— I felt I couldn't understand it. And I remember in high school, my teacher focusing so much on the moors, which are like the lakes or the ponds near her very— because Jane moves like 5 times throughout the book.

In the Lake District.

Perhaps. I don't remember a damn thing about the moors the second time I read it. And I realized my 8th grade focus on the moors made me miss the entire rest of the book. You know, that's true of every, of every single book. I'll tell you another thing that's really important. Again, we've been focusing on history, moving on to English, financial literacy. I would rather my daughter or son not make it to AP Calc, but make it to a how to pay taxes, how to invest money.

Yeah.

How to save up, save money, how to be a millionaire.

Effortlessly.

That, that financial literacy is something that I've been having to learn on my own, by the way. You'll love this because it's funny and also it's a big compliment to your organization. I watch PragerU kids videos to learn financial literacy. They're so helpful. Kids videos.

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It's amazing.

At Florida schools, at PragerU. The left has gone ballistic and they pick bizarre examples to show how bad we are because there aren't good examples. They don't know that we're doing this for kids. Teaching them how to be financially literate. Why is that objectionable?

See, maybe I'm— this is our classic disagreement. I think I'm more pessimistic. I think they do know they can go online and see what's offered, but they think it's going to be suffused with an excessively pro-capitalist, you know, they— I think that they know that that you're offering things that are not overtly political, but they just think you're bad people and Nazis who will make it.

Yeah, well, from their perspective, we are.

And to them, everything is political. That's the thing.

That's right.

They make everything political. I'm sure they would wanna give a, PragerU calls it cash course, which is great. They would wanna give a cash course about ESG and DEI. They think that your objective presenting of financial literacy is itself bigoted because it's not suffusing these, these lines of encouragement to invest in sustainability. That's the way these people think. It's, it's bad.

Anything else from the book that struck you, or did you—

Yes, a few things. A few things. Um, the biggest one being Eric Larson's sources, the great thing about the book In the Garden of the Beasts is that he pulls all these primary sources, diaries, verbal accounts of people living in Nazi Germany, but he makes it read like a fiction book. And one of the things that each character says repeatedly is how ordinary, everyday Nazis were. Certainly the people at the top were really brutish and just awful, disgusting, truly toxically masculine, like just awful. But they stress how everyday ordinary people just literally marched in lockstep with this. And that's something that we forget. We think that we in America would have the moral courage to oppose something like that. No, we wouldn't. Even people of high moral character wouldn't actually oppose it. We don't understand how easily ordinary people can go along. I mean, there was this part of the book that made a huge impression on me where Hitler demanded that people report enemies of the state, i.e., Jews, to the Nazi Party so that the Nazis could deal with them. At that point, it was before the Holocaust, so they were trying to get them out of the country or move them out of neighborhoods. But one of the things Erik Larson writes is that everyday people started reporting their people just that they didn't like as enemies of the state. Like there was this example of a shop clerk that didn't help someone find the broccoli in the grocery store. And the guy just reported him to the Nazis as enemy of the state and he was kicked out of Germany. It's great. It's just crazy. Everyday people can get swept up like this.

Did you read my columns, The Good German.

Yes, I did. I thought they're some of your best in the right time. Painful comparing that to Jan 6.

But those two in particular, COVID and the acceptance of lockdown and masking children and closing schools, they had a searing effect on me. That Nazism or communism could happen here?

Well, you know what I think is the greatest proof of that? And I know I've said this on the show, but it's worth repeating a million times. Are you telling me— I'm acting like I'm talking to a leftist. Are you telling me that you would have stood up to slavery or to communism or to Nazism when you will literally not criticize anything that is woke? There are so many cowards today. They will not, they won't even say that there are men and women. They avoid saying anything controversial. You think those moral titans would oppose the greater evils? They can't even oppose the smallest, most obvious, easy to criticize evil. And by the way, we're in the United States, even though a lot of really just regrettably, awfully, our liberties are being suspended, our Justice Department is being weaponized, but it is still the easiest time and place on earth to criticize the government, to criticize evil and have nothing bad happen to you. And these moral titans wouldn't— don't even do it.

I have nothing to add that, that, that is why I said what I said. I, I, I'm hesitating because it's so hard for me to articulate— hard emotionally, not hard Linguistically, my disappointment in so many of my fellow Americans.

Yes. That was the thing when I was becoming conservative back in 2020 during Black Lives Matter. The thing that actually did it for me, even more than watching the looting and all that and the rioting, was everyday people who I thought I respected. That was actually the greatest kind of red pill. These everyday people who I thought I respected, who I thought I wanted to be like, were such cowards. They wouldn't denounce any of this stuff and they would repeat the white supremacy, all of us are, 'cause we're white, are inherently racist. I'd be like, what, you? You were one of my role models growing up. You're doing this?

Wow.

Yes, that's what it was. It's, it's sad. So I have a question for you. Do you mind? I don't want to— if you— well, if you have a final—

no, no, no, please.

So I was thinking this today in the car because I was listening to you on the radio and you were talking about— you were— I noticed that every single show you talk about this transgender issue. Every single show you, you talk about the crazy racial, every white person is a racist kind of lines of thought that are being taught to our kids. And then I thought, Dennis has been in radio for 40 years. What were you talking about 30 years ago? What were the examples of leftism gone too far?

Well, remember—

They weren't these. This was not happening 30 years ago.

Sure. I started broadcasting And, and there was still a Cold War. So I started in '82, I believe it was '82. Yeah, so that's right, it would be 40 years.

Crazy. There was still a Soviet Union, East and West Berlin. Wow.

It was a heavy time with Reagan president. It was, it was very exciting.

Yes.

But I talked, I talked a lot about that.

About the Cold War, you mean?

Yeah. I talked about moral relativism because it was rampant then too, because it, as always in my life, I have to draw the big issue or it's not worth mentioning the the little one. And I said, if you can't call communism evil— well, when I assume that I, I was, uh, I was broadcasting when the Korean airliner was shot down by the Soviets. Do you know about that one?

Shockingly, I do. Okay, no, no, there would be no reason you would, but I didn't learn in college.

That's not Gestapo.

I learned it this past year.

You did?

Yeah.

You learned it after college?

Yes.

Oh, of course. No, but I don't blame college for not teaching, although that was a— it was a big moment. If you can't call evil evil, there's something wrong with your moral compass. And that's— I, I don't know if I've said this to you, but I have said this. I, I'm sure I did personally, but I don't know if in one of our podcasts I thought I was a liberal till my 30s, but I knew very early I was not a leftist, and I always knew there's a difference. And I knew it because of communism. If you can't call communism evil, you are sick. You are a moral idiot, literally an idiot. Dostoevsky's The Idiot. You are a classified moral moron, as you are if you can't call Nazism evil. And that's why I was not anti-liberal. Liberals did call communism evil. That's an— it's a— Kennedy was a liberal, right? And, and he, he called communism evil. But already by Reagan's time it became verboten, forbidden, in, in even in polite liberal circles to say communism was evil.

That is unbelievable.

Well, it was one of the two issues at Columbia that, that awakened me. They taught me two things that I knew were lies: men and women are basically the same— that shows you how long this has been taught— and that the U.S. and the Soviet Union where you couldn't say one was morally superior to the other.

That is really important because nowadays we, I mean, this is apropos of what we were saying earlier, there are all of these regimes that are equivalent to the Soviet Union in how evil they are. You know, the Chinese Communist Party, the, the ayatollahs in Iran, the list goes on. So I guess we do have those examples, but the stuff that we talk about in American life, We talk about this transgender issue, we talk about the race stuff, and people don't label that as evil because it's less overtly evil as communism was in the Soviet Union. Does that make sense? I think it's evil, but people can find a way of going, oh, well, these people who are saying this are well-intentioned. That's amazing that we were confronting something as overtly evil as communism, concentration camps, executions, total suspensions of civil liberty. And they wouldn't even say that. They wouldn't even say that. Oh my God.

What would they say? They say, this is what I was taught at Columbia. That's where I studied this. I was at the School of International Affairs. So the general professorial view was America and the Soviet Union are not in a moral battle, freedom versus tyranny. They're in a battle of two superpowers. They used constantly this allegory, two scorpions in a bottle.

You know, it's interesting you say that because when I was in high school, that was the superpower line was one that I was always told these two superpowers were fighting over capitalism versus communism, right?

Not, Not freedom versus tyranny.

Yes, not good versus evil.

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Right, so this is the 1970s.

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Is it?

Yes. I mean, Modern Times, the book by Paul Johnson, says he, he argues it goes back to the turn of the 20th century.

It does. It has to.

Perhaps.

Where did my teachers get their ideas from? They didn't make them up.

Okay, so you were talking a lot about communism during the, the Cold War time and about good and evil, right?

You know, and much of my radio at the time was call in whatever's on your mind.

Oh, that's cool.

Yeah, I love it because there's a lot of personal issues.

But so once the, um, once the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and before all this crazy race—

I have never said this either. When the— when it collapsed, I remember saying to myself, what am I going to talk about now?

Really? Yes. Oh, that's, that's revelatory.

Yes, it is.

Wow.

I knew I would talk about personal issues. That's— I love them. But there's no big issue. We didn't get woke yet.

China wasn't China then.

Yes, that's right.

That's really interesting.

Yes.

I will say, I mean, by the way, I wish I had that dilemma. Well, of course, don't we all?

Better be a better woman for the sake of the country.

Yeah. So, so what in the '90s, and I imagine the 2000s, you were talking a lot about the, the wars in the Middle East that they were pursuing. What about the '90s? That was before transgenderism.

I'm saying the '90s was— in the '90s, Francis Fukuyama wrote a book.

Oh, yes. The End of History. What an idiotic book. What an idiotic book.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am now looking at you. That she knew that should dazzle your brain. I now return to Julie.

Well, thank you, but oh my God, I mean, it is the most idiotic book.

I remember thinking, why is he making such a big deal of it?

How the hell do you know? Okay, so for those who don't know this book, Francis Fukuyama was of course a professor. I think he still is. Sorry if he's listening, but I doubt it. And he wrote this book called The End of History where he essentially said, now that the Iron Curtain has dropped, now that the Soviet Union and all that's Constituent republics are free. It's the end of history. The United States is—

Everybody has bought into liberal capitalism.

What an idiot. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I should be more tempered with my charge. What a misguided book. What an idiot. Really? You're saying, oh, it's the end of history, right? Evil is over, by the way. Oh, God. There's this amazing book. Of course, I'm forgetting the name of it, but the guy writes in the first chapter, he's— it's a book about World War I, and he says, in 1912, if you could have told Europeans that they were about to descend into a world war, not just one but two, they would have looked at you like you were crazy. Things were extremely prosperous, the relations between the powers were good. Has Francis Fukuyama not learned from history that things can turn on a dime?

Because human beings, if they don't work on being good, they'll be bad. Bad is the natural state.

If they don't work on being grateful, they'll, they'll be ungrateful. If they don't work— if you don't work on being on time, you name it, insert, you will become the opposite. Yes. Wow. So, so the '90s were really personal issues. That you focused on as opposed to political?

See, I'm sorry to philosophize about Julie. I am, because I know people excoriated— they don't excoriate— criticized us.

Increasingly not anymore.

Because we don't talk about each other like we used to. But I want people to understand the And I'm not even happy about it, but your mind is rare. Your soul is rare. This— the pursuit of these huge issues and truth wherever it takes you. Do you know, you talk to me about your love of truth, and I don't know if you've heard me say on the radio, it sounds so weird, but I have said it many times My dear listeners, I have an erotic attraction to truth.

Well, as I said on this show, and this is one of the many reasons I love this show, it's real, it's fun, but it also helps both of us develop ideas. I came up with this idea literally on the spot in a recent D&J. The truth is good. That's what I love about the truth. And God created it this way. If you get down to the truth, men and women are equal. If you get down to the truth, there are no inherent superiorities or inferiorities among races. If you get down to the truth, you'll discover that if you work hard and you're disciplined and you're a good person, mostly good things will happen to you. That's amazing that God— does that make sense that God designed truth that way? He could have created a world where men were superior to women or certain races were inferior to other races, but he didn't. That's why I pursue the truth because I know it's good.

That's great. But a lot of truths are uncomfortable. Like you said, men and women. Here's a truth about men and women that a lot of women don't like. They're different, men and women.

Do you know, that's a beautiful truth.

Oh, that's exactly right.

So I want to marry someone who's exactly like, well, in my disposition.

A lot of women do. See, this is the beauty of having a talk show, because you talk with so many people. My theory is most women believe that they will marry themselves in a male body. That— and so it comes as a shock. It shocks no man that women don't think like us, but it shocks most women that we don't think like you.

It's true. You know, I was on a date recently. I told you, and the guy, we were talking, somehow our parents' like travel habits came up. Because my dad is so early whenever we go to the airport. And he's all, he like, he's in charge of our boarding passes. He's in charge of our checked bags. And there's like always this like super funny kind of role that he takes on and we make fun of him, but we're always on time. We always travel well. And he was saying his dad is the same way and that his mom is kind of like, never knows where her boarding pass is. And it just— we remarked that it's a similarity in our parents, and it's kind of a male-female thing where, like, with regard to traveling and planning, men take charge. And I was saying to him, I love that. Like, I don't understand— in other words, the differences between men and women in their dispositions, that's fun. And that's— I want my husband to deal with all the travel stuff. I want my husband to deal with the sink when it breaks. I don't want to deal with that. You know, and I wish people would more so see the beauty and the fun actually in these differences.

So the area of greatest difference is sexual. And a lot of women understandably are in denial and are frightened. My job, and I've been successful at it, and I've got a lot of flak for it, has been to what I call defang the male sexual monster. And I— it works. I, I can explain men to women, and we're less scary. There are scary men, but that's true in the non-sexual realm as well. Men are more likely to kill you than women. Women are more likely to destroy your life than men. But men are more likely to kill you.

So that's funny. Well, yeah, you know what I say about husbands and murderers? It only takes one.

That's beautiful.

So because you, you talked about the, the male sexual nature as being something that's scary for women, and that's true. As a, as a woman, I can tell you that's true. But you've demystified it for me, right? As, you know, as long as men behave well and take control. I mean, but that's a, that's a big, uh, add-on. What is the, what is the counterpart? Like, what is the thing that, that men get scared about with, with women?

How emotional they are.

Are you afraid we're gonna like be unhinged?

And no, men don't want to be yelled at by their wife, and, uh, that's part of the reason they shut up Women are always amazed. Why doesn't he talk more? Because he's afraid that if he tells you what he really thinks about, you'll yell at him.

Interesting.

Yeah, it's, it's— that's one reason. There are many, there are many other reasons. But, but your, your point about the truth leads you to beauty I believe that when done right, the, the male-female fit like this.

Yes.

Otherwise they conflict like that.

Well, that's what I was talking with this guy about. He was saying, I like being a guy who takes charge of these certain things, and I, and I like being a woman that lets him.

That's right.

Hypothetically.

Yes. How did the date go?

Oh gosh, I knew you were going to ask. It was good. It was good. I'm always hesitant to talk about my dating life on this show because I don't want a guy who I go on a date with to think that I'm gonna broadcast his deepest darkest secrets.

There's no way to— there's no clue as to who he was.

Well, of course, I conceal everything.

Yeah, exactly.

If someone I went on a date with was a real a-hole though, I would use my position and tell everyone he's a dreadnought.

Yeah, but we still wouldn't know who it is. So, right. Yeah. And it would be interesting. Interesting.

I feel— I fear that men will get— I don't know. I can understand how a guy would not want me, someone in my position, to talk about if he was not knowable. What do you mean?

Why would he object?

I can understand if you go on a date.

Yeah.

I mean, once I'm dating someone, I'm not going to hide them. Um, but I think once you're— when you're going on dates, it's probably scary for a guy.

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All right, so I'm gonna, I'm gonna blow a whistle on a date that you went on in, in the past, okay? I don't know if you said this, and if he's watching He will know it was him. Only he and you. I don't know who he is.

True.

Okay. Two people on earth knew who— know who he is, right? Okay. You asked him if he read any good books lately, right?

I think he was listening.

I knew. Might as well have asked me. He listens in Portuguese.

This is why it didn't work out.

Okay. All right. Wait, so here, number one, it's a very interesting story. It's a statement of our times, not a— it's not a statement about him alone. Number two, maybe if he hears this, he'll go, maybe I should read a book. It's not— we're not insulting him. We're explaining why it could not have worked out.

Good point.

So I think you're Can we, let's tell the story. I'm sorry.

I, I think we should tell.

Okay.

So tell us long, make a long story short. I asked this guy, what are you, have, are you reading anything? What interests you? And he said, I don't, I don't read much. But the thing is he didn't, he didn't follow up and say, I don't read much, but I watch documentaries. Or like he didn't, he didn't shift it to another interest. Or look, I know I'm into reading. Some other people may not be as into it, but I, I, the question was more so like, Tell me what, what interests you.

Yes.

Tell me what, you know, what is intellectually—

so you're doing the service by giving us anecdotes from your dates. That's all I'm saying. Plus everybody's fascinated. We're living through date— happy to serve Julie's dating life. It's not a thick book, let me just say. Rude. Oh, I can't believe it.

Rude.

I didn't think of it as an insult.

It's fine.

I know it is.

Dennis said on Dennis and Julie recently, I don't even think you realize you said it. You were like, if you get a husband.

I said that?

Yes.

As opposed to when?

Yes. No, it's fine. Also, the thing is, I weed, I weed a lot of people out. You know, it's, it's not a thick book because I—

well, obviously we know why. If you, you could have a date every night.

Well, I don't know about that.

You're a good looking woman, end of issue. Okay. Good looking women could have a date every night, could have 3 dates every night. That's so nobody thinks your book is not thick. Because you're not wanted. All right, it never occurred to anybody. You don't even have to respond. I'm just telling you.

That's it.

By the way, it's such an interesting question in this regard. Even in this regard, just as women don't know men's sexual natures, they don't know themselves in men's eyes.

Wait, women don't know themselves. And oh, that is totally true.

Totally true.

And honestly, we don't really want to know half the time.

That may be so, but you're the truth lover.

I know. Trust me, I know. So you have made me aware of all of these things that I had previously avoided.

Me and everybody else at the Shabbat table.

Oh my gosh, our Shabbat table is so open, people.

Oh my gosh, we put that down.

It's really nice.

We—

I tell about my dates of Shabbat.

No, no, no, that— you're right, but that's not what I'm talking about. If people knew the openness on sexual subjects at our Sabbath meal, It would blow Christians' minds. It would blow atheists' minds. It would blow many Jews' minds.

Oh yes. Honestly, I can't, I can't believe I'm saying this now because I know my parents listen. Part of the reason why, well, they, they don't go to Shabbat even though they, it's been so nice that, that there's an open invitation to them because they go to bed extremely early and you guys eat really late. That is reason number one. Reason number two, is I feel like I don't know if I want to bring them and sit next to my dad as you guys are making sex jokes. Like, I don't— we, we could put a partition between me and my parents so I don't have to look at their faces while those jokes are made, or God forbid, hear their responses.

It's an interesting subject because Jews and Christians have a somewhat different Yes, I've never heard my parents say the worst. Well, yeah, but people might say, well, that might be, you know, just idiosyncratic to your home, but it's not. No, exactly. Well, it goes fast. This was intense. This was great.

Well, you've really motivated me. I am going to do that list. Yes, of questions.

That's right. And me too.

And then I'll— when I go to Germany, I'm sure I'm going to have a lot to say on the next D&J. So I'll be back.

Wow. You've never been there?

No.

Interesting.

I've been in the airport in Frankfurt, but that doesn't count.

No airports count. I'm strict on that rule.

I'm going to— I want to go to Nietzsche's house. I want to see where Karl Marx lived. We're definitely doing all the tours. Of the headquarters of the SS, the Reichstag. I wanna go, this is where I'm a total nerd, I wanna go to Wittenberg, which is where Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in 1517.

[Speaker:DENNIS PRAGER] Is that church still up?

[Speaker:KATIE HALL] Yeah.

[Speaker:DENNIS PRAGER] It wasn't destroyed in the war?

[Speaker:KATIE HALL] No.

[Speaker:DENNIS PRAGER] That's fascinating.

[Speaker:KATIE HALL] So, there'll be a lot to report.

[Speaker:DENNIS PRAGER] You will see the actual door?

Well, I don't know. I would honestly doubt it. I mean, that was over 500 years ago, probably decayed, but just to stand where he stood.

No, I agree with you.

And Eric Metaxas's book convinced me that that more than perhaps any other historical event changed things dramatically. America would not exist if he had not done that.

He's a good example of a not good guy who did good, just as there are a lot of examples of good guys who do bad. So in, in effect, it doesn't matter what you are internally. This is my big argument with a lot of people about a lot of issues. This is the— I think this is my one big difference with many Christians who really emphasize the internal life, and I don't. There are so many people with good thoughts who do bad, and so many people with bad thoughts who do good. I really— I— maybe God cares, but I don't think so about what you think.

Do you have bad thoughts?

Of course, who doesn't? And I learned so quickly it doesn't matter. That's part of the reason I could be so open, because I realize I am what I do. I'm not what I think. So I don't wrestle with my, with my thoughts. I wrestle with my behavior. And if my behavior is all that's judged, I'm a good guy.

In fairness, I would say that your bad thoughts— I mean, I'm not in your head, but your bad thoughts are probably minimal, as are mine.

Yeah. Okay.

So if someone had constant immoral thoughts, then I wouldn't police them. Their actions matter more, but they probably are more likely to do something bad.

So to somebody who has constant immoral thoughts, I would work on their behavior.

Right.

Okay. So.

Right. But I would say that those— I would say to that person, it's not that your thoughts don't matter, because if you're having all of these terrible thoughts all day, you need to figure out why you're having them.

So what about the people who have all good thoughts and do bad? Like a lot of people on the left, they think they're helping girls by cutting their breasts.

That's absolutely true. You're right. So I don't think that negates the fact that if you're having bad thoughts all day, you should try to figure out where they're coming from and try to rectify them.

Okay, that I'll drink to. If they're really bad, if a guy is preoccupied with molesting children in his brain, it's, it's bad stuff because it'll probably lead to action. But if it doesn't lead to action, you don't care and I don't care.

I'm not happy with it, but No.

Well, you see, this is perfect. This is a great example.

Gosh, you know, we always do this at the end of—

I'm from a Catholic home, even wasn't religious, but it had—

well, you— I mean, I think you would agree you wouldn't be happy with someone that's having—

I don't care. I care how he behaves.

You don't care at all that he's having those thoughts? I agree, I wouldn't try to—

how do I know?

Well, what if— so, okay, if you're— let's say your best friend came to you and said, Dennis, I'm having thoughts about molesting children, right? Would you be like, I don't care?

No, I would say, where do you think that comes from? I would do all those things. But I would say, you have to understand something. If you act on those thoughts, you are evil and God will punish you. That's what I would say to him. Not, you must work not having those thoughts. If I told you, you can't think about elephants, elephants. All you think about is elephants. I don't know if it helps. Don't have those thoughts. Maybe it works.

No, that's— no, no, no, but that's not the— I don't think that's the best course of action to say don't have those thoughts.

What's the best course of action?

Well, what you said, you know, trying to figure out where it comes from, trying to help that person.

Right. I don't know where it comes from, Dennis Prager.

But I wouldn't say I don't—

No, no, no. So he says to me, I don't know where it comes from.

Well, then there's a longer conversation to be had, but that doesn't mean I don't care that he has them because the operating thing here is—

You don't care if he has them if he doesn't act on them. You don't.

I don't. I far more care about that person's actions.

Was it in '99?

But I would be extremely unsettled if my friend told me that they were having thoughts about stabbing their friend, their mother, or molesting a child.

Right. So here. Okay. So We're going over time. I don't care.

We should pick it up.

I will tell you of one of the 5 most meaningful calls in my 40 years of radio. Okay.

Oh, I know this one about the guy with his mother. Yeah.

Okay. But the listeners don't know. Okay. So a guy calls me up. This was during the period you just called on anything. And he says to me, Dennis, I just got to tell you, this guy was about 40, 35. Uh, I'm really— I'm a, I'm a, a bad son. I said, really? How so? Said, well, for the last 10 years I have been the emotional, financial, and time-wise support of my sick mother. I'm this— I'm the child who's taking care of her. And I gotta tell you, there were times I wish she would die from her illness. I let him finish and I said, whatever his name was, I want to tell you something. In my opinion, you are a great son. He thought I was mocking him. He was 100% convinced I wasn't serious. And I was. So here's a guy who wishes his mother would die. Well, do you care that he has those thoughts?

No, I have those thoughts about my own sister Gina, who is extremely autistic and has been in neglectful, abusive group homes. I don't have them now because she's, thank God, in a better situation. But in the height of all that, of course there were times when I wish she would have a peaceful death. I don't have a— I don't have a problem with that. I don't think that individual should have a problem with that because it's rooted in the fact that this person is suffering.

No, his was rooted in the fact that it's just he's tired of taking care of her. Let's not— I don't want to— I don't want to sugarcoat it.

It's an important distinction. Yeah, I do think there is a difference between Wishing that you're extremely old, probably sick and otherwise compromised.

Of course there's a difference.

And wanting to molest a child.

You're— of course you took a bad thought versus a horrific thought. I agree with you. I agree with you.

We agree, Dennis. Actions matter far more than thoughts. And I actually think it's harmful. What you said a few moments ago was spot on. That if you tell people, as I'm sorry, but a lot of religion has done, stop, stop thinking those, you're evil, you're— that's going to make it worse. We totally agree on that. But I can't say that I wouldn't care if someone who I was close to or not close to had really bad thoughts. I wouldn't try to police them. I would judge them by their actions, but it would definitely be unsettling.

I would too. If they were truly evil in that way, it would be unsettling. But I would still say that the, the guy or the woman who has bad thoughts and doesn't act on them is on a higher moral level than me, who doesn't have bad thoughts.

I agree. Okay, I do. So I agree with you. You're right.

We are right. Okay, my battle is with the left that says your feelings are everything and the right that speaks constantly about sinful thoughts.

You're right.

I agree. I have battled with both.

I totally agree. Matters what you do. It matters what you do.

Yeah, that's right.

Speaking of things that people should do, email me. But how? How, Dennis? Should they email you?

Julie-Hartman at Julie-Hartman, Hartman-Julie, julieisahartman.com.

Sure. Or you can just send it by snail mail. Julie at julie-hartman.com. You can also follow me at Julie R. Hartman on Instagram and Twitter, and you can follow Dennis on Instagram, right, Dennis? This is what you've done 3 episodes in a row. Oh, God. Yes, I can follow you on Instagram.

Who puts me up on Instagram?

We literally talked about this 3 hours ago.

Who puts me up on Instagram?

Well, someone.

Oh, that's beautiful.

@thedennisprager is his Instagram.

Go to dennisprager.com.

Go to prageru.com and go to @thedennisprager to see Dennis and Julie clips. Oh God, just smile and nod.

No, no, no, that I'm a big believer.

And you can catch every Dennis and Julie on Mondays at this YouTube channel, which is the Julie Hartman YouTube channel. Mondays, 1 PM Pacific, 4 PM Eastern. That I know you know.

I do.

And that's a good sign. Shalom, everyone. Take care.

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 Christian values shape the moral foundations of the free world.

If you claim that certain things are good, certain things are evil, independent 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.