Dennis & Julie: Something Versus Nothing

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Hey everyone, welcome to Dennis and Julie. Now I know you're used to having my dear Dennis open the show, so you may be bombarded now by a feminine voice. But this episode of Dennis and Julie is a little bit different because Dennis is on a cruise ship somewhere in Europe. By now you could be all the way in Asia for all I know, with the rate with which those things go. So anyway, I'm opening the show. We have Dennis here on Skype. It is about 9 or 10 o'clock his time, but we are so committed to doing the show, we love it so much that we agreed to do it on Zoom. Hey, Dennis, you look great.

Well, that's very sweet of you, especially coming from you who always looks great. But as it happens, I want to, I want to actually emphasize a point you just made as a sort of throwaway line, but I wanted to emphasize I am right now in Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia. With listeners. I have taken listeners on cruises for approximately 30 years, and the only time I've ever missed was when I had no choice, when lockdowns, those irrational acts of governmental authority, closed down the cruise lines. So obviously it was impossible. Other than that, I, I've been on cruises with listeners. We are— it's so popular, the listener cruises, Julie, that the entire boat on this Danube cruise from Budapest to Bulgaria— I don't know, actually to Bulgaria, then Romania— is just my listeners. The entire boat is Dennis Prager listeners. So everybody knows wherever they sit, they are with a kindred spirit. I can't tell you how much it means to me to see these people make these wonderful friends from all over America, uh, on, on these cruises with me. As you know, I love bringing people together, not just getting people married, but just getting people friends. Uh, so, uh, the whole thing is a high, to be honest. But I wanted to emphasize your point. You and I are so committed to not missing a single Dennis and Julie podcast, that here I am, you know, late at night in Yugoslavia— well, there's no longer Yugoslavia— in Serbia and talking to you. And it's just, it's a delight. Julie, so I know you have a ton on your mind, as you always do, but I want, while it's in context, to talk to you about the incredible assets, bonuses, advantages of travel, that it is literally, to use a word that's overused, life-changing to go around the world as often as one can. Do you, do you sense that? Because obviously you're so young, you know, you haven't been able to get to that many places yet. But is that something that resonates with you?

You have no idea. I mean, even when I was in Washington State about a month ago speaking, I'd never been to Washington State. And when I landed there, the second I got off the plane, it was like, eyes up, pay attention. I wanted to see how the airport was different, how people there maybe dressed differently. When I was driving, I was asking, what's that? Was— I love being in a new place. It's such a new opportunity. I'm going to quote you, actually. I have to give you credit. You've taught me that among many other things. You always give credit to people who you, who you quote. Dennis and I were on the phone the other day and he said, traveling allows you to see the human condition in different contexts and cultures. I thought that was so well said. And so, so to answer your question, of course I try to do it even when I drive to a new part of Los Angeles, let alone a foreign country.

Well, look, I'm not surprised because, you know, I don't want to beat a dead horse, but I, I think God gave both of us very similar souls. So you will get a big kick out of this. I grew up in, in New York City, which has a very extensive subway system. When I was in 6th grade, 6th grade, I went from Brooklyn to Manhattan every day and back on my own using the New York City subway system. So I got on very near Coney Island in a place called the Kings Highway. That was my stop, and then I would go 40 minutes to Manhattan. I wanted to know every stop on the New York City subway system. I actually, on occasion, would just go to the subway and take it to stops I had never seen. And it was so exciting for me. I mean, we're talking about the New York City subway. We're not talking about Serbia. So when you say that you looked at the Washington Airport, Washington, you know, the Seattle Airport, Well, it's different. That's exactly right.

You know, I've come to think about this recently. You said this on a recent episode of Dennis and Julie. I believe you're quoting Socrates, who said the unexamined life is not worth living. I think there are two paths in life, the engaged life and the not engaged life. If you take the former, route and you look up and pay attention, it is endlessly interesting. There's so much that you can learn. I mean, yes, you're epitomizing it by traveling to Serbia, but even if, as I said, just going to a different part of Los Angeles or paying attention to the different stops on the subway, there's a lot to be observed and gleaned from everyday experience.

Yes. So the question that haunts me, I don't have a full answer to it, is if that's not in your nature, can you manufacture it? I don't know the answer to that because I have become aware, for whatever reason, in the last few years, more than ever in my life, of the power— not of human nature, that I've always talked about. We all have two natures: human nature and our own. And, uh, I'm now talking about our own. The, the, the yearning to understand life— if it's not built into you, can you in fact acquire it? Thought on that?

I do. So I just guest hosted your show. Well, I'm telling the viewers I'm probably not supposed to talk about time of filming, but, uh, this is pre-recorded and, and I just guessed it was a Dennis show. And now we're Zooming because, you know, Dennis is traveling 9 hours ahead. I just guest hosted your show, and for the third hour of the show, I, I did literature hour. Where I talked about this deadening of learning that has come to characterize American education. I actually literally right here have my high school, or you can't, there you can see it, high school copies of The Scarlet Letter and Jane Eyre. And I remarked on the air that it was funny 'cause I was decrying how American public school teachers focus too much on symbolism instead of teaching the eternal wisdom of the books. But these books are a kind of, these physical copies I have are a kind of symbolism for me because I hated them in high school. School, and now I love these books. I can't wait to go back to them and read more of them. This takes me back to the question you just asked. Can you develop an appreciation for or an interest in life if you weren't born with it? I think yes. I think you can with good instruction. Part of the issue is teachers nowadays, and not every teacher, I I said on the air, I wanna be fair. There are many great instructors out there. Teaching gets a bad rap because of all of the crazy gender and race stuff that's been happening in the United States, and deservedly so. Some of them deserve a bad rap, but there are many wonderful teachers out there who, and I've been the beneficiaries of their wisdom. But teachers don't even anymore, most of them don't even bring out a potentially latent interest in life and in literature because they focus too much on the social commentary of the book or analyzing a certain symbol of the book. It's a shame because if you have a good instructor that makes the book come alive, I think you can inherit that awe and that wonder. So I'm optimistic, to answer your question. I do think that it's something that you can learn, though it certainly helps if you're born with the desire already. What do you think?

Well, as literally as a result of your response, I'm— I think, I think there's a lot of truth to that. I'll give you a funny— you'll get— you'll really get a kick out of this since you're so involved in my life. One of the ways I made a living when I was a graduate student and when I was a graduate student in New York City, was teaching Hebrew school. Now, you have to understand that the kids wanted to attend after-school lessons in Judaism like you want to collect insects. Maybe you do, but I'm assuming you don't. Okay, so I knew Not one of those kids wanted to be there. They were there because their parents told them, you got to go to this thing. So I actually announced to them, I said, you, you, you need to come for this session and one more, the next one. After that, if you don't want to show up, I will mark you present. You do not have to come. I believe it is my duty to earn your interest. And if you pass the exam and didn't show up at any class, you will pass the course. Your parents will not know anything different, and so be it. I need to earn your interest in these subjects. Well, to the best of my recollection, Nearly all or maybe all of them turned out for all of the sessions. And so what I— what I— what I'm affirming your point. I made the lessons relevant to their lives and why it's interesting and fun to learn because there's nothing more fun than learning. By the way, you know my proof, you'll be touched by this. I've actually only used this in the recent past on my radio show. My father died at 96, and I remember his last years, he, like all of his life, he was an avid reader. And I remember thinking when he was reading, we all knew he was in his last time on, times on earth, months, whatever. And I remember thinking, he's reading the newspaper every day. But he's not going to be with us very long. And then I realized, because there's nothing more fun than learning, and I mean that literally. There isn't. There are things that are tied with it, but there's nothing more fun than learning. And so I'm affirming your response, but you need the right vehicle if you don't have it in your nature. You need the right vehicle, the right parent, the right teacher, the right whatever.

I'm smiling because I have notes here. I scribble down notes during the commercial breaks for guest hosting, and I circled one that says secret underlined. Reading is so fun. It's exactly what you said. I said on your radio show just now, I reject this idea that people think that they're too stupid to understand Jane Eyre or understand The Scarlet Letter. I fundamentally reject that. And I said this on the air, I go, you are not too stupid. I, Julie Hartman, was in remedial reading from 1st to 3rd grade. I don't even think I've told you this, Dennis. I was awful at English class and reading and I required extra tutoring and outside of school help in order to get back in my age bracket because I was that bad. In high school, I hated reading these books because I thought they were so boring. It is such a lie that we can't understand these great works, that the language is not palatable to us. And you're so right about the necessity of a vehicle. I've come to realize, and it's this vicious cycle that continues and continues. And by the way, I just want to pause and say, I'm dying to hear about Serbia and what Serbia is like. I want the audience to know that we will get to that. I think it's like the elephant in the room. The big question. We will get there. But you know Dennis and Julie, it's the Tangent Show. This isn't really a tangent. This is pretty—

That's great. We could absolutely rename it.

Oh, we could name it a lot of things.

The Tangent Show.

Principal among them, Dennis and the Harvard Whiz, which was an original proposition of this show. Or Julie and the Columbia Dropout.

Yeah, that's right.

Oh, oh, typical Dennis and Julie. What was I saying? Oh, I was talking about, um, the vehicle. Yes, it's this vicious cycle because I don't think my teachers, and I had a, I had a lot of great teachers. I'm, I'm lucky I am, but I don't think some of my English teachers, they themselves could understand the wisdom imbued in these books for, and honestly, a lot of it is, is religious. Like, I, I'll give you an example here. I'm sorry, I'm, I'm, indulge me. You know, you know how much I'm loving reading Jane Eyre. I think there is a one-sentence synopsis of religion in this book that is perhaps the best one-sentence synopsis I've ever come across. It's this, this, this girl who's about to die, and she says, she's talking about her faith, and she said, with this creed, revenge never worries my heart, degradation never too deeply disgusts me, injustice never crushes me too low. I live in calm, looking to the end. I love that. I think that is, that really does a good job of imparting the peace that can be achieved with a belief in God. I don't think my English teachers got that. I think they skimmed over that passage as much as I did. So in a way, I can't, I do blame them, but I can't blame them for not being the vehicle, as you said, Dennis, because I don't think it registered with them. And if it's not registering with them, it's not going to register with me. And if I grow up to be a teacher, it's not going to register with my students, etc., etc. Nefarious, the number 1 movie on Salem Now, is available to rent today. Dennis and Sue strongly recommend this film. Nefarious comes from the filmmakers behind God's Not Dead and Unplanned. Sue and Dennis turned it on and thought they'd watch it for 20 minutes, but the movie was so riveting that they finished the whole film. Sean Patrick Flannery and Jordan Belfi give Oscar-level performances in this movie based on the book by Steve Deas. The woke critics hated it, but audiences have given it a 96% approval. And here are what others are saying. Matt Walsh, the filmmaker behind What Is a Woman, calls it excellent. Dinesh D'Souza calls it captivating, suspenseful, and profound. Charlie Kirk says, "This psychological and spiritual thriller may be a movie, but it contains far more truth about the reality of our world than most would like to admit." Visit SalemNow or your favorite video platform to rent Nefarious today, even though it's still in theaters. If you want to rent for your church or large group, visit movienight.com to rent it today.

I'm so tempted to just devote the rest of our time to the comment from Jane Eyre, but save it for another time. I just want to say one thing about that. The motto of the Barack Obama campaign was hope and change, and I found it vile on both counts, because on the change part, his infamous statement, "We are 5 days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America." That's what the left does is fundamentally transform that which is good, which means it makes it bad and horrible. Okay, but even the hope part drove me crazy. I said, "Wait a minute, the people in the richest country in the world with the most opportunity to advance if you work hard, need hope. And now that you actually gave me that sentence, I realize, yeah, they do need hope because they're secular. That's right. It's so interesting because—

it's a good point—

if you're intellectually honest, secularism is hopeless. You die and that's it for eternity. Oblivion for eternity. Let's be honest. That's why, you know, I ask every atheist that I debate, the first thing I ask to establish whether they're intellectually honest is Do you hope you're right or wrong? If they say, I hope I'm wrong, then I know I'm talking to an honest atheist. If they say, I hope I'm right, then they're not honest. They don't face the conclusions that their position entails, namely that everything that matters to them is over as soon as they die. They will never once again have any relationship with any of the precious human beings in their lives. And you don't hope that that is not the case. I mean, you know, you're out of your mind. So It's— I just wanted to comment on the one comment you made. The next thing is that we're both talking about vehicles to eliciting fascination with life, that the right teacher, the right parent, the right relative, the right friend, somebody, if it isn't built into you, somebody still can do it. You convinced me in your first response that for most people that is doable. And that is what is not happening today. Today at school, you are told that Shakespeare is irrelevant because he's white and European and male. And it's the ultimate not excite people about ideas.

Yes. I mean, what is there to be excited about anymore? You need a reason to get up in the morning or a reason to go on and make something better or enjoy. I mean, look at patriotism. It used to be a great source of motivation and of satisfaction to be an engaged citizen of your country. We don't have that at all. Americans are the least tethered to their national identity, I would say, of any country on earth. And that's a sad thing. We don't have patriotism animating us. To your point, we don't have a respect of certain institutions, of certain pieces of music, art, literature. We don't have even any more respect for work. I mean, I was— you'll laugh at this— I was recently at a bar. I know, me at a bar, not reading Jane Eyre. Can you believe it? This past weekend with a friend, and we met someone, this girl who was our age, and she turned to me and she goes, What do you do for capitalism? That was her way of asking what I did for work. It's like, what do you do for capitalism? It's all like so much of this worldview we have is, you know, what are you doing to support these horrible institutions that have come to, we've come to see as wrong? What is there? Can you identify something for me, Dennis, that the left says is good, that can rally us all to get excited about? Not your country, not what you do for work, not any of the things you read in school. What, what are we supposed to get excited about?

Well, what do— the answer is, what do they get excited about? They get excited about tearing down. That's what they get excited about. We're going to tear down capitalism, the only, the only thing that has ever created wealth. It's so— it's such a combination of nihilism and stupidity. The, the only way to conquer poverty is to create wealth, whereas the left redistributes the wealth that capitalism creates. There's no, there's no wealth creation from the left. There's no wealth creation from governments. Governments redistribute the wealth that capitalism creates. Capitalism has taken billions of people off poverty. There is no other economic system in the history of the world or imaginable that would do the same thing. But they don't care about the poor of the world. In fact, I'm not really sure what they are, what they do care about. And I mean that quite, quite literally. But they get— they do get excited about tearing down because let me tell you, the destruction is exciting.

What do they— what is their— like, what do they support besides destroy your whole life? And I agree with you, by the way. You're absolutely right. They get very excited about destroying. I was reading something that said I wish I could, à la Dennis Prager, credit the author, but I don't remember the author. This person wrote, though, it takes one day to tear down a house. It takes 5 years to rebuild another one. It's so easy to destroy. It's so hard to build. They love destroying. They get excited from destroying. What do they build? What is their positive thing that they offer to others for us to be interested in?

They—

nothing.

They have no answer. What they— their answer is they imagine what they'll build. They imagine utopia à la John Lennon's song Imagine, or the current term that is one of the favorite terms of the left, along with— along with what is the one when things are interrelated? What is their term?

Intersectionality.

Yes, intersectionality is reimagined. Yes, they don't just imagine, they now reimagine. So for example, we reimagine policing, namely not having police or having far fewer police. The fact that more human beings are murdered, beaten, and raped is of no consequence, literally of no consequence anyway. I'll let you write. The elephant in the room is where I am. So I— the bad news is, and it's the only bad news because I'm having a great time. The only bad news is I'm not adding a country to my 131 countries on this trip. I have already been to Croatia and Serbia and Bulgaria and Romania and Hungary. It's hard to add one. It's amazing when you get to 131. It's hard to add, but it doesn't matter. It's as exciting as, as the first time or the second time or the third time. I, I love it. Uh, and I, I wrote a column. I don't know if you read it, and I'm not testing you, but if you didn't read it, it was— I wrote, this is one of the saddest columns of the 1,000 columns I've written. And it was, and that is that the title was, I Feel Better in Europe. And I prefaced it, I opened up by saying, I've gone abroad every single year since I was 18 years of age, except for 2020, when it was literally impossible. I even went abroad in 2021 when it was very difficult. I went to Hungary to give some talks. I have— oh, I got my bingo point. I was so preoccupied. Oh yes, it was the preface.

So relaxed.

Yes. So yeah, so here we— that's really true.

No, we are. It's so fun. Yeah.

So, uh, so I was saying, so, uh, in, in, uh, this is in all of my travels back to America, uh, over the course of half a century Returning to the United States, seeing the American flag at whatever airport I flew into, New York, LA, Chicago, wherever, I got the chills. When the guy checking my passport would say, welcome home, I felt great. I mean, I used to say that I wanted to kiss the ground when I arrived at America's airports. And the, the last few years have really, um, sort of knocked that out, to be honest. And it is very painful for me to say to you, but, uh, here I am. I was in Germany 2 weeks ago, so it's not just Eastern Europe. And then I went back home, and then I came back to Europe. I was in Poland for 4 days, and then went to Hungary and now Serbia. And they don't have, they don't have the issue of telling children that they're not a boy or a girl here. It's, it's just not an issue. And I quote in my column a New York Times report, the woke New York Times, reporting that Macron and the French, the on the left, the French left is disgusted with the values that are coming from the United States, especially on this trans issue. There, I found no all-gender bathroom in Germany or, or here in, in Hungary, in Poland, in Serbia. There are unisex bathrooms, which is fine. In other words, there's one stall And any, anybody can use it. I have no problem with that. Nobody has a problem with that. But there's no such thing as all gender. There's male and female in Europe. That's a very big deal. You can send your child to a school in almost anywhere in Europe and they will definitely get a left-wing orientation on a whole host of subjects, but they're not going to be ruined. Damaged by, by the notion that they may not be a boy or a girl that they'll choose when they get older, or choose even now. And I gave other examples too. I see, I see people— I love people watching, and I, I will often just sit on a bench and watch people walk by in major thoroughfares. And I'm not sure whether I am seeing things in rose-colored glasses in terms of Europe. But the kids seem so much less jaded, just like kids. I saw a boy and a girl the other day playing this game, you know, where you touch the hands with the other one.

Yeah.

What is that called?

I don't even know what it's called, but I know, I know what you're talking— patty cake. Patty cake. Thank you, Sean.

Yeah, patty cake.

He plays it every day.

I don't remember seeing that in decades. I'm sure it happens. But also the number of people of all ages, old, middle-aged, young, holding hands, walking in the street. Holding hands.

You don't see that anymore in the United States.

Yes, you don't. No, I'm telling you, I don't see things through these colored glasses. I try to see things as realistically as possible. And that to me is a fairly dramatic difference. Plus, as I said, the non-jaded look on kids' faces, just, they're kids, that's what they are. And the holding of hands. Also, I wrote in my column, and this is true in France, which is, pretty left-wing place, then women, including young women, dress in— they don't dress in unisex garb. They dress like they're in women's clothes. And it's just a delight to see. Plus, they celebrate their countries. You were mentioning that earlier, the celebration of one's country. I was at a demonstration, an anti-government demonstration, the day we left Poland. It was a gigantic— hundreds of thousands, they claimed. I don't know the actual number of people against the conservative government of Poland. And the number of Polish flags at a left-wing demonstration was quite remarkable to see. So I can't believe that I'm saying that in some ways it's better in Europe than in my beloved America.

I so know what you were saying with landing in the United States and feeling like you want to kiss the ground. When I got back from Israel and all the viewers know, talk about it every 5 seconds, how much I loved Israel. I felt so lucky to return to the United States because as fun as Israel is, they have a lot to face that we don't. They have threats from all around their borders, even within their own borders. They really have a situation that, that is difficult. And I just came back and it was like entering a realm of peace. I felt so lucky. But you're right that we were so jaded. And what's bizarre about this jadism, if that's even a word, this jadedization is that it's contrived. We don't have a reason to be jaded. That's what we've remarked about on this on Dennis and Julie, like the climate change hysteria is contrived, the racism hysteria is contrived, the homophobia, the transphobia stuff is contrived, the problem at the border. On your show today, I was interviewing Representative Beth Van Dyne. She's in the House, US House of Representatives from Texas. And she was saying she was the mayor of Irving, Texas for 6 years, 2011 to 2017. 2017 before she was in US Congress. And she said, we could actually quite easily secure the border. It's hard, but it's not as hard as you may think. We could get the border under control in 30 days. But we are seeing this influx, and this influx is made to happen. By the end of President Biden's first term, let's pray he only has a first term and not a second term, there will be 14 million undocumented immigrants in our country. That in that term alone that came across our southern border, that is made to happen. All of this is being made to happen. And it's so weird to me. We have enough problems in the world. There's enough tragedy and devastation and challenges, and we are concocting being jaded. I'll say a final thing because you were talking about how Europe, even the left in Europe, is disgusted by the left in America. In its radicalism. Gold dealers are a dime a dozen. They're everywhere. What sets these companies apart, and who can you really trust? This is Julie Hartman for Amped Coin and Bullion, Dennis Prager's choice for buying precious metals. When you buy precious metals, it's imperative that you buy from a trustworthy and transparent dealer that protects your best interests. So many companies use gimmicks to take advantage of inexperienced gold and silver buyers. Be cautious of brokers offering free gold and silver, or brokers that want to sell you overpriced collectible coins, claiming they appreciate more than gold and silver. What about hidden commissions and huge markups? Nick Grovich and his team at Amped Coin and Bullion have always had Dennis Prager's back. Nick's been in the industry for over 42 years, and he's established a reputation built on trust, transparency, and fair pricing. If you're interested in buying or selling, call Dennis Prager's friend Nick and his team at Amped Coin and Bullion, 1-800-221-7694. AmericanFederal.com. AmericanFederal.com. You know, we hear all the time about the happy countries—Denmark, Sweden, uh, Denmark—Denmark, you can see I'm tired after 3 hours of hosting. It's amazing what you do, by the way. It's fun, but it's exhausting. Denmark, Sweden, Norway, they have passed laws that prevent minors from obtaining so-called gender-affirming care. These happy countries that we seem to support in every other way have their heads about them in this issue. I'll give you another one that's eerie. Communist China is more conservative than the United States. Is that not the ultimate irony? This does not happen in Communist China. There are no transgenders in Communist China. There aren't even gay people in Communist China. They don't allow any of that. None. There is no such thing as all-gender bathrooms.

Well, on the gay issue, let's be clear. Their rules— Yes. Yes. I mean, sorry, that's an immoral act. Of course.

Oh, of course.

But, but, uh, the— I'm not for suppressing people who are transgender, but the, the staggering increase in the numbers from near zero to, uh, serious proportions of young women is all created by the society. It is not natural to the individual.

No, I'm, I'm glad you clarified. I, I, I think it's evil to, to persecute gay people. And look, I, I also think if you're transgender, you have a right to, to pursue whatever you wanna pursue in life. Just don't force it on children. Don't remake society around your individual decisions. I'm glad you clarified.

Well, which is what Caitlyn Jenner says, right? Caitlyn Jenner. Caitlyn Jenner is transgender. But, but the— by the way, you know, Alan Estin's theory on Caitlyn Jenner?

No, what is this? Very interesting theory.

So Alan said, I grew up— I said, that individual embodies the change, the dramatic change in America. When I grew up, he said, Bruce Jenner was on Wheaties cereal as the quintessential male, and now Caitlyn Jenner is on Wheaties cereal.

Oi. You know, I, uh, on it. Sorry, sorry. Go on. No, no, it's dramatic.

It is a dramatic example.

It is. I'll say. And it, it shows you how I really am probably more sympathetic than maybe I let on sometimes on the air. When I watched that, do you remember when Caitlyn Jenner first came out as, as transgender in, in 2015? There was this Diane Sawyer interview. Where Diane Sawyer interviewed Bruce, then Bruce, now Caitlyn. I felt such sympathy for her. I really honestly, I believed that, that what she was experiencing wasn't a social contagion. I really believe that she had like genuine gender dysphoria. It was a very moving thing. And I believe to this day that there are some individuals, just as some people are born with depression, some people are born intersex, some people are born you know, with a proclivity to schizophrenia, etc. I think there are a very, very small group of individuals who are truly born with gender dysphoria. The rest of it, a lot of what we're seeing to your point today is social contagion. But on this point about China, I wish, I wish the uber left-wing Americans would see this, that in communist China, they don't even, they're not as liberal as, as we are in the United States. Communist China, the most progressive liberal ideology you can get to. They don't allow all-gender bathrooms. They don't have this pronoun craze. In fact, not only do they not allow it in their own country, they know it can be used as a weapon. They are forcing it on us. Sadly, they don't need to force it on us. It's a domestic, you know, kind of homegrown phenomena. But they're adding fuel to the fire through TikTok. In the algorithms, they put up these woke transgender videos in order to create division among American citizens. They are liking that we are going down this woke path. They are trying to force it upon us. Communist China knows progressivism can be used as a weapon. Does that not prove what we're saying here, that even the most liberal regime understands that progressivism can be used as a weapon?

Well, the most left-wing regime is the language I would use, but your point is well taken. Again, to repeat the TikTok point in case anybody missed it, TikTok is made in China. Yes. And TikTok in China is wholesome. TikTok in America is the opposite of wholesome. It's utterly destructive. It's nihilistic. And they're very happy to do that. I assure anybody who is concerned that the armed forces of China do not celebrate Pride Week or Pride Month and do not celebrate soldiers who are becoming the other sex. It— whatever one's position on the transgender It is not a good idea for the armed forces any more than it's a good idea for women's sports. On a, on a related but different— actually related only in the sense of it's equally depressing— I was just reading that there are 7 million young men in America who are out of the workforce. They have— they are healthy, but they have decided not to work. And the description of their lives was video games, pornography, and drugs. And that— so when I mentioned this to Alan on board the ship, his first reaction, which I, I want you to react to, was So does that mean 7 million women are bereft of a possible husband?

Oh, God, he's so right.

I didn't think of that. Yeah. Yeah, go ahead. In other words, do you young women have a sense that there are all these men who have checked out?

There is. This young woman has a sense, a painful sense. I don't think young women writ large have a sense at all. I think it's an interesting subject because I was on my show Timeless talking about why, why are we so depressed? My generation, we are the most privileged Americans to ever live. We're the most educated Americans to ever live. Well, educated in some ways, not educated in other ways, but as far as credentials, we're the most educated. We haven't lived through a World War I or a World War II or a Vietnam War. We have all of the earmarks of happiness, and yet we're so unhappy. Suicidality is very high among people my age, or suicidal ideations, and indeed even successful suicides, tragically. Medication is very, you know, prevalent among people my age, depression, etc. Why is this? I think it's because, I mean, there's so many reasons, but one of them is I think we have a sense that there's something off, but we don't know quite what it is. Like, I think a lot of young women can't identify, as you just said, that, that there are a lot of these men that are checked out, but I think there's a part of their intuition that knows it to be true. And it's hard when you know something's wrong and you can't quite put your finger on what it is. And so I think there's a lot of us that, by us I mean people in my generation, like I feel so blessed because I think my conservatism isn't just my political ideology, it's my life worldview. It's allowed me to see things clearer, not just pertaining again to politics, but even pertaining to why do Americans not appreciate Jane Eyre? Oh, it's because of this. This, you know, death of learning, this decline of reverence for the past. It's given me a worldview to understand the system that is producing such malaise. It's a very hard thing when you don't understand what's wrong, but you know something is. So that's my response to you. They don't quite understand it, but I think there's a part of them that does. Does that make any sense? Yeah.

Well, when I read 7 million, and I don't think 7 million women of this age group, your age group, have checked out quite the same. I think there are vast numbers of women who are profoundly confused. That's, that's obvious. But I, I mean, when I read that and then Alan asked me that question, I thought, well Where are these women going to meet somebody if they're seated in some basement doing video games and porn and drugs? If that is accurate— and I, I don't know why it wouldn't be accurate, a number of very responsible people have given that number— it's, it's, that's, that's worrisome to say the least. And it was of course exacerbated affected terribly by, uh, what I hated from the beginning, the lockdowns. It just made it all the more easy to leave society. And then of course there's working at home, which I, I'm ambivalent about because I understand how it can help a lot of people, especially if they have kids to raise. But on the other hand, The increasing isolation, that's something again I felt watching all these people walking in these streets here in Europe. It's not something you see in America. People watch movies at home, work at home, I don't know, whatever else, eat at home.

They imprison themselves.

Yes, it's— you know, I, I could have and did for a couple of years. I broadcast from my home. We, we set up cameras and, and so on. I did my— yep, did my radio show from my home for a number of years. So I was very far from the station, and then the station asked me, uh, to broadcast from the station. I moved near it. And there's no comparison. It's, it's a very— it's, it's easier physically. You just get up. And especially when there was no video, it, it, you know, I, I, I, I could have sat in any, in any condi— yes, in any condition. But getting dressed, which is a theme I, of course, I've raised with you, so I'm not, I'm not asking that we discuss it now, but When I see— when I come to work every morning in LA and I enter the elevator or someone enters after me, and I— these are, you know, often young people going to work, and none of them are dressed for work. They're dressed the same way they would be if they stayed at home. And I— that too is a loss. People don't realize all of these things are losses. And what, you know, what's— I don't know what'll be, but I, I just, I raise these issues in the hope that people will say, you know what, I, I will go to the office, I will dress up if I go to the office, I, I, I, I owe it to myself and I owe it to my friends. That's the reason that I raise these subjects, in, in the hope that somebody listening— talking about somebody listening on a cheerful note A couple came over to me last night and just said, I gotta tell you how much I love Dennis and Julie. And it was really painful to me that I couldn't memorize everything they said. But, uh, I, I, of course, I'm gonna— I will be mentioning it during one of my talks here on, on board the ship. But I get this, you know that, because I often video these people as a sort of present to you.

I was just about to say— you should— yeah, go ahead. No, I interrupted you. Very rude. Very rude. No, no, no, no, no.

It's a non-issue. But I'd like— I just for a moment, I would like you to tell people because you share some of them with me, some of the emails that you get as a result of Dennis and Julie. It's so funny.

I was literally just pulling, pulling one up as you were talking. Dennis is— you are so— I mean, I am— you can tell I'm hesitating whether or not to say it because of Juliet in Virginia who calls us out for complimenting. But you are— I think you're so kind on air. Who you are on air is the same person you are off air. That is really true. But if it's even possible, when you meet public figures, it's difficult to have your expectations not only met but exceeded. And my expectations were not only met but exceeded with you. You in your private life, you are so kind and generous. And one of The examples of that is the way that you send me videos of Dennis and Julie listeners. Dennis will go to speeches and, you know, he's exhausted. He has to meet all of these people. I know you enjoy it, but it's very draining. And he'll pause when someone says something nice about our show and he'll take a video and he'll send it to me because, you know, it makes me feel good because I'm so hard on myself. I just want our viewers to know that Dennis does that because I think it says a lot about our dear co-host here. But, um, I, I love the emails that we get from listeners. Dennis and I talk about this all the time. It is, it is a mark of how good, if we do say so ourselves, the show is. But we're not saying it so ourselves. The, the, the viewers and the emails they write are the, are the indication that the show is good, because if we're hearing from such high-quality people, it must be something worth listening to. I want to read something to you, Dennis. I don't think I even told it to you in private. We have a Dennis and Julie listener that was listening to Dennis and Julie as she was giving birth, and she was reading your Bible commentary as she was giving birth. This is Savannah. She gave birth to her son Simon on May 12th, 2023, and she's just sent this. She said, I wanted to share this photo and a photo of my sweet boy. If you guys take care, if you're ever around San Antonio, we'd love to host you for dinner or show you around town. So many listeners do that. They go, if you're ever here, you're ever there, I'd love to, to welcome you to my home. Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, Mike Lindell with MyPillow is launching the MyPillow 2.0. When Mike invented MyPillow, it had everything you could ever want in a pillow. Now, nearly 20 years later, he discovered a new technology that makes it even better. The MyPillow 2.0 has the patented adjustable fill of the original MyPillow, and now with a brand new fabric that is made with a temperature-regulating thread. The MyPillow 2.0 is one of the softest, smoothest, and coolest pillows you'll ever own. For our listeners, the MyPillow 2.0 is buy one, get one free offer with the promo code Hartman. MyPillow 2.0's temperature regulating technology is 100% made in the USA and comes with a 10-year warranty and a 60-day money-back guarantee. Just go to mypillow.com, click on the radio listener square to get the buy one get one free offer, enter the promo code Hartman, or call 1-800-566-6745 to get your MyPillow 2.0s. Now. Those are truly kind, gracious people. Anyway, this is, this is a photo of Savannah reading your book as she's in labor. Oh my God. I get, I get so many. I'll tell you one other email and then I have some thoughts on what you were saying before. But this, this one, I might be one of the most touching I've ever received. There was a listener. Who wrote to us about a month ago. And he said, dear Dennis and Julie, I want to write this to you because I can't talk about this very much in my home because I don't want to further upset my children. I don't talk about this a lot in my workplace because I don't want people in my workplace to see me differently. But I just wanted to tell you because I view you both as friends in my life that my wife just died of breast cancer and I'm really sad. It's difficult for me to go about my life and I just felt the need to tell you. That was so touching because it really does show that they thought— that this man thought of us as, as friends. And that's what, that's what we want to impart to viewers. I've made friends off of this show. I have some close friends that I've made through this program. We, we, we don't just want to be talk shows. We truly want to be in people's lives.

Well, you know, my description of myself since I began was I'm not a talk show host. I'm a human with a talk show. That's great.

That's really great. It's true. I thought you would—

I thought you would like that particular line. The yearning to bond with people who are kindred spirits is what's behind all of this, and you have it and I have it massively. I mean, I have a boatload, literally a boatload of kindred spirits, and so I don't suffer from what is a very big malaise in America of people who have traditional values and can't find friends because of that fact, or have friends that they can't open up to. So to a certain extent, we, we sort of play the role of being their friends, and it's not playing it in the sense of make-believe. It's— it is real. Obviously, I want people to have people who are in their lives physically to, to have that bond, but a lot of people do not. The— there was a, a couple on this trip that told me that they came with me to Israel prior to the lockdowns. The last time we went, 2019, right before the lockdowns. I never say before COVID And they were on the trip of listeners of mine to Israel. And by the way, I have another one coming up this fall, and people interested should just go to DennisPrager.com and click on the banner for information. Stand with Israel. And This boat is 150 listeners. The Israel trip is usually about 500. And they told me something I hear all the time. They said, I just want you to know, we were on bus number 10, and we got so close to the people on bus number 10 that we actually have bought a place in Florida where we all stay at just to be with each other. And they were from all over the country. I don't even know if more than two were from Florida. They became literally the closest friends in their lives from being on bus number 10. I'm going to tell this when I come back. You should promote the Israel trip, but it makes perfect sense. I love that, that I'm giving people an opportunity to meet terrific people. You know, people may come for me. You know, it's my old line about they come for Dennis but stay for Sue, which you know how true that is. It is true. But I— but it is also true in my public life. They come for me, but they stay for the folks that they meet. So, and I love that. It doesn't take anything away from you know, the bond that they have with me, but it is such a more enduring one where they have these real people in their lives. The human being needs people to whom they can open up about what they most care about in life. And the number of people who can't open up to friends is scary. I know this from my happiness hour, and I know this is pre-woke, that this was a problem, and post-woke, it is a crisis.

Coming into this conservative world, if you will, that's what I'm going to call it, has made me find so many kindred spirits. Again, just beyond the realm of the political, just kindred spirits in terms of disposition and worldview and life interest. And every— it's been really interesting for me because every place I've gone to, whether it's a speech of yours, whether it's your Torah minion, and I know people listening will go, of course you found this, you know, with Dennis because it's Dennis that's unifying all these people. But even, you know, I mentioned my speech in Washington. I went to go speak in mid-April to a group in northern Washington State. 450 people and they were all kindred spirits. I spoke recently to a Republican club in Santa Monica, all kindred spirits. Coming into this world, I have so found that. And as I said, it's been fascinating for me to contemplate, and this is in a typical Dennis and Julie way. Dennis and Julie, we go out on a lot of tangents, but we also kind of, I don't know if you notice this, every episode has this It's circular, like we come around to an earlier point. It's actually quite nice. I think it's because we all believe in something as opposed to just against something. You were saying earlier the left gets excited about destruction. Maybe that can kind of unify, tether people together. I don't think so though. I think what really does unify kindred spirits is belief in as opposed to against something. And that's what conservatism offers. It's not fundamentally trying to tear something down, it's trying to build something up. It's not fundamentally trying to call out what's wrong, it's trying to call out what's right. I think baked into conservatism is gratitude. Gratitude and respect and reverence for the situation that we've inherited. There's this, at its core, it's a unifying, kindred spirit friendly, if you will, worldview. So no wonder I go to all these places and I find those companions.

The gratitude issue about America that you're talking about. So I didn't mention this. So I, I love talking to strangers. It's been my passion since I was a kid. And even if there's a tiny bit of their knowing English or my knowing their language, I try to do this on the road around the world. So on a number of occasions, people have asked me, because I love taking photos and, you know, they, they would see that or something would provoke a comment. And so on a number of occasions they said something, and I gathered it was either in poor English or a mixture of English and whatever their language. What country? Where are you from? And I go, America. America. And their eyes would light up, and my heart broke. And then when I would say— and they go, where in America? I go, California. California. It is like meeting somebody and saying, you live in heaven because they don't know. They have no idea what is racking America and wrecking America at this time. It's the dream of America and specifically California is still real. I took out my license to show it to somebody, just knowing they would get such a kick out of seeing a California driver's license, which, you know, naturally they had never seen. It was at an ice cream shop in— what city was it? I think in Hungary. Yeah, in Hungary, in rural Hungary. And it was a young man And he just— he was so excited. We— to think that we're wrecking the dream of humanity.

I know. This is too painful.

What can I say?

Well, it really— what you just— oh, God. Sorry, Dennis. No, no, no, please. It's the overlap. It's the Skype overlap. Oh. Sean is cutting in saying, I think it's ironic that the American dream is alive outside of the United States. It's true. They seem to appreciate it more than us. What you just said about America, what did you say about being the something of the world, the hope for humanity or what you just commented on? That is quite literally true. I mean, and that's what makes America exceptional. America, was founded not because of circumstance. It was actually founded against circumstance. It was founded based on an idea. And the first Federalist Papers, they write that America is for all mankind. The system of America is intending to show the world what can be accomplished. And so it's— and loving and appreciating this country has made me feel like there is this precious possession I have my life. And it's made my life richer feeling like I have this precious possession. Because human beings, as much as we need to be loved, we also need to love something or someone. Giving love is just as important to us and as nourishing to us as receiving love. And so loving and appreciating and wanting to protect this country is life-sustaining. It enriches one's life. Recently, as we all know, as we Dennis and Julie listeners and participants know, but probably half of America doesn't know because the left-wing media suppresses it, there was an FBI whistleblower that has come to Congress and said that President Biden, during his time as vice president, took a $5 million bribe from a foreign national. This was back in 2015. And so the House of Representatives is investigating it, has subpoenaed the FBI head, Christopher Wray, to present the relevant documents to Congress. And so it may— this may really blow up in the next few weeks. I hope it will. If it's true that this happened, I hope it does blow up because this is exactly what impeachment was designed for. This is exactly the stuff we should be focusing on, not pronouns. But when I read that story, Dennis, that, that our president may have taken a $5 million bribe to favorably influence policy from a foreign national, I felt so offended. I felt so disrespected. It was like, how dare you? Not only is this individual corrupt, how dare you do this to this precious country we have? You don't have any respect for how amazing the system is, how this system has given you the life that you have to be in this position. And instead of using your responsibility to protect and defend it, you view this precious jewel of ours as your little plaything to use as a tool to advance your own power. It's disgusting. And it's that feeling of preciousness about my country that made me just not just look at this as a sickening, display of corruption, but as like a deeply offensive disrespect and grievance.

So they will answer, oh, well, you know, well, you have Trump, but they have created a caricature. The real Trump with all his obnoxious traits. Is incomparably more honest than Joe Biden. And yet, yes, I know, I'm well aware of the 2,000 lies that the Washington Post has accumulated. Virtually every single one is just gargantuan in its triviality, like how many people attended his inauguration. Yes. I mean, that's, you know, that's a typical example of a Trump lie, as they put it. But compared to Joe Biden, I consider him the only truly bad human to be a president of the United States. I couldn't stand Barack Obama, but I truly believe that, that Joe Biden is a bad human being. And I do not believe that Donald Trump is a bad human being. I believe that he has no control between his brain and his mouth. I had one question, not do I like Donald Trump. That was never my question. And it's not my question whether I like Joe Biden. It is, did they do good for this country? One did immense good for this country. One is doing immense harm to this country. From the day he came into office and rendered the ability of America to support itself with energy By knocking out the XL pipeline. To this day, the inflation that he has created and the worst, the use of the Department of Justice to render America a police state for the first time in its history. The amount of evil that this man has done. Look, we don't generally talk about politics, but the evil that this man is doing to this country has no parallel in the history of the presidency of the United States. Sorry, sorry to conclude on such a—

I was about to say, on that happy note. No.

Yeah, well, the positive note is that Dennis and Julie comes back to you from the normal place next week. And it is— it fills me with joy to do this with you, Julie.

Well, ditto, more than you know. And I'll, and I'll also say, not that it's a happy note, but even when we're exposing all of this terrible stuff, as I said earlier in the episode, it's better to know and understand what's happening than feel like there's something wrong but not get it. So there is, it's an overused word, but there is empowerment, as corny as it sounds, in knowing what is really happening. And I hope that we provide that. Dennis, have fun. Go to bed. It's late, my dear, but it's been really fun as always.

Correct. See you next week.

You can reach me at julie@julie-hartman.com. And as you saw in this discussion, I do read all of the emails and appreciate them greatly. See you next time in person. Be well.

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 why we 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, 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.