Leftism Makes You Sick

Dennis Prager argues that left-wing politics constitute a spiritual sickness, citing a British Medical Journal editorial warning that U.S. children with gender dysphoria are being rushed into hormone therapy without adequate psychological support. He points to doubled puberty-blocking prescriptions from 2017 to 2021 and claims major medical bodies are complicit in harming children.
Chapters
Check out monorail.com, America's affordable investment app made for conservatives who want to keep their hard-earned money with companies that share their values. Download the Monorail app today. Join Monorail. Hello everybody and welcome to The Dennis Prager Show. There is a piece in the Free Press And it is written by John Haidt, whom I believe is same as Jonathan Haidt. But no, it actually might be a son. I don't know. It's an interesting question because he refers to Jonathan Haidt, who is highly regarded, one of the few writers in the United States who's highly regarded by both the right and the left. It's almost incredible. I'm happy for him. I'm happy, period, that that exists. And he has a piece, or at least John Haidt has the piece, Why the Mental Health of Liberal Girls Sank First and Fastest. We are a decade into the largest epidemic of adolescent mental illness ever recorded. It's time we started treating social media like automobiles and firearms. They blame it on the social media. But if it's on the social media, why do girls— why are they more mentally ill the farther left you go? So of course there is an answer, and that is something I have raised so many years with you, and that is, do the disturbed gravitate to the left, or does the left make you disturbed? And And likewise, morally, do the morally confused— I'm being gentle— gravitate to the left, or does the left make you morally confused? And the answer is all four. The damage done by the left, which is a sick movement— sick, it's— I don't know if that transcends evil or is not yet quite an evil, but It is sick, and the sickness is pervasive among the well-educated in particular. It is a spiritual sickness. It is a moral sickness.
The—
what is it? In fact, I'll give you an example. Yeah, the British Medical Journal warns that U.S. children are rushed into sex change surgery. Is that not sick? Every doctor and surgeon involved in this will have to answer to a good and judging God, or there is no good and judging God. We're unique. This country, the United States of America, is the worst country on earth with regard to the treatment of its children in medical situations involving the psychological disturbance of thinking that you are a member of the opposite sex. It was always regarded by the corrupt group called the American Psychiatric Society as a psychiatric problem. It's called gender dysphoria, and now it's celebrated. LGBTQIA+.
A+.
I don't know, they'll— they probably will add another letter. The longer the acronym, the greater the cause, presumably. American children with gender dysphoria, from the Daily Mail, are being rushed into surgery without psychological support, the editor of a prestigious medical journal has warned. Cameron Abbasi said in an editorial in the British Medical Journal, BMJ, that the approach by doctors in the United States is, quote, not in line with the strength of the evidence. So for the, the people on the left who say follow the science, nobody follows the science less than people on the left. They follow the scientists that they want to follow. That was true about the vaccine for young people. It was true about the lockdowns in general, and it is true about the closing of schools, and it is true about the mutilation of young people who have mental issues. And then there are sick, disgusting doctors who give their profession a, a really, really bad name. Really bad name. They should be called out by their colleagues, but there is as much courage in the medical profession as in any other profession. Why should there be any more? Courage is rare in every profession. It's even rare among the group that should be the most courageous— clergy. But most rabbis, priests, and ministers were sheep. During the lockdowns and have not said a word since. Want to close my synagogue for no good reason? Certainly. The article followed a BMJ investigation last month that laid bare an explosion in gender dysphoria cases among children in recent years, especially in America. Why is there an explosion in gender dysphoria cases in America? Think about it. Something we didn't hear about in American history is now exploding. Why is that? Dr. Abbasi said European countries have taken a more cautious approach to prescribing drugs and operating on transgender minors. Quote, the U.S., however, has moved in the opposite direction, he wrote, adding more and more young people are being offered medical and surgical intervention for gender transition, sometimes bypassing any psychological support. Oh, you think you're a boy? Certainly. When would you like your breasts removed, young lady? The risk of overtreatment of gender dysphoria is real, writes the editor of— is he the editor? No, he writes— he wrote the editorial. I don't know if he's the editor of British— the British Medical Journal. The BMJ probe cited data showing prescriptions for puberty-blocking drugs among under-18s have doubled between 2017 and 2021.
Doubled.
While scripts for hormone therapies have seen a similar rise, influential groups like the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, WPATH, American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Endocrine Society all recommend Hormonal and surgical intervention for children with gender dysphoria. I did not know that the American Academy of Pediatrics did this. I'm quiet because when you realize that that is the official body of doctors who take care of children has come out for mutilating children. You understand the left destroys everything it touches, and sick bad people obviously run the American Academy of Pediatrics. Sick and bad, and bad and sick. If this is true— this is actually news to me. I knew that this WPATH did this, of course, that's That's what they're in business to do. But I didn't know that the American Academy of Pediatrics did. I, I will, I will verify because it's almost too painful to believe. Ask your pediatrician. Bring, bring them this article. We'll put it up at DennisPrager.com. BMJ editor warns trans US children are rushed into sex change surgery. You know, there's a, uh, there's not an insignificant chance that your child going to school in this country will say that he or she is the opposite sex. I don't know what the odds of winning in roulette are. I have to look that up. But the odds of your child in certainly any urban center school coming home— unrestricted to girls, girls that are doing this way more than boys— I'm really a boy. She knows what a boy is and what it feels to be a boy, like I know what a girl is and what it feels like to be a girl. They don't know what they're talking about. You feel that you're a boy? Do you know what the hell a boy is? Are you a gay boy or a straight boy? I'm curious, just as one question that might be posed. When a girl becomes a boy, which does not happen, but let's say for argument's sake she feels it is, is she able to— she no longer capable of finding things? Back in a moment. I'd like to introduce you to Monorail, America's investment app that takes you from where you are to where you want to be. Monorail is an investment and savings app that is made for Patriots by Patriots. Doesn't matter whether you're an Apple fan or if you prefer Android, Monorail is available in both environments and online at monorail.com. Monorail is safer for users with bank-level encryption and biometrics. Your money is protected with Monorail through Securities Investor Protection Corporation and the FDIC. No matter how you engage with Monorail, you're getting the security and safety that you need, whether you're adding funds to your investment account, looking to buy a stock, or putting money aside for future purchases. With Monorail, you you can put your money where it matters and utilize the economic power that built this country. Don't go somewhere else to trade stocks. Monorail gives you the freedom to purchase whole or fractional shares in companies you believe in. It only takes 5 minutes to download the app and set up. Join the pro-America money movement. Join Monorail. My column today, every Tuesday is my column at DennisPrager.com. Dennis Prager.com or Town Hall is about the bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and how they were preoccupied with woke issues— ESG, DEI, LGBTQI+. They didn't even have somebody in charge of risk for, I think, what was it, uh 8 months, 9 months. Instead, they were preoccupied with this. That is what BlackRock and the other asset managers with trillions of money in pensions— that's what they're doing. They're using it to further their sick causes and the, the West-destroying environmentalist cause over the hysteria over climate change. It is hysteria to take power. That's all it is, like all the other left-wing hysterias, like the lockdowns. The British Medical Journal has an editorial condemning American doctors, which is quite something. They don't like to condemn their colleagues. The American Medical Association is another bad group of human beings. And when I speak to doctors Well, I, I don't speak to that many doctors. I don't know why I would speak to that many of any given profession, but when I do, the answer I get is, oh, very few doctors are in the AMA, they don't represent most of us. Right, that's the way it goes. Like the Communist Party in the Soviet Union, I think only 10% of the, of the population were communists, were in the Communist Party. But it ran everything. The AMA doesn't give a damn how many doctors are members of the association, but they speak on behalf of the rest who say nothing about it. That's okay. I— look, it's not fair to me to expect any more courage from doctors than from college presidents. I'm not being cute. There was no reason why when you get an MD you get courage. In fact, The opposite now, as I showed you at Columbia University Medical School and University of Minnesota Medical School. You are taught to be a sheep from the day you enroll in those medical schools. You are taught to be a coward and will say anything they tell you to say and think anything they tell you to think. I fear for the future of this country. When you go to your doctor in 20 years, you may be visiting a warped person. Hopefully they'll know medicine. I'd rather have a warped person who knows medicine than a fine person who doesn't know medicine treat me. It's true. But it doesn't help. I don't know about your pilots in 20 years either, since United Airlines, among others, is choosing pilots on the basis of race and sex more than on the basis of competence. Everything the left touches, it destroys. And there's two more examples. On a personal note, I've never believed in the devil, just not part of the Jewish traditional outlook, even though Satan does. The name comes from Hebrew in the Old Testament, but it means adversary, not an independent force of evil. But I, I have to say that I, I no longer dismiss the possibility After the lockdowns and the perverse treatment of children who say that they are the opposite sex, it, it is almost impossible to rationally explain how such evil can overtake people. If somebody would have told these doctors at Boston Children's Hospital, in, uh, in 10 years you— a girl is going to come to you, girls are going to come to you, say they're boys, and you are going to remove their breasts. They would have said, what? What do you— what did you see, some horror movie? They would not have believed they would do this. British Medical Journal report continues: the lack of certainty has caused the UK, Sweden, Norway, and Finland to block or issue medical guidelines opposing pharmaceutical interventions for most trans children. But in the United States, medical and surgical interventions given at early ages are becoming increasingly common. No national data is available, but one study found the number of mastectomies, sometimes called top surgery— how disgusting— performed on girls under 18 in California had risen 13-fold in the last decade, with children as young as 12 offered the irreversible operations. Really? There were 12-year-old girls who had their breasts surgically removed, and these people have the chutzpah to condemn clitoridectomies performed in some Muslim societies? Wow. California. Do you know, it only occurred to me recently, people often say to me that they salute me for staying in California and fighting. I wonder if in fact by staying in California I am abetting evil. There, there is a point where you're in a society that has become so rotten, so evil, that you're staying there is not a fight but a, but a help. And I, so I don't have an answer to that, but I I do in fact offer you my deepest thoughts. It is a brand new conflict in my mind. Am I abetting evil by staying in California? It's a very, very bad state with a lot of good people in it, I might say. A lot more than the 10 God said he would spare Sodom and Gomorrah for. I wonder if they cut girls' breasts off in Sodom and Gomorrah. We return in a moment. I'm Dennis Prager. The Dennis Prager Show. Natural disasters, airline cancellations and runway near misses, supply chain issues, inflation, rising interest rates, and sky-high government debt. This is Dennis Prager for AmFed Coin and Bullion. There's a lot in the news about what consumers cannot control, so let's talk about what you can control. You can control how you choose to invest and protect your wealth. That's why I choose to do business with Nick Grovich and his company AmFed Coin and Bullion. Now is a great time to own tangible assets like gold, silver, and platinum. With over 41 years' experience and tens of thousands of satisfied clients, Nick will help you make informed decisions and show you smart choices which have been proven winners time and time time again. AmFed Coin and Bullion will sell you the right types of precious metals to get the maximum value for your money. Take control of your investments like I did. Call Nick and his team at AmFed Coin and Bullion at 800-221-7694. AmericanFederal.com. AmericanFederal.com. Without a question, one of the highlights, and I know it's true for many, many of you In March and August, the two fundraising months for PragerU, is when I speak almost daily to a young person affiliated with PragerU in what's called PragerForce, about 15,000 around the world. And it's— if you want hope, I mean rational hope, not just vague hope, these are the people who give you and me such things. One example is Alexa Weissbond, and she is a senior at California Lutheran University and a Prager Force member. Hello to you, Alexa. And you could see Alexa, by the way, where is it again? Salem News Channel. Yes. Hi, Alexa.
Hi, Dennis. Thank you for having me on.
What a joy. Where are you right now? I see a brick building or a brick wall behind you. Are you in a— are you in a prison?
I'm actually sitting in my school's library right now.
Oh, and you have— you have a private place where you could do this?
Yeah.
Oh, that's terrific. So tell me a little bit about— I want to know about you. I want to know first though about California Lutheran University. A lot of universities that have a Christian name only have a Christian name. The content is just as woke as anyplace else. What is the story with Cal Lutheran?
Yeah, you are absolutely right about that. CLU is a private Christian school. So upon coming here, I assumed it would be somewhat conservative, but I found out that leftism has replaced religion at CLU and other Christian universities in California. And when I got here, I realized there were barely any conservative clubs, and leftism and wokeism were being pushed down my throat in every class I was in. I recall when, on even International Holocaust Remembrance Day, my school not only issued no statement but instead, instead decided to hold a ceremony on campus that day honoring the stolen land that our campus apparently resides on instead. And this just proves how this school prioritizes a woke agenda over everything else. And I was really inspired to get more involved in the conservative movement after realizing this.
It was horrible.
My Turning Point USA chapter that I actually had on campus here got kicked off campus for not aligning apparently with having diverse and inclusive values, which is what the school preaches. So I was really happy to discover PragerU. And get more involved with Prager Force as well to find other young people with like-minded values, especially in California as well.
They actually kicked off a TPUSA chapter?
Yes. And we were talking about nothing I would think would be deemed controversial.
Well, it doesn't matter. Let's say you did talk about something controversial. Isn't that the point of an education? No, no controversy is communism, fascism, and Nazism. No controversy. So is there a chapter of Prager Force now there?
Uh, no, not—
it's just you? Really? Are you the only Prager Force member at California Lutheran?
There's a couple other students involved in Dennis Prager, of course, who I've met. We have a Republican club here, but it's not very active. One club. That's it.
Are most of the— if I took a secret ballot, I know this is a guesstimate on your part. We understand that. Do you— would you say men give birth? What percentage of your fellow students would say yes?
I say 0%. At my school, I mean, it would probably be— probably about, I would say, 60 to 70% of students here would probably agree with that statement.
Wait, so what did you say would be 0%? I didn't follow that. Sorry?
I would—
Oh, you. No, of course I know. Believe me, if a Prager Force member said men give birth, I would really worry about PragerU. All right, so you're saying to me you believe in a secret ballot so nobody can get in trouble, they could say what they truly believe, about 60 to 70% of your fellow students at California Lutheran would say men give birth?
I think they would agree with that, most students here. At the rate how things are going here, I think they would.
I'm just— I'm sorry, I, I'm digesting that. I think you're right, by the way. What about this? What about free speech? Would they say free speech should be allowed even for hate speech? How many would say that? Think about it. We're going to come back. Please, folks, donate to prageru.com so we can have more than 15,000 in Prager Force. Hello everyone, great to be with you. Dennis Prager here. One of the never-ending debates as a talk show host is what topic of so many that I want to talk about. I have stacks of paper here. I could do a 10-hour show today effortlessly. But I, except for the necessity of eating and drinking at some point, although I do intermittent fast, so if I arranged it properly, I could fast the entire show. Intermittent fast is daily fasting, and I've done it now for 4 and a half years, about 15 hours a day. I find it effortless, so I don't need any kudos, and I'm not even sure it's good for me. I know I'm sure it's good for me. I don't know how good, but I just threw that out anyway. I debate what topic. Do I do the bank? Do I discuss with you the ramifications thereof, which I did for a while yesterday? So I'm going actually to a topic that does not seem to be as significant as the Silicon Valley Bank explosion and Ukraine and the mutilation of children uniquely bad in the United States. As I read to you from the British Medical Journal, and I will read more from it, to think that the British Medical Journal has a lead editorial condemning American medicine, American doctors and medical schools and hospitals for the mutilation of children who say that they are the opposite sex, especially girls, who are far more common. That is a real blow to the prestige of American medicine. And if you are a doctor and you don't speak out on it, you may be a wonderful father or mother and friend and even doctor, But you, uh, you failed the test. And tests are what talk of our character. Doctors who keep silent in the face of what their colleagues are doing to mutilate children are failing the test. Not everybody is tested in life. Almost everybody is at some point. And I asked Jordan Peterson, do you ever know somebody well if they have not been tested. And he said no. It was an interesting response. He didn't think about it. It was an immediate no. You only really know someone when they're tested. That may— it may be true. You only really know yourself, perhaps, if you're tested. Anyway, so I've taken— I have a topic that I want to discuss that does not seem earth-shattering, but I believe it is significant in what it represents. So I am glad to say that I actually agree with an opinion piece in The Washington Post. That happens about as often as a lunar eclipse, or a little more often than seeing Mars and Jupiter in the sky at once, as I did with the naked eye last week. That was really something. I'm staring at Jupiter and Mars. Okay, anyway, the article is Vanishing Phone Customer Support Is Driving Us All Insane. By a woman named Helene Olen. O-L-E-N. Why won't corporate America answer the phone? It's not just about phone companies. It's a very interesting question, and I wonder if you have an answer. Customer service, as a general rule, is pathetic. Why has that happened? It's certainly worse since the lockdowns. Everything is worse since the lockdowns. Everything. The inflation was largely created by the pouring of money without any limitations into the economy all caused by lockdowns that should never have been in the first place. We're going to close down your business and then we're going to send you money so that you can pay your rent. That's what, what happened in Sweden. The economy is just marching along fine. They never locked down. My assumption is— parenthetical statement— my assumption is that if you have a degree in public health You're probably an idiot. That's my assumption. I know that there are people with degrees in public health who are not idiots. What is an idiot? An idiot is another word for a fool. Doesn't mean a person who lacks brain power. Almost nobody lacks brain power. The problem with people is not that they lack brain power, it's that they're fools. So my assumption is if you have a degree in education or in gender studies or in women's studies or in almost any ethnic studies, you're a foolish person. My assumption, if you're a dean, you're a coward. I make a lot of assumptions with the understanding that there are exceptions. So I don't know for a fact that if I meet a college president, I'm meeting a coward. I just assume it until proven otherwise. So the lockdowns are a part of the reason. I don't know the whole reason for the, the nature of it. The other, uh, last week my wife and I booking flights using Expedia which I have probably spent a quarter of a million dollars at Expedia, may well be more on airfares given that I fly on average every week and have for decades, and I've used Expedia a lot. And you would think that there would be a number, and there is ironically a number if you're a really regular customer, but it's, it's useless. It at this point I haven't found anybody to pick it up. We had the credit which had to be used by a certain date because of flights that we didn't use. We had credit, but we couldn't use the credit in booking other flights, and there was no way to talk to somebody at Expedia. But this is the— this is, she writes in the column, the norm now of hours spent. You call an airline and you might get back a call. In fact, they— I do that if I have to call them. I rarely do. I know how to use these apps, but if I have to call them, they will simply say now in many cases We will call you back in 6 hours. Uh, is that correct? Is this the number you're calling from, you, the one you want us to call you back at in 6 hours? Press 1. Press 2 to put in another number. Press 3 if you would like to punch somebody at our airline. And this was not the case for most the time, people were proud to give customer service. Some companies still do. It's interesting, I read the comments and how many people isolated a company called Xfinity for horrible customer service. I, I have no interaction with Xfinity, but I just wanted to note that Did— here's one possibility. Did paying people money to stay home so dilute the opportunity to have people hired? Did it dilute the employment market? Everybody says yes. And that's understandable if that happened. It was a terrible idea. The lockdowns were horrible, and then the solution to the lockdown was equally horrible. Let's just pump vast sums of money. That is, there is so much money in the economy, that is the reason for the terrible inflation. It is entirely the Democrats' fault, but they, they take no And not only do they not take responsibility, but the dishonest— I mean, far more dishonest than Trump— president that we now have says that the economy is just doing fine. That's so— I mean, I'll leave that at that. But what is the reason? Some of you may work in corporate America, may know the reason. Is it that we can't find people? Companies can't find people to do this? Somebody wrote in, you know, there are so many abusive callers that it has a short half-life, the life of a person who takes calls from the public. I don't know the answer, but one of the features of capitalism is that you compete on excellence. 1-800-PRAGER-776. 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 the softest, smoothest, and coolest pillow you'll ever own. For my listeners, the MyPillow 2.0 is buy one, get one free offer with promo code Prager. MyPillow 2.0 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 and click on the radio listeners square to the buy one get one free offer. Enter promo code Prager or call 800-761-6302 to get your MyPillow 2.0 now. You better stop. I asked the young woman that I talked to last hour and goes to Cal Lutheran. What percentage of your classmates do you think on a secret ballot would say men give birth? She said 60 to 70%. What percentage of your fellow students would say they believe in free speech but not for hate speech? She said about 90%. 1-800-PRAGER-776. Piece in the Washington Post, Vanishing Customer Support. It's part of the decline in the quality of life in the United States. And the— it's almost a challenge to capitalism. Capitalism says that in theory, companies compete on the basis of excellence. If they do well, they prosper. If they don't, they fail. But that's not true anymore. They, they don't do well and they can still prosper. And it seems to argue against the capitalist ethic or capitalist logic. The author writes in the Washington Post, when I recently called an MRI facility about an overcharge, a pre-recorded voice told me over and over again for 45 minutes The call volume was unusually high. How many of you have heard that? I have heard the unusually high message, and I try to never call, so this is rare, almost every time I have called any company. Unusually high. And by the way, the weather was compounding a labor shortage. On another recent day, I needed to resolve a problem with the company with no listed phone number at all. I bought a piece of, uh, I, I got a, uh, photography is one of my hobbies, and I, I bought a, a piece of, uh, or an app to work on my photos. I, I love these apps. They, you know, remove noise, change color, backgrounds, the whole thing, you know, like Photoshop does, but other things, and sometimes much easier than Photoshop. But anyway, They is an artificial intelligence thing, and it didn't— they didn't send me the actual download. I paid for it and got nothing. I got an email thanking me, and there was no— not only This Is the King, The King. Well, this is the thing. It's also the King. There was not only no phone number, there was no email address. But there was, if I kept looking, and I must have looked for an hour, there was a statement though that the software is made in Ukraine and because of the war they don't have the manpower to talk to you. And it's— I don't know how you sell a product where you, you can't have any interaction even by email. So it's one of the rare times I usually just give up, but it's one of the rare times I just— I wanted them to get the message in some way, so I actually I said, just give me my money back and, you know, keep the license number. I don't— I hope I got it back. I mean, it's not going to make or break the Prager home economy, but there is a principle here. If you can't even contact a company via email— on another day, I needed to resolve a problem with a company with no listed phone number at all. This is from the article, which is how I found myself furiously pounding the keyboard in conversation with— yes, A chatbot at a vegan meal delivery service. It shouldn't be this hard to talk to a human, but increasingly companies large and small are making it difficult to access a real-life person when help is needed. Contact numbers are hard to find. Wait times to an operator are long. One industry analyst estimated the average wait tripled. The average weight tripled from 2020 to 2022. Another quality of life killer thanks to the asinine, destructive, vile lockdowns. It's amazing that more Americans are not angry about what the, uh, the scientific community Like public health officials and their sheep governors and mayors followed, like in LA County where a woman who should be the head of public health like I should be on a hockey team named Barbara Ferrer has ruined as much as possible, as much as she could, the lives of people living in Los Angeles County. For no good reason, and nobody protests. It's— it doesn't matter what she does. And of course, all the Democrats follow. This is not simply inconvenient, it's contemptuous. That's it, that's the point. That's, that's the word— contemptuous. These companies hold you and me in contempt. Basically, give us your money and we owe you no service. It's fascinating. I mean, now, and people accept anything. There are no meals in coach on flights anymore in the United States. It's an amazing thing. Now, maybe they could say people prefer lower fares and no meals. Okay, can you have a higher fare with a meal? Back in a moment. Hi everybody, Dennis Prager here. Piece in the Washington Post I've been reading to you from about the deterioration of customer support, where you can't speak to a human, then you got a chatbot which doesn't work because they respond to certain words that trigger an automatic response. So my question is why. I don't have a complete answer. I do know that the lockdowns and paying vast number— millions of Americans not to work had a terrible impact, but I don't know if that's I don't believe that's the only reason. All right, let's see what you folks have to say here. And let's see, hmm, Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Don, hello.
Hi, Dennis.
Hi.
I believe that the lockdowns and government regulation has so decimated the competition for these large corporations that they no longer have to win them over to an honor system but simply do so by price. I often say to my children, support your local businesses even if it costs you more, because we are building the gallows that will one day hang us.
That's right. That is exactly right. I salute you. In my— in the town that I live, there is one independent pharmacy and it costs a little more, but we only use that for all of our prescriptions because we want to keep them in business. The, the closest we got really to fascism, because fascism allows for companies providing the company's sort of part of the government was during the lockdowns when you could go to Walmart for hardware but you couldn't go to Fred's Hardware Store for hardware. So Fred was kicked out of business, was rendered bankrupt. I had a friend on who is a major, major chef, and his lifelong ambition was to create the finest pizzas possible, connoisseur pizza, pizzas, which he did, opened it up in Los Angeles. And I had him on at least twice, once to talk about how Los Angeles ruins small businesses with regulations upon regulations, and nothings come by and think they're important and figure out trivial violations that the restaurateur engaged in to charge them more money to give to the city. And yet he persisted because he so felt the commitment to his trade. He was a great chef and made great pizza and wanted to keep his employees employed. And then came the lockdowns, and he was finally shut down. He, he got out of the business, and he has moved to the East Coast, to the South. And they're, they're happy with that. If CVS flourishes, that's great. They love big business, the left. They've always loved big business. Lenin is reputed to have stated, though no one found the source, that companies in the West will compete with one another to sell the Communists the rope with which they will hang them. It's a famous, famous line. And let's get to more calls. Erie, Pennsylvania, and Tony, hello. Hello, Dennis. Hi.
Good morning. Good afternoon.
Don't worry about it. Yeah, so the executives of these companies, they love to take our money, uh, but they don't want anyone to contact them or anyone that can connect us to them. I think it's an irony that we don't want to see, or we're too blinded to see, but, uh So I try to do most of my shopping with family-owned businesses, put money on the local tables whenever I can. Well, you're a good man, and that's, that's what we should all do. You should— I try to buy as much as possible not from Amazon. It takes a couple of more minutes. That's all it is on the internet if I'm buying, and I go to another retailer or to the company itself as, as often as I can. That's what I do. But people, people don't think, how can I make a difference? It's convenient, it's cheap, that's all, that's all that matters. But it's ultimately a very bad prescription.
Yes, it is.
It's the Ultimate Issues Hour, every Tuesday, the third hour. If you don't get the ultimate issues right, you won't get the immediate issues right. I don't do— I don't do it more. Even the happiness hour is not more important. That's how important getting life straight. So today is— it's not an ultimate issue in the sense of like, is there a God or What is the purpose of life? That sort of thing. But it's a big issue. How's that? Yeah, that's right. It's a big issue. It's, uh, it is the— an issue that I have talked about all of my broadcast life of 40 years. Isn't that amazing? 40 years. If you'd have told me 40 years ago, A, I'll be broadcasting in 40 years, B, I will have a national show, or anything like that. I would have thought, what'd you get— where'd you pick up those ideas? 40 years.
Wow.
Okay, I've done enough on that, emoted enough. And that is college. Should your kid go to college? Should you go to college? That's an ultimate issue, but I have a very specific one that I'd like to engage in. Did your child change? I mean, truly change as a person as a result of going to college? Personality, values, demeanor, behavior. Very curious to hear your stories because I think that a lot of people become worse human beings as a result of going to college. That's, that's, that qualifies as an ultimate issue. Would your kid have remained— let's say you sent to college a basically kind and loving child, and your child had decided to open up a small business or even work at a restaurant, let's say, versus college Would your child have become worse as a result of the first choice? In other words, does anybody become a worse person after becoming a waiter? It's hard to imagine. Yeah, it really affected my values adversely. I now see my parents as a-holes. It's hard to imagine that that would result from a couple of years as a waiter or waitress or server, as they now say, lest they have a sex gender identity to the term. You know that, that's why it's server. Server is neuter, waiter is male or masculine. That's, by the way, the way gender was made. Gender was associated with inanimate objects. What is the gender of that verb or that noun in another language? There, it wasn't applied to humans. What gender are you? This is a new construct. 1-8-Prager-776. How did college Maybe it didn't affect. Maybe, in fact, maybe your child became a kinder, wiser human being as a result of college. Hard for me to imagine unless they went to one of a couple of dozen unique, almost unique colleges. I'd love to, uh, love to grapple with this issue with you. I like people to hear the experiences of others with their children, how they came home after college. Do you know, I remember this happened when I was in college. This was a while ago, and I remember it was at, I believe, at my parents' table. And there was a, a family, I think, that came. It's very vague, but I— what I remember is not vague. I just don't remember the things surrounding it. But I think a family was at the table and they had a child. I think it was a son, but could have been a daughter. I don't even remember that. I don't even remember what the individual said. To his or her parents, and it went something like this: What do you know? You didn't go to college. And I remember I was at college thinking, holy— yeah, you, uh, you can fill in the noun. Holy I was stunned. I was at college, but it never dawned on me that because I was at college, I knew more than every adult who didn't go to college. But, and I remember the discussion was about women and feminism, and this is in, this is in the '70s. Early '70s, maybe late '60s. And it was— that's how old this ideology is— what do you know, you didn't go to college. And it was probably about the question, are men and women basically the same? That, my dear, dear friends, is the genesis of everything. Everything. It is the genesis of LGBTQIA+, that men and women are basically the same. Same-sex marriage emanated from that belief. Gender doesn't matter, only love does. There you go. Gender doesn't matter because there's no such thing, basically. It's just subjective made-up stuff. Men and women are only different if they think they are. They're not. And that's, of course, the essence of, you know, I think I'm a man. I'm a female, but I think I'm a man. Well, why not? They're not that different to begin with. By the way, it's a very odd thing that the same people who say men and women are basically the same are adamant about the validity of changing sex and advocates of it. Well, I, I don't quite understand. If men and women are basically the same, what are you switching to? I'd like somebody to answer that question. You're just becoming the same thing. So either we're very different and there is such a thing as trans, or we're not different and it means nothing to be trans. But it doesn't matter. It's The war is on civilization, and that's, that's what this is all about. But back to college, uh, it was the question on the table is how did it affect your child? Did they come home even after the first year, let alone after 4 years, that they could come home different than when they left? Better, worse, smarter, less smart, wiser, fool— more foolish, values intact, and complete different value system. What does college do to people? And do people need to go to college? It's a big issue. It's not an ultimate issue, I guess, in the sense that as I said, who created the universe, but it, it is big. How does college affect people? Do you know that I believe the most intellectually malleable years of a person's life— not when they're 5 years old, but exactly when they're at college, 18 to 22, or 17 to 22. It's the— that is the easiest time to change a person's mind. Ultimate Issues Hour is the third hour every Tuesday. How did college affect your child is the question here. And let's go with, uh, Greenville, South Carolina, and George. Hello, George.
Dennis, thanks. Our, uh, our youngest daughter, who's 25 right now, we sent her to public university here in South Carolina, which I thought, got to be safe in South Carolina, right? She came back way over on the left, and she was probably the most conservative of our 4 kids, and, uh, I would say it was significantly worse in grad school than it was in the first 4 years.
That's correct. What was the field?
Uh, she started out in chemistry and switched her major to, uh, English, and she's a, she's a teacher. Well, she's an academic coordinator right now at the same university, and she's a good person. She's more of the bleeding Heart variety.
Uh-huh.
And, but, but it was funny because one night we were all sitting around a campfire and she mentioned that our family had white privilege. And I said, my wife and I both dropped out of high school, got our GEDs, busted our butts. I was working tons of overtime. My wife was working two jobs so she didn't have to take out loans.
And we were paying—
what did your daughter say to that?
Well, we got in a huge argument. She stormed off and left, and that happened a few times, you know. And we got a great relationship now. I think now that she's working and she hates paying taxes, she's kind of coming around and seeing it. But I was shocked that, that they could do that to somebody.
Yeah, well, I understand why you were shocked because you would think it's, it's pretty safe in South Carolina. To go to school, but it's not— it doesn't matter where you are now.
It doesn't matter where you are.
That's right.
Also, I mean, every—
every matter—
so much about that story is important. The South Carolina aspect is important. Graduate school is, is even more of a brainwash than undergraduate, or, or it reinforces it and increases it. And also her walking off That rather than engage in continued dialogue, leaving.
Real, real life example.
By the way, I have a question. Does she want to get married?
She is married. She got married this past December. Her husband's a great guy. And yes, she's married.
Well, that, that will help.
Yes.
I agree, especially if she has children. Good luck to you. Well, any— oh yeah, the other— there were so many yellow flags. She changed her major to English. English departments are notorious. Well, so are anthropology, sociology, education, political science. It's not to mention ethnic studies and gender studies. But English has been captured by people who really don't give a damn about English literature. Ah, it's, uh, it's a story. Okay, let's see, uh, what else, what else happens here. Also South Carolina in Seneca. Ed, hello.
Hey Dennis, great pleasure to speak with you.
Listen to you for quite a few Good.
Years now that I've lived down here in, uh, Seneca. I moved from Vermont. Um, so anyhow, my son went to one of the major United States academies. He was a very conservative young man. I gave him, uh, 2 ounces of silver and a shotgun when he was 13. I said, you're a conservative now. He was a, uh, Rush Limbaugh baby, listened to Howie Carr. Thought I had it made. Went out with gorgeous, gorgeous women, uh, all through high school and into, uh, the academy. Last year of the academy, he announced to us that he had a boyfriend from another academy. And the last time I saw him, he said, I'm a socialist now. And he's a smart kid. He does a job that there's probably only about 150 in the whole US that does for the US government. So I don't want to say anything more than that, but, you know, I—
what does it mean? What does it mean he's a socialist? So give me— I know, I know. Well, give me one or two examples of positions that he holds as a result of his socialism.
He, he doesn't mind the illegal aliens coming across. He doesn't mind, uh, paying taxes. But the, the thing is, is he owns his own house, he saves money like crazy, but he just mentioned— I didn't, I, I did— I'm not like the other, uh, gentleman from South Carolina. I, uh, went about 5 years not talking to my dad over an argument, and I swore that I would never do that to my kids. So when it comes to, uh, arguments with my— I've got two boys, um, and I was a stay-at-home dad and taught them how to do sports. My wife taught them how to do academics. Um, my older son got his PhD at the age of 25, and, uh, you know, very, very driven in academics, both of them are. So I try not to have any conversation that there might be an argument about, I just don't do it. Um, and all I said—
what do you, what do you think of his partner?
Um, he's the one that we met at Thanksgiving time, was a really nice guy. Um, he, he just said—
is he a socialist too?
Um, he might be. He has a, he has a job that he makes almost a half million dollars a year doing. So I—
so that qualifies him as—
yeah, his whole circle of friends make— I don't think there was one of his friends that make under a quarter million dollars other than him. He's the poor one out of the whole group. But they all say that they're socialists and they believe in socialism.
I don't—
yeah. Oh God. You should pay him to read my book, Still the Best Hope. Back in a moment. Yes, indeed, the Ultimate Issues Hour, third hour Tuesdays. How did college affect your child, your son or daughter? The— it is an ultimate issue in some sense. It's not in the ultimate philosophical sense, but I thought this was the right hour to do it. I'm curious to know how it has affected real people. My, uh, as you would imagine, I'm not gonna fool around. I think it has a deleterious effect on most people who attend, no effect on some, and a good effect on a tiny, tiny number. All righty, and let's go to San Antonio and Jim. Hello.
Hey Dennis, good afternoon. How are you?
I'm well, thank you.
Good.
Hey, as I was telling your call screener there, um, two really good experiences with my older children. Um, both were raised conservative Catholics here in San Antonio and went off to college. My oldest went to Washington and Lee out in Virginia. Specifically picked that school because it was conservative and got on campus. And yeah, there's definitely a liberal bent there, and wherever you want to find it, you can find it. But his comment to me was always that the teachers and the professors left their personal views out of the classroom.
Really? At Washington and Lee?
Yes.
That's good to know. Do you feel that that is still the case?
I do. He's 2 years out, so I—
Oh, okay. So that's pretty recent. Yeah, why do you think that is? It's very rare for me to hear such a report. Why do you think that is?
You know, I think probably because there is such a conservative contingent on that campus. I think, you know, it's— it has that reputation of being the, you know, the, the southern Ivy League type school. But I think there's a large conservative group on that campus that kind of keeps things a little bit in check. The kids seem to come from pretty staunch conservative families.
Well, that's good for people to hear this, because I couldn't name— I don't know if I could name 3 other than, you know, a couple of private ones like Hillsdale. That's really nice to hear.
So now he will tell you, of course, that he knew exactly who the liberal professors were and he would be on guard. But he was very clear that they left their personal views pretty much outside the classroom.
So, well, that's impressive. Listen, I'm glad you called. That is, uh, Washington and Lee. I can't believe they've kept the name. Didn't think of that one. Orange County, California, and Jeannie. Hello, Jeannie.
Hello, how are you?
I'm well.
Um, I have 4 kids. And all 4 of them went to Brigham Young University. And my husband was probably more set on it than I was with our first and said, it's the only school I'm going to pay for. And at the time I thought that's maybe a little bit hard, but it wasn't because after the first 2 went and I didn't, didn't argue with it. But when the first two went and came back, they came back better after their freshman year. They were more set religiously. They had taken classes. They had been around a lot more people that believed like they did. And then our last two didn't ever even think of another school. They just applied to BYU and got in. And so with four kids all coming out stronger.
How long ago was this?
Okay, so my youngest is 30, my oldest is 39, and so I— it was a while ago. They all did graduate work, right?
Well, the reason— forgive me— the reason that I'm asking is to determine what year, so how— or really how long ago. So presumably the youngest graduated 9 years ago. Is that fair to say?
Well, no, less than that, because they go on a 2-year— he went on a 2-year mission.
So the youngest—
oh, he went— wait, he went on the mission while at BYU?
Yeah, you go your freshman year.
Oh, I didn't realize that. You don't go when you graduate. That's true, because you go young, like at 18. That's right. Yeah, I know a lot of people, a lot of LDS who went on missions. So Uh, do you— are you getting reports at all that BYU is changing, or you think it's still as traditional in its values as it was when your kids went?
I think it's changing because the world's changed so much, but I have nieces and nephews that have gone that have come out strong.
Good. Well, it's good to hear. I'm happy for you, obviously. And I'm happy for the country. I'm a big fan of Mormons. Hello everybody, Dennis Prager here. How did college affect your child? And on every level I ask this question, intellectually, morally, Values-wise, everything. Has anybody ever said, in the modern era anyway, my kid went to college for 4 years and came back a finer human being, a kinder soul? Maybe, but it's not something you, you expect to hear, let's put it that way. Minneapolis and Daniel. Hello, Daniel.
Dennis Prager, I'm really quickly— how are you, my friend?
I'm well, thank you.
Okay, this is a story about my daughter who is wonderful. She's brilliant, but she's not a genius, but she's brilliant. I told her mother when she went to the University of Chicago that she's gonna come back completely different, and her mother said, that can't be, that's where Milton Friedman taught. And I said, well, that was a long time ago. So anyway, I Shortly after she graduated from University of Chicago, we're having breakfast, my daughter and I, and I don't know, she said something. I had to defend the United States of America. And I said to her, this was shortly after the big tsunami down in Indonesia years ago.
Yeah.
I said, who's first to help? I said, in this case, it's the United States Navy. And she said to me, this is a quote word for word, I'll never forget it. That's because they want to build condos down there.
Mm-hmm.
I couldn't believe it. I just about fell out of the booth.
Well, it's an interesting theory. Let's say it's true. It's a new one, I admit it. I'm with you.
I—
it sort of leaves you speechless. But let's say it's true. The United States was the first country to help people after the tsunami— was it Indonesia?
I think so.
Yeah. And so, uh, I would like to ask the people whose lives were saved or who had loved ones saved by the U.S., if that has indeed happened— I, I don't know, but I'm assuming it happened— I'd like to ask them, would you Or do you resent the fact that America saved your life because it wants to build condos? I know. You know, anyway, so obviously she said—
I'm glad I could give you something you hadn't heard before.
That's true.
I'll hang up and continue.
All right, thank you very much. I'll tell you what that reminds me of, and this is a very big deal. It is an ultimate issue. Do you judge people by their behavior or their intentions? So I've heard this all of my life, the poo-pooing, for example, the dismissal of people who give money, let's say, to hospitals because they want their name on the building or in a certain section, let's say the ophthalmology section, eye care. And I heard it as well in Jewish life, oh, this guy, you know, he gave all this money because he wanted the chapel named after him or whatever. And I always think about that. So what? You know, if my eyesight is restored because this guy was on an ego trip, what do I care anyway? Isn't it nice that your ego is associated with building things that help people? A lot of other things that people do for fame, which does no good at all. Look at Bill Gates. All right, and let's see here. Wow, Richard in Sellersville, Pennsylvania. Hello.
Hello, Dennis. Thank you for allowing me to come on. Uh, I just wanted to tell you about my alma mater, my college alma mater, St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. Catholicia, which was once a bastion of truth, logic, science, and Catholicism, has recently gone woke in that they sponsored an online conference where the transgender ideology was promoted and pushed.
How do you know about that?
Well, I went on, I went to the conference. I signed up for it to listen to see what they would do.
And what, for example, did they promote?
The whole transgender agenda, you know, the fake pronouns.
Oh, so they did that. They did preferred pronouns. And you should say people give birth, not women.
Oh yeah, all of that.
Wait.
And the whole spiel was on there.
And was there a priest present?
Uh, not that I'm aware of. I, I attended it online. It was a Zoom conference. So, but there were quite a few people involved, but I don't know how many.
Well, uh, the, the, the decline of Catholic colleges and high schools is paralleled by Jewish schools and Protestant schools. Whatever the left touches, it ruins, and it has had a terrible effect on the three faiths. Terrible indeed. All right, let's get some— let's see if there's some good news here. Yeah, here we go. Uh, David in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Hello.
Hello, Dennis. Thanks for taking the call. I have two children in Division I colleges right now. My son is a senior and he's at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and my daughter is a sophomore and she's at Texas Christian University. They both went to parochial school for elementary and high school. And my son, you know, really sort of battled with several of his professors when he was a freshman. And, you know, he's a very good student, straight-A student. And, you know, unfortunately with one of his classes where it must have been the professor knew his opinions, he, you know, miraculously he ended up with a C. In a course. So, you know, we talked to him and said—
All right, stay on with me because I'm very curious to know, to what do you ascribe the fact that a kid could go to UW-Madison and come out non-left? Dennis Prager here. Thanks for listening to the Daily Dennis Prager Podcast. To hear the entire 3 hours of my radio show commercial-free every single day, become a member of Prager Utopia. You'll also get access to 15 years' worth of archives as well as the Daily Show prep. Subscribe at pragertopia.com.
More from Dennis

Life, Legacy, and a Dangerous Mission in the Soviet Union | Sunday Fireside Chat









